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Opinions? I feel making aspirants mug up an infinite database of GK is too much and has no correlation with law school curriculum. It is simply not UPSC. Replace the section with spatial reasoning- something that is commonly used in reputed IQ tests. If not, then confine the section to core legal issues only, not random shit like why Saturn's rings would disappear in 2025 or unrelated sports stuff. (Coming from someone who cleared new pattern CLAT w top 250 rank)
haha what a sad brag to claim you got 250th rank. already students are coming to us not knowing the difference between mythology and history. Removing GK entirely would be a full disaster.
With the current government at the helm, things are only going to get worse over time sadly. Stuff like how the Vedas were crucial for Chandrayaan's success or adding Ramayan or Mahabharat to the educational curriculum while getting rid of the periodic table and theory of evolution speaks volumes about where we are headed towards as a nation.
GK is not a 'skill.' Language skills, reasoning skills (logic and legal), and even math are skills. GK, on the other hand, is not a 'skill'
'memorising' is a skill ! 'awareness' is a skill ! Learn the meaning of the word skill... "the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude, etc., to do something well.". The only problem with people like you is that you go after random GK facts as if it's KBC, when it's clearly legal GK. Moreover when you complete law school you will realise that most of it is nothing but memorisation.
I have completed law school and am at a T1. It's unfortunate that you're assuming that I'm a student and forcing me to brag. I'd still say that GK is not a skill. A skill is something you get better at with practice, you're not going to get better at the work law school entails (or the work you'll do after you graduate) by memorizing GK. While general awareness is important, it is not important enough to merit the number of marks and weightage it currently holds in CLAT. When even 0.25 marks make a difference, this is an issue to be considered seriously
Reading the newspaper or really any material everyday and synthesising information , learning to spot salient information from unimportant information is a skill.
I believe the skill you're referring to is 'reading'. Reading is vital, of course. Reading GK in particular, on the other hand...
Honestly, GK is important! You can't just get in without knowing what's happening in Myanmar or Israel-Palestine. The profs regularly use examples from what's happening around the world and you need to have a basic idea to understand those examples!
True.I've met many grads, post grads, PhDs and even young assistant professors who did not know the Israel-Palestine issue.lol ! That's why I loved HR classes, you could see the dumb awkward faces across the board on such issues.
I agree. As someone who cleared CLAT with a decent rank but scored almost zero on the GK section, what would you suggest to gain that required knowledge? To be honest, reading newspaper is very frustrating and tedious to me as i think that one needs a good knowledge of various subjects to actually understand those articles (i may be wrong, but my comprehension is otherwise quite good as i manage to read difficult articles on topics i am familiar with already)
The knowledge that you need to gain to understand those articles is one of the reasons why you should read newspapers. A good lawyer is supposed to have basic knowledge of developments around them.
Diversify your news intake !!!

- Podcasts: Opt for reputable news podcasts that cover a range of topics. Some suggestions include NPR Up First, In Focus by The Hindu, The Seen and the Unseen and The Economist Weekly.
- News Apps: Try news aggregator apps like Apple News or Google News, allowing you to customize topics and sources.
- YouTube Channels: Follow high-quality educational channels like GK Today and PBS NewsHour for concise and engaging explanations of current events.
GK can't be measured by the questions asked but a sincere student has to go through min 2000 or mora pages of general awareness around the world.
NLUs should use LSAT scores instead and save students from countless errors and studying law before stepping into law school.
I am in favour of strengthening the maths section. Even including calculus and trigonometry. It will bring in more science students and rectify the current ideological skew.
Calculus and trigonometry got nothing to do with law. Also, top IITs aren't hotspots for Bhakts lmao.
Yes. GK and anything based on rote learning must be avoided. Legal Terms, maxims, are all not worthy of CLAT.

A good CLAT paper should include:

Logical & Analytical Reasoning

Legal Reasoning

English Grammar & Reading Comprehension
Yes, word meanings should be removed as well. I memorized like 1000s of new word meanings during my CLAT prep. In analytical reasoning, u need to memorize certain formulae that should be avoided as well.
Hey, I know very unrelated to the opinion you've shared but seeing that you've got an AIR 250 I can't help but ask for some advice as to how you studied for current affairs section because I am also preparing for the said exam but unable to know how to go about it. Looking forward to a reply from you, thanks.
Not exactly AIR 250 but one among the top 250 ranks

I mugged up all those IAS GK pds, around 30 of those. Most tedious task ever
I got a rank of under 200 in CLAT, and GK used to be my favourite section.
Excellent GK is essential to excel in litigatation but not in law firms. NLU students aren't inclined towards litigating.
My AIR was 3XX and i completely avoided GK prep (only answered like 5 questions) and if I had done any math prep at all I would've been in the single digits.

Suffice to say you can mostly skip GK and still get in NLSIU.
Conjectural stuff that we hear a lot from teenagers. I was like that too, the whole "if I worked harder, I would've been the topper" nonsense. But the point is, you aren't. Maybe you have the "potential" but you haven't achieved NLSIU, so don't paint CLAT with the brush that it's super easy to crack into the top 100 or so. With better preparation comes higher expectations from yourself and more pressure, and in the exam environment, you can crack under that and get a lower score than you would "without as much preparation". Kids that secure the top ranks manage all of that including prep well.
Having a decent GK is a quint essential trait of a lawyer. You don't need to mug up everything under the sun but you should knkw the quint essential bare minimum stuff around law, business, commerce, polity and science and every day current affairs that at least goes to show that the person picks up the news paper and read it.
GK should be General Awareness and not static GK

Asking questions based on rote learning about history or geography or economy may be useless to test aptitude for legal studies

However general awareness including legal awareness, world affairs, current affairs, etc shows a student's level of general intelligence and sense of knowing the world around them.
While the CLAT GK section may not directly correlate with legal coursework in the NLUs, it's not about memorizing "random shit".

GK fosters well-rounded lawyers who can connect legal issues to broader contexts, be it environmental impact or sports contracts. Restricting it to "core legal" misses the real world where law interacts with diverse social, economic, and scientific dimensions.