LNAT preparation for law, live online
The LNAT has a structure candidates routinely misread. Section A is multiple choice and produces the score universities see. Section B is an essay that is not centrally marked at all: it is passed to the universities, who read it themselves. So the essay is neither a formality nor a scored section, it is a writing sample in front of an admissions tutor. Section A, meanwhile, rewards close reading of what a passage actually claims, which is narrower than general comprehension.
Exam format
What the LNAT actually looks like
The structure, the timing and the scoring, stated plainly — before anything about a course.
- Length
- 2 hours 15 minutes
- Questions
- 42 multiple choice in Section A, one essay in Section B
- Scored
- Section A produces the score; Section B is not centrally marked
Section A — 42 questions, 95 minutes
Twelve passages with three or four questions each, on argument, inference and what a text does and does not assert. This is the part that produces the number universities receive.
Section B — one essay, 40 minutes
One question from a choice of three, argued in about 500 to 600 words. It is not marked centrally: it is passed to the universities you applied to, who read it themselves.
- That Section B is unmarked centrally and read locally is the most misunderstood fact about this test. It is neither a formality nor a scored section — it is a writing sample in front of an admissions tutor.
- It is not a test of legal knowledge and there is no syllabus. What it rewards is precise reading and disciplined argument, both of which are trainable and neither of which is a matter of revision.
Before you start
Is LNAT preparation right for you?
Who it suits. Law applicants who need LNAT preparation in close reading and written argument.
When to check another option. LSAT preparation or teaching legal knowledge as a substitute for the tested skills. Confirm which test each law course requires.
Why it matters
What a LNAT score is for
The LNAT is required by a small group of the most competitive UK law faculties, and among applicants with near-identical A-Level predictions it is one of the few things that separates them. Because it tests reading and argument rather than knowledge, it also does something a personal statement cannot: it shows an admissions tutor how you think under time, unedited and unhelped.
Coverage
What the preparation covers
The ground a course goes over. A group course takes it in its published order; for one-to-one lessons, how much of it you need and in what order is what the diagnostic decides.
- Section A: argument, inference, and what a passage does and does not assert
- The answer traps built from a plausible reading the text does not support
- Section B: choosing the question you can actually argue in forty minutes
- Essay structure that holds a position rather than surveying both sides
- How each of your universities weighs the LNAT against your grades
Where marks go
Where candidates lose marks on the LNAT
Not a list of study tips. These are the specific ways this particular test takes marks off people who know the material.
Choosing the answer that is true
Section A asks what the passage supports, not what is correct about the world. The most attractive wrong answers are statements that are true and unsupported, and candidates who read for subject matter pick them consistently.
Treating Section B as optional
It is unmarked centrally, which candidates hear as unimportant. It is sent to the universities and read by the people deciding on you — which makes it one of the highest-leverage forty minutes in the application.
Writing a balanced essay
Forty minutes and six hundred words do not accommodate a survey of both sides. An essay that argues one position well reads as legal thinking; one that lists considerations reads as avoidance.
Choosing the essay question you know most about
Knowledge is not what is being assessed. The right choice is the question you can construct the clearest argument on in forty minutes, which is frequently not the one you have opinions about.
Running out of time in Section A
Ninety-five minutes for forty-two questions across twelve passages is workable but not generous. Candidates who read each passage exhaustively before looking at the questions lose the last two passages entirely.
Preparing by reading about law
There is no syllabus and no legal content. Time spent on legal background is time not spent on the two things measured: precise reading and argument under a clock.
Lesson format
One-to-one, or a private group
Private group · 30 hours of live lessons
There is no open LNAT group course, but three or more students preparing together can have a group of their own, with the lesson days and times agreed with them. What it covers and what it costs are in the prices below.
One-to-one
One-to-one lessons come with written feedback on your own essays, the part of this exam that cannot be practised from a book.
How it runs
How the teaching works
A diagnostic before one-to-one lessons are planned
One-to-one lessons start by finding out where the marks are actually going. That is not a formality: on most of these tests the gap a student describes and the gap the diagnostic shows are different, and hours spent on the described one are hours wasted.
Teaching in the order your deadline allows
One-to-one lessons follow your order, not a syllabus's. We start with whatever is costing you most and work outwards rather than marching through material you have already half covered.
Timed work from early, not saved for the end
Untimed accuracy is a poor predictor of a timed score, and finding that out three weeks before the test is too late. Timed sections start in the first fortnight, short at first.
Review and progress checks
Review looks beyond the mark: which errors recur, whether the reasoning is clearer and how accuracy holds under time pressure. Bring earlier attempts to the discussion so the next practice has a specific purpose.
All of it runs in the browser, live, with a teacher on the other end. There are no recordings sold as a course and no premises to travel to.
Timeline
How long LNAT preparation takes
A rough shape rather than a promise. People arrive at different starting points and the plan is built around yours, but this is what a full run usually looks like.
- 1
Two to three months out — diagnostic
A full timed sitting, both sections. It establishes the Section A pace and produces a first essay to work from, which is more useful than any amount of discussion about what the essay should be.
- 2
Weeks 2–6 — Section A technique
Argument structure, inference, and the specific trap of the true-but-unsupported answer. Practised in timed sets rather than untimed, because the pace is half the difficulty.
- 3
Weeks 4–8 — essays, written and marked
Your own essays under timed conditions with written feedback, weekly. This is the part that cannot be self-taught and the part most candidates neglect entirely.
- 4
Final two weeks — full sittings
Complete papers to time so that the real one is not the first time you have written a fortieth-minute conclusion.
FAQ
LNAT questions we get asked
- Is the essay scored?
- Not centrally. Section A produces the number universities receive; Section B is sent to them and read by the admissions staff themselves. That makes it unscored and important at the same time, which is the fact candidates most often get wrong.
- Do I need to know any law?
- None. There is no syllabus and no legal content. It tests precise reading and disciplined argument, which is why reading about law is one of the least efficient ways to prepare.
- How long should I prepare?
- Two to three months is usually enough, because the skills are narrow. What takes the time is the essays, which improve with marked attempts rather than with reading.
- Which universities require it?
- A small group of competitive UK law faculties, and the list changes. Check the current requirement for each of your choices rather than assuming, and check how heavily each weighs it.
- Can I retake it?
- Once per admissions cycle. That makes rehearsing complete timed sittings more valuable than on a test you could sit repeatedly.
- Is it taught one-to-one?
- Mostly, because the useful part is written feedback on your own essays. If three or more of you are sitting it, we can run a private group: twenty 90-minute lessons, about eight essays marked by the tutor, and the three official practice tests.
Pricing
What LNAT preparation costs
Shown in US dollars. Charged in US dollars — there is no conversion at checkout to be surprised by.
One-to-one lessons
One-to-one lessons come with written feedback on your own essays, the part of this exam that cannot be practised from a book.
Single lesson
One 90-minute lesson, to see how it goes.
$100Book10 lessons
Prepaid, usable across subjects where the exam has them.
20 lessons
The usual choice for a full preparation run.
Private group · 30 hours of live lessons
There is no open LNAT group course. When three or more of you are preparing together, we open a group of your own, in 90-minute lessons.
- 20 lessons of 90 minutes, two a week: Section A 13, the Section B essay 3, three review lessons and an essay workshop
- About eight essays written as homework and marked by your tutor
- The three official LNAT practice tests, sat as mocks
- Opens once three or more students come together
- Lesson days and times agreed with the group
- Every lesson recorded, to rewatch for 14 days
- One payment, no instalments
- Per student$440
Paid by card on this site, in US dollars, through Stripe. The exact amount is shown before you pay.
Where this comes from
Everything above about the format of the LNAT is taken from LNAT Consortium, the body that sets it. Last checked against that source on . If you find something here that no longer matches it, tell us and we will correct it.