How to prepare for the LNAT: 12-week study plan
A 12-week LNAT preparation plan covering reading, targeted Section A practice, full mocks and Section B essay work.
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Try Jurica for freeThe LNAT Consortium tells candidates that there are no facts to learn for the test. Preparing for it therefore means practising three things: reading an argument closely, answering multiple-choice questions within the time allowed, and writing a short argued essay. The plan below spreads this over 12 weeks in three stages, and there is a four-week version for candidates who start later. If you are not yet sure what the test involves, start with what is the LNAT.
Check how many weeks you have before you choose a plan. For 2027 entry, the deadline for Oxford and Cambridge has passed (candidates had to sit the LNAT by 15 October 2026). You must sit the test by 31 December 2026 for King’s College London, LSE and UCL, by 13 January 2027 for Bristol and Durham, and by 25 January 2027 for Glasgow and SOAS (book by 20 January). If you start at the end of October 2026, only the Glasgow and SOAS deadline leaves you a full 12 weeks, so if you are applying to any of the others you will need a shorter plan.
How should I divide the 12 weeks?
We recommend three stages (four weeks of practice without a clock, five weeks of timed practice and three weeks of full mock papers), with four to six hours of work a week.
The stages are in this order because it is easier to find out why you choose wrong answers when you are not also under time pressure, so the clock should come in only once your accuracy is steady. The table below sets out what to do in each stage.
| Weeks | Section A | Section B |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | Sit one official practice paper under timed conditions in the first week, to give yourself a starting score. Then work through passages without a clock, and for every question explain why each wrong option is wrong, even when you chose the right one. | Write two or three essays without a time limit, so that you can find a structure that suits you. |
| 5 to 9 | Time yourself one passage at a time. The test gives you 95 minutes for 12 passages, which is about 8 minutes a passage (some passages have three questions and some have four). Use your record of errors to decide which question types to practise. | Write essays within the 40-minute limit, and ask someone to comment on your argument and structure as well as your grammar. |
| 10 to 12 | Sit full 95-minute papers, at the time of day when you will sit the test, and review every question you got wrong. We suggest stopping new practice about 48 hours before your test, so that you arrive rested. | Write one timed essay straight after each full paper, because in the test Section B follows Section A with no return to the multiple-choice questions. |
The two official practice papers date from 2010 and give five answer options for each question, whereas the Consortium said in 2024 that the test itself now has four. Your score on them is therefore only a rough guide.
How should I prepare for Section A?
You prepare for Section A by reading each passage carefully and then reviewing every mistake you make. Section A has 42 questions on 12 passages, and you have 95 minutes for all of them.
There are four habits to build during the plan:
- Read the passage slowly before you answer. The Consortium’s own advice is that, if you skim a passage first, you should then go back and read it slowly, thinking about the exact meaning of each sentence. Many candidates who skim and go straight to the questions lose more time re-reading than they saved. In general, the way you read a passage affects your timing more than your reading speed does.
- When you review a question, sort each wrong option into a category, for example a claim the passage does not support, an answer that is only partly correct, or a conclusion that goes further than the passage allows. This helps you recognise the same kind of option when you meet it again.
- Keep a record of the types of error you make as well as your score. For example, a score of 26 made up of scattered errors needs a different remedy from a score of 26 in which you miss the same type of question each time.
- Answer every question, because you get a point for each right answer and no points are taken off for a wrong one. If you are unsure, rule out the options you know to be wrong and choose from those that are left. You can also mark questions for review and come back to them, but only until you start Section B.
How should I prepare for Section B?
You prepare for Section B by writing timed essays and asking someone else to read them, because it is hard to judge your own argument. In the test you answer one of three questions in 40 minutes, and the Consortium recommends about 500 to 600 words, with a recommended maximum of 750.
The test centre does not mark the essay, and it does not count towards your LNAT score. It is sent to your universities, and each one uses it in its own way. For example, Cambridge marks the essay centrally and Durham says that it always considers both the multiple-choice score and the essay, whereas LSE uses only the multiple-choice score for most applicants. See what’s a good LNAT score for how each university uses the test.
We recommend writing six to eight timed essays over the 12 weeks. In each one, state your position in the first two sentences, answer at least one counter-argument, and end with a conclusion that adds something to your opening (for example, the conditions under which your answer would change). If a teacher or tutor can comment on your argument, ask them to read at least two of your essays.
What if I have less than 12 weeks?
You can keep the same three stages and let them overlap, as in the four-week version below.
- In week one, practise without a clock and write two untimed essays.
- In weeks two and three, combine timed passages with timed essays.
- In week four, sit full mock papers only, each followed by a timed essay.
If you have between five and eleven weeks, we recommend shortening the first stage and keeping the last, because full timed papers are the closest practice you can get to the test day itself.
Frequently asked questions
How many practice questions should I do in total?
There is no official target. In general, how carefully you review your answers is more important than how many questions you complete, so write down why each answer was wrong and check whether the same error comes up again.
Should I use a course, a book, or only free material?
Any of the three can work. Which one suits you depends on your budget, on how much structure you need, and on how your universities use the essay. See LNAT prep options compared for a comparison of courses, tutors, self-paced platforms and books.
Do official past papers exist?
No. The Consortium does not publish the papers candidates have sat, because each paper is generated from a large bank of questions. It does publish two practice papers, a preparation guide and sample essay questions, all free, and we suggest starting with these, since they come from the Consortium. See free LNAT practice resources for how to use them.
Is it worth buying a prep book?
A book gives you more practice questions with explanations, which can be useful once you have used the official papers. However, the three main books have copyright dates from before the Consortium’s note in autumn 2024 that the test has four answer options, so their questions may have five. See the best LNAT prep books for a comparison of the main titles.
How we checked this
The format, the timings, the scoring rules and the essay guidance come from the LNAT Consortium’s pages on the test format, on preparing for the test and its hints and tips, and the deadlines from its dates page, all read on 24 October 2026. The statement that the test has four answer options comes from a note the Consortium showed on its practice-test page from autumn 2024 until at least July 2026; no live Consortium page now gives the number. How Cambridge, Durham and LSE use the essay comes from their own LNAT and LLB pages for 2027 entry, read the same day. The plan itself, and the weekly hours, are our own recommendation. More detail on each university is in our university admissions guides.
Continue reading
Where to find practice material, and what a strong score looks like.
Comparison
LNAT prep options compared
A comparison of courses, self-paced platforms, tutors and books.
Read the guide →Comparison
Free LNAT practice resources
Which free materials are worth using before you pay for anything.
Read the guide →Scoring
What’s a good LNAT score?
National averages and the per-university target table.
Read the guide →