Last month, the results of the Common Law Admission Test postgraduate (CLAT PG) 2026 and All India Law Entrance Test postgraduate (AILET PG) 2026 were announced for candidates seeking admissions to LL.M. programmes in National Law Universities and National Law University Delhi respectively.
Bar & Bench's Hiranya Bhandarkar spoke to some of the toppers of CLAT & AILET, Yashvi Arora (CLAT PG 2026 AIR 1), Vaishnavi Tripathi (CLAT PG AIR 7), Chanchal Mantri (AILET PG AIR 1) and Aryan Narula (AILET PG AIR 27, CLAT PG AIR 28), to uncover the strategies that helped them crack the exams.
Hiranya Bhandarkar (HB): When did you begin preparing for CLAT 2026?
Yashvi Arora (YA): I started with preparation around 2-3 months before the application for the exam was out, around May 2025.
HB: Tell us about your strategy.
YA: Since I was already preparing for judiciary, I had a good command on the main subjects. I kept it simple and focused on my weak areas. However, for the other subjects that are not usually part of the judiciary syllabus, I had to work hard on those very subjects.
HB: Did you take help from coaching institutes? How relevant were mock tests in your CLAT PG preparation?
YA: No, I did not opt for any coaching institute for the preparation of the exam. However, mock practices and PYQ analysis are inherently the most inevitable part for preparing for the exam. The benefit is two-fold: first you understand the pattern of the exam and second it provides a free arena to make as well as rectify mistakes so that you do it in practice only and not in the actual exam.
HB: Which sources did you rely on primarily?
YA: My reading sources were very basic and limited. Bare acts are the most essential. I stuck to MP Jain for constitution law, Salmond for jurisprudence and so on. I only referred to judgments for enhancing my knowledge of the topic once I was conceptually clear.
HB: What helped you the most during times of uncertainty?
YA: For any student preparing for any competitive exam, anxiousness surely comes with it. My approach to this has always been to work on what is under my control rather than thinking about the outcomes or the results that are obviously not in my hands. I think having a proper study plan, setting achievable targets and not overburdening yourself is the key to managing feelings.
HB: How did you start preparing for the exam?
Chanchal Mantri (CM): My preparation was essentially a year long process; it became more focussed from June. What anchored my preparation throughout was why I want to pursue an LLM. When you have the clarity, you're not looking for internships, co-curricular activities, placements, because I was in my final year and it is very crucial with respect to everything that you seek to do in the future. I had a very clear mindset that I want to pursue academia and LL.M. is the necessary natural step ahead.
For CLAT PG preparation, there were 4 pillars. You have to cover the major and minor subjects, landmark judgments of the current and recent years and landmark judgments of the subjects as such like the important case laws of constitutional law, family law or transfer of property law.
For AILET, because the approach is kind of different, it was more focussed on direct questions. In CLAT, there are passages; here, it is different. It requires conceptual and doctrinal kind of clarity.
HB: Could you tell us more on your different strategy for AILET?
CM: AILET tests you on concepts. Either you know the answer or you do not know the answer. For CLAT, you have that little scope of discovering the answer from the passages. AILET doesn't test you much on the current landmark judgments. It is more on the decided landmark judgments. For AILET, revise landmark judgments and cover a variety of subjects. If you see AILET 2026, questions were asked from 25-27 subjects. They asked us questions from Mental Healthcare Act, the PwD Act, the Surrogacy Act which are minor not taught in law school. They had 5-6 questions from Specific Relief Act. I had gone through the minor subjects and I solved sectional tests for this because you cannot remember each and every section.
Legal aptitude is very important for AILET. I attempted 91-92 questions out of 100. I was only sure about 55-60 of those questions to be right. The rest were based on my educated guess or legal aptitude. This is something you develop over a period of preparation.
HB: What coaching did you rely on?
CM: I was in Legal Edge and I was selected for a Super 30 programme, which is available after I gave an All India Test. They gave me the whole course for free. I solved their mocks. I used to refer to Finology, Bar & Bench and LiveLaw, because as a law student, Bar & Bench would pop into my X feed and it was always before my eyes.
HB: Would you suggest coaching as essential for CLAT/AILET PG preparation to future aspirants?
CM: I would say mocks are essential, coaching is not essential. Law students are in a semester exam pattern. We have got used to writing 12-15 mark answers. The pattern of CLAT and AILET is very different. You need a different time management and strategy for it. You develop that through mocks only. Mocks are crucial, but you have to analyse; otherwise, there is no point of the mock.
HB: As a final year student, how did you balance classes, exams and preparation?
CM: I did my preparation between fourth and fifth year. It is a crucial period for law students to intern because you get an understanding of the law. Many law firms only take in final year students for internships. So it was tough to decide to not even sit for placements and since LL.M. was the main goal for me. I had my end-semester exams in December running concurrently with AILET and CLAT. I am from GLC Mumbai; we had of jurisprudence, criminal laws, CPC in the final years and it is tough to manage all. So it is necessary to start early. With multiple internal assessments and mandatory college activities, it becomes easier to manage if one starts early.
HB: When did you start preparing for CLAT PG?
Vaishnavi Tripathi (VT): I started preparing after the May 28 judgment that set three years practice rules for the judiciary aspirants. I was a judiciary aspirant too, so I began preparing from June, but due to my college schedule, I could not keep pace. The major preparation that I did was 7 to 14 days before the exam. Since I had my basics clear in my five years programme, I was able to secure a good rank.
HB: How did you manage being a final year law student and preparation for CLAT PG?
VT: Initially, when I started in June, I jotted down important subjects and topics which I had on top priority for completion. I used to watch daily videos of case laws everyday and important judgments. Later, I revised it with all the 100 series judgments of LiveLaw. Along with my college, I used to make sure that everyday, I study at least one important topic or concept. There were certain days when I could not keep pace and had to catch up again. I had my 9th semester exams in November so after they ended, I began preparing in earnest from November 15.
HB: Has any coaching institute helped in your preparation? Did you take any mocks or were previous year papers sufficient?
VT: I focussed mainly on previous year papers and rarely gave mocks. I did self-study and did not take any coaching.
HB: Did you find there was a pattern with the previous year questions? How predictable is CLAT PG?
VT: No, it is actually not predictable at all. Last year, there were cases from 2024, 2023 and landmark cases. This year, it has repeated 3 passages from the 2025 paper itself. Exact same five questions, exact order of those options were copy-pasted from last year's paper. So, 15 questions directly were from the 2025 paper. CLAT PG has never seen such repetitions anytime.
HB: Any suggestions to someone beginning their prep for CLAT PG 2027?
VT: I would suggest focus on constitutional law, jurisprudence, public international law and recent cases. At the same, I would suggest not to lose hope even if you are left with less time. You can cope at the last moment too if you revise and know about the recent cases.
HB: When did you start preparing for the exams?
Aryan Narula: I am currently in my final year and decided to give PG exams in July 2025. I started my preparation around October and this is something I would not suggest to aspirants. You should devote 8 to 10 months for preparation if you are a college student to compensate for college studies.
HB: Starting so late, how did your strategy help you? Did you take any coaching?
AN: I had an unorthodox approach without any specific method of study. I did not take any coaching and did complete self-study. One thing to note is that even though my method wasn't the same for all the subjects, my organised planning was pretty helpful. I pasted a sticky note beside my table mentioning all the subjects of the exams and some other ones depicting my day-to-day goals. Whenever I used to finish one subject or task, I used to strike it in my sticky notes - this simple routine assisted me in a great way.
HB: What were your reading sources?
AN: Primarily, I used my college notes as most of the PG exams' subjects are from the Bachelor's curriculum only. I also went entirely through all the bare acts, though not very deeply, but to brush up all the concepts. Apart from theory of subjects, recent judgments play a major role in PG exams. For them, I relied on sources like the official Supreme Court websites and various free online resources having a collection of recent judgments like SCC Times, Live Law.
HB: Will you be joining NLU Delhi via AILET or another NLU via CLAT?
AN: I'll be joining NLU Delhi due to multiple reasons. I'm interested in litigation and staying in Delhi will at least keep me close to all the courts and a door would always be there for potential practice simultaneously with my Master's. Also, I am not at all interested in corporate side so choosing NLSIU for that little edge isn't, in my opinion, worth spending almost double the fees.