Hi, I am Kirthika Nagaraj.
CLAT rank: not enough.

This is what I thought about on 10th December 2023 at exactly 7:15 pm. I decided to do Law when I was around 14 years old and always assumed I would make it.

My academic journey till 10th grade was stable and in 10th board exams, I shocked myself with a 98.6% but all it did was boost my ego. I felt unstoppable and everyone raised their expectations, but I didn’t meet any of them. My focus was nowhere to be found and the flame within me seemed to have vanished.

I couldn’t accept that I did not do well, I was not going to get into NLUs.

After days of shutting everyone out and crying, I realized the only thing left to do was analyze why this happened. I understood that just studying wasn’t enough to beat the competition, and that there was no shortcut. I learned that working day in and day out was the path to success, this was a very crucial lesson in my life.

The most important lesson I learned was about failing. It’s okay to fail, but one must learn from it; one must identify where he or she erred and then prevent it from repeating. I also realized that true friends are those who stay by your side when you are in a war with yourself. These learnings helped me tackle other entrances and my final exams successfully. Life has a funny way of grounding you which may be very hard to understand at that moment but when you look back, you realize it might have saved you. CLAT was my grounding moment and despite the condescending looks I get and the “she used to study well” remarks, I am happy it happened because it has allowed me to learn and grow.

Finally, one thing I need the 2024 CLAT aspirants to know is that they should try their best, do as many mocks as possible, and lastly, trust themselves. It’s okay to not do well but just learn why and move on, life always has something in store for you.