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CLAT 2019.. an OFFLINE FOREBODE or a Messiah in disguise?
Let’s explore! So, October witnessed scores of people trolling the CLAT committee after the erstwhile infiltrators decided to venture into the offline mode after being superficial, callous and, not to mention, amazingly irresponsible in conducting CLAT 2018. NUALS KOCHI! Those are the guys responsible for tens of thousands of careers being threatened! Anyway, since that’s out of the way, let’s figure out the larger scheme of things! CLAT goes offline! Why on earth did they do this? Isn’t it against the ethos of our burgeoning flair for technology that we avail of a prehistoric mode for test taking? Let’s explore all of this and more in this article and also figure out how to strategize effectively for the upcoming CLAT 2019.
Before we venture into the discussion slated above, let’s delve back to History. CLAT was introduced in 2008 with NLS being the first one to conduct the test. It was a beautiful way back then. No errors, questions were of a certain standard and there was a method to the madness. Everything was fine, with the occasional hiccups, until the CLAT committee decided to embrace the future and ventured ONLINE! That was an amazing step forward since all other major competitive exams were bold enough to take that step 10 years earlier. But never mind the adolescence, they did something! Let’s respect that. So in 2015, CLAT embraced the online mode and conducted the test smoothly. Thanks, TCS! Now, 2015 CLAT was beautifully conducted, albeit, but it was a disaster in terms of the exam. RMLNLU decided to just blindly whack questions from CAT 2003 / 2005 and didn’t even bother to alter the names from the original! CAT (MBA admissions) is way more advanced than CLAT should ever be. This year marked the advent of CLAT’s arduous journey and fastidious attempt towards disaster. Each year since, the CLAT has been wrought with errors in questions, arbitrary scoring, and tonnes of mistakes. But they peaked their ineptitude, ignorance, and nonchalance in 2018. TCS backed off, and NUALS KOCHI decided to onboard SIFY (a flop tech company). They charged each candidate INR 4000 and made a whopping profit of around INR 18 crores. Now that’s still fine.. but the test conduct was pathetic. Test centres were ancient, systems failed, no AC’s, no infrastructure in most test centres, wrong questions, computers flipped and invigilators were rude as hell. Thousands of students complained of their systems shutting down amidst their tests. This is exactly what an exam shouldn’t be. Kids prepare for years to crack into a top grade NLU and this is how NUALS deemed it fit to conduct a national level entrance exam. NUALS was super complacent with all of these complaints, and they didn’t act to rectify the situation. They were, what you call, harbingers of dread!
Anyway, enough ranting about why CLAT has been so messed up. Let’s figure out how to maximize your efficiency for the offline version.
Look at the table to identify some basic pros and cons of the offline vide the Online mode:
OFFLINE | ONLINE |
Easier to read on paper | Not that easy to read text on the screen |
You can identify at least 5 – 7(much more for shorter questions, like GK) questions at once. | One question on the screen at a time |
Easier to look through the entire paper to decide which questions you want to attempt first and to gauge the general level of difficulty of the paper | Cumbersome to check out the level of the questions paper at one go |
Lesser scope for mistakes | Loads of mistakes as usual |
Takes time to release results | Results are generated within 2 weeks |
Takes time to mark into the OMR sheet | Easily clickable options |
The larger margin of error for rank lists/scores etc. Also, the higher the probability of missing out on questions since a lot of kids aren’t used to marking on the OMR. One has to be very careful to shade the right answer to the right question. | 0 error for these since it’s full tech. However, wrong questions and IT enablers failing is a different issue. |
You can scribble on the sheet and answer your questions | A separate sheet is provided and it’s easy to lose track of our work |
IDEAL STRATEGY TO SCORE MORE IN THE OFFLINE FORMAT!
An offline mode for CLAT 2019 will be a boon for thousands of CLAT aspirants. Amidst all the huddle and bustle of CLAT messing up, I feel the CLAT committee has finally decided to venture into the path of retribution. They have finally accepted that they don’t have the wherewithal to embrace technology. Hopefully, 2019 will see a sea of changes and will be a breather for all CLAT aspirants. Now, what’s the deal with an offline exam? It’s much easier than the online format. Embrace the change =)
For one, we’ve all been used to reading on paper rather than reading online. So the offline mode certainly bodes well with all of us. Second, the CLAT has formed a permanent body and they vow to eliminate the ridiculous errors that have plagued this exam for years.
So how do you maximize your efficiency?
MATH:
You can now easily eyeball your way through all the math questions and attempt the ones that are easy and save the tough ones for later. You can scribble your work around the questions and get to an answer. It’s easy to mark the answers that are easily eliminated.
LOGIC:
Same as math above. Logic games and puzzles will certainly be easier since you don’t have to replicate the situation on your sheets (under the online mode). You can work with the tables and information provided.
LEGAL:
Answer as many legal reasoning questions as you can and you can underline facts and principles to key out the relevant details
GK:
Pretty obvious. You shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes for this section. Either you know the answer or you don’t.. =P
English:
RC’s become easier since you can underline and mark on your sheets. Vocabulary and grammar too will be easier since you can identify groups of questions.
In General:
It’s easier to gauge the question types in the entire paper and understand the level of difficulty for CLAT 2019
Be careful to mark the relevant answer in your OMR sheets. A lot of students keep the OMR marking for later. A BLUNDER! What if you got all the questions right and you don’t get the time to enter your responses on the OMR?
Practice OMR shading. If the blurb isn’t shaded well, it’s likely you won’t get rewarded for that answer
Remember, practice as many questions as you can mentally! You won’t get too much working space.
The above addresses the major issues which will help you. Get in touch with us to know more about our courses. The OPUS CLAT Coaching program is one of the best in the country, and we will ensure that you’re prepped at the highest level so that CLAT, whether OFFLINE or ONLINE becomes a cakewalk for you.
You can check out some of our courses, or sign up for our MOCK TEST SERIES!
Wishing you all the best. 🙂