CLAT 2026 Analysis: A Well-Fought Battle of Wits

The CLAT 2026 paper once again stayed true to its reputation of pulling a rabbit out of the hat — but this time, aspirants seemed ready for almost every trick it had up its sleeve. Overall, the paper was slightly more challenging than the previous two editions, though not overwhelmingly so.

The English section was, as expected, easy and straightforward, despite having five RC passages instead of the four seen in the last two years. The GK section marked a shift from the recent trend; it leaned more on traditional knowledge-based questions compared to the pure current-affairs based questions seen in the earlier years. Most topics were predictable, rewarding students who had focused on thorough factual preparation.

A mild surprise awaited in the Legal Reasoning section, with a few knowledge-oriented questions sneaking in — something CLAT hadn’t done much in recent years. However, the comprehension-based questions remained simple, keeping the overall difficulty level of this section on the easier side.

The real curveball came in the Logical Reasoning section. In a sharp departure from recent CLAT papers, this year’s section was dominated by Analytical Reasoning sets, including one particularly challenging set that tested both speed and accuracy. Overall, this section could be rated as moderate to difficult.

Finally, the Quantitative Techniques section followed its usual pattern — two sets of questions, one lengthy and slightly demanding, and the other quick and scoring.

In summary, CLAT 2026 struck a fine balance between the predictable and the unexpected — challenging students who relied solely on pattern recognition, while rewarding those with conceptual clarity and calm execution under pressure.

Quantitative Techniques

The Quantitative Techniques section in this year’s CLAT followed the established trend of contributing 10% of the total paper, with 12 questions arranged across two sets of six.

The question types once again revolved around percentages, ratios, proportional reasoning and basic data interpretation.

A noteworthy aspect this year was the contrast in difficulty between the two sets:

• One set was straightforward with direct calculations.
• The other set involved layered calculations and was more time-consuming.

Overall, the Quant section remained moderate in difficulty and predictable in structure.

Set Description	Questions	Concepts	Difficulty Level
Health Insurance	6	Percentages, Ratios	Moderate
Electricity Generation	6	Percentages, Ratios	Easy

Legal Reasoning

The Legal Reasoning section was Easy–moderate in difficulty and had five passages, making a total of 30 questions. The section covered important topics such as:

• One Nation policies (GST, Ration Card, One Nation One Election)
• Formation of the Preamble
• Good Governance and qualifications of Ministers
• Governor’s assent and limits on pocket veto (2025 SC judgment)
• Same-sex marriage rights (2023 SC judgment)

Unlike some previous CLAT papers where legal fiction dominated, this section leaned strongly on real constitutional developments and actual Supreme Court jurisprudence, especially the 2023 and 2025 landmark rulings. Prior knowledge certainly helped, but the questions were designed so that careful reading of the passage alone was enough to answer the majority. The language was clear, but some passages, especially the one on the Governor’s powers, required careful reading because the options were very similar. In 8/30 questions, Prior legal knowledge was required, while 22/30 questions could be solved by the passages.

Unlike some previous papers, this section focused more on understanding principles rather than testing deep prior legal knowledge, except for 8 questions. Most answers could be found directly in the passage.

The easiest passages were on One Nation policies and the Preamble. The most difficult was the passage on the Governor’s assent because it involved constitutional procedures and judicial timelines. The same-sex marriage passage was straightforward and tested the basic understanding of the Court’s ruling. Overall, the section was well-balanced and scoring for students who read passages carefully.

A score of 27-28+ would be considered good for top NLU aspirations.

English Language

Total Questions: 24

Question Type: Reading Comprehension based

RC Topic	Number of Questions	Difficulty Level
The Non-Cooperation Movement	5	Easy – Moderate
Prehistoric humans and species classification	5	Moderate
Freedom House and democratic freedom	5	Easy – Moderate
The journey with the extraordinary man	5	Moderate
Man and his animal cruelty	4	Moderate

Overall, the length of the passages was pretty standard and language fairly easy to grasp barring one passage. Quite a few inference based questions were present.

There was also emphasis on language skills through questions on context-based vocabulary. One tone question also featured in the section.

The art of option elimination was key in effectively navigating this section. Most of the passages featured a mix of easy – difficult ranged questions. No single passage was outright difficult or outright easy.

A good attempt in this section would be 17-18 questions with high accuracy. A great attempt would be in the 21-22 range.

Logical Reasoning

The Logical Reasoning section in CLAT had 26 Q (spread over four sets). This time the focus shifted to Analytical reasoning. There were three sets from AR this time. The overall difficulty level was easy-moderate.

The set on ‘sequencing’ was easy to follow and solve. This set had six doable questions. This is one set that students should not have missed. The length of the passage was 150 words.

The set on blood relations had easy-moderate level questions based on the given relationships. This set had six questions, mostly doable. There was a question with some ambiguity, which would have wasted a few minutes for the students. The length of the passage was 165 words.

The set on ‘sequencing of matches’ had a few conditions which were difficult to follow. Anyone who was able to crack those conditions would have solved all the questions from this set. There were seven questions from this set. The length of the passage was 193 words.

There was a set on ‘catching the thief’, few of the questions from this set were very easy to crack. This set also had seven questions. The length of the passage was 269 words.

Overall a student with a good level of preparation would have attempted appx 20-22 questions.

Current Affairs Including General Knowledge

The GK section was largely on expected lines. Unlike last year, only two questions were passage-based — the rest were direct and factual. Most questions were easy and came strictly from current affairs between May and October 2025, with no static GK this year.

Two passages focused on international relations and global organisations, reinforcing that IR remains a high-priority area for CLAT. Other passages covered chess, Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor, the SCO Summit, and the Air India 171 crash.

Overall, students who followed current affairs regularly should find a score of 22-24 very much achievable.