CLAT Exam Pattern 2026: Marking Scheme, Exam Day Requirements & Total Marks

The CLAT exam pattern 2026 states that the National-Level entrance test will be conducted via Offline - Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) based mode for a duration of 2 hours. The CLAT 2026 exam will be conducted in a single session in English language. For both UG & PG programs, 120 questions will be asked for a total of 120 marks.

There will be 5 sections in the question paper for the UG program namely, English Language, Current Affairs & General Knowledge, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques. For the PG program, the exam paper will comprise only 1 Section wherein the questions will be based on the extracts from primary legal materials of the Constitutional Law & other such areas of Law.

This article contains detailed information about the CLAT 2026 exam pattern & its related aspects such as mode of test, medium of instructions, number of questions asked, section-wise distribution of questions, marking scheme, and so on.

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is conducted by Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) for offering admission in the 5-year Integrated LL.B (B.A.LL.B / B.Com.LL.B / B.Sc.LL.B / BBA.LL.B / BSW.LL.B) & LL.M programs. Students qualifying the entrance test are eligible for admission in the aforementioned courses offered at the 26 participating NLUs & Private Law educational Institutions.

The CLAT entrance test aims to assess the comprehension, and reasoning skills & abilities along with general awareness of the appearing students that is required for pursuing Law education.

The important highlights of the CLAT exam pattern 2026 are outlined in the table outlined below:

Students who are looking forward to attempting the entrance test must be well-acquainted with the CLAT exam pattern 2026 to avoid the chances of facing uncertain difficulties during the actual exam.

In accordance with the CLAT pattern 2026 for UG courses, the question paper will comprise 5 sections wherein a total of 120 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) will be asked.

Applicants can go through the below-mentioned section-wise distribution of questions as per the CLAT exam pattern 2026:

The conducting body aims to evaluate the comprehension & reasoning skills of the candidates, and their general awareness which is requisite while pursuing higher studies in Law. Thus, the questions of the CLAT exam pattern 2026 are designed to assess varied capabilities of the students in each section which are given below in detail:

English Language

This section of the CLAT exam paper will contain passages of around 450 words each which will be followed by a sequence of questions based on the same. The questions asked will be according to the level of 12^th Standard.

In this section, the appearing candidates will be judged based on their ability to read & understand the key highlights of the passage, and summarise & make out conclusions from the same.

Current Affairs & General Knowledge

According to the CLAT paper pattern 2026 for the Current Affairs section, this too will comprise passages of around 450 words each having a trail of following questions. The questions may contain general legal information & related aspects thus testing the awareness of the students about subjects like Arts & Culture, International Affairs, Historical Events, etc.

Legal Reasoning

The passages of the Legal Reasoning section of the CLAT exam pattern 2026 will be of approximately 450 words in length. It will express the facts & situations involving questions on public policy, legal matters, and moral philosophical enquiries. This section aims to test the capability of the aspirants to identify, acknowledge, and apply the principles & rules.

Logical Reasoning

In this section of the UG program, 450-word passages will be given comprising a set of follow-up questions. As per the CLAT exam pattern 2026, students have to read & recognise the arguments given in the passage, and critically analyse the patterns of reasoning & draw conclusions from the same. Additionally, through these questions, the ability of the candidates to draw relationships & analogies, and recognise the equivalence & contradictions will be evaluated.

Quantitative Techniques

In this section, the Mathematical & calculation skills of the applicants will be assessed at the level of 10^th Grade. In accordance with the CLAT exam pattern 2026, there will be facts / propositions, or representation of numerical data having a series of questions.

The CLAT exam pattern 2026 states that the question paper for the PG course i.e., LL.M contains only 1 section. The question paper for the PG program will contain extracts from the primary legal contents such crucial court decisions in varied disciplines of Law, Statutes, and Regulations. These passage-based questions of the CLAT 2026 exam pattern will be formed from various areas of law which are listed below:

• Constitutional Law
• Jurisprudence
• Administrative Law
• Law of Contract
• Torts
• Family Law
• Criminal Law
• Property Law
• Company Law
• Public International Law
• Tax Law
• Environmental Law
• Labor & Industrial Law

The CLAT marking scheme for both the UG & PG program is the same. The total marks obtained by the appearing students in the CLAT 2026 will be calculated based on the marking pattern prescribed by the exam conducting authority.

According to the CLAT exam pattern 2026, the marking pattern is as follows:

• For every right answer, the students will be allotted 1 mark.
• -0.25 marks will be deducted for each of the wrong answers / if more than 1 option is marked in the OMR sheet.
• No negative marking will be done for un-answered questions.

* Candidates can gather more details about the entrance exam by reading about the CLAT Registration 2026 & CLAT Eligibility Criteria 2026.

Students who are going to attempt the entrance test must be well-acquainted with the CLAT exam pattern 2026 & the CLAT Syllabus 2026. The syllabus for the UG & PG programs is different. For UG, students are supposed to be well-versed with 5 subjects which are English Language, Current Affairs & General Knowledge, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques.

The syllabus for LL.M comprises subjects like Constitutional Law and other fields like, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law, Law of Contract, Torts, Family Law, Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law, Public International Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law, and Labor & Industrial Law. Being thorough with the respective syllabus will help the aspirants in enhancing their scope of obtaining better results in the CLAT 2026.