CLAT PG Exam Pattern 2026: 120 Questions, 120 Marks, Marking Scheme and Section-Wise Weightage

CLAT PG 2026 is a pen-and-paper, passage-based MCQ test conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities for admission to LLM programmes at 24 National Law Universities. The exam spans 120 minutes, carries 120 questions for a total of 120 marks, and is set entirely in English. You can check official updates at consortiumofnlus.ac.in.

• CLAT PG 2026 is a 120-minute pen-and-paper test with 120 questions for 120 marks.
• The exam has 24 passages with 5 questions each — all questions are passage-based MCQs drawn from primary legal materials.
• Correct answer earns +1 mark; wrong answer deducts 0.25 marks.
• The exam is conducted in English only — there is no regional language option for CLAT PG.
• Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, and Contract Law together cover more than 50% of the paper historically.
• The paper spans over 40 pages — time management across all 24 passages is one of the biggest challenges in CLAT PG.

CLAT PG Exam Pattern 2026: Overview

CLAT PG 2026 follows an offline, OMR-based format — you mark answers on a paper bubble sheet, not on a computer. The exam runs for 120 minutes with 120 MCQs spread across 24 reading passages from landmark judgments, statutes, and legal regulations. Every question is passage-based: the exam tests your ability to read, comprehend, and apply law — not recall memorised facts.

CLAT PG Exam Pattern 2026: Important Dates

CLAT PG 2026 was held on December 7, 2025, and the result was declared on December 16, 2025. All key events in the 2026 LLM admission cycle are now complete. The table below covers the full timeline in chronological order.

CLAT PG 2026: Detailed Exam Pattern

CLAT PG 2026 has a single unified paper with 120 passage-based MCQs. The Consortium of NLUs structures the exam around 24 reading passages, each followed by 5 questions. Passages are drawn from primary legal materials — judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts, statutes, international treaties, and regulations. You have no choice in which passages to attempt; the full 24-passage paper must be navigated within the 2-hour window.

CLAT PG 2026 is a 120-minute OMR-based test with 120 questions for 120 marks, structured as 24 passages of 5 questions each.

Note: The Consortium of NLUs does not set a section-wise time limit. The full 120 minutes covers all 24 passages together. You must self-manage time across all passages.

CLAT PG Marking Scheme 2026

CLAT PG 2026 follows a +1 / –0.25 marking scheme. Every correct MCQ earns 1 mark. Every wrong MCQ deducts 0.25 marks. Questions you leave unattempted carry zero marks — there is no penalty for skipping.

Negative marking of 0.25 marks applies to all MCQs in CLAT PG 2026 — avoid random guessing on questions where you cannot eliminate at least one option.

The penalty means four wrong answers cancel one correct answer. If you can eliminate two of the four options confidently, guessing between the remaining two still gives you a positive expected score. Blind guessing across an entire unfamiliar passage is not advisable.

CLAT PG Subject-Wise Exam Pattern 2026

The Consortium of NLUs does not publish an official subject-wise marks distribution for CLAT PG. The breakdown below is based on analysis of previous years’ papers. Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, and Contract Law collectively account for over 50% of questions in most years and should be your first preparation priority.

Priority Subjects (High Weightage)

Other Law Subjects (Moderate Weightage)

Note: All subject distributions above are estimated based on previous years’ paper analysis. The Consortium does not release official subject-wise weightage. The actual distribution varies year to year. In 2026, Public International Law received elevated weightage compared to historical norms.

CLAT PG Question Types 2026

CLAT PG 2026 uses one question type only: passage-based MCQs with a single correct option. There are no numerical, integer-type, assertion-reason, or subjective questions. Every question in the paper connects to a specific reading passage printed in the exam booklet.

The passages in CLAT PG are drawn from the following primary legal sources:

• Judgments of the Supreme Court of India and High Courts
• Central and State statutes and amendments
• International treaties, conventions, and protocols
• Legal regulations and delegated legislation

Each passage is self-contained — you do not need to know the case name or statute number in advance. The exam tests whether you can read, understand, and reason from the passage text itself.

CLAT PG Exam Pattern: Changes in 2026 vs Previous Year

The structural pattern of CLAT PG 2026 remained unchanged from 2025 — same question count, same duration, same marking scheme, and same passage format. However, post-exam analysis revealed content-level observations with direct implications for how future aspirants should prepare.

The passage repetition in 2026 — where 6 of 24 passages appeared directly from the 2025 paper — is a significant content shift. For the next cycle, solving previous years’ papers now serves a dual purpose: skill-building and potential content familiarity.

How to Prepare Based on CLAT PG Exam Pattern

The CLAT PG 2026 pattern — 24 passages, 120 questions, 120 minutes, OMR-based — directly shapes which preparation strategies work best. Use the structure below as your framework.

1. Lock down Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, and Contract Law first. These four subjects cover more than 50% of the paper historically. Build depth here before spreading time across minor subjects.
2. Train your reading speed on dense legal text. Each of the 24 passages comes from judgments, statutes, or treaties — not simplified summaries. Practice reading 5–7 dense legal passages in 30 minutes to build the pace you need for the exam.
3. Read primary sources, not coaching summaries. CLAT PG passages come directly from actual judgments and bare acts. Reading case law and statutory text trains the exact skill the exam rewards: comprehension from primary materials without prior knowledge of the source.
4. Solve all previous year papers under timed conditions. The 2026 paper reused 6 passages from 2025 directly — the first time in CLAT PG history. Practicing on previous papers gives both skill-building and potential content familiarity for future cycles.
5. Apply the –0.25 rule as a conscious filter. Attempt a question if you can eliminate at least one option confidently. If you cannot eliminate any option at all, skip. Blind guessing four-option MCQs carries a negative expected score over a large sample of questions.
6. Do not neglect International Law and Environmental Law. Both received elevated weightage in 2026. Students who focused exclusively on the Big Four subjects went into the exam underprepared for these sections.
7. Practise OMR sheet discipline. CLAT PG is offline — you bubble answers on paper. A mismarked or incompletely filled bubble cannot be corrected after submission. Practise bubbling in batches after each passage rather than question-by-question to save time and reduce marking errors.