Updated 24.10.2026• 6 min read• Overview

What is the LNAT? Test format, scoring, and universities

What the National Admissions Test for Law involves: its two sections, timings, scoring and fee, and the nine UK universities that use it for 2027 entry.

Jurica Research

LNAT preparation

The LNAT (the National Admissions Test for Law) is a computer-based test that lasts two hours and fifteen minutes. For 2027 entry, nine UK universities use it, together with your grades and the rest of your UCAS application, to choose between applicants for law. Despite its name, the LNAT does not test any knowledge of law. It tests your reading of short argumentative passages and your ability to write an argued essay under time pressure.

What does the test consist of?

The LNAT has two sections, which you sit one after the other at the same appointment: a multiple-choice section (Section A), which lasts 95 minutes, and an essay (Section B), which lasts 40 minutes.

Section A has 42 questions on 12 short argumentative passages, with three or four questions on each passage. You can go back and change your answers while the 95 minutes last, but you cannot return to Section A once Section B has begun. In Section B you write one essay, choosing from three questions. The Consortium recommends a maximum of 750 words (ideally about 500 to 600), and it describes the essay as a chance to show that you can argue economically and come to a conclusion. For this reason, you should choose a question on which you can take a clear position and defend it within the time.

The Consortium’s preparation guide places its questions in seven general categories (law, philosophy, politics, media, science, ethics and education). It states that no prior knowledge of these subjects is required, although it recommends a general awareness of current affairs.

You sit the test on a computer at a Pearson VUE test centre. There is no paper version, and you cannot take it at home or at school. You make any notes on a small whiteboard that the centre provides, and you may not take a dictionary, books or papers into the test room.

How is the LNAT scored?

Section A is marked by computer, which gives you a mark out of 42 that the Consortium calls your LNAT score. Section B is not marked by the test centre and does not count towards that score.

You receive one mark for each correct answer in Section A, and no marks are taken off for a wrong answer, so you should answer every question, even when you have to guess. There is no pass mark. The Consortium last published a national average for 2015/16, when candidates averaged about 23 out of 42 (just over half the questions), and it has not made a later figure public. Some universities publish more recent figures for their own applicants. UCL, for example, reports that the LNAT scores it received in 2024/25 averaged 23, and Oxford reports that its 2,115 Law applicants in the 2025-26 admissions round averaged 24.94.

The essay is sent to the universities you have applied to, and each one decides how to use it. Cambridge marks it centrally, and at UCL an Admissions Tutor marks it. Oxford marks it with a comparative-judgement system (No More Marking), in which markers compare essays two at a time and the system turns their decisions into a score; Oxford has described the scale as 1 to 100. LSE, on the other hand, uses only the multiple-choice score for most applicants, and it reads the essay only for some, such as applicants with less well-known qualifications. As a result, there is no single official score that combines the two sections. For the scores that are competitive at each university, see what’s a good LNAT score.

Which universities require the LNAT?

For 2027 entry, nine UK universities use the LNAT: Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Glasgow, King’s College London, LSE, Oxford, SOAS and UCL. Eight of them require it for their law degrees, with a few exceptions for particular courses, and SOAS requires it only from applicants with non-standard qualifications. No other UK university asks for it.

Each university sets its own requirements every year, so check its course page before you rely on this table. See which universities require the LNAT for the courses covered and each university’s deadline, or good law schools that don’t require the LNAT if you would prefer not to sit the test. Outside the UK, IE University in Spain, Singapore University of Social Sciences and O.P. Jindal Global University in India also use the LNAT in certain circumstances.

How do I book the test, and what does it cost?

You register with the Consortium, then book and pay for an appointment at a Pearson VUE test centre on any day that has a free slot before your universities’ deadlines. The fee is £75 at test centres in the UK and EU and £120 at test centres elsewhere.

There are four things to note when you book:

1. The fee is set by the country of the test centre, and your nationality and home address do not affect it. One sitting, paid for once, covers every LNAT university on your UCAS form. If you are a UK or EU applicant receiving certain state benefits, you can apply for a bursary that waives the fee, but you must apply before you book.
2. Each university sets a date by which you must have sat the test. For 2027 entry, booking opened on 1 August 2026 and testing began on 1 September 2026. The deadline for Oxford and Cambridge (15 October 2026) has passed. You can still sit the test by 31 December 2026 for King’s, LSE and UCL, by 13 January 2027 for Bristol and Durham, and by 25 January 2027 for Glasgow and SOAS. Two groups have later dates of their own: applicants to Oxford’s Foundation Year in Law (13 January 2027) and mature applicants in Cambridge’s January round (25 January 2027). The dates change slightly from year to year, so check them on lnat.ac.uk before you book.
3. You may sit the LNAT only once in each admissions cycle. If you sit it twice, the second result is void, so we do not recommend booking an early sitting as a practice run.
4. Universities see your score before you do. Your own copy is emailed to you in mid-February if you sit the test on or before 26 January, and in mid-August if you sit it later.

Frequently asked questions