The CLAT exam pattern change question comes down to one check: the 2027 UG paper is a 120 minute offline test of 120 passage based MCQs across five sections, with plus 1 for each correct answer, minus 0.25 for each wrong one, and zero for unattempted questions. Confirm any change against the official notice.

If you have heard that the CLAT exam pattern is changing, you are not alone. Coaching forums, social media posts and older guides often describe different formats, and that confusion makes planning harder than it needs to be. The exam pattern is the blueprint for how the paper is set and scored. It tells you how many questions to expect, how long you have, and how marks are added or taken away. This guide explains the current pattern in plain terms, shows how each part affects your time and strategy, and gives you a method for judging any pattern change against the official source.

What the CLAT Exam Pattern Change Means for 2027

The CLAT exam is conducted by the Consortium of NLUs for five year integrated LLB and LLM programmes at 26 National Law Universities. For the 2027 UG exam, the pattern is a 2 hour (120 minute) offline, pen and paper test. It has 120 multiple choice questions in English, and every question is based on a passage. The paper is held in more than 130 exam cities across India. Readers who want more detail can start with our page on CLAT Coaching Delhi.

Think of the pattern as the rulebook for the paper. A passage might be followed by several questions, and each question has one correct option. Your score depends on how many you answer correctly, how many you answer wrongly, and how many you leave blank. The pattern also tells you how the five sections fit into one score.

If you are still getting used to the basics of the exam itself, our guide on What Is the CLAT Exam, and What Is It For? covers the purpose and structure in more detail before you work through the numbers below.

Here is the honest position on change. The approved information for the 2027 UG exam describes the pattern above. The official Consortium of NLUs notice is the final authority, and any future modification will appear there first. Do not change your plan based on a forwarded message or an undated article until you have checked the notice yourself.

Who This Guide Is For and Who It Is Not For

This guide is useful for: More on this is on our page on CLAT Exam Date 2026 & 2027: Complete Exam Schedule | Clat Coaching.

• Students planning to write CLAT for undergraduate or postgraduate law programmes who want to understand the paper before choosing a preparation route.
• Parents who want to follow the structure well enough to ask sensible questions about coaching, mock tests and study time.
• Students who are switching from an older guide and want to confirm which numbers still apply.

This guide is not the right fit for:

• Readers who need AILET specific details. AILET is conducted by National Law University, Delhi, and its paper is structured differently, so always check its own official notification.
• Anyone looking for a guaranteed result or a promised rank. No pattern guide can promise that, and any source that does is not worth trusting.
• Readers who need eligibility, registration and process details. For those, start with the complete admission guide for the exam, linked below.

For broader eligibility and admission process information, read CLAT Exam for Law: Complete Guide to 2027 Admission. That page covers the admission route, while this article stays focused on how the paper works.

The Key Parts of the Pattern, One by One

Questions and time

The paper has 120 questions and 120 minutes, so the average time is one minute per question. That average is a planning tool, not a rule for each question. Passage based questions often need more reading time at the start, and some questions take seconds while others take longer.

Example: suppose a passage has 5 questions and you spend 10 minutes on the passage and its questions. That is 2 minutes per question. If your mock test shows you consistently taking 3 or 4 minutes per passage question, you are falling behind the pace the paper needs, and you should practise reading faster or skipping the hardest sets sooner.

Marking scheme

Each correct answer earns plus 1 mark. Each wrong answer loses 0.25 marks. An unattempted question scores zero. This is the most important part of the pattern for your strategy, because it means guessing has a cost.

Example: if you answer 100 questions, with 80 correct and 20 wrong, your score is 80 minus 5, which is 75 out of 120. The 20 wrong answers cost you 5 marks, not 20, but they still matter. Two students who attempt the same number of questions can end up with very different scores based only on accuracy.

Sections and the merged score

The paper has five sections, but there are no sectional time limits and no sectional cut offs. All 120 questions count toward one merged score out of 120. In practice, this means a weak section does not automatically disqualify you, but it also means you cannot ignore any section. Every mark comes from the same total.

Example: if you are strong in one section but skip another entirely, you have to make up those marks elsewhere. A balanced approach across all sections usually gives you a steadier total than a lopsided one. For a fuller breakdown of how sections are weighted and how the marks are distributed, our page on CLAT Exam Pattern 2027: Weightage, Marking and Strategy is a useful reference.

How to Decide Your Approach, With Honest Trade Offs

Attempt strategy

Attempting every question gives you more chances to score, but it also gives you more chances to lose marks. The break even point is simple to calculate. With plus 1 for correct and minus 0.25 for wrong, a guess has a positive expected value only if your chance of being right is above 20 percent.

If you can eliminate two of the four options, your chance of being right on a guess is 50 percent. Your expected gain is 0.5 times 1, minus 0.5 times 0.25, which is 0.375 marks per guess on average. If you have no idea at all, a random guess among four options is only just above break even, and the variance is high. A practical rule is to attempt a question when you can eliminate at least two options, and to leave the rest for the end if you have time. You can read more on our page on CLAT 2026 Admit Card: Download, Dates and Exam Rules | Clat Coaching.