LNAT 2027 Entry: Test Format, Scoring and Deadlines by University

The LNAT (National Admissions Test for Law) is a 2 hour 15 minute test that a group of universities uses to help choose students for undergraduate law. It has two sections: 42 multiple-choice questions on argumentative passages, and an essay. Only the first section produces your LNAT score, but both are made available to the universities you choose. This guide sets out the format and scoring as LNAT describes them, the deadlines for entry in 2027, the fees, and the pace Section A asks for. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of LNAT (the LNAT Consortium) or Pearson VUE. The facts here are taken from LNAT's own pages, listed under Sources; check LNAT's pages and each university's own guidance before relying on a rule or deadline.

LNAT, Test format, read 25 October 2026.

LNAT says the test is used by universities "to help them select people for their undergraduate law courses". It does not test knowledge of law or of any other subject. Instead it assesses aptitude for the skills a law course needs: reading closely, following an argument, and writing a reasoned case. LNAT still strongly advises candidates to practise and prepare. The content is managed by the members of the LNAT Consortium, the test is administered by Pearson VUE, and you take it on screen at a test centre.

The LNAT does not replace A levels or other qualifications. Universities use it alongside your UCAS application, your qualifications, your personal statement and, in some cases, an interview. LNAT says there is no fixed weight to the LNAT: each university uses the score in the way that best suits its own admissions system.

In Section A the passage sits in the left-hand pane of the screen and the questions appear one at a time on the right, each with its possible answers. You can change any answer, and flag questions for review, at any time within the 95 minutes. Once you start Section B you cannot go back to Section A: each section is timed separately.

Section A is marked by computer. Each right answer earns one mark and, in LNAT's words, "none are deducted for wrong answers". Your mark out of 42 is your LNAT score. Because a wrong answer costs nothing, LNAT tells candidates not to leave blanks: if you cannot work out an answer, rule out the options you know to be wrong and choose from the rest.

LNAT's pages listed under Sources give no pass mark or target score. LNAT makes your score and your essay available for download by the universities you choose, and the use of the essay depends on each university's admissions policy: LNAT says some may use it as the basis for interview questions, compare it with your personal statement and school or college report, or use it to choose between borderline candidates.

Twelve passages with 3 or 4 questions each add up to 42 only one way: six passages with four questions and six with three (our arithmetic). At an even pace, 95 minutes gives you about 2 min 16 s a question, or about 7 min 55 s a passage including the reading. Our suggestion is to budget by passage rather than by question, since every question on a passage draws on the same reading, and to give a passage with four questions a little more time than one with three.

One past candidate quoted on LNAT's hints page warned against over-analysing the questions and said they ran out of time and had to guess the last few. A clock check after every third passage (our suggestion) tells you early whether you are falling behind.

Registration and booking for the 2026-27 cycle opened on 1 August 2026, and testing began on 1 September 2026. You can sit the test on any day that a slot is free at the test centre you choose, before or after you send your UCAS application, so the earlier you book, the more choice you have. LNAT gives these deadlines for entry in autumn 2027:

For the Oxford and Cambridge, King's, LSE and UCL, Bristol and Durham, and "all other LNAT universities" groups, LNAT says you must meet the deadlines to guarantee that your application will be considered. Late applications are different: LNAT says universities are permitted but not required to consider them, and may not accept results from a test taken as late as July. LNAT also says it is your responsibility to check with your chosen universities for any changes. If you apply to universities in more than one group, the earliest deadline among them is the one to plan around (our reading).

LNAT's "Do I need to sit the test?" page lists these UK universities, each for named law course codes, and says the LNAT must be taken by all applicants to those courses, whether from the UK, the EU or overseas:

The same page lists three non-UK universities that rely on the LNAT under certain conditions: O.P. Jindal Global University, the Singapore University of Social Sciences and IE University. Not every law course at a listed university needs the LNAT (LNAT's page, for example, states that SOAS's M102 LLB Senior Status does not require it), and the page's own text still refers to the previous cycle, so check the course page of each university you apply to.

The universities see your results before you do. From 21 October, the first batch of scores (for tests taken from 1 September to 20 October) is released to universities to download; after that, Pearson VUE makes your score and essay available for download by your chosen universities within 24 hours of your test. LNAT's dates page says you need to enter your UCAS Personal Identifier on your LNAT profile before you submit your UCAS application, so enter it accurately. Candidates who sit on or before 26 January are emailed their results in mid February; those who sit later get them in mid August.

LNAT says the fee is set by the test centre location, not by where you live or your nationality, and is always charged in pounds. The fees page heads these amounts "2025-25", so check the fee shown when you book. If you apply again in a later UCAS year, LNAT says you must sit the LNAT again in that year.

This section is not marked by the test centre, but your chosen universities can download it and decide how to use it, so it is worth planning. LNAT's own advice for the essay, in short:

A simple plan for 40 minutes, which is our suggestion rather than LNAT's: about 8 minutes choosing a question and writing a plan that states your conclusion and three reasons, about 25 minutes writing, and the last few minutes cutting repetition. The test screen has a word count but no spell check.

Start with LNAT's own material. Its online sample test can be opened in a browser, runs on any computer and can be taken as often as you like; LNAT describes it as a simulation of the real LNAT exactly as it will appear on screen at the test centre, and advises looking at its tutorial first. It also offers two practice papers to download and print, with a commentary and a marking scheme. ProSyllabus has an independent LNAT practice test with three further Section A mocks of 12 original passages and 42 questions each, timed at 95 minutes, with an explanation for every answer; it does not cover the essay. Our LNAT practice questions guide works through three practice questions and the kinds of question in our practice mocks.