Tanvi Gupta, the only girl in the Top 5 of CLAT 2025 and a powerhouse of discipline and dedication. A Commerce with Maths student, Tanvi started her focused CLAT prep in Class 11-drawing inspiration from her sister (CLAT 2019 AIR 12) and uncle, both from legal backgrounds. With a smart strategy of daily GK revision, rigorous mock analysis, and time management, she secured AIR 5 and now dreams of joining NLSIU Bangalore. In this exclusive interview, Tanvi opens up about her prep journey, challenges, and tips for aspirants, along with a fun peek into her love for Harry Potter, devotional music, and her wish to have the power to disappear!
CLAT Topper Tanvi Gupta Interview
1. How does being a woman in a male-dominated field feel since you are the only girl in the top 5?
Tanvi: It feels amazing and exciting about the next leap in the journey.
2. Tanvi, the aim of ‘Exam Charcha’ is to help aspirants learn from toppers like you. Could you briefly share your CLAT journey with us?
Tanvi: Well, I have had law in my mind for a very long time, since I think 6th or 7th grade, because I used to love social sciences, and law was a field that I was naturally attracted towards. But CLAT became the final exam that I had to sit for in around 9th or 10th grade, when I was serious that, okay, CLAT is the examination I want to appear for. I started my CLAT somewhere in the 11th grade and continued it until my CLAT examination.
3. That’s great! Are you a first-generation lawyer?
Tanvi: No, my uncle is a lawyer, and my sister is a graduate medalist. She also prepared for the CLAT in 2019 and was ranked 12.
4. That’s incredible! Looks like it’s in your genes—your sister got AIR 12, and now you’ve secured a single-digit rank. How did that feel?
Tanvi: Not really. When I was done with my examination, I knew that I had done quite well there, so I expected to be in the top 3 or 4, but rank 5 was not at all expected.
5. Is it really the best part of your 2025?
Tanvi: Yeah, absolutely. The results came in 2024, so that day was the best day of 2024.
6. What challenges did you face while preparing for the CLAT?
Tanvi: One of the biggest challenges for every aspirant is some low mock scores, which dishearten you and make you feel like quitting the journey here, and some sections also where you feel a little uncomfortable. For me, it was GK. Those 2 or 3 sections are the ones that make you feel uncomfortable and disheartened. Further, these challenges are the same for every aspirant, so you need not worry about them; just stay focused and work hard on them.
7. We spoke to AIR 1 and 2, and both found GK the toughest due to its vastness and unpredictability. Do you feel the same way? How was your GK preparation?
Tanvi: Absolutely. GK is that one subject you can never feel fully prepared for. No matter how many compendiums you read or how much material you go through, you’ll always feel like something is missing. That’s because you have no idea which topic might show up. And with CLAT being passage-based, where five or six questions come from a single topic, it gets even more nerve-wracking. You start thinking, ‘If I miss this one topic, I might lose five or six questions right there.’ That’s why GK is the one section most people feel uncomfortable with.
8. Tanvi, which stream are you from?
Tanvi: I’m from Commerce with maths.
9. Will you be choosing BBA with LLB?
Tanvi: BA LLB would be the option for me.
10. Okay good! What are your long-term goals after law school?
Tanvi: I’m fascinated by the classic fields of corporate law and the judiciary, but I also want to explore the different fields that law offers. Many different fields within law are springing up, so I want to explore them through various experiences, and then choose the best venue for myself.
11. Apart from GK, which section did you find most challenging in CLAT? Many struggle with logical and legal reasoning—how did you tackle those?
Tanvi: In my journey, my strong sections were Critical Reasoning and Math. I used to struggle with Legal because it’s that one section where you often feel tempted to add extra information. In the CLAT exam, the questions in the Legal section are strictly based on the passage provided. But while attempting them, you might think, ‘This part of the law wasn’t in the passage, but it applies here,’ and feel like using that outside knowledge, which you shouldn’t. That’s where I faced difficulty: stopping myself from adding extra information or sometimes struggling to fully comprehend a specific part of the passage. So, Legal was the section I found most challenging, while CR and QD were my strengths.
12. CLAT tests legal reasoning, not legal knowledge. Would you agree?
Tanvi: Yeah, CLAT really tests your comprehension skills, not how much you have already learned about the law.
11. In your opinion, how important are mock tests and previous years’ questions for an aspirant who’s preparing for CLAT 2025?
Tanvi: They’re the most important part of your whole preparation because they give you the taste of the examination well before it. You really need to know what you have to study and what not. That comes from the PYQs and the mock tests only, so you really need to go through the mock tests and the CLAT Previous Year Question Papers. Also, know which section you lag in, and work on that section. Mock tests and PYQs are definitely very important for every aspirant.
12. According to every aspirant, only giving mock tests is not enough. You have to analyze your mock test. How did you analyze your mock test?
Tanvi: During CLAT preparation, one of my teachers once told me to treat every CLAT mock test as if it were the last one on the planet. Every time you take a mock and see your scores, look at the questions you got right and wrong—sit with that mock for a while. Maybe even reattempt some of the questions. Try to understand the reason behind every answer: if you got a question wrong, figure out why. Where did your logic fail? And why is the correct option the right one? Go through each and every question again after the mock and analyze your mistakes so you can improve in the next one.
13. How much time did you use to give to your mock analyses?
Tanvi: It depends on how well that mock test went. But on average, 2 to 3 hours should be the average amount of time that you must spend on a mock test.
14. What was your lowest score initially when you started preparing?
Tanvi: In the initial mock tests, my score was somewhere between 70 and 80, but it slowly improved over time.
15. How did you boost yourself from the point that you had to score well to get into your dream college, NLU Bangalore?
Tanvi: I think it doesn’t feel disheartening when you get a low score in the initial mocks. But if the same thing happens in the last two to three months of your preparation, it can be really shocking—and that happens to almost every aspirant. For me, it happened in November, just three to four weeks before the exam. I took a mock and scored much lower than my usual average. I was genuinely shaken, wondering, “What just happened?”
It took me some time to process, but then I reminded myself that the purpose of mocks is to help you identify where you’re going wrong. Scoring another 100 doesn’t help as much as realizing your weak spots. So, don’t feel disheartened by a bad mock score. Instead, go through that mock thoroughly, analyze your mistakes, and understand the problematic sections. Learn from them—and don’t stress too much about the numbers.
16. You mentioned feeling disheartened by your mock scores in November. How did you overcome that self-doubt and keep going?
Tanvi: My biggest support was my family, my sister, and one of the fantastic teachers I had in my CLAT preparation. Every time I used to get a low mock score or feel disheartened about the whole preparation, I would go to my parents, my sister, or that one particular teacher and tell him, “Okay, I’m feeling low about this particular subject or this mock, and they would help me out of it.”
17. What strategies did you follow from starting to now?
Tanvi: The most important thing to remember is not to ignore your weak sections, including GK. For some of you, quantitative aptitude or critical reasoning might feel challenging, but if you start ignoring these sections and leave them for the final stretch of your preparation, you’ll feel even more overwhelmed. So, from the very beginning of your preparation, make sure to focus equally on your less comfortable sections and work hard on them.
Many people think they’ll forget GK facts in a few months and plan to study GK only in the last couple of months. But don’t do that—it will pile up and make you feel like you can’t manage it. GK and your weaker sections need attention right from the start of your preparation.
18. Did you also follow the traditional or conventional part of studying, like preparing notes, preparing sticky notes, sticking them to your wall, and learning the small points you think you’ll forget? Did you do that, or were you just like you have a good memory?
Tanvi: Well, I didn’t make sticky notes and put them on my wall, but since GK is such a vast subject with so much to learn, you can never get enough of it. So, I used to create an online document where I would copy and paste everything I thought I might forget. I would read that document repeatedly—maybe every morning or whenever I had some free time. That was my strategy for GK.
19. What was your strategy for the vocabulary part of the language part?
Tanvi: Whenever you give a mock or read an article or newspaper, if you encounter any word or phrase that you feel you’re uncomfortable with or if you haven’t heard that word before, write it down along with its meaning, write the sentence where it is used, and reread it, so that would help you with your vocabulary.
20. There are so many vocabulary words you can’t remember them all, so how did you use to remember?
Tanvi: Going through them repeatedly and trying to use them in your day-to-day conversations really helps. Just writing them down on paper won’t be effective because you’ll likely forget them. So, try to read them again and again, use them whenever you’re talking to someone, or when you’re solving a passage. If you see that word again, it will help you remember it better. That’s what used to help me.
21. When people start preparing initially, they stay consistent, but in later months, they get demotivated, tired, or bored. How did you stay consistent throughout the year while preparing for CLAT 2025?
Tavni: My real, consistent preparation started in January 2024, when I was in 12th grade. Getting demotivated and tired is something every aspirant experiences, but you need to understand that if you truly want to crack this exam, such demotivation won’t help. You need people or factors to push you to your full potential, and you must work hard for this examination.
When I began preparing, I knew I had to make it to the finish line, so I gave it my all and put in every effort I had. Even if you don’t feel like studying or feel demotivated on a particular day, make sure you are even more motivated the next day—that mindset will help you succeed.
22. What was your idea of motivation?
Tanvi: Just a picture of NLU Bangalore will motivate you like anything. My sister’s graduation was in 2024, when I was preparing for the exam. We went there for her graduation ceremony. Being there in that college, seeing the professors there, seeing the whole procession of the Chief Justice and the other judges going, motivated me so much that I was like, okay, I have to make it happen.
23. How did you manage school and CLAT preparation together? Was it tough to do both?
Tanvi: When I was in 11th grade, I made sure my concepts were clear, especially in subjects like Maths and Accountancy. 12th-grade topics are mostly based on 11th-grade concepts, so it’s important to focus well on school in 11th and have a strong understanding of the basics.
In the initial months of my 12th grade, I tried balancing school and CLAT preparation. But around July, I realized I needed to focus more on CLAT, so my school academics had to take a step back. From that point onward, I concentrated more on CLAT. However, once my CLAT exam was over in December, I gave proper attention to my school studies again.
24. How did your school support you in your CLAT preparation journey?
Tanvi: My school was very supportive throughout my entire journey. When I told my teachers that I wanted to appear for the CLAT exam in December, which coincides with the preboards, they encouraged me to focus on the CLAT exam and assured me they would help with my school academics.
Like, in January, when the school is usually closed for 12th-grade students, I still went to school to study with my teachers. Often, it was just me and my teacher in the whole class. My school has been, and continues to be, very supportive. I’m genuinely grateful to them.
25. What are the top 5 strategies or tips you’d like to share with your juniors and future CLAT aspirants watching this video?
Tanvi:
- Focus on your weak sections from the beginning of your preparation. Never leave them for the last two months. Addressing them early will give you enough time to improve.
- Don’t save GK for the last stretch of your preparation. Many students think they can cover GK only in the final months because they’ll forget it otherwise. That’s not true. Study GK from the beginning—it will help you retain more and reduce pressure later.
- Don’t try to compensate for your weaknesses with your strengths. Many find Maths challenging and think their strong sections, like English and CR would cover for it. But this year, the English section was fairly easy and not a major differentiator. So, your weaknesses need separate focus—don’t ignore or avoid working on them.
- Consult your mentors, teachers, and family about your mock scores. Ask them for help analyzing your mistakes and understanding where you’re going wrong. Having someone experienced review your mocks can help identify areas you might miss on your own.
- Manage your time smartly during mocks—don’t try to finish all questions in the whole 2 hours. Set sectional time limits (e.g., 25 minutes for English, 25 minutes for CR), but overall, aim to complete the exam in about 1 hour 45 minutes. Leave the last 10-15 minutes for difficult or ambiguous questions, often in CLAT. This strategy helped me, especially with the AR set this year, which was tricky for many. At first, it may feel uncomfortable, but once you see the benefits, you’ll get used to it.
26. Your last advice is invaluable for the other aspirants as well. Which part of this year’s examination was the toughest?
Tanvi: The whole examination was relatively simpler this year, apart from some incorrect and ambiguous questions. One surprising aspect was the GK section because it was more like a reading comprehension (RC) section, where every answer was found within the passage. This was good because you didn’t have to rely on your memory. However, it was also quite problematic because, in mock tests, you generally solve GK questions in 7–8 minutes by picking answers you already know. But when you have to read the entire passage in detail, knowing that the answers come from the passage, it takes much more time. I think GK took about 20 minutes this year, making it a problematic section where you had to spend extra time reading.
Additionally, one difficult set in the Critical Reasoning (CR) section took a lot of time for many aspirants, making that part quite challenging as well.
27. What was your strategy for time management, and how did you manage the negative marking in the exam?
Tanvi: Firstly, regarding time management, I usually followed the strategy of completing the paper in 1 hour and 45 minutes and allocated my time accordingly. As for negative marking, you should obviously attempt the questions you know. For the ones where you’re around 60–70% sure of the answer, go ahead and mark them. But if you’re completely unsure or find the question ambiguous, don’t just randomly choose an option like A, B, C, or D. Avoid guessing blindly because negative marking can significantly reduce your score. Since the cut-offs are very close, even a 0.25 mark can make a big difference. So, attempt only those questions with at least some confidence level, and leave the ones you genuinely don’t know—don’t rely on luck.
28. Do you also prefer the elimination part while giving your exam?
Tanvi: Elimination is always helpful because sometimes you don’t know the right answer, but know the wrong options. By eliminating the wrong options, you can get to the correct answer.
29. What’s one habit of yours you want to give up?
Tanvi: Waking up late.
30. Which clothing brand is your favorite?
Tanvi: I don’t have any specifics, but that’s difficult for me to answer. I don’t have any particular one as my specific
40. What superpowers do you want to have and why?
Tanvi: Disappearing. I want to disappear, because it’s fun.
41. Which is your favorite TV series or movie?
Tanvi: Harry Potter in Hollywood and Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara in Bollywood.
42. Do you prefer 90s songs or you prefer Gen Z songs?
Tanvi: Somewhere in the mid-2000s and 2010s.
43. Which song is your favorite that you listen to when you’re feeling a little low and want to cheer yourself up?
Tanvi: Quite many. However, when I feel down, I listen to devotional songs and avoid Bollywood.
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