Several students who appeared for the Common Law Aptitude test (CLAT) 2013 here on Sunday complained that the all-India entrance exam which holds the key to admissions in 14 National Law Schools in the country was a lengthy paper. Scores of students that The Hindu spoke to mentioned that the test was a fairly easy but lengthy paper. Some students who took the test last year as well, however, mentioned that the paper was easier than last year.
Tejas Shetty, a student of National Hillview Public School, Bangalore, who aspires to get into one of the prestigious law schools, said that the paper was of moderate difficulty.
Another student, Ujwal Shashikanth, a student of Sri Kumarans Children’s Home (CBSE), said that the English, logical reasoning and elementary mathematics sections were the easiest parts of the paper.
No surprises
Students attempting the test for the second time also emphasised that the paper was similar to last year’s format. Sharan Balakrishnan, another student who took the test, said that unlike last year where several questions were out of the syllabus, this year’s paper mostly had predictable questions.
Negative marking
Students expressed apprehension about the negative marking system, where students will lose -0.25 mark for every wrong answer. Aditi Rao, a student of Christ University, who is taking her test for the second time, said, “Most of us rely on guesses for the general knowledge part of the paper, which is usually hard. We have to refrain from guessing due to fear of negative marking.”
Another student, Sanjana Prabhu, said that negative marking added more pressure.
Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellor of the National Law School of India University R. Venkata Rao said that 1,022 students had registered for the undergraduate law course and 71 for the postgraduate law course in Bangalore. He said that there were 36 absentees.
