The Consortium of NLUs has signalled that CLAT 2027 will not look like CLAT 2024. An expert committee chaired by Justice Indu Malhotra, with professors from Oxford, LSE, Columbia and Cambridge on board, has reviewed both the UG and PG papers. Their early signals — fewer two-correct-answer questions, a tighter syllabus, international benchmarking — change how a serious Class 11 aspirant should prepare from June 2026 onwards.
The official dates as of 22 May 2026
- CLAT 2027 notification: expected July 2026.
- Registration opens: tentatively 1 August 2026.
- Exam date: 6 December 2026 (Sunday).
- Committee chair: Justice Indu Malhotra.
- Public consultation: closed in late 2025 via online form.
What is likely to change
1. Fewer questions with two correct answers
One of the loudest grievances from CLAT 2023 and 2024 was the cluster of items where two options were defensibly correct. The committee has signalled a hard pruning. Practically, this means your prep must move from “guess best of two” to “find the precise word that distinguishes the options” — the LSAT-style discipline of reading qualifiers like only, always, except.
2. Tighter syllabus with clearer topic specification
Current Affairs has become unbounded; Legal Reasoning has overlapped into Logical Reasoning. The committee has indicated a clearer specification of in-scope topics for each section. Expect a notification-level syllabus that names the subdomains — for example, “constitutional law: parts III, IV, IVA, and judicial review only” rather than “constitution”.
3. International benchmarking, not American transplant
The committee benchmarks against Oxford and Cambridge admissions thinking, but the format will remain Indian-MCQ. Don’t expect a switch to descriptive writing. Expect more passage-led reasoning across all five sections.
What stays the same (probably)
- MCQ format with negative marking.
- Eligibility at 10+2.
- Five sections: English, Current Affairs & GK, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Techniques.
- 120 questions in 120 minutes (subject to committee finalisation).
The prep plan: what a Class 11 aspirant should do from June 2026
- June-July 2026: Build reading discipline. One newspaper end-to-end (The Hindu or Indian Express), 30 minutes daily, plus 2 long-form essays from The Hindu or LiveLaw weekly.
- August 2026: Once the notification drops, lock the official syllabus. Discard third-party syllabus PDFs.
- September-October 2026: Begin section-wise mocks. Focus on passage-skimming + qualifier-spotting.
- November 2026: Two full-length mocks a week, with 30 minutes of error-log review after each.
- First week of December 2026: Taper. Sleep, hydrate, no new topics.
Where this fits in our CLAT 2027 prep architecture
Read our CLAT 2027 expected syllabus guide, the monthly Current Affairs digest, and the mock-test taper strategy. For a parent unsure whether to commit a Class 11 child to CLAT prep, the CLAT Gurukul helpline 7033005444 runs a free 20-minute roadmap call.
What the public consultation has revealed about the committee’s thinking
The Consortium opened an online form in late 2025 inviting comments. The pattern of responses (publicly summarised in LiveLaw and Bar & Bench reporting) clusters around three asks: cut ambiguous items, narrow current affairs, and publish official sample papers earlier. The first two are already in motion. Sample papers tend to drop with the notification.
Test your CLAT 2027 awareness
Practice Quiz — 10 CLAT-Style Questions
Click an option to reveal the answer and explanation.
FAQ
When will CLAT 2027 be conducted?
The CLAT 2027 exam is expected on Sunday, 6 December 2026, with the official notification in July 2026 and registrations opening 1 August 2026.
Who chairs the Consortium reforms committee?
Justice Indu Malhotra chairs the expert committee reviewing CLAT UG and PG reforms, with professors from Oxford, LSE, Columbia and Cambridge contributing.
Will CLAT 2027 still be MCQ-based?
Yes. The format will remain MCQ with negative marking; reforms target question quality and syllabus specificity rather than format change.
