CLAT 2021: Moderately difficult exam, errors in answer key, Rs 1,000 per objection

This year’s edition of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) was held on Friday, July 23. And as was the case with previous editions, candidates faced some difficulties owing to the conduct of the exam.These included errors in the answer key, jumbled up options, problems related to the filling of the OMR sheet and the charging of Rs 1,000 as fee per objection raised on the questions and answers..Bar & Bench spoke to a few candidates who gave the undergraduate and postgraduate exams to get a better idea..Undergraduate exam.A student who appeared for the exam at the NLU Jodhpur centre said,“According to me the exam was easy to moderate. But we are facing problems after analyzing the answer key released by the Consortium. Some questions in the Quantitative Aptitude section seem to be wrong and options to some questions seem to be jumbled up. In the GK section, there were some spelling mistakes which led to some confusion. The main contention here was with the answer key. The passages were easy to read - especially the sections on Critical Reasoning and English. But many including me have our doubts in these sections because the questions are mostly open-ended.".Speaking about difficulties in filling up the OMR sheet, she added, “We were actually very confused regarding the time that would be given to us to fill the credentials on the OMR sheet. We were told we would be given 10 minutes in advance to do the needful, but the invigilators mentioned that no such extra time for filling credentials would be given. On the day of the exam, however, there was a bell that rang at 1:50 and we were asked to fill the OMR sheet with our details, but most students at the same centre as me were not allowed to open the OMR sheet until 2pm, when the exam was scheduled to start. On the whole, the paper was easy, but if not for these controversies, it would have been good.".Another student who wrote the exam from Jaipur at the JECRC University center was significantly disturbed with the manner in which her exam panned out.“The admit card mentioned that we would get 10 minutes to fill out our credentials on the OMR sheet. I reached the Centre and was seated in the exam hall at 1:30pm. For half an hour we were just sitting and the OMR sheets were not even distributed until 2:04 pm, after which we were told to fill the credentials within 10 minutes and start the paper soon after." "On asking the invigilator whether we would be allowed extra time to compensate for the delay caused, he curtly said that whatever is to be done should be within the stipulated 2 hours and no additional time would be given. After a 15 minute delay, we were further getting disturbed with other formalities while invigilators took our signatures, made us sanitize our hands, etc. The paper is anyway time-bound and with lengthy passages to read before answering questions, every minute and second is extremely crucial. The Critical Reasoning and Legal Reasoning sections were particularly lengthy,” she added..On being asked whether she will be raising objections to the wrong questions in the paper, she despondently said, “I believe many will raise objections on the wrong questions and disparity in options with the answer key released. I personally don’t see the point in wasting so much money on it when I wasn’t able to attempt the paper well due to time constraints, in the first place. And there is no mechanism in place to raise concerns on the problems we faced at the centre regarding the time. While I did raise the issue then and there itself, there was no resolve.".At Rs 1,000 per objection, many students, particularly those belonging to economically weaker backgrounds, will be priced out of raising objections. As per the notice issued by the NLU Consortium,"A fee of Rs. 1,000/- (Rs. One Thousand only) is to be paid for each objection and if the objection turns out to be valid, the said fee will be refunded/remitted to the same account from which it was paid. No requests of depositing it in any other account will be entertained.".Another candidate who appeared at a centre in Lucknow says that the questions were comparatively moderate, but were quite lengthy. Moreover, she said,"I must say that the previous pattern of the examination was better than this one.".Other candidates revealed that they were giving their second and third attempts at CLAT, and were significantly upset on how the exam turned out this time. .Another student from Lucknow said that if we compare the UG paper to last year, it was easy. But the legal section was pretty lengthy and General Knowledge was a mix of static as well as current affairs.The English section and Critical Reasoning sections were moderately difficult, he said."It was overall moderate and also it took us by surprise 'cause many aspirants were expecting graph based questions."."I was not able to finish the paper, because it was too lengthy, but I won't say that the paper was difficult," added another student who appeared for the exam from a centre in Delhi. She said that this year, the paper was comparatively easy, but the questions were over-stretched, which made it difficult for the students to complete the examination on time. .Postgraduate exam.Bar & Bench, also spoke to a few students who appeared in the CLAT PG examination, to know their experience..A candidate who appeared for the exam at a centre in Delhi said that the paper was very lengthy, but had questions that were relevant."It mostly focused more on Liberty, Human Rights and Freedom questions." On the other hand, he said that the time frame was less, and there were very few questions on the Constitution of India..Another PG candidate from Delhi, agreed that most of the questions were lengthy. "Most of the questions were unexpected and only the major cases from Supreme Court were covered. No questions on substantive law was asked (Criminal) but only procedural law was asked.".On the other hand, a candidate appearing at a centre in Lucknow said that the paper was totally different from what he expected. "Questions on the main subjects were ignored and were extensively from the general topics, which the students leave while preparing for a Master's programme," he said..Bar & Bench tried to reach out to the authorities of the Consortium of National Law Universities, but did not receive a response at the time of publishing this story.