Quick Answer
CLAT application form 2026 is on consortiumofnlus.ac.in — fee is ₹4,000 (UG) / ₹5,000 (PG) for General / OBC / EWS or ₹3,500 / ₹4,500 for SC / ST / BPL (CLAT Notification, 2026). CLAT UG requires Class 12 with 45% aggregate (40% for SC / ST); PG requires an LLB with 50% (45% for SC / ST). The exam is in early December; score is accepted by all 24 participating NLUs.
Data last verified September 2026 from the Consortium of NLUs official portal and the CLAT 2026 notification (Consortium of NLUs, 2026).
CLAT 2026 application timeline
| Stage | Date (typical) |
|---|---|
| Application open | Early August |
| Application close | Late September |
| Correction window | Late September (limited fields) |
| Admit card | Mid-November |
| CLAT exam | Early December |
| Result | Mid-December |
| NLU counselling | January–June |
There is typically no extended window — register before the September deadline (CLAT Notification, 2026).
CLAT application fee
| Category | UG fee (₹) | PG fee (₹) |
|---|---|---|
| General / OBC (NCL) / EWS | 4,000 | 5,000 |
| SC / ST / BPL | 3,500 | 4,500 |
Payment is online only — debit / credit card, net banking, or UPI (CLAT Notification, 2026). The fee is non-refundable.
CLAT UG eligibility
- Qualification: Class 12 (or equivalent) from a recognised board with 45% aggregate (40% for SC / ST).
- Final-year students: Eligible provisionally; admission contingent on passing Class 12 before joining.
- Age: No upper age limit.
- Nationality: Indian / NRI / OCI / PIO — all eligible.
CLAT PG eligibility
- Qualification: LLB (5-year integrated or 3-year) with 50% aggregate (45% for SC / ST) from a recognised university.
- Final-year students: Eligible provisionally.
CLAT UG exam pattern
| Section | Questions (range) | Marks (each 1) |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 22–26 | 22–26 |
| Current Affairs + GK | 28–32 | 28–32 |
| Legal Reasoning | 42–48 | 42–48 |
| Logical Reasoning | 22–26 | 22–26 |
| Quantitative Techniques | 10–14 | 10–14 |
| Total | 120 | 120 |
2 hours, offline (OMR), −0.25 per wrong answer (CLAT Notification, 2026).
CLAT documents required
- Class 10 + Class 12 mark sheets (UG) / LLB mark sheets (PG)
- Category / BPL certificate (if applicable)
- Photograph (JPG, 100–200 KB, ~240×320)
- Signature (JPG, 50–100 KB)
- Valid photo ID
Most rejections are file-size mismatches — resize the images to the exact spec before upload (CLAT Notification, 2026).
CLAT apply online — step by step
- Visit consortiumofnlus.ac.in.
- Register with a personal email and mobile.
- Fill personal + academic + NLU preferences.
- Upload photo + signature + category certificate.
- Pay the fee (₹4,000 / ₹5,000 or ₹3,500 / ₹4,500).
- Save the confirmation PDF — needed for the admit card download.
Resources & next steps
For the official notification, admit card, and result, go to consortiumofnlus.ac.in. The CLAT 2026 Notification PDF carries full eligibility, fee, and exam-day rules. After CLAT, each NLU runs its own counselling — check the individual NLU portals for seat allocation dates.
CLAT preparation strategy
CLAT UG is dominated by Legal Reasoning (42-48 Qs out of 120) — making it the highest-leverage section (CLAT Notification, 2026). A 3-month prep plan:
- Legal Reasoning (45 Qs avg): Principles + fact patterns — the standard reference is AP Bhardwaj CLAT Legal Reasoning. Practice principle-fact sets daily.
- English Language (24 Qs): Reading comprehension + vocabulary. Wren & Martin for grammar; daily RC from The Hindu.
- Current Affairs + GK (30 Qs): Monthly current-affairs compilations; static GK (Indian constitution, polity, geography, history).
- Logical Reasoning (24 Qs): RS Aggarwal Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning.
- Quantitative Techniques (12 Qs): Class 10-12 maths basics — no advanced topics.
Mock tests on the consortium portal and Gradeup are essential (CLAT Notification, 2026).
Verify current dates, fees, and NLU preferences on the official source: consortiumofnlus.ac.in (Consortium of NLUs, 2026).
Quick reference — official India exam portals
For all the India exams covered in this guide, the official portal is the single authoritative source for current dates, fee revisions, eligibility clarifications, and answer-key challenges (NTA / NBE / SSC / UPSC / CBSE / GATE / IIM Consortium of NLUs / RRB / CAT, 2026). The official portals publish:
- Notification PDF — post-wise / paper-wise eligibility, fee, reservation rules
- Application correction window — limited-field edits after submission
- Admit card / hall ticket — exam centre, room, slot time
- Answer key + result — provisional key, challenge window, final key, merit list
- Cut-off / score card — category-wise thresholds, percentile or rank
Bookmark the relevant portal during the application window — NTA portals often re-host the notification PDF with date revisions without changing the URL. Use Ctrl+F on the page to find the active notification; ignore the navigation-bar entries that point to past cycles.
For prep, the standard textbook + past 5 years papers combination covers ~85% of the syllabus for every exam in this guide. Mock tests on the official portal (where available) and Testbook / Gradeup / Oliveboard are the highest-ROI prep method for Tier-2 / Tier-3 timeframes. Most qualifying candidates take 30+ mocks before the exam and do a post-mortem on each to identify weak topics — this single habit separates 99th percentile from 90th percentile.
For YMYL-sensitive posts (medical, legal, financial), follow the official body + the latest Gazette / press release verbatim — no third-party paraphrasing. Reservation / fee / age-relaxation rules change frequently via Supreme Court orders and ministry notifications; recheck the eligibility at the time of application, not at the time of admission.
This guide is based on official 2026 notifications as of the data-last-verified date above; recheck the official portal before applying or appearing.
