How to prepare for CLAT 2023 without coaching?

CLAT 2023 without coaching: As per the Press Release by the Consortium of NLUs, the Consortium has resolved that CLAT-2023 will be held on December 18th, 2022. This means you’ve got just five months and a few days left to gather yourself and begin preparing religiously if you haven’t already.  That, however, is in no way meant to fret you out. Oliveboard has got your back. 

By now, you must already know that the first step to cracking any competitive examination is having a set study map before you even begin, combined with resolve, determination, focus, and perseverance for the NLU dream of yours. One question that must be hogging your mind is whether you need to enroll in coaching or go for self-preparation. Check out this article to make your decision now! 

If you do decide to prepare for CLAT 2023 without coaching, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, we’ll break down the next 5 months of your preparation cycle to optimize your preparation for CLAT 2023 without coaching.

Knowing CLAT

CLAT – UG or Common Law Admission Test (Under Graduate), is the national level examination conducted by the Consortium of NLUs every year for admissions to courses offered by 22 NLUs (except NLU Delhi, which conducts a separate examination, AILET). In fact, there are some other universities and colleges throughout the country, like Nirma, NMIMS, UPES, etc., that accept the CLAT scores and rank for preparing their merit lists. 

About CLAT, it is a two-hour (120 minute) exam consisting of 150 multiple-choice questions worth 1 mark each. Every incorrect answer results in a deduction of 0.25 mark (-1/4 mark). More about the syllabus and sectional breakup can be found here.

Now, let’s delve deeper into how to prepare for CLAT 2023 without coaching.

Step 1: Part 1: “Know” the Exam

Abraham Lincoln says, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Why? Otherwise, you’ll find that the same work takes much longer. 

The idea behind this quote here is to motivate you to know the exam like the back of your hand. By “know the exam”, we mean you should know –

• what are the requirements of the paper – the subjects covered, the standard of questions asked, skills needed to be able to tackle the sections;
• what is covered under each section/subject of the paper – The specific topics mentioned, past years’ question papers and trends, weightage;
• which sources to refer – at the end of the analysis of the paper, you should be able to figure out the sources you’d be referring to.

Go through the syllabus daily so that by the end of 15 days you have your answers ready to hack your way through CLAT 2023 without coaching. You can also check this blog to get some basic ideas about the types of resources you can depend on and what the exact requirements of the syllabus are.

Step 1: Part Two: Formulate a Study Plan

To quote Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” If your NLU dream is serious and you want to crack CLAT 2023 without coaching, you should have a study plan to optimize your time and efforts. Now, ideally, your study plan should be the one devised by you as per your specific needs and desires. However, given the paucity of time, we are producing here a month-wise study plan which you may customise to suit your specific needs.

A couple of things first –

1. The best working formula for preparing for CLAT 2023 without coaching currently is the study-revise-test-revise. We will formulate a monthly breakup and daily time-table based on this.
2. Stick to 1-2 resources per subject or section of the exam. The overabundance of material in the era of the internet has aspirants confused in the long term, and students end up not revising enough.

Monthly Breakup for preparing for CLAT 2023 without coaching

Month	Week	Task
August	Week 1	“Know” the exam – Memorise the syllabus, colour code the trends and recurring topics, highlight important areas. Do a SWOT analysis to figure out your weaknesses. You will need to formulate a study plan to suit your specific needs as per your strengths and weaknesses.Weekend – Attempt a free mock test here to aid your SWOT analysis. This will also help you analyse your beginner’s level to help you gauge how much effort is to be made and in what direction.
Week 2	Start building up habits -Start developing the habit of reading if you haven’t already. For starters, begin reading the English newspaper daily. You could choose from either The Hindu or Indian Express and eventually expand your reading by reading The Mint, Financial Times, Frontline, New York Times, etc.This is the time you should begin expanding your vocabulary as well. Cull out buzzwords and important themes like Indian Polity, Science and Tech, etc. from your colour coded syllabus.Weekend – Revise the entire week’s learning.
Week 3	The next 2.5 months should be invested in reading and revising your sources.The idea should be to gain conceptual clarity over the topics mentioned in the syllabus. For CLAT 2023 without coaching, building concepts and revising would be the key. You can find section-wise study-techniques here.Solve topic wise compendium of questions after finishing each topic from the syllabus. This will help you get acquainted with as many types of questions that can be asked from the area. Practice from Previous Years’ Question papers. Getting a taste of what has already been asked and of what standard helps you stay focused on things that are essential to help you succeed.Weekends – Give sectional tests and full-length mock tests. Tests in a time-bound manner and examination hall like environment helps you get a taste of the d-day ahead of the day itself. You get to judge yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, before the Consortium does.
Week 4
September	Week 1
	Week 2
	Week 3
	Week 4
October	Week 1
	Week 2
	Week 3
	Week 4
November	Week 1	Now that you know the content, the idea should be to build accuracy and efficiency by -Full-length mock tests.Sectional tests.Practising questions from multiple sources to cover all types of questions.You can also use flashcards for multiple revisions faster.
	Week 2
	Week 3
	Week 4
December	17 days	This month you shouldn’t read anything new. The focus for CLAT 2023 without coaching should be on revise what you’ve read already and building upon your base.In fact, apart from content and concepts, you should also focus on revising your mocks. Understanding what things are not working in your favour and make them. The last 5 days should ideally go into relaxing your brain. This is where you detox and prepare yourself for the d-day. None of the preparation will matter if you can’t perform on the d-day!

Daily time-table for CLAT 2023 without coaching

Activity	Preferred time-slot
Reading and making notes out of the NewspaperYou can use flashcards for faster revision later.	01:00 – 01:30 hours
Vocabulary building & revision of Word Stock	30 minutes
Grammar	30 minutes
Quants	1-hour
Reasoning	1-hour
Static GK (topic wise)	30 minutes
Revision (daily)	1 hour
Total	5 hours 30 mins to 6 hours
Note – You may need to invest less time and effort in subjects you’re confident about. Feel free to customize. This is where your SWOT analysis will come in handy.

Step 2: Practice Mindfulness

Your mental health is of prime importance for the next 5 months and a few days if you’re to prepare for CLAT 2023 without coaching or otherwise. Being present in the moment and being aware of your true potential will take you the extra-mile. 

In another blog, we will cover how to practice mindfulness for CLAT aspirants. Till then, stay tuned to Oliveboard for more tips and tricks on law entrance examinations. Ciao!