National Admissions Test for Law

The National Admissions Test for Law, or LNAT, is an admissions aptitude test that was adopted in 2004 by eight UK university law programmes[1] as an admissions requirement for home applicants. The test was established at the leading urgency of the University of Oxford as an answer to the problem facing universities trying to select from an increasingly competitive pool with similarly high A-levels. With effect from its second year, the LNAT is required for UK and overseas applicants alike. There are now nine participating law schools and hundreds of test centres worldwide.

It is used alongside standard methods of selection such as A Level (or their global equivalent) results, university applications, and admissions interviews, to give a more accurate and rounded impression of the student’s abilities. The LNAT now has over 500 test centres worldwide and twelve participating law schools.[2][3]

Format

The LNAT is 135 minutes long and consists of two sections. The test taker is allotted 40 minutes to complete the essay and 95 minutes to answer 42 multiple-choice questions aimed at measuring reading comprehension and logical reasoning skills. The reading portion contains twelve short passages, with three or four questions about each passage. The questions typically ask for terms and arguments from the reading to be defined by inference. The essay portion is 40 minutes long and involves the candidate answering one of three available essay questions, which are generally open-ended prompts that can focus on any one of a wide variety of issues. The reading section is scored out of 42 and the essays are individually marked by proctors at the respective universities.[4]

Universities

The universities currently using the LNAT in their admissions procedures are:[5]

Results

The LNAT was first administered on 3 November 2004.[18] The average score for the reading portion was 13.16 out of 24. Four test-takers received a 21 out of 24, the highest score achieved;[19] the lowest score achieved by the 4,345 candidates was 3.[20] Men performed slightly better than women on the multiple-choice portion, scoring 13.37 and 13.02 on average, respectively.[20] A University of Bristol report on the scores expressed dissatisfaction with the ability of law candidates to develop "reasoned arguments".[20] Men and women scored approximately equally to each other, in contrast to the distribution of A grades in A-level law, which were awarded to 19.3% of women and only 14.1% of men.[20]

The LNAT consortium also reported statistically insignificant differences in scores between state and independent students. Research conducted by the University of Bristol concluded: "the impact of the LNAT both in general and on specific supposedly sensitive widening participation groups has been negligible".[21]

Average scores

Entrants' mean average scores for the multiple choice element of the test in each year are as follows:

Year Score Percentage
2006/2007 8/30 26.6
2008/2009 16.7/30 55.6
2010/2011 17.7/42 42.1
2011/2012 18.6/42 44.3[22]
2012/2013 21.3/42 50.7
2013/2014 21.1/42 50.2
2014/2015 22.3/42 53.1
2015/2016 22.9/42 54.5
2016/2017 17.9/42 42.6
2017/2018 19.9/42 47.4
2018/2019 23/42 54.8
2019/2020 21.5/42 51.2[23]
2020/2021 20.8/42 49.5
2021/2022 20/42 47.6
2022/2023 22/42 52.4
2023/2024 23/42 54.8
2024/2025 21/42 50.0
2025/2026 21.8/42 51.9

References

  1. ^ Education: New entry test for law students, BBC News, UK.
  2. ^ "Legal | LNAT". lnat.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  3. ^ "What is it for | LNAT". lnat.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  4. ^ "Test format | LNAT". lnat.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  5. ^ "Do I need to sit the test? | LNAT". lnat.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  6. ^ University, Durham. "Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT) - Durham University". www.durham.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Admissions Test | IE University". University. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  8. ^ London, King's College. "Law LLB - Entry Requirements". King's College London. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  9. ^ Science, London School of Economics and Political. "Entry requirements". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  10. ^ "Online application form". lawadmissions.jgu.edu.in. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  11. ^ "Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT) - Law Entry Requirements". www.suss.edu.sg. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Admissions tests | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  13. ^ "Undergraduate entry requirements | SOAS". www.soas.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  14. ^ White, Alex. "LNAT Advice and Guidance | Faculty of Laws". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  15. ^ "LNAT | Study at Bristol | University of Bristol". www.bristol.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 16 July 2025. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  16. ^ "National Admissions Test for Law (LNAT) | Undergraduate Study". www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  17. ^ "University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Law - Undergraduate - Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT)". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  18. ^ Bristol, University of (3 February 2004). "National admission test for law: universities set to improve selection". www.bristol.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  19. ^ Ford, Liz (3 February 2005). "Pupils achieve 'same marks' in law admission tests". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  20. ^ a b c d "Law candidates 'not good enough'". BBC News. 3 February 2005. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  21. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 2014-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ Pearson VUE's email to candidates
  23. ^ Pearson VUE's email to candidates
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.