The Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT) will be conducted in the month of December instead of May from now on. This decision was made by the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLU) stating that it will provide the much-needed ‘breather to students and reduce exam anxiety'.

As per the Founding President of CNLU, Faizan Mustafa, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR, the discussion to reschedule the common law exam has been on since the year 2019. "The decision is driven by the fact that most of the entrance exams take place in the months of May-June and it gets difficult for students to appear for them,” he informed The Indian Express.

This law exam often clashes with exams like JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) and other state entrance tests too. In the year 2021, those candidates who were attempting both CLAT and JEE were requested to submit a request for a date change to the consortium. Permanent member of CNLU and Vice-Chancellor, National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal, V Vijayakumar informed that an early CLAT will allow the much-needed breathing space for students and even lead to a reduction in the levels of exam anxiety.

As per initial suggestions, informed V Vijayakumar, the request was to conduct CLAT in the month of January. But January is the same month in which states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir usually receive snowfall hence, December seemed like the apt month. "Students of Class XII are under pressure due to multiple examinations like preboards, boards and the various entrances at the state and the national level. If an exam clashes with the other or gets postponed, it affects students’ morale. Advanced notice of around 13 months will help in avoiding a last-minute chaos kind of situation,” he shared.

It was also announced previously that CNLU is reducing the fee of counseling to Rs 30,000 as opposed to Rs 50,000, which was the amount earlier for the students from the unreserved category. For those students from the reserved category, the revised fee is Rs 20,000.

READ ALSO : Two CLAT exams to be conducted in 2022; reduction in counselling fee and more details inside

First, there is the counseling fee and then follows the admission fee, arranging for both the amounts within a stipulated amount of time was proving to be cumbersome for many students, informed Faizan Mustafa. Student-friendly decisions like reduction in counseling fees and early exams will help. "Appearing for the exam as early as the December exam will also help students in proceeding with education loan applications in time," he added.