CLAT 2027 registration is now open. The Consortium of National Law Universities opened the online application window on 3 August 2026, and it stays open until 31 October 2026. The exam itself is fixed for Sunday, 6 December 2026, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, in offline pen-and-paper mode. If you are targeting an NLU seat next year, the next 121 days decide it — and the first of those days should be spent getting the form right.
This guide walks through every date, the fee, who is eligible, what the paper looks like, and a week-by-week plan that fits the exact runway you now have.
CLAT 2027 Important Dates at a Glance
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration opens | 3 August 2026, 10:00 AM |
| Last date to register | 31 October 2026 |
| CLAT 2027 exam date | Sunday, 6 December 2026 |
| Exam timing (UG & PG) | 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM |
| Extended time (PwD candidates) | Until 4:40 PM |
| Participating universities | 26 National Law Universities |
Two things about this calendar deserve attention. First, the window is unusually long — nearly three months — which is exactly why students postpone it and then scramble in the last week of October when the portal is slowest. Second, the exam falls on the first Sunday of December, which means your Class 12 half-yearly or pre-board exams will almost certainly sit inside your final revision block. Plan for that collision now, not in November.
CLAT 2027 Application Fee
As per the Consortium’s CLAT 2027 instructions:
- General / OBC / other categories: ₹4,000
- SC / ST / BPL / PwD: ₹3,500
The fee is non-refundable. If you also want the Consortium’s own set of previous years’ question papers with answer keys, that is charged separately at the time of application — worth taking, though it is no substitute for a full sectional bank.
Who Can Apply: CLAT 2027 Eligibility
For the five-year integrated LL.B. programme, you need to have passed — or be appearing in — the Class 12 or equivalent examination. Candidates writing their Class 12 board exams in 2027 are eligible to apply now and must produce proof of qualification at admission. There is no upper age limit for CLAT.
The minimum qualifying percentage in Class 12 is prescribed in the Consortium’s Information Brochure for the cycle; the long-standing benchmark has been 45% for General/OBC/PwD and 40% for SC/ST candidates. Confirm the exact figure for your category against the brochure on consortiumofnlus.ac.in before you pay, because a mis-declared percentage is the single most common cause of an application being flagged later.
CLAT 2027 Exam Pattern
The Consortium’s CLAT 2027 instructions carry no notification of a change to the undergraduate paper’s structure. The UG paper in force is comprehension-led throughout: every question sits under a passage, and almost nothing is a standalone factual recall item.
| Section | Approx. weightage | What it actually tests |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | ~20% | Inference, tone, author’s argument, vocabulary in context |
| Current Affairs & GK | ~25% | News passages with static follow-ups |
| Legal Reasoning | ~25% | Applying a stated principle to new facts |
| Logical Reasoning | ~20% | Assumptions, flaws, analogies, arrangements |
| Quantitative Techniques | ~10% | Data-set arithmetic: ratio, percentage, averages |
The paper carries 120 objective questions of one mark each across a two-hour window, with a deduction of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer. Do the arithmetic on that: 120 questions in 120 minutes, where a single Legal Reasoning passage can run 400 words. Reading speed is not a soft skill in CLAT — it is the scoring variable. Verify the final marks distribution in the Information Brochure for your cycle.
Your 17-Week Plan from 7 August to 6 December
You have roughly 17 weeks. Here is how we structure them for our Patna and online batches.
Weeks 1–6 (August to mid-September) — build the base. One full section per day, plus 30 minutes of newspaper reading that ends in written notes, not highlighting. Legal Reasoning gets the largest share here because it is the most learnable section from a standing start: principles, torts, contracts, constitutional basics. Our CLAT 2027 Crash — Pro track runs on exactly this sequencing.
Weeks 7–11 (mid-September to October) — sectional accuracy. Stop measuring how much you studied and start measuring accuracy per section. Target 75% accuracy on attempted questions before you chase attempt count. This is also the block where you complete your form if you have not already. Drill previous years’ papers section-wise from the Siddhi PYQ Bank.
Weeks 12–15 (November) — full mocks, twice a week. Take them at 2:00 PM, the real slot, seated, without pauses. Then spend twice as long on analysis as on the paper itself. A mock you do not dissect is a wasted afternoon. Our Free All-India Mock Test is the cheapest way to see where you stand against the national pool before you commit to a full series like Siddhi Ultimate.
Weeks 16–17 (late November to 6 December) — taper. No new topics. Current affairs consolidation, error-log revision, one mock every third day, and sleep on the real exam schedule. Students who peak in week 14 and burn out in week 17 are a recurring pattern; do not join them.
Three Mistakes That Cost Seats Every Cycle
- Treating GK as memorisation. CLAT gives you a news passage and asks you to reason from it. Reading a month-old capsule the night before does nothing. Read daily, note weekly.
- Skipping Quantitative Techniques entirely. It is only ~10% of the paper, but it is the most mechanical 12 marks available. Aspirants who write it off surrender an easy ranking margin.
- Filling the form late. The portal is busiest in the final week of October. Photograph and signature specifications, category certificates and the NLU preference order all take longer than you expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does CLAT 2027 registration close?
The CLAT 2027 application window closes on 31 October 2026. Registration opened on 3 August 2026 at 10:00 AM on the Consortium of NLUs portal, consortiumofnlus.ac.in.
What is the CLAT 2027 exam date and time?
CLAT 2027 will be conducted on Sunday, 6 December 2026, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in offline mode. Candidates with benchmark disabilities are given extended time until 4:40 PM.
How much is the CLAT 2027 application fee?
The application fee is ₹4,000 for General, OBC and other categories, and ₹3,500 for SC, ST, BPL and PwD candidates. The fee is non-refundable, and previous years’ question papers are charged separately.
Is four months enough to prepare for CLAT 2027?
Yes, for a disciplined candidate starting from Class 12. From 7 August to 6 December you have about 17 weeks — enough for six weeks of concept building, five weeks of sectional accuracy work, four weeks of full mocks and a two-week taper, provided you study daily rather than in weekend bursts.
Has the CLAT 2027 exam pattern changed?
The Consortium’s CLAT 2027 instructions do not notify any change to the undergraduate paper’s structure. It remains a comprehension-led objective paper across English, Current Affairs and GK, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques. Always confirm the final structure in the Information Brochure published on the official portal.
Where to Start Today
Two actions, both today. Open the Consortium portal and begin the form — even if you only complete the first page, the account exists and you stop deferring it. Then take a diagnostic mock, honestly timed, so that your 17-week plan is built on your actual section-wise gaps rather than on a guess. If you are in Class 11 and reading this for next cycle, the CLAT 2028 Online Foundation track is where you belong.
Students in Bihar and Rajasthan can walk into any of our CLAT Gurukul centres for a free counselling session on form-filling and NLU preference strategy.
Sources: Consortium of NLUs — CLAT 2027 UG Instructions, consortiumofnlus.ac.in. Dates and fees are as notified at the time of publication; always cross-check the official portal before applying.
