In a world where CLAT preparation is often a rollercoaster of mock tests, sleepless nights, and self-doubt, Anirudh Pathak from Gwalior shines as a true inspiration. Securing All India Rank 8 in CLAT 2025, this first-generation lawyer shows that with consistency, focus, and resilience—plus a little Captain America spirit—anything is possible. Starting in April 2023, Anirudh skillfully balanced school, mocks, and late-night studies. Despite challenges like self-doubt and tough GK, his dedication to mock test analysis and love for learning kept him going.
In this interview, he shares valuable tips, struggles, and motivation for every CLAT aspirant chasing success.
CLAT Topper Anirudh Pathak Interview
1. From where do you belong, Anirudh?
Anirudh: I am from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
2. Are you a first-generation lawyer, or is there a lawyer in your family?
Anirudh: No, I am the first-generation lawyer in my family.
3. Why did you opt for CLAT?
Anirudh: I have always been interested in the Arts. When I started looking for options later, I found that law was the most suitable field for me.
4. Did you take Humanities in your higher secondary?
Anirudh: Yes.
5. When did you start preparing for CLAT?
Anirudh: I started preparing in April 2023, that is 1.5 years ago.
6. What was that one thing that motivated you to choose law?
Anirudh: I feel that law is a fascinating subject, but most people don’t pursue it. I think if you study law, you can do your best in everything. If you want to stay ahead in any field, apart from law, then you can also do your best in that field. That means the law is the basic requirement of every field.
7. What was the daily schedule in your preparation?
Anirudh: I didn’t face any issues with the school. During exam time, I used to prepare by setting aside 2-3 hours before the exam or test. For CLAT, I used to study at night, between 12 and 5 a.m.
8. Had you taken permission from your school while preparing for the CLAT?
Anirudh: Yes, I had permission from the school, Pragati Vidyapeeth. I studied from grade 3, so the school was supportive in that case.
9. How did you manage between school, mocks, and everything?
Anirudh: Actually, the timing for the mock test was fixed between 2 and 4 p.m. Apart from that, whenever I felt like studying, I studied. There wasn’t any fixed schedule for my studies. The only thing was that I kept consistent in my studies throughout the year.
10. Which part of the CLAT exam did you find challenging?
Anirudh: For me it was GK. Its syllabus is immense, and the questions are uncertain. However, this time, GK was easy in terms of passage.
11. What will you tell your juniors who are preparing for the CLAT exam about how important mock tests are?
Anirudh: According to me, the content is the same for all the subjects. It’s all about being practical. That means everyone studies, but how you implement is way more important, and this you learn through CLAT mock tests. Also, besides mock tests, what is more important is mock analysis, which should be done for at least 2-3 hours.
12. Did you use to analyse your mock test?
Anirudh: Yes, of every subject.
13. How did you plan your time during mock tests?
Anirudh: When I started my CLAT preparation in 2023, I initially struggled with managing my time during mocks. At that time, I read books for two hours continuously, whichever I wanted. This helped me study quickly within two hours, which ultimately helped me master time management.
14. How was your English? Did you find any improvement in your English before preparing for the CLAT and now?
Anirudh: Yes, initially I didn’t know vocabulary much, but now I have a good vocabulary.
15. Did you prefer to read novels and other books?
Anirudh: No, I have always been interested in History. It’s my favourite subject. For vocabulary, I referred to the Editorial, noted the words in my book, and revised them in a timely manner.
16. Which newspaper did you refer to for your preparation?
Anirudh: The Hindu.
17. What was your strategy to analyze your performance in mock tests?
Anirudh: I made sure to read all the passages. Again, if I came across any new words during the mock test, I would note them down in my book. For the GK section, I followed a similar process and then researched it later. So, basically, I used to note everything and then study it later to understand my mistakes.
18. Being from a Humanities background, how did you manage the Quantitative Aptitude section of the exam?
Anirudh: I have been good at maths since the beginning. In 10th grade, I took standard Maths, so I was good at it. Although I liked Maths, I wasn’t interested in studying it because I was more interested in the Arts. So, Maths was never troublesome for me.
19. What was your lowest score in the mock test? And how did you bounce back?
Anirudh: The lowest score was 50. At first, I felt bad about it, but later, I started analyzing it. So, for me, if you want a good score, you will find the essence in the analysis. I firmly believe that until and unless your analysis is good, nothing will work for you. So, you get into a saturation mode, and breaking that analysis helps.
20. Did you face any moments like self-doubt, anxiety, depression, or anything like that?
Anirudh: Yes, it was constant in my journey throughout these 1.5 years. One day, you are overwhelmed by getting good scores, and the next day, you are sad, and the whole week goes by in depression because you scored low. It was a repetitive cycle where there were good days and bad days repeatedly.
21. Who was your support system?
Anirudh: My family was my strongest support system. My friends also kept on supporting me when I doubted myself and cheered me up by saying, “You will do it.” This helped me believe that there was someone who believed in me.
22. How active were you on social media? How did you distract yourself from negative things?
Anirudh: I didn’t use Instagram much at that time. I used to watch YouTube videos to refresh my mind.
23. How did you handle the negative marking system in the CLAT exam, as most of the students ignore it?
Anirudh: If you are doing the RC section and suppose two options out of four are out, then you can bet on the remaining options. But in the case of vocabulary, where you aren’t sure about the correct answer, then you are also taking a chance of guessing the answer, which is wrong. So, it depends subject-wise, that’s what I think.
24. What was your approach to the CLAT subjects?
Anirudh: For GK, I referred to the compendium from the newspaper. For Quantitative, I referred to the 30-Day Wonder book to clarify my concepts. Apart from this, I practiced CLAT’s Quant set every day.
25. Did you attempt all the questions in your CLAT exam, or did you leave a few?
Anirudh: Yes, I attempted all the questions, even though the analytical questions were wrong.
26. What was your first reaction when you saw your CLAT 2025 exam paper?
Anirudh: I attempted Legal first, then GK, Logical, English, and Quant. Legal seems to be easy for me. When I saw GK, my mood improved. Logical was somewhat okay. Analytical was at last, which actually demotivated me. I attempted it seven times, but the answer I was getting didn’t match the options provided.
27. How did you overcome that during the exam, as you were giving the final exam?
Anirudh: For this, I accepted that it’s not working, so it’s better to move on to English and Quant instead of wasting more time.
28. You tried your best, which was a good approach! Which section was the easiest and the toughest one? Also, which section of the exam drained your energy?
Anirudh: Well, there was nothing tough this time. GK was far easier. The Logical section was weird, as it had an Analytical part. After the Logical section, I moved to English, which was actually easy. Since I was solving papers in a hurry, I made 2-3 silly mistakes in English, which actually drained my energy. So, even after the exam, I was thinking I lost 6 marks as it was important, which I later learned were errors.
29. Did you expect this rank, AIR 8?
Anirudh: I had aimed for under 100. Since I was scoring well in my mocks, I was confident that I would come under 100.
30. What strategy did you follow on the day of the exam?
Anirudh: I opted for flexibility. As I said earlier, I always attempted the Legal section first, so I quickly glanced at the paper to decide which section to attempt first, and within 1-2 minutes, I decided to attempt the easier sections first.
31. According to you, what are the common mistakes students make while preparing for the CLAT?
Anirudh: Not doing mock analysis, preparing GK at the last, and neglecting Quant.
32. What’s your advice to the students who don’t like Maths? What should they do?
Anirudh: I would say they have to develop an interest in Math. They must refer to books to understand the concepts and keep practicing. Practice and mock analysis are the only solutions to clearing the CLAT exam.
33. What was your silliest nickname?
Anirudh: Betu
34. Which Indian or Marvel superhero would you prefer?
Anirudh: Captain America.
35. One superpower you wish that you had?
Anirudh: Time travel
36. What’s the best piece of advice you have been given?
Anirudh: One of my friends told me to keep analyzing mock, which was when I wasn’t doing analysis. I used to do mock analysis for 30 minutes to 1 hour, so it was during that time that my friend advised me on this, which later helped me a lot.
37. Which is your favourite TV series or movie?
Anirudh: There are many. I love watching 90s movies, to name one, it’s Maine Pyaar Kiya.
38. Which NLU are you preferring?
Anirudh: NLU Bangalore
39. What was your reaction when you saw AIR 8 on the scorecard?
Anirudh: Actually, I was sleeping when the results were announced. I saw my result half awake and felt happy, but I couldn’t react because I was sleepy. The next day, I reconfirmed again and was delighted.
40. What are 5 tips you will give those preparing for the CLAT 2026, and 1 motivation that worked for you?
Anirudh:
- Analyse your mock
- Prepare a vocabulary list
- Keep revising GK frequently
- Clear the concepts of all the subjects
- Attempt mock tests as much as possible
I am spiritual, and I used to meditate to keep myself motivated. I always wanted to make my parents proud, which is the best feeling.
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