Interview with Mr. Sai Aditya Santosh Badana, AIR 11, CLAT PG (2020)

Q1. Kindly introduce yourself. Your early education and all.

I graduated from ICFAI law school, Dehradun in 2020. Finished my primary and secondary education in Hyderabad. Took my education seriously only when I started studying law, being blown away by the vastness of the subject, I always tried to focus on the most interesting bits of law, bits that allow me to dive deeper, explore & to put my own spin.

Q2. When do you started preparing for CLAT PG?

I sat down to seriously prepare 8 months ago. I would insist on the aspirants to start as early as possible considering the twists and turns of CLAT patterns.

Q3. What was your preparation strategy? Please do mention which books do you refer to and your timetable for the preparation.

The sample paper was a big wake up moment for me, it has clearly demonstrated that traditional methods of rote learning won’t fetch you any marks. So, I always made sure that I fully understand the subtleties of whatever I’m reading. I devoted 5-6 hours a day to studying and 1 hour for essay writing.

Threadbare analysis of bare acts is a must.  Books- M.P JAIN for constitution, R.K BANGIA  for contracts and Tort’s. For Jurisprudence I relied a lot on Harvard jurisprudence lecture’s by Prof. Stephen lang and lectures of Prof. Aakash Singh Rathore (both are available on YouTube). Due to the paucity of time I referred the rest of the subjects from class notes and highlights on the internet.

It’s pertinent here to mention the able guidance that I’ve received from Mr. Atul Gulati and Siddhant Tomar.  The importance of an unwavering mentor cannot be understated.

Q4. How do you see the difference in cracking the CLAT PG and securing a top rank in it? What does a candidate do to active top rank?

Well, from what little I was able to gather, it all boils down to molding yourself to the pattern of examination. For the better part of my life, I’ve always been gravitated to short cuts, finding the easiest and effortless solutions. However, CLAT PG called for a change in that attitude, it screamed conceptual analysis and it only comes at the expense of steadfast preparation.

The focal point of my preparation has been Contemporary judgements (2017-2020) & landmark judgments of the past (cases dealing with constitutional amendments, cases overturning a precedent which held the filed for a long time , directions/ guidelines under 142 etc.)  

Note: one will always find compelling summaries of the judgements on the internet, but I advise against falling into that trap. Question paper of CLAT PG is deliberately set in a very intricate fashion, and answering that requires nothing short of a religious, comprehensive reading of the entire copy of judgement.

One source I heavily regret not following is the Prof. Faizan Mustafa’s YouTube lecture series. Preparation remains incomplete without it.  

Q.5. Tips from your side to students?

Tolerance, Lots of tolerance. CLAT administration is known for experimenting with different patterns, so be prepared to adapt and quickly shift gears. For essay writing, be sure to read Frontline magazine, legal editorials and news from Live law, bar & bench, Gautam Bhatia sir’s constitutional philosophy blog, Swapnil tripati’s Basic structure blog, etc. Since there were questions from arbitration and IBC, it’s advisable to refer to practical lawyer magazines and Indcorplaw blogs.

CLAT PG oriented YouTube channels have made huge strides, JURISEDGE, LEX TEMPLUM are a great place to start.

Over-exerting yourself while preparation is counter-intuitive, an hour break for every three hours allows you to recuperate and make the best of the time available.