CLAT poses 50 questions of 1 mark each in field of General Knowledge to students. You might be wondering what exactly does CLAT General Knowledge encompass. The answer to this is not easily available. As a matter of fact no piece of information is out of the scope of CLAT General Knowledge if it were to be considered. There is no need to panic! All that you require to score high in this section is regularity and a systematic approach.
The good thing about the CLAT General Knowledge section is that it is very scoring if you prepare diligently. It is also a section which you can tackle in a good 8-10 minutes. This will help you dedicate more time to the lengthy questions in the other sections. In a competitive exam like CLAT where you have to tackle 200 questions in 120 minutes, you must save as much time as you can. The GK section provides you with that advantage. The questions are short and should strike you immediately which will enable you to answer them in a matter of seconds.
You might be confused about how you are expected to study an inexhaustible amount of material for GK and be expected to retain each piece of information so well that it strikes you the moment you are asked about it. The truth is you cannot possibly read everything that is there in the world and even if that were to be possible you would be lucky if you could keep even a fraction of it stored in your mind.
The idea while preparing for CLAT General Knowledge is to not try and read anything and everything aimlessly. You need to divide your time equitably and provide equal attention to various categories from which questions may be posed. Identifying watertight categories for GK is impossible. However once you go through the GK section of the previous years, some patterns emerge.
CLAT General Knowledge can be broadly divided into three categories:
- Static GK: Based on established facts which shall remain unchanged.
- Legal GK: Based on Legal Knowledge and general awareness of legal developments.
- Current Affairs: Based on developments in the current year (usually from June to March of an academic year).
Each one of these sections requires a different style of study. However, one tip for doing well in all of these sections would be to read newspapers and magazines daily. Some newspapers and magazines you should definitely consider consulting would be:
- Newspapers
- Indian Express
- Asian Age
- The Hindu
- Hindustan Times
- Economic Times
- Business Standard
- Deccan Herald
- Mid Day
- The Huffington Post
- Daily Mail
- The New York Times
- Magazines and Other Publications
- Frontline
- Competition in Focus
- Outlook
- India Today
- Reader’s Digest
- Open
- Down to Earth
- Time
- The Week
- Manorama Yearbook
- GKToday
- Pratiyogita Darpan
You should note that all the mentioned publications are English ones. This is to ensure that your preparation in GK supplements your learning in English also. While you should definitely not skip on your favourite regional daily, make sure you go through atleast one English newspaper every day.
It is important that you begin your preparations for CLAT General Knowledge under some specific heads. This will help you to keep track of what you are learning and from where. Although it might seem to be a really cumbersome process for you, once you start you are sure to get benefits. The categorization of information that you come across is meant to streamline the entire process of preparation and provide you with a clear picture with regard to every topic area you cover.
Following is a list of topic areas you should definitely cover in your CLAT preparation. Remember that this is not an exhaustive list but only a starting point to your study of GK. You must add to these categories as and when you come across new pieces of information however you should preferably not subtract from this list.
- Static GK
- History
- Geography
- Economics
- Sports
- Art and Performing Arts
- Popular Culture
- Science
- International Developments
- Facts specific to India
- Abbreviations
- Important Dates
- Architecture
- Miscellaneous
- Legal GK
- Constitutional provisions
- Contractual provisions
- Torts
- Criminal Law
- Family Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- International Law
- Changes in laws
- Government directives
- Recommendations and reports of commissions
- Landmark Cases
- Current Affairs
- Government Projects
- Foreign Policy
- Sports
- Government Appointments
- Awards
- Defence
- State visits
- International summits
- Transnational deals
- Scientific Advances
- Environment
- Business
- International relations
Careful dissection of previous years’ papers will allow you to understand the specific patterns of questioning common to CLAT General Knowledge section. You will notice that many of the Static GK questions posed are based on developments in the current year. This means that there is no scope for being lazy and continued effort is the only method that will bear fruit for you.
The CLAT General Knowledge section is meant to check your general awareness. Attempting mocks and practicing papers will give you a rough idea of what the CLAT examiners want to ask you. Therefore you have to work hard to build your awareness about your surroundings. Although preparation for CLAT General Knowledge can seem to be a daunting task you can make it fun by arranging and participating in daily quizzes with your friends and family. The only thing that you must remember to do well is that CLAT General Knowledge is not an insurmountable mountain if you put in the effort.
