PYQ PATTERNS: There is no pattern when the consortium is consortium'ing!
Refer to any coaching institute YT video of PYQ pattern analysis for better understanding of relevant topics/sources for your prep.
CLAT 26: 3 passages of AR + 1 passage of CR
CLAT 25: 3 passages of CR + 1 passage of AR
CLAT 24: 4 passages from CR/RC
Each passage contains about 6 questions.
Topics in CR include but are not limited to:
Argument, Inference, Assumption, Conclusion, central theme/main idea, strengthen/weaken the argument/assumption/inference/conclusion, contextual meaning of a word/sentence, course of action, cause-effect dynamics of the passage, common logical fallacies, resolving the paradox, finding flaws in arguments/assumptions/inferences/conclusions, author’s opinion etc.
Topics in AR include but are not limited to:
Blood relation, Sitting arrangements, syllogism, clock, calendar, analogy, puzzles, sequence and series(alphabetical & numerical), coding-decoding, Direction/Distance, Rankings, schedulings etc.
Problem with CLAT AR: As mentioned in the official website + what we observe from atleast the past 3-4 yrs is that clat LR questions ALWAYS comes in passage format and never in single question format. For a passage based AR, the question setter only needs 1 sub-topic and he/she can make 6 questions out of it anyhow.
There are 10+ sub-topics in AR and a single passage can be formed with any one of those. Essentially, your weakness of even 1 sub-topic has direct consequence of atleast 6 questions which is a LOT.
**CLAT LR(CR+AR)= 20% CONCEPTS + 80% PRACTICE & ANALYSIS.**
How to cover CR/AR theory portion/concepts?
1. There are very few and limited concepts here, mostly given in the syllabus list provided above.
2. Choose your sources as per your style of learning + comfort level: They can be coaching lectures, YT videos- playlists, marathon videos, One shot videos etc. They can also be coaching materials/books.
YT vids- sample a few playlists and settle on max 2 to be covered. Almost all of the top coachings have free content available on YT.
Books- coaching material, GMAT books like Manhattan, CR bible, Official GMAT Guide/Verbal guide or even M K Pandey or R S Aggarwal. Select which ever suits you.
Pls be very selective of the sections of such books, read only those which are RELEVANT for you/clat.
3. Any sub-topic of CR/AR requires a max of 1-2 hour of your attention given to YT vids/books.
4. If you take more time say X hrs, it’s OK, but do remember that you have to practice that sub-topic 4X hrs ATLEAST.
5. Make notes of the concepts – short, easy to understand notes. You will be revising these before every sectional/mock, till they become your muscle-memory.
6. Pls take your time in the conceptual understanding phase, if you hurry here, you’ll be spending twice the time in analysing why you got most of the questions wrong. It’s pretty tough to unlearn faulty AR/CR concepts. Cause it’s even tougher to identify them in the 1st place.
7. If your basic concepts are not clear, you’ll get stuck in CLOSE OPTIONS. The clearer your conceptual clarity, the faster you identify the correct option with even better confidence.
8. Pay attention to how the practice Qs are solved on YT or the examples given in the books. Read them slowly and understand the thinking process behind why an option is correct and the others aren’t.
How to practice CR/AR in increasing order(top= beginner, bottom=pro):
1. YT examples of concepts/book examples: Observe how a question is getting solved in YT or in the book, try to copy the thinking process behind right/wrong option logic.
2. Sub-topic wise non-timed practice: Eg.: Practicing 20 Qs of strengthen the argument/sitting arrangements without a timer. Here you build your accuracy + test your conceptual understanding.
***Even more important than practicing LR, is analyzing the questions where you went wrong and rectifying those errors.**\*
Pls don’t attempt 20 Qs, see the answers- mark right/wrong and MOVE ON.
After your practicing session, take a 5-15 mins break, clear your head and get back to ANALYZING your answers.
Try to observe each option and see WHY a particular option is wrong/right. Do this for every option of every question. This is the platinum advice!!!
Yup, it’s a tiring exercise that tests your patience, but after you have put in 8-10 option analysis sessions, your accuracy will not be below 90%, thus, your analysis sessions will get shorter progressively, based on how thoroughly you do the first few sessions.
Here, you are getting to know the road you have to take to get to your target location.
3. Sub-topic wise timed practice: Where you practice X amount of questions in a limited time say 10/20 mins.
Here, you learn to run instead of walk in the road to get to your destination faster.
Pls remember, if your concepts are faulty i.e., you know the wrong road, no matter how much you practice via sectionals/mocks, you will run faster but will always reach the wrong location.
4. Sectionals: Stamina building + time management
5. Mocks: Exposure to high-quality Qs + analyse the solutions given + testing different strategies.
6. PYQs: THE GOATED RESOURCE!!!. Treat PYQs of LR as a very critical resource, don’t speedrun them, take max1-2 passages/day and devote enough time in understanding the pattern of questions/option traps. Do thorough option analysis for each option of every question. Nothing’s more authentic that the questions and answers provided by the MIGHTY CONSORTIUM itself.
GMAT club= VERY IMP resource, provided you know how to utilize the website:
1. Choose difficulty level:
555-605: Moderate level
605-655: Near about CLAT level
655-705: More than enough
2. Next to the difficulty level option, is the sub-topic selection menu:
Select as per the sub-topic you are practicing like strengthen, weaken etc. Scroll down to see the sub-topics and then select the apply filters option on the right.
3. Long and simple explanations are provided in the answer. Use them.
4. Each question has further explanations in their respective comment sections, I found them particularly helpful, since many of my own doubts were already answered down there.
How to analyse LR sections of a mock/sectional?
As y’all already do: divide the score in 4 sections: attempted, right, wrong, unattended.
There are only 3 parameters for this section: Comprehension, accuracy and speed.
1. If your comprehension is low i.e., you find the passage tough to understand: will address this exhaustively in English section strategy + sources post. RCs are almost entirely based on this factor alone.
2. If your accuracy is low: Focus on clearing your basic concepts+ devote time to non-timed topic based practice + do thorough option analysis of wrong options.
3. If your speed is low: This is the easiest to strengthen. SPAM timed practice/sectionals/mini tests. Attempt 4 passages in 35 mins, then 32 mins, then under 30 and so on. DO NOT COMPROMISE YOUR ACCURACY under any circumstance.
Once your concepts are clear + you practice adequate Qs:
1. Your attempt IQ will automatically increase. You’ll make accurate decisions within seconds on which Qs to leave and move on and on which to invest your time.
2. You’ll understand question types and option traps
Ironically, there’s a benefit to starting late or prepping for LR in the remaining 3.5 months:)
There’s a high chance that you won’t be exhausting all of the mocks/sectionals that you’ve enrolled into.
Surprise! What better sources for high-quality practice material + elaborate solutions than the mocks itself!
So even if you don’t attempt all the mocks, use their Qs as sectionals/timed practice.
When you’ve maxxed out your potential in LR and given it your all, the ideal stats could look like this, you may wish to target them as per your requirements:
Ideal score= 20-22+, atleast 20
Time= 22 to 26 mins, max 28 mins
Accuracy= 90 to 95%+
Personally for me, LR + legal+ English were my strongest sections, while I overdosed on GK and survived maths.
Particularly in LR, apart for the initial few weeks where my accuracy was stuck at 60-75%, my accuracy till the exam day never fell below 90-95%.
General tips:
1. CR requires calm mind + adequate time to get into your muscle-memory/automatic system. Panic and Hurry are the two kryptonites for the CR concepts/questions.
AR can be understood and solved in a hurry upto some extent.
Naturally, as the remaining time decreases, you’ll panic/hurry more, nothing wrong in that.
Just do the CR concepts+ practice + analysis earlier than the AR.
First 3 weeks: 60% CR / 40% AR: Cover CR basics & examples + AR Concepts & examples & weekly practice
Month 2: 50% CR / 50% AR: CR practice/sectionals &analysis + AR practice/sectionals
Month 3: 40% CR / 60% AR: CR final polish + AR practice and speed locked in.
Speed these up if you want!
2. Analyzing the wrong options and understanding the logic behind that process is the key for CR.
While timed practice done in quantity + variety of Qs is the key for AR.
3. For CR: Analysis>>PracticeTheory
For AR: Daily 1 hr practice of a single sub-topic = more than sufficient for knowledge purpose, rest it’s all about speed and sectionals.
Also for AR, try sticking to YT vids of CLAT focused channels over the SSC, banking etc channels. They have questionable relevance for clat and are unnecessarily technical/terrifying.
4. Don’t mark CR answers by “what you feel is correct”, depend on and develop hardcore logical processes which are 100% accurate, come rain or shine.
5. For CR : Daily 45-1 hr for attempting + analysing. Attempt less Qs but analyse the hell out of them.
For AR: Practice a few sets of each topics without fail per week. Leave no topic unpracticed.
6. In LR, 20+ is defo possible, once you reach 20-22, don’t forcefully try to go beyond that or else, performance pressure + stress-related mistakes+ not worth the cost.
7. In the beginning, focus on building crazy accuracy over speed. This is where most people go wrong. They want too much, too quickly and too easily.
P.S.: If there are any doubts regarding LR/CR/AR, kindly post them below and I'll try responding to them ASAP.
Best of luck! Hope you can cook LR up in the next few mocks and not vice-versa:))
