Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) results were announced on Saturday.16,350 students had appeared for the exam, which was conducted on May 9, 2010. 11 Law Schools participated to choose students through CLAT. The results were announced in less than 3 weeks, with Pragya Vats leading the ranks with 165 marks out of 200.
Detailed rankings of students under several categories are available here.
Some facts and statistics about CLAT 2010:
* Approximately 1,000 seats are available in total, across 11 law schools of which 670 seats are in the general merit category. The exact number is still under debate as most schools have reservation under several categories;
* In the general merit category, the difference in marks between the first rank and the 100th rank was only 17 marks. The difference between the first rank and the 670th rank was only 29 marks;
* 55 out of the top 59 students in the general merit category chose National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU), 2 students each chose National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkatta and NALSAR University of Law,Hyderabad
* Out of top 100 ranks, 46 candidates were women;
* 58 students with disability appeared for the CLAT exam;
* Earlier, in the event of a tie in the CLAT exam, 12th standard examination results were considered to decide the fate of the candidates. However, this year, a new system of ‘tie-score’ has been introduced under the legal aptitude section. In the event of a tie in the overall rankings, the ‘tie-score’ will be the determining factor.
Annual estimates indicate that nearly 300,000 students join several law schools and universities across India. Only a very small percentage of students joining law schools or universities attempt CLAT. There are several reasons for the low turnout for the CLAT exam, including visibility of CLAT as an exam and availability of adequate information and promotion of CLAT. The CLAT organizing committee is considering various forms of promotion measures to increase this number.
Experts believe that CLAT will see an increased number of students in the coming years. In a direct comparison, about 250,000 students pursue Common Admission Test (CAT), the entrance exam for the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for approximately 1,500 seats.
Coaching centers for CLAT have mushroomed in almost all parts of the country. LST, one of the oldest law school tutorials has consistently coached students who are admitted to top law schools. Career Launcher acquired LST, originally started by a group of law students from NLSIU. This year LST has bettered its tally and continues its top performance in coaching aspiring law students. 20 out of the top 20 students and 78 out of the top 100 belong to LST.
We spoke to Abhas Singh, the National Anchor of LST on the reasons behind the success of LST. Abhas said:
People at LST: Ever since its inception, alumni of top law universities in India have been associated with LST and made LST a synonym for preparation for law entrance exams in India.
Pan - India presence: Unlike our competitors who are present in and focused on a couple of cities / regions, LST is a pan-India institution. We have more than 70 centers spread across more than 50 cities in India – from Agartala to Rajkot and from Jammu to Thiruvananthapuram. In view of the steady increase in the number of candidates taking law entrance exams, (number of students taking CLAT and other law entrance examinations has been increasing at a rate of about 20% on a year-on-year basis) it has become extremely important for every serious law aspirant to know where he or she stands among thousands of other law aspirants.
Quality of Course-material: Our course material is aimed at assisting students in developing conceptual clarity. We endeavor to strike a balance between volume of information and illustration of concepts. Very recently, a comprehensive review of the material has been concluded and these changes will be reflected in the material for 2010-2011.
Service: We have taken the classrooms online – students from LST centers across India submit their queries online using the Virtual Classroom feature and we strictly adhere to a deadline of 48 hours, irrespective of a weekend or a public holiday, for answering every such query.
Earlier this month, NLU Delhi announced its results. NLU Orissa also announced its results on Saturday for the 90 seats available at this new law school. NLU Delhi and Orissa conducted separate entrance examinations for students and are not a part of CLAT. Pragya Vats continued her excellent spell even at the NLU Orissa entrance exam topping the charts.
Bar & Bench spoke to Pragya Vats, the topper of CLAT exam:
Background: I am originally from Ranchi, but since my parents are in a transferable job, I completed my 12th standard from Maldives where I took the London International – A level exam.
Law as a career: I made up my mind that I want to be a lawyer when I was in the 10th standard. None of my family members are lawyers, but my parents always encouraged me and are the real driving force. I was neither interested in physics nor biology and therefore, both engineering and medicine were not really an option for me.
Preparation for the exam: Since I was based in Maldives, I had opted for LST’s correspondence material. When I came back to India earlier this year, I attended the one-month crash course at LST and that was really helpful. Along with LST, I also took online mock tests from Sriram Law Academy. I took as many tests as possible and that gradually increased my performance. LST’s course material was very helpful for the legal aptitude section.
Advice for future CLAT aspirants: The most important thing is to have a certain level of proficiency in every subject. This year General Knowledge and vocabulary were the most difficult parts. Mathematics section was relatively easy.
CLAT is only a glimpse of the competitive legal world that these students are going to be a part of – there is a long road ahead, and our best wishes to those pursuing this wonderful career.
