Jurica
Three chapters, built from primary admissions data.
LSE reads only the multiple-choice section of the LNAT for most applicants. Using LSE’s FOI replies, this chapter shows you how applicants and offer holders scored, how the chance of an offer rises with your score, and where your own score would place you.
Put what you’ve read into practice with a free diagnostic test and a full LNAT mock exam.
Try Jurica for freeEvery applicant to the LLB must sit the LNAT, but for most applicants LSE uses only the multiple-choice section (Section A). Its course page says that the essay “is not considered for most applicants”.[11] LSE sets no minimum score. It says the multiple-choice score may be used to help distinguish between similarly qualified applicants, as one part of a holistic assessment alongside your grades, personal statement, reference and contextual information.[12]
This makes LSE unusual among the LNAT universities: Oxford, Cambridge and UCL all mark the essay, as we explain below. LSE also interviews nobody,[19] so, in our view, your Section A score is the main evidence of your ability that LSE receives from outside your school.
Most of the figures in this chapter come from one Freedom of Information reply, FOI 4064. In it LSE listed the score of every applicant for 2021 entry who had a score on file (2,067 people), together with the decision on each application.[1] This kind of data is rare, and it is useful because it lets us work out the offer rate at each score, which averages alone cannot show. For the years since 2021 we have only averages, which we cover further down.
LSE first required the LNAT for 2019 entry, so its first LNAT candidates sat the test between 1 September 2018 and 20 January 2019.[13] LSE confirmed in an FOI reply that it holds no LNAT data for earlier years, because the test “was only introduced in 2019/0” (LSE’s label for 2019 entry).[2]
LSE explains on its entry requirements page that it receives a very high volume of highly qualified applicants for the LLB each year, and that the LNAT gives it additional information about their aptitude for law, to be used alongside its existing assessments.[12] Two things about LSE’s use of the test are worth knowing from the start:
For 2021 entry, the 2,067 applicants with a score on file averaged 22.3 out of 42, and the 345 who received an offer averaged 25.4.[1] The most common score was 24 (207 applicants), and half of all applicants scored 23 or less.
| Group | Number | Average | Lowest | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All applicants with a score | 2,067 | 22.30 | 0 | 36 |
| Offer holders | 345 | 25.37 | 14 | 35 |
As you can see, the offer holders’ scores are spread across most of the range, and the chart starts at 8 (two applicants scored 0). There are three things to notice here:
Note that 2,067 is not every application. LSE’s reply also lists 356 applicants with no score on file, and its published workbook counts 2,701 applications and 353 offers for 2021 entry.[1][17] The offer rate among applicants with a score was therefore 16.7% (345 of 2,067), against 13.1% across all applications in the workbook.
It rises steeply through the low and middle 20s and then levels off. For 2021 entry, 2.2% of applicants who scored below 18 received an offer, 11.6% of those who scored 18 to 23, 22.9% of those who scored 24 to 26 and about a third of those who scored 27 or more.[1]
| Score | Applicants | Offers | Offer rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 14 | 156 | 1 | 0.6% |
| 15 to 17 | 201 | 7 | 3.5% |
| 18 to 20 | 351 | 21 | 6.0% |
| 21 to 23 | 445 | 71 | 16.0% |
| 24 to 26 | 506 | 116 | 22.9% |
| 27 to 29 | 264 | 85 | 32.2% |
| 30 to 32 | 112 | 36 | 32.1% |
| 33 to 36 | 32 | 8 | 25.0% |
There are three things to notice here:
What score should you aim for? On the 2021 figures, we recommend aiming for at least 26 or 27. That puts you above the offer holders’ average of 25.4 and in the range where about a third of applicants received an offer. A score above 30 is good to have, but it did not raise the chance of an offer further, so once your practice scores are in the high 20s we recommend giving more of your time to your personal statement and your A-levels.
LSE has not released every applicant’s score for any later year, but it has given offer holders’ averages in several FOI replies. For all offer holders they were 26.0 for 2019 entry, 25.37 for 2021 entry and 25.52 for 2022 entry.[2][1][6] Two later replies list home offer holders only, and their averages are higher: 26.41 for 2023 entry and 27.10 for 2024/5 entry.[7][8] For 2024/5 entry a third reply also lists every offer holder’s score, and their average was 28.04.[31] The newest reply, of October 2026, gives 28 for all offer holders in what we take to be 2026 entry.[30]
| Year of entry | All offer holders | Home offer holders | What the reply covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 26.0 | 25.6 | Averages given by LSE;[2][4] a separate list of 497 offer holders’ scores averages 26.01[3] |
| 2020 or 2021 | 26 | n/a | “The years 2020-2021”, intake not stated[5] |
| 2021 | 25.37 | n/a | Our average of the 345 offer holders in FOI 4064[1] |
| 2022 | 25.52 | n/a | Average given by LSE[6] |
| 2023 | n/a | 26.41 | Our average of 110 home offer holders listed[7] |
| 2024/5 | 28.04 | 27.10 | Our averages of 438 offer holders’ scores[31] and of 224 home offer holders’ scores[8] |
| 2026 (our reading) | 28 | n/a | “Average or median” given by LSE; the reply names no year[30] |
There are four things to notice here:
Why have the averages risen? LSE does not say, and we can only suggest possible reasons: a larger field (applications rose from 2,653 for 2023 entry to 3,137 for 2026 entry),[18][30] differences in the difficulty of the test from year to year, or differences in who each list includes (LSE did not say whether the 110 listed for 2023 entry are all of its home offer holders). In general, we would treat 27 to 28 as the level at which LSE’s recent offer holders have scored. Remember that none of these averages is a minimum: LSE sets none.[12]
For students starting in September 2024, LSE gave the number of offers at each Section A score, for Home and international offer holders together.[31] Its list has 438 offer holders, close to the 440 offers that LSE’s dashboard records for that year.[18] Note that the reply covers offer holders only, so it shows where the offers went, not the chance of an offer at each score (for that, see the 2021 figures above).
As you can see, offers were spread widely. The average and the median were both 28, and the most common score was 29 (50 offer holders).[31] 156 of the 438 (36%) scored 30 or more, while 87 (20%) scored below 25 and the lowest score was 16. In other words, a score in the low or mid-20s did not rule out an offer that year, although most offers went to candidates scoring 25 or more. In general, therefore, we recommend aiming for 28 or more, which would put you at or above the middle of LSE’s recent offer holders.
Lower than standard offer holders, by between 1.5 and 3 marks on average. For 2024/5 entry LSE counted 250 home offer holders: 93 with contextual offers, 153 with standard offers and 4 not recorded. Those whose scores are listed averaged 25.29 (contextual) and 28.26 (standard).[8]
| Year of entry | Offer | Scores listed | Average | Lowest | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Contextual | 46 | 25.54 | 18 | 34 |
| 2023 | Standard | 64 | 27.03 | 19 | 38 |
| 2024/5 | Contextual | 87 | 25.29 | 16 | 37 |
| 2024/5 | Standard | 137 | 28.26 | 20 | 38 |
| 2026 (our reading) | Contextual | 79 offers | 25.2 | n/a | n/a |
As you can see, the two groups overlap a great deal, but the standard offer holders’ scores sit higher. For 2024/5 entry, 53 of the 137 standard offer holders (38.7%) scored 30 or more, against 15 of the 87 contextual offer holders (17.2%). At the other end, 34 contextual offer holders (39.1%) scored 23 or less, against 18 standard offer holders (13.1%).[8] The figures for 2023 entry show the same pattern on a smaller scale.[7]
The October 2026 reply gives the same picture for what we take to be 2026 entry. Contextual offer holders averaged 25.2, against 28 for all offer holders. That year 453 applicants were eligible for contextual consideration, 79 of them received contextual offers (16.2% of all 489 offers) and 34 enrolled.[30] Note that the 2024/5 count of 93 contextual offers came from a different request, about home offer holders only, so the two counts may not be directly comparable.[8]
Note that a contextual offer changes only the grades you are asked for (AAB in place of A*AA). There is no LNAT score to lower, since LSE sets no minimum score for anyone.[11][12] What the figures do show is that LSE makes offers to contextual applicants with lower LNAT scores. This fits LSE’s statement that contextual information can lead to a standard offer where an applicant’s admissions test scores are marginally less competitive than those of the cohort as a whole.[23] The Grades chapter explains who qualifies for contextual consideration.
LSE has released very little LNAT data on international applicants. The one reply we have found lists 34 LLB candidates who took the IB in academic year 2023/24, with their LNAT scores and IB grades. They averaged 28.06, with scores from 21 to 34.[9]
There are two reasons to treat this figure with care:
What we do know is that LSE runs separate selection processes for Home and Overseas applicants, with separate caps but the same entry requirements,[16] and that Overseas applicants have received offers at a lower rate (15.4% against 24.3% for Home applicants for 2019 entry).[10] The IB totals in the reply run from 38 to 45 and average 42.9, with 28 of the 34 at 42 or more.[9] (LSE’s covering letter gives an average of 33.7, with a lowest of 8 and a highest of 56, but these figures come from the spreadsheet’s per-subject columns, and an IB diploma total cannot exceed 45.) For 2027 entry LSE’s IB offer is 39 points with 7, 6 and 6 at Higher Level.[11]
For most applicants, no. LSE’s entry requirements page says: “At present, we will only use the multiple-choice score in the assessment of applicants; for most applicants, the essay will not be considered.”[12] The same page reserves the right to assess the essay of any applicant, including those with non-traditional or less well-known qualifications.
The exception concerns LSE’s Undergraduate Admissions Assessment (UGAA), a three-hour paper with an essay and mathematics problems that LSE asks some applicants with non-traditional or unfamiliar qualifications to sit.[15] LLB applicants are never asked to sit the UGAA. Where an LLB applicant’s qualifications would otherwise have led to a UGAA invitation, the selector may read the LNAT essay instead.[11][15] (If you also apply to another LSE programme, you may still be asked to sit the UGAA for that programme.[12]) In a 2021 FOI reply LSE put this more loosely, saying only that the essay “may be assessed”.[5]
Other LNAT universities use the essay in different ways, as the table shows.
| University | How the essay is used |
|---|---|
| Oxford | Marked within Oxford by comparative judgement[25] |
| Cambridge | Marked centrally by Cambridge[26] |
| UCL | Marked by an Admissions Tutor once an application has passed the grades and multiple-choice stages; UCL says it “carries considerable weight”[27] |
| Durham | Both sections always considered by the selectors[28] |
| King’s College London | Not recorded or used in the 2020 to 2022 admissions cycles, according to an FOI reply of 2023[29] |
| LSE | Not considered for most applicants[11] |
Should you still practise the essay? Yes, for two reasons. The same essay goes to every university on your list that uses the LNAT, and Oxford, Cambridge and UCL all mark it. LSE also reserves the right to read it.[12] We therefore recommend putting most of your LSE-specific preparation into Section A, while still writing timed essays for your other choices.
Move the slider to your practice score (or your actual score, if you have already sat the test). The calculator shows the offer rate at that score for 2021 entry and where the score would have placed you among the 2,067 applicants.[1]
Note that these figures are for a single year, and that LSE does not use the LNAT on its own. The result shows how your score compares with other applicants’ scores, while your own chance of an offer also depends on the rest of your application.
For 2027 entry (or deferred entry in 2028) you must sit the LNAT between 1 September and 31 December 2026, and submit your UCAS application by 6pm (UK time) on 13 January 2027.[11][19] You can apply through UCAS before or after you sit the test.[11]
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 August 2026 | LNAT registration and booking open.[12] |
| 1 September 2026 | The first day on which you can sit the LNAT for 2027 entry.[11] |
| 2 September 2026 | The UCAS cycle opens.[20] |
| November 2026 | LSE sends its first decisions to UCAS, with more each week after that.[20] |
| 31 December 2026 | The last day to sit the LNAT for LSE.[11][21] |
| 13 January 2027 (6pm UK time) | The UCAS deadline for equal consideration.[19] |
| 5 May 2027 | LSE’s final date for decisions.[20] |
There are three points to note here:
Since LSE reads only Section A for most applicants and interviews nobody, your application to LSE rests on three things: your Section A score, your grades and your personal statement.[11][22] How you divide your preparation should depend on where you are starting from.
Suppose you are predicted A*A*A* or better. You are in good company: for 2024/5 entry, 94 of the 131 standard home offer holders with three predictions were predicted at least three A*s.[8] What will separate you from other strong applicants is your Section A score and your statement, which LSE calls very important because it does not interview.[22]
What we recommend. Practise Section A until your timed scores are consistently 28 or more, which is the standard offer holders’ average for 2024/5 entry.[8] Then give most of your remaining time to the personal statement, keeping at least 80% of it about your interest in law, as LSE asks.[22]
Suppose you are predicted A*AA and your practice scores are in the low 20s. For 2021 entry the offer rate was 11.6% for scores of 18 to 23 and 22.9% for scores of 24 to 26.[1] In other words, the few marks between the low 20s and the mid-20s roughly doubled an applicant’s chances.
What we recommend. Spend most of your preparation on Section A until your timed scores are at least 26, working through full practice papers under exam conditions and reviewing every question you get wrong. Since LSE reads the essay of few applicants, it can take a smaller share of your time unless your other universities mark it.
LSE adds contextual information to Home applications automatically, and a contextual offer for the LLB is AAB.[23][11] Contextual offer holders averaged 25.29 on the LNAT for 2024/5 entry, and their lowest score was 16.[8]
What we recommend. Prepare for the LNAT as seriously as anyone else, aiming for the mid-20s or above, because LSE sets no lower score for contextual applicants. Make sure your UCAS form is complete and that your reference confirms any care experience or free school meals eligibility, so that the flags are picked up.
Overseas applicants compete for a separate, capped group of places, with the same entry requirements as Home applicants.[16] For 2019 entry their offer rate was 15.4%, against 24.3% for Home applicants.[10] The 34 IB candidates in LSE’s 2023/24 reply averaged 28.06 on the LNAT.[9]
What we recommend. Aim for a score in the high 20s, and apply by 13 January 2027, since LSE considers later applications only if places remain.[19] Check that your qualification meets LSE’s offer (39 points with 7, 6 and 6 at Higher Level for the IB), and book your test early in the autumn, so that you sit it well before the 31 December deadline.[11]
The figures in this chapter have four limits.
Every claim above ends in a [n] superscript that links here.
Reply of 16 August 2021 with a spreadsheet of the score of every applicant for 2021 entry with a score on file (2,067), and each applicant’s decision. Mean 22.30, median 23, most common score 24 (207 applicants), range 0 to 36. 345 offers among those with a score (mean 25.37, range 14 to 35); 356 further applicants have no score. We computed the offer rate at each score from this file.
For "2019/0" (2019 entry): average applicant score 23.9, average offer score 26.0. LSE holds no data for earlier cycles "as the LNAT was only introduced in 2019/0".
Reply of 11 November 2019 with a spreadsheet of 497 LNAT scores of offer holders for entry in September 2019: mean 26.01, median 26, lowest 16, highest 35. LSE adds that the LNAT is only one of the criteria considered.
For home students: LNAT average for offers 25.6 for "2019/0" (2019 entry); "Data not held" for 2017/8 and 2018/9.
Asked whether there was a cut-off multiple-choice score "in the years 2020-2021", LSE answered "No", and gave the average for successful applicants as 26, without saying which intake that covers. On the essay: "Applicants to LSE’s LLB programme are exempt from sitting the UGAA. Instead, the essay section of the LNAT may be assessed."
The average LNAT score of LLB offer holders "in the 2022 application cycle" (entry in 2022) was 25.52. "LSE holds data on the total LNAT score only", so it cannot give separate essay and multiple-choice averages.
Reply of 14 March 2024 to a request about the last admissions cycle, with a spreadsheet of 110 home offer holders: contextual flag, predicted and achieved A-levels, GCSEs and LNAT score. 46 contextual (LNAT mean 25.54, range 18 to 34) and 64 standard (27.03, range 19 to 38); all 110 average 26.41. The achieved grades in every row point to 2023 entry; LSE does not say whether the list includes every home offer holder. Of the 105 who applied with predictions, 73 were predicted three or more A*s, 22 A*A*A, 6 A*AA and 1 A*AB (our count).
Reply of 14 March 2025 (an 18-page PDF). 250 home offer holders: 93 contextual, 153 standard, 4 not recorded. The PDF lists predicted and achieved A-levels, GCSE grades (without subject names) and LNAT scores, each marked contextual or standard: LNAT mean 25.29 for 87 contextual scores and 28.26 for 137 standard scores. It does not say why it lists fewer scores than offer holders. Our counts of predicted grades and GCSEs are from this PDF.
Reply of 6 September 2024 to a request about international acceptances, for academic year 2023/24 only. The spreadsheet lists 34 LLB candidates, all with the IB: LNAT mean 28.06, range 21 to 34; IB totals 38 to 45, mean 42.9. The covering letter’s IB figures (lowest 8, highest 56, average 33.7) are per-subject values, not diploma totals.
For the LLB in "2019/0" (2019 entry): Home 1,362 applications and 331 offers; Overseas 1,162 applications and 179 offers. The reply gives no registrations and no LNAT figures.
Course page for 2027 entry. UCAS code M100. Standard offer A*AA, contextual offer AAB; IB 39 points with 766 at Higher Level (contextual 37 with 666). Several GCSEs at A (7) and A* (8-9), and at least B (6) in English Language and Mathematics. No set subject combination; a fourth AS-level or Extended Project is never part of an offer. Every applicant must sit the LNAT between 1 September and 31 December 2026 and select LSE when registering; LSE uses only the multiple-choice score and the essay is not considered for most applicants. Shows 3,102 applications, an intake of 193 and a ratio of 16:1 for 2025. Application deadline 13 January 2027.
For 2027 entry: every LLB (M100) applicant must sit the LNAT, which is not required for any other LSE programme; registration opens on 1 August 2026 and only applicants who have sat the test by 31 December 2026 are considered; one sitting per cycle, and results cannot be carried over. "At present, we will only use the multiple-choice score in the assessment of applicants; for most applicants, the essay will not be considered", with the right reserved to assess any applicant’s essay. There is no set minimum multiple-choice score; the score may be used to help distinguish between similarly qualified applicants. LLB applicants are exempt from the UGAA, and the LNAT essay is used in its place. Why LSE introduced the LNAT. Standard offers are a guide, and LSE may specify grades in particular subjects; in 2026 it received about 34,000 applications for roughly 1,900 places, and meeting the standard offer guarantees nothing.
All LLB applicants for entry in 2019 (or deferred entry in 2020) must sit the LNAT, between 1 September 2018 and 20 January 2019. "At present, we will only use the multiple-choice score in the assessment of applicants; the essay will not be considered."
Gives applications, offers and intake for 2019 entry, the first LNAT intake, as 2,524, 510 and 160. From this page on, the essay is "not considered for most applicants", and a selector may consider the essay of an applicant who would otherwise have had to sit the UGAA. It also announces a pilot contextual offer of AAA for 2021 entry.
The UGAA is a three-hour online paper with an essay and mathematics problems, used to assess applicants from non-traditional backgrounds or with qualifications LSE does not recognise for direct entry. Applicants for LLB Laws (M100) are not asked to sit it; the essay section of the LNAT is assessed instead.
Home and Overseas applicants are selected in two separate processes under separate caps, with the same entry requirements for both. The Director of Planning sets offer targets from the target number of places. The LNAT is the one additional test LSE requires, for the LLB.
LSE’s workbook for the September 2021 intake (2021 entry), giving applications, offers and registrations by programme and by nationality. LLB in Laws: 2,701 applications, 353 offers and 179 registrations. The nationality sheet lists 112 nationalities and shows every count below 10 as "<10"; offers are shown for five nationalities and registrations for four. Listed under the Publication Scheme on LSE’s Freedom of Information page.
Applications, offers and entrants by department, programme and nationality for academic years 2016/17 to 2025/26 (each the year the students started), last updated in June 2026 and linked from the Planning Division’s Statistics on Students page. LLB in Laws: 2,653 applications, 408 offers and 160 entrants for 2023/24; 2,964, 440 and 167 for 2024/25; 3,102, 504 and 193 for 2025/26. LLB by nationality for 2025/26, for example British 1,310 applications, 300 offers and 101 entrants. BA Anthropology and Law for 2025/26: 301, 30 and 18. All undergraduate degrees: 5,034 offers for 2020/21, 3,420 for 2021/22 and 4,594 for 2022/23. Values below 5 are suppressed, and LSE notes that numbers may not align exactly across its datasets.
LSE does not interview applicants for any programme, and an interview cannot be requested. The deadline for full and equal consideration is 13 January 2027 at 18.00 (GMT); later applications are considered only if places remain, which is rare. LSE does not take part in UCAS Extra or Clearing.
The 2027 cycle: UCAS opens on 2 September 2026; LSE sends its first decisions to UCAS in November 2026 and more each week; the UCAS equal consideration deadline is 13 January 2027 (18.00 GMT); LSE’s final date for decisions is 5 May 2027.
For King’s, LSE and UCL applicants for 2027 entry: sit the LNAT on or before 31 December 2026. For Oxford and Cambridge applicants: sit the test by 15 October 2026.
"The quality of an applicant’s personal statement is very important at LSE. The School does not interview for places so this is an applicant’s only opportunity to demonstrate they are a good fit for the programme." At least 80% of the statement should be about the programme applied for.
The contextual admissions scheme for applicants with Home fee status: the five criteria for a contextual offer (care experience; free school meals within the previous six years; a home postcode in TUNDRA quintile 1, or POLAR4 outside England; an intensive LSE widening participation programme; any Sutton Trust Pathways programme), and the flags that bring additional consideration only, such as school performance, IMD quintiles 1 and 2 and TUNDRA quintile 2. Additional consideration can mean a standard offer where an applicant’s record or admissions test scores are marginally less competitive than the cohort’s. Contextual information is added automatically.
Oxford’s 2025-26 round (2026 entry): 2,115 applications, 630 shortlisted, 252 offers; Section A averages of 24.94 (all applicants) and 30.48 (offer holders).
Describes how Oxford marks the LNAT essay by comparative judgement.
Cambridge uses both sections of the LNAT and marks the essay centrally.
For 2024/25 the average LNAT score of UCL’s offer holders was 29.4, and 26.3 for contextual offers. Once an applicant meets the academic requirements and has a competitive LNAT score, an Admissions Tutor marks the essay, which "carries considerable weight".
"Both parts of the LNAT examination, the multiple choice score and the essay, are always considered by admissions selectors when assessing an application." The page lists six qualities selectors look for in the essay and sets no minimum multiple-choice score.
"Essay scores have not been recorded or used in assessing applications in the last three admissions cycles" (2020 to 2022).
Reply to a request of 21 September 2026 for "the most recent completed undergraduate admissions cycle"; the reply does not name the year. 3,137 applications (Home 1,528, International 1,609), 489 offers and 191 enrolled. 453 applicants were eligible for contextual consideration, 79 received contextual offers and 34 of them enrolled; entrants were 144 on standard offers and 47 on contextual or other reduced or alternative offers. Predicted grades of offer holders (counts below 5 suppressed), for example A*A*A* 134, A*A*A 66, A*A*A*A* 56, A*AA 27, A*A*A*A 21, A*A*AA 10. Achieved grades of entrants, the largest groups being A*AA 21, A*A*A 17 and A*A*A* 14. Offer holders’ LNAT multiple-choice score 28 ("average or median"), contextual offer holders 25.2, lowest 17. GCSE profile of offer holders 8.3, with no further explanation. These figures match none of the years LSE has published, so we take them to be for 2026 entry.
Reply of 7 November 2024 to a request of 14 October 2024 for the number of offers at each LNAT score in the admissions cycle for students starting in September 2024. The one-page PDF lists 438 offers, all domiciles, by Section A score from 16 to 38; our average of the scores is 28.04 and the median 28.
