CLAT English Strategy: How to Score High on Reading Comprehension

The section at a glance

• CLAT UG has 120 questions in 120 minutes, with +1 for a correct answer and −0.25 for a wrong one.
• English Language is about 22 to 26 questions, roughly 20% of the paper.
• Every English question is set on a passage of around 450 words: fiction or non-fiction.
• There is no separate time limit for each section, so time saved in English helps Legal and Logical Reasoning.

Target about 12 to 15 minutes for English

Four passages with six questions each means about three minutes to read and three to answer per passage. That pace leaves enough time for the longer Legal and Current Affairs passages.

How to read a CLAT passage

1. Read the first two lines closely to fix the topic and the voice: story, argument or report.
2. Read the rest at a steady pace, noting in one word what each paragraph does.
3. Before the questions, say the main point to yourself in one sentence.
4. For fiction, note who is speaking, what they want and what the tone is.

The question types

Main idea, inference, tone, meaning of a word or phrase in context, and specific detail make up most of the section. Vocabulary questions always ask for meaning in context, so read the sentence around the word before looking at options.

A daily plan

• One long-form essay a day at full speed, then summarise it in one line.
• Two or three CLAT PYQ passages a week under time.
• Keep a vocabulary log of words you met in context, not word lists.
• Use the CLAT PYQ vault for real passages with every answer explained.