How to Solve CLAT PG Passages: A 5-Step Method for 2027

To solve CLAT PG passages, read the questions first, read the extract once for the issue, the holding and the reasoning, then answer from the passage before you use outside law. The paper is 120 objective questions in 120 minutes with minus 0.25 for each wrong answer, so you have about one minute per question, or about five minutes for a passage with five questions.

How to solve CLAT PG passages: the five-step method

1. Skim the five questions, not the options (20 seconds). You learn what to look for: a holding, an exception, a section number, an application.
2. Read the passage once, in layers (90 to 120 seconds). Find the forum and statute first, then the issue (what the court was asked), the holding (what it decided) and the reasoning (why). Note what the Court says it is not deciding; that limit is a favourite question.
3. Label each question with one of the four skills from the syllabus: issue, related legal issue, summary, or application. Issue and summary questions are answered from the text. Related-issue and application questions need your own law.
4. Answer from the passage first, outside law second. If the passage states a rule that differs from what you remember, the question usually wants the passage’s version. Use outside law only when the question asks for another provision or a new situation.
5. Eliminate, then decide. Strike options that overstate (“always”, “only”, “never”), reverse the holding, or confuse a dissent with the majority. With two left, decide and move on.

CLAT PG passage based questions: time and guessing

Set a hard limit of six minutes per passage. If you are at six minutes with three of five answered, mark the rest and go on; a second pass at the end is cheaper than a stuck passage in the middle.

On guessing, the arithmetic is simple. A blind guess among four options has an expected value of 0.25 minus 0.75 times 0.25, which is plus 0.0625 marks. With one option eliminated it rises to about plus 0.17. So an informed guess helps slightly, but time is better spent on the next passage. Always answer once two options are gone.

How CLAT PG judgment passages differ by subject

• Constitutional and Administrative Law: look for the test the Court lays down (reasonable classification, proportionality, the principles of natural justice) and the facts it applies it to.
• Criminal Law: note the offence, its ingredients and the stage (cognisance, bail, trial). Older judgments quote the IPC, CrPC or Evidence Act, so convert in your head: IPC s.302 is now BNS s.103, and CrPC s.438 is now BNSS s.482.
• Contract, Torts and Property: principle, exception, then the facts. Section-based questions (Indian Contract Act s.56, Transfer of Property Act s.53A) reward knowing the bare provision.
• Company, Tax, Labour and Environmental Law: passages often reproduce statutory text. Read the definition and the proviso; questions often sit there.
• Public International Law: identify the source (treaty, custom, ICJ decision) and whether the statement is binding. A published analysis of the 7 December 2025 paper reported three passages each on Constitutional Law and International Law and called International Law among the harder sets; treat that split as indicative, not fixed.

A daily routine for passage practice

1. Days 1 to 10: three passages a day, untimed. Write the issue, holding and reason in one line each.
2. Days 11 to 25: five passages a day, six minutes each. Log every wrong answer by skill and reason: misread, forgot law, over-thought.
3. Days 26 to 38: a full 120-question paper every third day on the 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm clock; fix the error log on the other days.

Read real judgments free on the Supreme Court’s website: issue and conclusion paragraphs first, then reasoning. The previous year papers show how long the real extracts are.

Where Lexfolio fits

Lexfolio is an independent publisher, not linked to the Consortium. The CLAT PG 2027 Mock Tests (₹149) are two papers of 24 passages and 120 questions, built on landmark and recent Supreme Court judgments, bare Act provisions and legal theory. The Landmark Judgments Digest 2026 (₹199) gives the question of law and ratio of 40 judgments, which helps you recognise the case inside a passage.

Frequently asked questions

How to solve CLAT PG passages quickly?

Skim the questions first, read the passage once for the issue, holding and reasoning, and answer from the passage before using outside law. Aim for about five minutes per passage of five questions, and move on at six.

How much time should I spend on each CLAT PG passage?

The paper has 120 questions in 120 minutes, so about five minutes per passage if each has five questions. Skip a stuck passage at six minutes.

Should I read the passage or the questions first in CLAT PG?

Skim the questions first, without the options, so you know what to look for, then read the passage. Reading options first tends to pull you toward wrong readings.

Do CLAT PG passages need outside legal knowledge?

Yes, for related-issue and application questions. The syllabus says questions test related legal issues and applying the relevant area of law, so know the bare Acts and leading cases of all 13 subjects.

Quick quiz

Read this original practice passage, written in CLAT PG style, then answer the questions.

Passage: A seller agreed to sell developed plots, but a wartime requisition by the Government held up the development work. The Supreme Court said the word “impossible” in section 56 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 is not confined to physical impossibility; it includes a supervening event that destroys the object or foundation on which the parties made the contract. The Court added that, in India, discharge by frustration flows from section 56 itself and is not a rule of implied terms. It held that delay alone, of uncertain length, does not discharge a contract unless it strikes at the root of the bargain.

Sources

• Consortium of NLUs, CLAT 2027 PG syllabus and instructions (consortiumofnlus.ac.in)
• Indian Contract Act, 1872, section 56
• Satyabrata Ghose v. Mugneeram Bangur & Co. (1954); Alopi Parshad & Sons v. Union of India (1960)
• Published analysis of the CLAT PG paper of 7 December 2025

This page is for education and general information, not legal advice for a specific case. Law as on 29 October 2026.