The role of Current Affairs and GK in CLAT
Current Affairs including General Knowledge has 28 to 32 questions in the published CLAT UG format, among the largest sections by count, together with Legal Reasoning. It is passage-based: a news-style text of a few hundred words is followed by questions that test understanding of the text and awareness of the wider topic. Because the passage gives context, some questions can be answered from the text, but others need knowledge of events, institutions, treaties, awards and the vocabulary of public affairs. The section is therefore a mix of comprehension and awareness, and it rewards daily reading over cramming.
What it covers
| Area | Typical topics | How to revise |
|---|---|---|
| National current affairs | Policy, legislation, court judgments, government schemes, elections, appointments | Daily news; short notes |
| International affairs | Conflicts, treaties, summits, organisations, relations between countries | Weekly summaries; maps |
| Law, justice and the Constitution in the news | Landmark cases, constitutional provisions in current debates, rights | Notes linking news to articles and principles |
| Economy, environment and science | Budget, trade, climate agreements, space and technology | Weekly notes |
| Static GK | History, geography, culture, awards, books and authors | Short lists; spaced revision |
The mix changes by year; use recent papers and mocks as a guide, and note that the Consortium describes the section's passages as drawn from news and other sources.
What the questions look like
Passage-based awareness. A passage reports on a new international agreement on shipping emissions. Questions: what the agreement requires (from the text), which organisation sponsored such agreements (awareness) and what challenge the passage says remains (from the text).
Legal and constitutional. A passage on a court's ruling on a rights question; the question asks which constitutional provision is most relevant.
Static. Who wrote a certain book, which river flows through a given city, which body gives a particular award.
The examples are illustrative; they are not from CLAT papers.
A daily routine that works
- 20 minutes of news from a reliable newspaper or summary, with a focus on national, international and legal developments.
- Five minutes of notes: three lines on the most important stories.
- A weekly quiz of 30 questions on the week's news plus older material.
- A miss list revisited weekly.
- Static GK in short notes, twice a week.
See general awareness without burnout and spaced repetition.
Keeping facts current
Revise the last twelve months of current affairs before the exam, giving most weight to the most recent six. Note the date next to each time-sensitive fact, and check figures against official sources, because an appointment or a figure from last year may have changed.
Time management
| Stage | Time (about 25 minutes) | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Read each passage | About 1.5 minutes each | Skim for who, what, where, why |
| Answer questions | About 2.5 minutes per passage | From the text first, then from awareness |
| Return | About 3 minutes | Decide on marked questions |
Because recall either comes quickly or not at all, do not spend long on a question you do not recognise; use elimination and move on.
Negative marking in this section
With +1 and −0.25, a guess after eliminating two options has an expected gain of +0.375. A blind guess on an unfamiliar fact is about neutral. Use elimination: options that contradict the passage can often be removed. See our negative marking guide.
How to practise
- Quizzes: two or three a week, 30 questions each.
- Passage sets: practise news-style passages under time, three or four a week.
- Weekly review: update the miss list and the notes.
- Full papers: weekly in the last weeks.
Analysing your result
| Pattern | Probable cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Errors on recent events | Gap in the last months | Weekly summary and quiz |
| Errors on static GK | No revision schedule | Short notes; spaced revision |
| Errors on text-based questions | Reading too fast or too slowly | Practise timed passages |
| Outdated answers | Old figures | Date your notes; check sources |
| Same items missed repeatedly | No miss list | Keep and revisit a miss list |
Common mistakes
- Treating the section as a list of facts to memorise.
- Cramming in the last month.
- Reading headlines without the detail needed for passage questions.
- Ignoring the legal and constitutional news that overlaps with Legal Reasoning.
- Not dating notes.
Related pages
See the CLAT hub, the exam pattern and the mock test strategy. Other sections: English Language, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques. For a worked review read how to use mock tests for CLAT. Current affairs tests published by institutes appear below.
Note: question ranges follow the Consortium's published format; confirm the format for your year in the official notification.