How to Approach CLAT Logical Reasoning Questions

This section will give you a better understanding of how to approach the CLAT Logical Reasoning Questions of the UG CLAT 2021. Read each point carefully:

Here’s how to Approach CLAT Logical Reasoning Questions

1. The question in this section consists of short passages of about 300 words each.
2. The questions in this section will be based on material drawn from sources that include opinion and editorial pieces from newspapers and magazines, and essays on moral philosophy available online and in various books.
3. Certain passages will be created specifically for the exam.
4. Some examples of source materials include books, articles, editorials, etc. like:
   a. ‘Ethics in the Real World’ 82 brief essays on things that matter by Peter Singer.
   b. Articles and editorials like Reverse Gear taken from the newspaper ‘The Economist’ also available online.
   c. ‘History for Health’ article published by the Telegraph newspaper.
   d. Editorial ‘Where I am’ published in the Indian Express newspaper.
5. This portion is mainly designed to test –
   a. Your capacity to identify and understand a proposition to be true or untrue.
   b. Are the facts presented connected to the argument made?
   c. What reasons are there to support or weaken an argument?
   d. Are they sufficient?
   e. What are the consequences of the kind of reasoning presented?)
6. Few questions also follow the old format which is based more on the kind of logic present in puzzles. These questions analyse the capacity to find quick connections to be seen and made in different factual contexts. Example –
   a. Identifying blood relations.
   b. Making family trees.
   c. Number and alphabet series, etc.
7. As you can well imagine, arguments are a very important part of studying law. Arguments are usually sets of facts or pieces of evidence (called ‘premises’) which support a ‘conclusion’. These premises and conclusions together form arguments, and arguments are at the heart of the Logical Reasoning section of the UG CLAT 2021.
8. Given this, the first thing you should do when attempting a question in this section of the UG CLAT 2021 is to carefully identify the various premises and conclusions in the passage. Once you have done this, you will be better prepared to take on the questions.
9. Now that you have identified the premises and conclusions in the passage, try and determine if there is an overall theme, point, or conclusion to the passage. This is important, not only because many questions will ask you to identify these, but also because they will give you a better understanding of the overall tone, theme, and parts of the passage. With this information at hand, you should be able to easily answer questions that ask you to identify the main theme or conclusion of the passage, as well as questions that ask you to identify arguments in support of, or against, the author’s arguments.
10. Some passages may include more than one point of view, or more than one set of arguments, some of which may weaken or contradict each other. Identifying and separating these is very important, so that you know not only what the main conclusion is, but whether the passage has a main conclusion at all, or if it only presents different points of view.
11. As always, it is very important you read each question carefully before trying to determine what the correct answer is. A question may ask which option weakens the argument in the passage – in which case it is safe to assume that only one of the options weakens the argument in the passage; or it may ask which option most weakens the argument in the passage – in which case more than one option may weaken the argument in the passage, and it is your job to identify which weakens the argument the most.
12. Some questions may ask you to assume certain things as true, even when you may otherwise know them to be false, or even if they contradict the information in the passage. In such situations, it is important that you follow the instructions in the question strictly – remember, the question setters are examining your ability to read and comprehend information and instructions in this section, and not your pre-existing knowledge. The question setters are also interested in understanding how quickly you can adapt to changes in facts, premises, and conclusions, and so, it is important that you approach each question without carrying any baggage from the previous questions.
13. When a question asks you what a statement from the passage implies, you are required to do two things – look at the statement and see what it says explicitly, and also try and determine what it may mean, without stating explicitly. To do this, you will have to apply all the skills that this section requires of you – not only will you have to comprehend the statement and its parts, you will also have to extend the argument to the various possibilities set out in the options. In such a case, identifying the overall theme or conclusion of the passage, which we talked about a little earlier, is very helpful – the overall theme or principle often provides you a simple summary of the arguments in the passage that can help you extend the statement to the different possibilities set out in the options.

Source: Official Website – Consortium of National Law Universities, Available Here

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