CLAT's Current Affairs and GK section is about a quarter of the paper and it is passage-based — you get a news-style passage and answer questions inside and around it. The window that matters is roughly the last 6 to 12 months before the exam. The method that works is small and boring: one newspaper daily, five stories a week written down in two lines each, and a monthly compilation for what you missed. A thick static-GK book is the wrong tool.
This is the section candidates most often over-prepare in volume and under-prepare in method.
What actually gets asked #
| Area | How often |
|---|---|
| Polity, governance, constitutional developments | Very often |
| Significant judgments and legal developments | Often |
| Economy, budget, RBI, major policy | Often |
| International relations, summits, treaties | Often |
| Awards, honours, appointments | Moderate |
| Sport | Moderate |
| Science, environment, climate agreements | Moderate |
| Static GK (history, geography) | Small |
Because the questions come with a passage, you are rarely asked for a bare fact. You are asked to place something in context — which rewards understanding a story rather than memorising a date.
The method #
Step 1: One newspaper, every day #
The Hindu or Indian Express. Read editorials and the national and international pages. Forty minutes.
Step 2: Five stories a week, two lines each #
On one page: what happened, why it matters. By exam day you have roughly 24 revisable pages, which is the entire point — a thick book is not revisable in December.
Step 3: One monthly compilation #
Read it at month end purely to catch what you missed. Do not use it as your primary source; it gives you facts without context, and context is what the passages test.
Step 4: Revise the full year twice in the final month #
Your own notes, not new material. Everything new you read in the last three weeks displaces something you already knew.
- Understand the story, don't memorise the fact. Passage questions ask what follows from a development, not what date it happened on.
- Track continuing stories — a bill's passage, a case through the courts, an ongoing conflict. These generate the most questions.
- Legal developments get disproportionate weight in a law entrance. Give judgments and legislation extra attention.
- Do not start current affairs in the last two months. A 12-month window cannot be covered in eight weeks.
CLAT current affairs — frequently asked questions
How many months of current affairs are asked in CLAT?
Which newspaper is best for CLAT current affairs?
Are static GK questions asked in CLAT?
How should I make CLAT current affairs notes?
Is a monthly current affairs magazine enough for CLAT?
Many institutes include daily current-affairs modules.
Disclaimer: Section weightage follows the latest Consortium of NLUs pattern and has been revised in recent cycles.
