CLAT 2026 Analysis

After the roller-coaster that was CLAT 2025, it was natural for aspirants to walk into CLAT 2026 with a mix of hope, anxiety, and uncertainty. CLAT 2025 was far from smooth — what should have been a routine exam cycle turned into months of litigation, urgent hearings, contradictory court orders, revised results, and widespread errors. It is a year remembered for all the wrong reasons, shaking the confidence of thousands of students. Amid this anxiety, the Consortium released two sample papers in the final week before CLAT 2026, signaling a possible shift in difficulty.CLAT 2026 delivered exactly that a moderate-level, balanced exam, noticeably more challenging than the unusually easy CLAT 2025, yet fair and well within the expected pattern.Overall Difficulty Level: ModerateCLAT 2026 Section wise difficulty levelGK: EasyLegal Reasoning: Easy to ModerateEnglish Language: Easy to ModerateQuantitative Techniques: EasyLogical Reasoning: Moderate & TrickyGood Attempts: 105+Section-Wise Analysis1. English Language – Easy to ModerateWhat Defined This SectionShift towards vocabulary-heavy questions compared to previous years.Passages were literature-oriented (Sapiens, Animal Farm) instead of news-driven topics.Reading complexity was moderate, but passages required careful interpretation.Question distribution ensures a balance between inference, tone, meaning, and contextual vocabulary.2. Logical Reasoning – Moderate & Tricky (Most Challenging Section)The Game-Changing TwistStudents expected conventional Critical Reasoning. Instead, the section shifted significantly towardsAnalytical Reasoning, surprising many. What AppearedBlood relationsOrdering & sequencesCoding–decodingCaselist-style logicDeductive reasoning puzzlesOne particularly difficult Tabular Arrangement set, which was:Time-consumingProne to misinterpretationThe single biggest bottleneck in the entire paper3. Legal Reasoning – Easy to ModerateWhat WorkedVery predictable and student-friendly.Covered contemporary themes such as:Same-sex marriageGovernanceBasic legal principlesNo unusual or complex passages; clarity of principles mattered most.Direct, traditional CLAT-style questioning.One of the most scoring sections this year.4. General Knowledge / Current Affairs – EasyNature of QuestionsDirect, predictable, current-affairs driven.Topics included:American taxationSCOAir IndiaPahalgamMajor national/international eventsThe highest-scoring section of CLAT 2026.5. Quantitative Techniques – Easy (Calculative)What AppearedRatioPercentageProportionArithmetic fundamentalsKey Takeaways from CLAT 2026Logical Reasoning defined the exam, especially the difficult Tabular Arrangement set.GK and Legal remained the biggest scoring areas for aspirants.QT was clean, calculation-oriented, and predictable.CLAT 2026 marked a return to a balanced, fair, and structured paper after the turbulent CLAT 2025 cycle.ConclusionCLAT 2026 was a balanced, fair, and moderately challenging paper — a significant improvement in structure and quality after the turbulent CLAT 2025 experience.We wish all CLAT 2026 aspirants the very best and extend our warmest wishes to everyone appearing for AILET 2026 this Sunday. Give it your best — the journey continues, and your hard work will carry you through.Views are personal.Author is Co-founder, LegalEdge-Toprankers

CLAT 2026 Analysis

Harsh Gagrani

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