What LNAT score do you need for UCL Law?

How does UCL use the LNAT?

Every applicant to UCL’s undergraduate Law degrees must sit the LNAT, and for 2027 entry you must sit it by 31 December 2026.^[1] UCL uses both sections. Your Section A (multiple-choice) score decides whether your application goes forward, and an Admissions Tutor then marks your essay and reads the rest of your application.^[2][1]

UCL describes its selection in three stages:^[2]

1. Academic qualifications. If you are not predicted to meet or exceed the entry requirements, UCL will not consider your application any further.
2. The Section A score. Each year UCL looks at the average multiple-choice score of applicants from the previous year or years and sets a benchmark threshold for the current cycle. Applications that reach it go on to an Admissions Tutor.^[1] UCL does not publish the threshold, and the Faculty says it has no fixed minimum score.^[3]
3. The essay and the whole application. The Admissions Tutor marks your essay and then decides on everything in your application, including your academic history, your motivation, your reference, your Section A score and your essay. UCL says that the essay “carries considerable weight in the selection process”.^[1]

Note that there is no interview for LLB Law (M100), so the LNAT is the only part of your application that UCL sees you complete under exam conditions.^[3] This is different from Oxford and Cambridge, where the LNAT helps decide who is interviewed and the interview then counts for a great deal. It also differs from the other two London universities that use the test: LSE says the essay is not considered for most applicants,^[5] and King’s told FOI requesters that it did not record or use essay scores in the 2020 to 2022 cycles.^[6]

The averages for 2023/24 differ slightly between sources. UCL’s website gave 29.8 for offer holders, with 24.3 for all results received and 28 for contextual offer holders,^[2] while its FOI reply of June 2025 gives 29.9 for offer holders.^[7] We use the FOI figure in the charts below.

Has the score you need gone up?

Yes, by about two to three marks. For 2014 to 2022 entry the offer holders’ average stayed between 26.1 and 28.3. For 2023, 2024 and 2025 entry it was 29.5, 29.9 and 29.4, and for 2026 entry UCL gives 30.^{[8][9][10][11][7][4]}

The table puts together figures from several replies, and they are not all measured in the same way. The offer holders’ averages for 2014 to 2019 entry cover all of UCL’s Law degrees that require the LNAT.^[8] Those for 2020 to 2022 are whole numbers.^[9][10][11] The applicants’ averages for 2014 to 2017 cover all LLB Law applicants,^[12] those for 2018 to 2021 cover only applicants whose score UCL recorded (rounded to whole numbers),^[10] and those for 2024 and 2025 are UCL’s averages of all the LNAT results it received.^[2]

There are three things to notice here:

1. The rise came in two steps, from 27 to 28 for 2022 entry and then to 29.5 for 2023. UCL has not said why. Applications rose sharply over the same years (as the Overview chapter shows), which may be part of the reason, but that is our guess.
2. The applicants’ average has moved much less: 22.4 to 24.2 for 2014 to 2017 entry, and 24.3, 23 and 23 in the three latest years. Because the offer holders’ average rose, the gap between the two has widened from about 4 to 5 marks to about 7 (30 against 23 for 2026 entry).
3. For comparison, the national average Section A score of all LNAT candidates was about 22.4 in 2014/15 and about 23.0 in 2015/16, the two years for which the LNAT published a technical report.^[13][14] UCL’s applicants in those years averaged 23.4 and 24.2, about a mark above the national figure, and its offer holders about five marks above it.

How far apart are applicants and offer holders?

For 2018 to 2021 entry, UCL gave the mean and the standard deviation of the Section A score for applicants and for offer holders.^[10]

As you can see, offer holders’ scores are more tightly bunched than applicants’ (standard deviations of 2.4 to 3.7 against 3.3 to 5.5), which is what you would expect once the lower scores have been screened out. If the scores are roughly normal, about two-thirds of the 2019 offer holders scored between 24.6 and 29.4, and about two-thirds of that year’s applicants between 20.7 and 27.3 (this is our arithmetic). Note that UCL rounded the means to whole numbers, and that it says the applicant figures cover only applicants whose score it recorded, so they are not representative of everyone who applied.^[10]

What did offer holders actually score?

UCL has released one full list of its offer holders’ scores: the 658 Section A scores for 2021 entry (the 2020/21 cycle). They run from 23 to 36, with an average of 27.2 and a median of 27.^[16]

There are four things to notice here (the counts are our tally of UCL’s list):^[16]

1. No offer holder in the list scored below 23, and 45 of the 658 (7%) scored exactly 23.
2. Most offer holders scored between 24 and 28: 412 of them, or 63%.
3. 145 offer holders (22%) scored 30 or more.
4. Scores of 33 or more were rare: 27 offer holders, or 4%.

Note, however, that the offer holders’ average was about 27 that year and 30 for 2026 entry, so scores have risen by about three marks since this list was released. UCL’s reply of January 2026 gives the quartiles of its successful applicants for the three latest cycles.^[15]

As you can see, a quarter of the successful applicants for 2025 entry scored 27 or less (UK) or 28 or less (international), and a quarter scored 32 or more. In other words, a score that was in the middle of the 2021 list (27) is now around the lower quartile.

What is the lowest score that has received an offer?

UCL has given the lowest offer holder’s score for a few years:

1. For 2017 entry the lowest score to receive an offer was 18, and UCL gave the same figure when applicants with extenuating circumstances were left out.^[17]
2. For 2018 entry the lowest was 20,^[18] and for 2019 entry it was 20 again.^[19][20]
3. For 2021 entry the lowest score in the list of 658 was 23.^[16]

These are the single lowest scores in each year, and UCL’s replies do not say whether they were contextual offers. They show that offers have been made at these scores in the past, but they tell you nothing about where UCL’s threshold lies now, which it does not publish. We therefore do not recommend treating them as targets.

How is the essay marked?

UCL marks the essay itself, on a scale of 1 to 5 in half marks.^[20][11] Only the essays of applicants who meet the entry requirements and reach UCL’s Section A threshold are marked.^[10]

Along with the 658 Section A scores, UCL released 540 essay marks for the offer holders of 2021 entry.^[16]

As you can see, the marks are bunched together. The most common mark was 3.5 (222 of the 540, or 41%), followed by 3 (178, or 33%) and 4 (109, or 20%). Only 18 offer holders scored 4.5 or 5, and 13 scored 2.5, the lowest mark in the list. The average was 3.45.^[16] (The workbook holds 118 fewer essay marks than Section A scores and does not say why.)

The averages UCL has given for other years tell the same story. Offer holders averaged 3.5 out of 5 for each of 2018 to 2021 entry, while the applicants whose essays were marked averaged 3, with a wider spread (standard deviations of 0.7 to 0.9 against 0.5 to 0.6); these means are rounded to the nearest half mark.^[10] Offer holders for 2022 entry also averaged 3.5.^[11] For 2023 to 2025 entry, UCL’s reply of January 2026 gives means of 3.6 to 3.8 for successful applicants, with a lower quartile of 3.5 and an upper quartile of 4 in every year.^[15]

Three points follow from this:

1. A mark of 3.5 is typical for an offer holder, and a 4 puts you in about the top quarter.
2. Half a mark is a large step on this scale. In the 2021 list, a 3 placed an offer holder in the bottom third and a 3.5 in the middle.
3. A low mark does not rule out an offer. The 2021 list includes 13 offer holders with 2.5, and UCL’s list for 2019 entry includes a mark of 2.0.^[20][16]

What does a 3.5 look like?

UCL publishes no description of each mark. It says only that a very good answer will have “a thoughtful structure, a clear message displaying reflective thought, and a good grasp of detail”.^[21] The description below is our own reading of the scale, based on the marks above and UCL’s criteria. In our view, an essay that would score about 3.5:

• takes a clear position and defends it throughout;
• considers at least one serious counter-argument and answers it;
• is organised so that each paragraph makes one point that supports the conclusion;
• is written in clear, accurate English.

An essay of 4 does all of this and also shows some independent judgement (for example, drawing a distinction that the question did not directly invite). Marks of 4.5 and 5 are rare, and in our view they go to essays that are original in how they frame the question. Essays of 3 or below tend to repeat familiar points without taking a clear view, or to lose their structure.

How does this compare with Oxford and Cambridge?

The three universities use different scales. Oxford compares essays in pairs and reports the result as a score out of 100,^[22] and Cambridge marks the essay from 1 to 10.^[23] The scales cannot be converted into one another, so a UCL 4 is not the same as a Cambridge 8. Having said that, the skills each university rewards are much the same: a clear position, a careful answer to the strongest objection and a coherent structure.

What do tutors look for in the essay?

UCL publishes four criteria. Tutors assess your essay for comprehensiveness and accuracy, clarity of argument and expression, integration of a range of arguments, and insight into the theoretical issues.^[21]

UCL’s advice page adds that you will need to argue different points of view so as to give a balanced discussion, and asks you not to give “middle of the road” bland answers.^[21] The Faculty also names three qualities it looks for across your whole application (motivation, reasoning ability and communication),^[2] and in an FOI reply of January 2017 it described what tutors consider when assessing the essay in similar terms: reasoning, the ability to formulate, develop and defend an argument, and communication.^[24]

In practice, this means four things:

1. Weigh both sides, then reach a conclusion. UCL asks for a balanced discussion, but it also warns against bland answers, so you should come down on one side and say why.
2. Answer the strongest objection to your view. “Integration of a range of arguments” is hard to show if you only list the points in your favour.
3. Develop two or three points properly. In 40 minutes it is usually better to explain a few points with accurate detail than to mention many in passing, because accuracy and insight are both marked.
4. Write clearly. Clarity of expression is one of the four criteria, so short paragraphs that each make one point will serve you better than long, winding ones.

As for practice, we suggest writing at least five essays under timed conditions (40 minutes each) before you sit the test, because the time limit is what most candidates find hardest. If you can, ask a teacher to mark each essay against the four criteria separately, so that you can see which one is holding you back.

Do international applicants need a higher score?

UCL applies the same process to every applicant,^[25] but its successful international applicants have scored slightly higher on Section A than its UK ones: an average of 30.3 against 29.5 for 2025 entry.^[15]

There are two things to notice here:

1. The gap was 1.1 marks for 2023 entry, 1.7 for 2024 and 0.8 for 2025, and the international quartiles were a mark or so higher too (see the table above).^[15] The essay means were much the same for both groups (3.6 to 3.8).
2. These means do not fit the offer holders’ averages UCL gave in June 2025 for the same cycles (29.5, 29.9 and 29.4). If we weight the UK and international means by the number of offers in each group, we get about 28.1, 29.7 and 29.9 (our arithmetic). Neither reply explains the difference, so we use the June 2025 figures as the offer holders’ averages and the January 2026 reply only to compare the two groups.^[7][15]

What about earlier years?

Two earlier replies give the average scores of international applicants and offer holders.^[24][26]

As you can see, international offer holders averaged 27 to 29 in these years, close to the averages for all offer holders (26.1 to 28.3).^[8] This is consistent with UCL applying the same Section A standard to everyone. Note that the two replies define the group differently: the January 2017 reply (2014 to 2016 entry) counts “international” applicants, and the December 2018 reply (2015 to 2018 entry) counts “overseas” applicants. Where they overlap, for 2015 and 2016 entry, they give the same averages.^[24][26] The Overview chapter shows how the offer rates of UK and non-UK applicants compare.

Where does your score place you?

Because UCL does not release the scores of applicants who did not receive an offer, we cannot work out your chance of an offer at each score. What we can show is where your Section A score would have placed you among the 658 offer holders for 2021 entry.^[16] Move the sliders to see.

Note that offer holders have scored higher since 2021 (an average of 30 for 2026 entry, against 27.2 in this list), so you should treat the percentile as generous. For example, a score of 28 was at the 64th percentile of the 2021 offer holders, but for 2025 entry it is around the lower quartile of successful applicants (27 or 28) and below their median of 30.^[16][15] Remember too that the calculator leaves out everything else UCL reads, including your essay mark, which is why the essay slider changes only the description.

What are the deadlines?

For 2027 entry you must sit the LNAT by 31 December 2026 and submit your UCAS application by 13 January 2027 at 6pm UK time.^[1][27] UCL aims to make its decisions by the end of April.^[28]

There are four rules to bear in mind:^[2]

1. If you do not sit the LNAT by the deadline, your application counts as late and UCL Laws will not consider it, even if you submitted your UCAS form on time. UCL also warns that late bookers may struggle to find a test slot, so we recommend booking early.
2. If there is no test centre in your country, contact UCL Laws before 31 December with your UCAS ID, and it can provide an alternative test.
3. If you take an authorised resit, UCL uses the resit score and ignores your first attempt, even if the first score was higher.
4. UCL makes no special allowance for a bad day at the test, because it has no way of knowing how you would otherwise have performed.

Note also that UCL Laws does not consider UCAS applications submitted after the deadline, and does not usually take part in Clearing.^[2][3] Because UCL may wait until it has a full set of applications before deciding (it calls this a gathered field), it is quite usual for some applicants to hear later than others.^[28][3]

How should you prepare?

Since there is no interview for LLB Law, your LNAT result and your written application decide the offer. How you divide your preparation should depend on where you are starting from.

What are the limits of these figures?

The figures in this chapter have four limits.

1. The list of 658 scores is for one year, 2021 entry. UCL sent a bare list, so the counts, the median and the percentiles are our tally. The request asked about all of UCL’s undergraduate Law degrees, and the list has no course column.^[16]
2. Many of UCL’s averages are rounded. Its replies for 2018 to 2021 entry round Section A means to whole numbers and essay means to the nearest half mark, and they cover only applicants whose score UCL recorded.^[10]
3. UCL’s replies do not always agree. Its reply of January 2026 gives successful applicants’ means that do not fit the offer holders’ averages it gave in June 2025, and for 2023/24 its website and its FOI reply differ by 0.1.^[15][7][2] We use the June 2025 averages, which UCL’s website also gives for 2024/25.
4. Two of the replies we use, both from 2019 (on the 2018/19 cycle and the essay scale), are ones whose WhatDoTheyKnow address we have not found, so they are listed without a link. We have read the replies themselves.^[20][19]