Every year, a handful of students walk into CLAT and come out with a rank in the top 100. Most of them prepared for roughly the same duration as thousands of other aspirants. Many used the same coaching institutes, the same mock series, the same newspapers. So what separated them?
The CLAT toppers study routine is not a secret formula. It is a set of specific, learnable habits — applied with unusual consistency and discipline — that compound quietly into a top rank. This guide distils the preparation strategies of real CLAT toppers, including AIR 1 Saksham Gautam (CLAT 2025), AIR 1 Jai Bohara (CLAT 2024), and AIR 1 Abhinav Somani (CLAT 2023), into the seven things they did differently from aspirants who plateaued.
Who Are We Talking About?
Before diving into habits, here is a quick profile of the toppers whose strategies inform this guide:
| Topper | Year | AIR | Institution |
| Geetali Gupta | CLAT 2026 | 1 | NLSIU Bengaluru |
| Saksham Gautam | CLAT 2025 | 1 | NLSIU Bengaluru |
| Jai Bohara | CLAT 2024 | 1 | NLSIU Bengaluru |
| Abhinav Somani | CLAT 2023 | 1 | NLSIU Bengaluru |
One consistent finding across topper interviews: none of them describe their preparation as exceptional in volume. What stands out, instead, is the quality of engagement, the discipline of routine, and — perhaps most importantly — how they thought about the exam.
Habit 1: They Did Not Study the Most — They Studied the Most Consistently
The single most common misconception about CLAT toppers is that they studied 10–12 hours a day throughout their preparation. They did not.
CLAT 2025 AIR 1 Saksham Gautam used a dynamic study structure, often fluctuating the hours devoted to school and CLAT depending on the task at hand — with CLAT consistently taking up most of his time. His approach was not rigidly scheduled; it was purposefully flexible. AIR 7 Ajit Bansal (CLAT 2024) dedicated 6–7 hours to focused study daily, maintaining a structured routine that balanced concept learning, revision, and mock tests.
The pattern is consistent across toppers: 5–7 focused hours daily, maintained without major disruption for 10–14 months. Not 12 hours for three months, not irregular marathons before the exam. The consistency of the routine mattered more than the peak intensity of any individual study day.
What this means for you: A plan you can maintain for a year beats a plan you can sustain for two weeks. Build your daily routine around what you can honestly do every day — and then do it every day.
Habit 2: They Treated Mock Analysis as More Important Than Mock Taking
Saksham Gautam took two mocks weekly, increasing to three or four in the final two months — but his condition for adding any mock to his schedule was that it had to be accompanied by detailed post-mock analysis.
This is the single most universally shared habit among CLAT toppers — and the most universally neglected by aspirants who stagnate. Ajit Bansal solved 50+ mock tests across his preparation, systematically identifying strengths and weaknesses through each one. CLAT 2026 AIR 1 Geetali Gupta’s mock scores evolved from 60–70 in the initial phase, to 70–90 in the mid-phase, and never dropped below 80 in the final three months — despite her mock ranks hovering around 100–200. Her mentors advised her to focus on analysis rather than ranks, and that discipline is precisely what produced the AIR 1 result. The number of mocks matters far less than what is extracted from each one.
Toppers use mocks as diagnostic tools, not as scoring exercises. They categorise every error — concept gap, reading mistake, time management failure, or exam-day panic — and address each category differently. A wrong answer that gets reviewed is a future mark saved. A wrong answer that does not is a mistake repeated.
What this means for you: Before your next mock, commit to two hours of analysis after it. Refer to our complete framework on how to analyse CLAT mock test results for a step-by-step method.
Habit 3: They Read the Newspaper Every Day — Actively, Not Passively
Without exception, every CLAT topper interviewed across 2022–2025 cites daily newspaper reading as a core preparation habit. CLAT 2022 AIR 4 Harshit Gupta specifically recommends reading The Hindu or Indian Express, noting that both are relevant for competitive exams and help increase reading speed.
But toppers do not just read the newspaper — they read it actively. They identify the main argument of each editorial. They note Supreme Court judgments and connect them to constitutional provisions. They ask: why does this matter legally? This active engagement simultaneously prepares four of CLAT’s five sections — English comprehension, Current Affairs, Legal Reasoning awareness, and Logical Reasoning — in a single daily habit.
Toppers consistently reveal that they simplified CLAT current affairs and GK preparation through monthly notes, revision cycles, and issue-based reading rather than trying to cover too many sources. Depth over breadth — one newspaper, read actively, revisited monthly.
What this means for you: Do not read the newspaper like a news consumer. Read it like a law aspirant. For every editorial, identify the argument, the assumptions, and the legal or policy principle at stake. This takes an extra two minutes per article and multiplies the preparation value of each one.
Habit 4: They Started Early and Used Early Months Wisely
A common thread among CLAT toppers is starting early — most began their preparation during Class 11 or early Class 12, ensuring ample time to grasp concepts and practise extensively.
But starting early is only an advantage if early months are used correctly. Toppers do not start drilling question banks in Month 1. They build habits, understand the exam format, and — critically — begin the Current Affairs reading habit from the very first week. The compound interest of 12–14 months of daily newspaper reading is something that cannot be replicated by starting in Month 8.
Saksham Gautam’s preparation philosophy revolved around self-assessment, reading widely, and trusting the process — not speed-running the syllabus. He used his early preparation months to build the reading habits and analytical frameworks that paid off in the final stretch.
What this means for you: If you are reading this article in the early months of your preparation, you are ahead of the curve — but only if you start the newspaper habit today, not next month.
Habit 5: They Were Accurate, Not Just Fast
CLAT toppers consistently score not by attempting the most questions but by attempting the right questions with the highest accuracy. CLAT 2024 AIR 1 Jai Bohara scored 108 out of 120; CLAT 2025 AIR 1 Saksham Gautam scored 103.5 out of 116. These are not perfect scores. They are highly accurate scores.
During the actual exam, toppers prioritise sections they are most confident in first — saving time and building momentum before tackling harder passages. This section-ordering strategy is a deliberate exam-day decision that most aspirants never consciously make.
The accuracy-over-attempts principle that toppers practise is mathematically sound in a negative-marking exam. As we cover in our CLAT 2027 study plan, 80 attempts at 90% accuracy always outscores 90 attempts at 80% accuracy in CLAT’s marking scheme. Toppers know this — and calibrate their attempt count accordingly in every mock.
What this means for you: In your next mock, track not just your score but your accuracy percentage and your negative marks. Optimise these two numbers before trying to increase your total attempts.
Habit 6: They Kept Their Resources Simple and Their Revision Deep
One of the most counterintuitive findings from topper interviews is how few resources most of them used. Rather than accumulating multiple coaching packages, five different books per section, and every available mock series, toppers typically committed to one strong resource per section — and revised it deeply.
Topper interviews consistently show that they emphasise why consistent revision matters more than covering too many sources. Deep familiarity with 40 well-analysed mocks beats superficial exposure to 100 rushed ones. Thorough revision of one Current Affairs source beats surface-level grazing across five apps.
This minimalism is especially evident in their mock test approach. Rather than attempting every mock available, toppers selected a quality test series and extracted maximum value from each test through careful analysis. The number of mocks completed was secondary to the quality of analysis applied.
What this means for you: Audit your current resources. If you have three different Legal Reasoning books, pick one and use it fully. If you are subscribed to two test series, drop one. Simplicity and depth compound better than breadth and superficiality.
Habit 7: Their Mindset Was Process-Oriented, Not Rank-Obsessed
Perhaps the most surprising — and most important — finding from topper interviews is how little the top rankers focused on their target rank during preparation.
Saksham Gautam had not set AIR 1 as a specific target. He has described never saying to himself “I have to get AIR 1” — and reflected that this might be exactly why it happened, because he wasn’t creating unnecessary pressure. His goal was simple: prepare well and stay consistent.
CLAT 2021 AIR 2 Nidhi Agarwal emphasised taking frequent breaks, staying connected with family and friends, and prioritising mental health over exam stress. This approach — protecting wellbeing as a preparation variable, not an afterthought — is consistently present in topper accounts.
The pattern is clear: toppers focused on the quality of each day’s preparation, not on the eventual rank. They set process targets (“I will improve my Legal Reasoning accuracy to 80% this week”) rather than outcome targets (“I need AIR 50”). The rank was the byproduct of the process — not the thing they chased directly.
What this means for you: Stop measuring your preparation by your mock rank relative to others. Measure it by section-wise accuracy improvement, consistency of newspaper reading, and quality of error log analysis. The rank follows the process.
The CLAT Toppers’ Study Routine: Daily Structure
Synthesising across multiple topper interviews, here is the daily routine that most top rankers converged on during their intensive preparation phase (Months 7–10):
| Time Block | Activity | Duration |
| Morning | Newspaper reading (active, with notes) | 45–60 min |
| Late morning | Primary practice section (timed passages) | 90 min |
| Post-lunch | Secondary section or mock analysis | 75 min |
| Evening | Error log update + weak topic revision | 45 min |
| Night | Light GK revision / current affairs notes | 30 min |
| Saturday | Full mock + complete analysis | 4 hours |
| Sunday | CA weekly review + weak topic deep dive | 2 hours |
Two non-negotiables that appear in every topper’s routine: the daily newspaper session (never skipped, even on difficult days) and the Saturday mock-plus-analysis block (treated as the most important study activity of the week).
What Toppers Did NOT Do
Equally instructive is what CLAT toppers consistently avoided:
They did not study without breaks. Common toppers’ habits include studying without taking long breaks and setting short-term daily goals — but this means structured short breaks within study sessions, not marathon sessions without rest.
They did not ignore weak sections. Every topper account includes a deliberate, scheduled effort to improve weak sections — not avoidance of them. Geetali Gupta’s weakest section initially was GK — unfamiliar topics, inconsistent study. From January to March 2025, she confronted it head-on with focused daily newspaper reading and revision notes. By the final phase, Legal Reasoning — another early weakness — had become her strongest scoring area. Section avoidance is the most common preparation mistake that average-scoring students make.
They did not compare mock scores with peers obsessively. Topper after topper describes consciously limiting peer comparison and WhatsApp score-sharing groups as sources of preparation noise rather than useful data.
They did not start new material in the final month. Consolidation, mock analysis, and current affairs revision — that was the final month, without exception.
Final Word
The CLAT toppers study routine is not superhuman. It is consistent, analytical, and deeply focused on process over outcome. Seven hours of purposeful daily preparation, a rigorous mock analysis habit, active newspaper reading from Day 1, and a process-oriented mindset — these are learnable habits, not innate gifts.
The toppers who secured AIR 1 in CLAT 2025 and 2024 were not studying more than you can. They were studying smarter, revising more rigorously, and caring more about the quality of each day’s work than the rank it might eventually produce.
Start building those habits today. The rank follows.
For section-wise guides, mock analysis frameworks, NLU rankings, and monthly current affairs digests, visit NewsCanvassEdu. EOF