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Content Writer | Updated On - Oct 7, 2026

CLAT 2027 has 120 multiple-choice questions for 120 marks in two hours. Each correct answer earns 1 mark, each wrong answer loses 0.25 marks, and an unanswered question scores zero. The examination is offline.

UG and PG share this marking scheme, but not the syllabus. UG tests five aptitude areas; PG tests undergraduate law subjects through legal passages. The exam is scheduled for 6 December 2026.

CLAT UG and PG Exam Pattern

Feature	CLAT UG	CLAT PG
Programme	Five-year integrated LLB	LLM
Questions / maximum marks	120 / 120	120 / 120
Regular duration	120 minutes	120 minutes
Correct / incorrect answer	+1 / -0.25	+1 / -0.25
Question format	Multiple choice	Multiple choice
Content	English, Current Affairs, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques	Undergraduate law subjects

Choose UG for an integrated course such as BA LLB and PG for LLM after the required law qualification. A shared total of 120 marks does not make a UG practice paper suitable for PG preparation.

CLAT UG Section-wise Questions and Weightage

Section	Approximate questions	Weightage
English Language	22-26	About 20%
Current Affairs, including GK	28-32	About 25%
Legal Reasoning	28-32	About 25%
Logical Reasoning	22-26	About 20%
Quantitative Techniques	10-14	About 10%

The section counts are ranges, not fixed quotas. English need not contain exactly 24 questions simply because its share is about 20%. Nor should the highest number in each range be added together to predict the total: the complete paper has 120 questions.

Current Affairs and Legal Reasoning together make up roughly half the UG paper. These percentages describe sections, not individual chapters. They do not establish how many questions will appear from a particular legal topic, news event or maths operation.

What Do CLAT Passage Questions Test?

Much of CLAT UG is organised around passages rather than isolated fact questions. English passages are about 450 words and can come from fiction or non-fiction. Current Affairs passages can be up to 450 words. Legal and Logical Reasoning also use passages of around 450 words in the published syllabus.

Section	What you do with the passage
English	Find its main idea, infer meaning, compare viewpoints and interpret words in context
Current Affairs / GK	Connect the passage to relevant events and background knowledge
Legal Reasoning	Identify a principle and apply it to the facts, including changed conditions
Logical Reasoning	Separate premises from conclusions and test arguments, inferences or relationships
Quantitative Techniques	Extract numerical information from a short set and perform the required operations

Prior legal study is not required for UG Legal Reasoning. The question is about the principle and facts given, not whether you can recall an entire law textbook. PG is different: its passages assume undergraduate legal knowledge and can ask about issues connected to a judgment or statute.

CLAT Marking Scheme With Examples

Response	Marks
Correct	+1
Incorrect	-0.25
Unanswered	0

Raw score = correct answers - (0.25 × wrong answers). Four wrong answers deduct 1 mark. That deduction cancels the mark earned by one correct answer; leaving four questions unanswered does not create the same deduction.

Illustrative attempt	Correct	Wrong	Unanswered	Raw score
A	80	20	20	75
B	80	40	0	70
C	90	20	10	85

Attempts A and B have the same number of correct answers. B attempts more questions but loses 5 additional marks because those extra answers are wrong. Attempt count alone is therefore not a score target.

Accuracy is not your percentage score

In example A, 80 of 100 attempted answers are correct, giving 80% attempt accuracy. The raw score is 75 out of 120, or 62.5% of the maximum marks. Neither number is a percentile. A percentile or rank cannot be obtained merely by multiplying the raw score by a fixed factor.

Exam Duration and Offline Practice

Regular timing is 2 pm to 4 pm on 6 December 2026. Eligible PwD candidates have time until 4:40 pm, giving 160 minutes. Follow the reporting and entry instructions on the admit card; 2 pm is the paper start, not the arrival time.

The published format gives the duration of the whole paper. It does not assign a separate official timer to English, Legal Reasoning or another UG section. Any section-by-section minutes in a study timetable are practice choices, not exam rules.

For a timed mock, include reading, solving and recording responses within the allowed duration. Finishing the questions and then adding extra time to transfer answers gives a misleading practice result. Use the duration applicable to your permitted examination arrangement.

CLAT PG Paper Structure

CLAT PG contains 120 objective questions. The 2027 format does not include an essay or descriptive section. Constitutional Law is named separately in the format, alongside the other mandatory subjects of an undergraduate law programme.

Study grouping	Subjects included
Constitutional and public law	Constitutional Law; Administrative Law; Public International Law
Legal theory	Jurisprudence
Private and personal law	Law of Contract; Torts; Family Law; Property Law
Criminal law	Criminal Law
Business and tax	Company Law; Tax Law
Environment and work	Environmental Law; Labour and Industrial Law

These groupings organise the subject list for revision; they are not six separately marked sections. The published format does not promise a 60-question Constitutional Law block or an equal division between the remaining subjects.

Passages may be drawn from court decisions, statutes or regulations. Questions can require you to understand the legal issue, recognise related facts and legal principles, summarise the extract and apply relevant law. Reading the passage and knowing its legal context are both part of the task.

CLAT Tie-breaking Rules

Paper	Order used for tied scores
UG	Higher Legal Aptitude/Legal Reasoning section marks; older age; computerised draw
PG	Older age; computerised draw

The UG legal-section tie-break operates after total scores are tied. It does not mean every Legal Reasoning question carries more than 1 mark. The PG instructions do not list a separate Constitutional Law score as their first tie-break.

A raw score is also not an admission cutoff. The rank and the applicable university, programme, category and allotment round matter when comparing admission outcomes.

Which Previous Papers Should You Practise?

The CLAT question-paper archive contains several years of material. Match UG or PG, the year and the booklet set before using a key. A key for another set can make correct work look wrong.

Use the CLAT 2024 paper and CLAT 2025 paper as dated practice resources. When using any older paper, check its actual question count and instructions before treating it as a full mock. The current standard is 120 questions in 120 minutes; an older format is not evidence that the 2027 paper has 150 questions.

An answer-key update can change a historical score calculation. Keep the key version with your mock record rather than comparing scores calculated from different versions.

What do you need right now?

Quick Navigation STRUCTURE

UG and PG comparison
UG distribution
Exam timing
PG subjects

UG and PG: Quick Comparison

−

Feature	UG	PG
Questions / marks	120 / 120	120 / 120
Regular duration	2 hours	2 hours
Correct / wrong	+1 / -0.25	+1 / -0.25
Content	Five aptitude subjects	Undergraduate law
Descriptive essay	Not in the published format	Not in the published format

UG Section Distribution

−

Section	Questions	Approximate share
English Language	22-26	About 20%
Current Affairs, including GK	28-32	About 25%
Legal Reasoning	28-32	About 25%
Logical Reasoning	22-26	About 20%
Quantitative Techniques	10-14	About 10%

These ranges describe a 120-question paper. They are not fixed chapter counts.

Score and Accuracy: A Worked Example

−

Record	Value
Correct / wrong / blank	80 / 20 / 20
Attempted	100
Negative marks	20 × 0.25 = 5
Raw score	80 - 5 = 75 out of 120
Attempt accuracy	80 / 100 = 80%
Percentage of maximum marks	75 / 120 = 62.5%

The percentage above is not a percentile or a rank.

Examination Time

−

Arrangement	Time	Duration
Regular	2 pm-4 pm	120 minutes
Eligible PwD	2 pm-4:40 pm	160 minutes

The exam is on 6 December 2026. Sectional minute budgets are practice choices; reporting and gate instructions come from the admit card.

PG Subjects and Question Tasks

−

Area	Included subjects
Constitutional and public law	Constitutional Law; Administrative Law; Public International Law
Legal theory	Jurisprudence
Private and personal law	Law of Contract; Torts; Family Law; Property Law
Criminal law	Criminal Law
Business and tax	Company Law; Tax Law
Environment and work	Environmental Law; Labour and Industrial Law

Expect legal extracts and questions on their meaning, related issues and application. The published pattern gives no fixed subject-wise question quota.

When Total Marks Are Equal

−

Priority	UG	PG
First	Legal Aptitude/Reasoning section score	Older age
Next	Older age	Computerised draw
If still tied	Computerised draw	Not a further published step

These rules order tied candidates; they do not change the +1/-0.25 question marking.

CLAT Exam Pattern 2027 FAQs

Questions and Subjects

Is CLAT 2027 a 120-question or 150-question paper?+

The published 2027 format has 120 questions for both UG and PG. Older material with a different count should be used as historical practice, not as the current paper structure.

Will Legal Reasoning contain exactly 30 questions?+

Not necessarily. Its published range is about 28-32 questions, or roughly a quarter of the UG paper. Thirty is a useful approximate figure, not a guaranteed question count.

Does CLAT PG have an essay section?+

No essay section is included in the published 2027 PG format. It lists 120 objective questions. Do not add a descriptive-writing component simply because an older guide describes one.

Can I use UG mock tests for PG preparation?+

They do not test the same syllabus. UG covers language, general awareness, reasoning and quantitative skills; PG tests law through legal extracts. Shared timing and marking do not make the papers interchangeable.

Marks and Time

Do four wrong answers cancel one correct answer?+

They cancel its earned mark: four wrong answers deduct 4 × 0.25 = 1 mark. This is different from saying that changing a wrong answer to a correct answer adds only 1 mark. Such a correction removes a 0.25 deduction and adds 1 mark, improving the score by 1.25.

Is there negative marking for leaving a question blank?+

An unanswered question scores zero. A wrong answer deducts 0.25 marks. Keep blank and incorrect responses separate when calculating a mock score.

Does 80% accuracy mean 80% marks?+

No. Accuracy uses attempted questions as its denominator. Percentage marks uses 120 and includes negative marking. For 80 correct and 20 wrong, accuracy is 80%, while the score is 75/120, or 62.5%.

Does each CLAT section have a fixed time limit?+

The published format gives a total paper duration, not separate timers for the five UG subjects. A coaching or personal section budget is a strategy, not a separate official time allowance.

Does a higher Legal Reasoning score always give a better rank?+

The legal-section score is the first UG tie-break when total marks are equal. It is not a replacement for total score, and the PG tie-break starts with age instead.

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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CLAT Exam Pattern 2027: UG and PG Questions, Marks, Duration and Marking Scheme