How important is the LNAT

Why is the LNAT used?

Naturally, the competition for places offered at each LNAT university is fierce, given the academic reputation of these institutions and the quality of teaching which their names commit to.

Created in 2004, the LNAT is used to aid admissions tutors in comparing applicants with similar grades and applications. Where candidates have different qualifications (e.g. A level versus IB), the LNAT can be instrumental in deciding who to award a university place to.

The weighting placed on the test differs between universities and it is useful to bear this in mind when sitting the test, using it to motivate you to do your best. Reference to each university's requirements can be found here.

Arbitio therefore seeks to provide students with preparation materials in an environment centred around excelling in both the multiple choice and essay components of the test.

LNAT as a gatekeeper

Your LNAT score can sometimes be used as a gatekeeper: it can be determinative of whether your application progresses onto the next stage of assessment. The LNAT universities are often notoriously oversubscribed for the number of places which they are able to offer on their law courses. This is often why some applicant-to-offer-holder ratios are so high; UCL on average only makes offers to approx. 20% of its applicants and LSE 16.8%. Further, since there is a significant crossing over with Oxbridge applicants, these figures should be contextualised within a narrower pool of candidates. (Sources for this data)

Looking specifically at universities, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge both firstly consider your academic achievements and the LNAT score together to decide on which candidates to shortlist for the interview stage. After the interview, the admissions tutor considers all components of your application holistically in the final decision stage - including the LNAT score, essay, academic achievements, Personal Statement and interview performance together. Do consider, however, that pretty much all Oxbridge applicants will have top grades, so the LNAT is where the greatest differences are found between candidates, at least at this stage.

UCL also follows a very clear-cut step-by-step process for its applicants. Firstly, it considers the UCAS exam grades and predictions and if these pass the threshold, the LNAT score from the multiple-choice component of the test will be consulted. Only if the score is sufficiently high will the whole application progress to an Admissions tutor. The Admissions tutor will then read the LNAT essay and the remaining components of an applicant's submission (namely the Personal Statement and the Academic reference) to make the final decision. UCL openly states that it places high importance in its selections: “The essay carries considerable weight in the selection process at UCL”.

Whilst the exact process differs from university to university - and some do not give a clear answer as to the role of the LNAT for them in particular - it is clear that if you perform poorly, your LNAT score could prevent you from further consideration at an early stage.

LNAT as part of the application process

Aside from allowing you to progress in the admission application, the LNAT can also be a factor that 'makes or breaks' an application; in 2018/9 the University of Glasgow for example explicitly stated that they used the LNAT score to determine which candidates received an offer. It is worth remembering however that each admissions cycle is and Glasgow is not openly committed to this strategy of admissions unless facing high application numbers once again. Despite this, awareness of such policies should be at the back of your mind when sitting the test.

LSE, University of Bristol and Durham University commit to assessing their candidates based on a holistic assessment of each application. This means that every component of an application is looked at together (UCAS grades, Personal Statement, Academic reference and the LNAT) and these can be weighed against each other. For example, a better LNAT score may mean that a candidate with lower academic grades is still considered and vice versa, a candidate with a lower LNAT score but higher academic achievements will also be considered. All components are looked at together and contribute to make an overall impression of the candidate.

Note that even University of Oxford and UCL consider both the LNAT score and its essay in a holistic manner at the very final stage of their application assessment.

LSE and Durham University do not reveal the exact proportion for which the LNAT counts in their holistic assessment of an application.

How important really is the test?

As explained above, in any admissions cycle you can be sure of facing high competition from a large number of great candidates. This makes it hard for admission tutors to discern between a large pool of candidates and decisions of offer are therefore often tough to make. Remember though to keep it all in perspective: you are not in competition with others per se but really with yourself - have I worked throughout my education to develop skills which will match the standard required of excelling at a given law degree? At the end of the day, admissions tutors want students who they are confident about teaching and helping succeed in their degrees!

And remember, that for some universities, you can to some extent “improve” your numerical score with a really good essay. Universities which openly place high importance on the essay component are: University of Oxford (and presumably Cambridge, given what their old admissions test called CLT used to be about writing essays), UCL, University of Bristol and Durham University.

An overview

It has been made clear that whilst LNAT universities all place different weight on the test, ultimately it does play a significant role in the decision-making process. Universities do treat it seriously because of how telling it is of a candidate's specific aptness for a law degree.

In summary, LNAT can be at most completely decisive and at least important.

We hope that the above information shows you that a successful admission is attainable with the right approach and LNAT is not a thing to fear, but rather your opportunity to impress and stand out.

Indeed, Arbitio works to challenge your preparation through most extensive set of LNAT tests under simulated exam conditions, so why not start preparing today!