The Consortium of National Law Universities will conduct UG-CLAT 2027 on 6 December 2026 for admission to the five-year integrated LL.B. programme across its member National Law Universities in India. The undergraduate paper is a two-hour test of 120 multiple-choice questions of one mark each, with 0.25 marks deducted for every wrong answer. Online enrolment opened on 3 August 2026 and closes on 31 October 2026.
The paper structure, section by section
The Consortium publishes the UG paper as a comprehension-driven test rather than a recall test. Every section other than Quantitative Techniques is built around passages, and the Consortium states that its English passages run to roughly 450 words each, pitched so that a 12th-standard student can read one in five to seven minutes.
| Section | Questions | Approximate weightage |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 22–26 | ~20% |
| Current Affairs including General Knowledge | 28–32 | ~25% |
| Legal Reasoning | 28–32 | ~25% |
| Logical Reasoning | 22–26 | ~20% |
| Quantitative Techniques | 10–14 | ~10% |
Two consequences follow directly from that table. First, Current Affairs and Legal Reasoning together account for roughly half the paper — between 56 and 64 of 120 questions. A candidate who treats general knowledge as a residual subject is conceding a quarter of the paper before entering the hall. Second, Quantitative Techniques is the smallest section at 10 to 14 questions, and the Consortium describes it as short sets of facts, propositions or textual numerical information from which the candidate must derive data and apply mathematical operations — that is, it is a data-interpretation section, not an algebra section.
What the negative marking actually costs
At 0.25 marks per wrong answer, four incorrect responses erase one correct response. The arithmetic matters more than it looks. A candidate who attempts all 120 questions and answers 80 correctly scores 80 minus 10, or 70. A candidate who attempts 95 and answers the same 80 correctly scores 80 minus 3.75, or 76.25 — a gain of over six marks from restraint alone. Because National Law University merit lists compress tightly at the top, a six-mark swing is rarely trivial.
Dates and fees
- Exam date: 6 December 2026
- Online enrolment opened: 3 August 2026
- Last date to submit the completed and paid application: 31 October 2026
- Application fee: Rs.4,000 for General and OBC candidates; Rs.3,500 for SC, ST, BPL and PwD candidates
- Previous years' question papers: Rs.500 additional
The Consortium states that 26 National Law Universities are members. Seat matrices, domicile reservations and fee structures are set by each participating university individually and are not part of the CLAT notification — check the specific NLU's own website before ranking preferences.
A pattern review is currently open
The Consortium has published an Expert Committee Report on CLAT and invited public feedback. Its own press communication records that the Convenor and paper setters will adopt the Committee's suggestions on question format and quality "in a feasible manner." Candidates should therefore treat the section weightage table above as the current published position and re-check the Consortium's notifications page before the exam, since refinements to question format remain possible within the 2027 cycle.
Research gap, stated as a gap: the minimum qualifying percentage in the 10+2 examination for UG-CLAT 2027 is not stated on the Consortium pages consulted for this article. We have deliberately not carried a figure from memory or from secondary reporting. Read the Information Brochure on the Consortium's own portal before assuming you are eligible.
What to do now
- Register early rather than at the deadline. The application is complete only when the fee is paid; the Consortium's own wording ties the 31 October cut-off to the completed and paid application, not to form creation.
- Build a daily current-affairs habit immediately. With 28 to 32 questions riding on it, this is the section where a nine-month lead time compounds and a two-week cram does not.
- Practise passage-based legal reasoning without prior legal knowledge. The Legal Reasoning section supplies its own principle in the passage; importing half-remembered statutory rules is a common way to lose marks.
- Decide an attempt threshold in advance. Given 0.25 negative marking, fix a personal rule — for instance, attempt only when you can eliminate at least two of four options — and hold to it under exam pressure.
For the postgraduate route, see our separate guides on CLAT PG preparation and LL.M. entrance strategy in this section. For the alternative national entrance conducted independently of the Consortium, see our note on AILET 2027 at National Law University Delhi.