lnat essay prompts

LNAT Essay Questions

What is the lnat essay, how do the universities assess the essay, tips to prepare for the lnat essay task, example lnat essay questions.

In Section B, you are asked to write one essay in 40 minutes from a list of three proposed subjects. This is designed to test your ability to construct a compelling argument and articulate it in a clear and persuasive manner. The subject matter typically covers topical issues in society, politics, philosophy, or ethical debates.

The essay should demonstrate a strong understanding of the subject matter and a critical approach to the issue. This includes the ability to weigh different viewpoints, provide relevant examples or evidence, and derive a reasoned conclusion. Clarity of expression, good grammar, and correct spelling are also important.

The specific criteria can vary among universities, but commonly, they look for the following in the essay:

• Argumentation : Can you construct a coherent, persuasive argument? This includes your ability to present your points logically, use evidence effectively, and address counter-arguments or alternative viewpoints.
• Understanding of the Topic : Do you demonstrate a clear understanding of the issue at hand? This can be shown through your discussion of the subject matter and the points you choose to raise.
• Critical Thinking : Are you able to think critically and analytically about the issue? This includes your ability to scrutinize different viewpoints and question assumptions.
• Clarity of Expression : How well do you express your ideas? This includes your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and general use of English.
• Organization : Is your essay well-organized? A clear introduction, logical progression of ideas, and a strong conclusion are signs of a well-structured essay.

Remember, the LNAT essay is not just about your knowledge of the topic, but rather how you apply that knowledge in formulating a balanced, reasoned argument.

It's important to note that universities will use the LNAT score in conjunction with other factors (such as academic performance, personal statement, references, and interview performance, if applicable) to make a decision about your application.

Understand the Test

Brush up your writing skills, practice critical thinking, keep up with current affairs, plan your essay, practice under test conditions, revise and review, understand different perspectives, don’t sit on the fence, proofread your work.

Remember, the most effective preparation is consistent and regular practice over time. Don't expect to perfect your skills overnight. Start preparing as early as possible, and work on improving steadily.

LNAT does not release the exact questions that have appeared on past tests. However, here are some hypothetical examples of the type of essay prompts you might encounter. These questions typically require you to take a stance on a controversial or moral issue, presenting an argument that justifies your position.

• "Should a democratic society tolerate speech that promotes hatred or incites violence?"
• "Is it justified for a government to restrict civil liberties in the name of national security?"
• "Is capital punishment ever morally justifiable?"
• "Should governments have the power to regulate content on social media platforms?"
• "Is it ethical to use animals in medical research?"
• "Are governments justified in imposing strict measures to combat climate change even if such measures may negatively impact economic growth?"
• "Is there a moral obligation for wealthy nations to assist poorer ones?"
• "Is it necessary for society to impose limitations on scientific research and why?"
• "Does the right to privacy outweigh the public’s right to know?"
• "Do the benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh the potential risks?"

Remember, in your response, you should develop a clear argument, consider and address counter-arguments or alternative viewpoints, provide relevant examples, and draw a reasoned conclusion.

For more help with writing high scoring LNAT essays and for more LNAT section B practice questions have a look at our LNAT course... click here .

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Best Essay Writing Strategies For LNAT Section B

Discover these top essay writing tips for LNAT section B to help you prepare for this crucial part of the exam.

This article will help you discover the expectations from LNAT Section B and provide tips to help you excel in this section. We will look at a few essay-writing techniques to help you write a well-structured and argumentative essay. Ultimately, you will be better equipped to answer any questions from Section B of the LNAT.

Understanding LNAT Section B

If you are reading this article, it means you may be preparing to take the LNAT exam . The Law National Admissions Test (LNAT) is the admissions test used in the UK by a list of universities as part of their selection process for law courses. It helps universities identify students likely to succeed in their courses. LNAT section B is the essay section, which tests your written abilities and opinion-forming skills. It requires you to read a passage critically and write an essay responding to a prompt. 

In theory, Section B’s construction is quite straightforward. You will be given 40 minutes and three seemingly unrelated questions on which to write an insightful essay. 

Pick one of three topics for an argumentative essay in Part B. This essay is limited to 750 words, and you have 40 minutes to write it.

Like the one you wrote for Section A, your essay must answer a broad question. Ethical and topical problems, such as “How should judges be appointed?” and “What is ‘political correctness and why does it matter?” These types of questions have been frequently posed in the past. When selecting a question for Section B, you should have a greater depth of interest and expertise in the subject at hand than was required for Section A. 

Don’t fret if you haven’t studied this topic extensively; this section is more concerned with testing your comprehension, inventiveness, and reasoning skills than your knowledge of the subject itself.

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LNAT Structure

The LNAT is a multiple-choice test comprising 25 questions over a total duration of 90 minutes. It has two sections: Section A tests basic reading and comprehension skills that are important for law, and Section B tests analytical skills and the ability to argue a point of view.

For Section A, you are given seven passages, each with 4-6 accompanying questions. You would answer the questions related to each passage. For Section B, you would answer a single essay question. The essay question is usually based on an ethical or legal topic, and students must present an argument in favour or against the case.

The LNAT  assesses skills necessary for law, such as literacy, comprehension, and logical reasoning. 

Developing An Effective Writing Strategy

Developing an effective writing strategy for the LNAT essay is vital to maximising your score and showcasing your skills. Here’s how to approach this task.

Understand the LNAT essay requirements

Before diving into the writing process, it’s crucial to understand the LNAT essay requirements . Familiarise yourself with the assessment criteria, which typically include constructing a logical argument, analysing ideas, providing evidence, and displaying critical thinking skills. Knowing what the examiners are looking for will help you in your LNAT prep and tailor your writing strategy.

Analyse past essay topics

Reviewing past essay topics is an excellent way to prepare for LNAT Section B . Analyze the themes, consider the perspectives presented, and identify the key arguments. This exercise will help you develop an understanding of the types of issues typically addressed in the essay section and enable you to think critically about them.

Practice timed writing

Time management is crucial in the LNAT essay section. The 40-minute time constraint can add pressure, so practising writing within the given timeframe is essential. Set a timer and simulate exam conditions while working on essay prompts. Regular practice will improve your ability to generate ideas, structure arguments, and express yourself effectively within the given time.

Develop a clear thesis statement

A strong thesis statement is the backbone of a well-structured essay. It focuses on your argument and guides the reader through your essay. Spend some time during your LNAT prep formulating a concise and compelling thesis statement that captures your main idea and sets the direction for your essay.

Plan your essay

Before you start writing, create an outline that includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Outline the key points you want to make in each paragraph, ensuring they support your thesis statement. A well-structured essay will be more straightforward for the examiner to follow and enhance your arguments’ coherence.

Use relevant examples and evidence

Incorporate relevant examples and evidence into your essay to demonstrate your critical thinking and analytical skills. These can come from various sources, such as current events, literature, historical events, or legal cases. Using concrete examples and evidence will strengthen your arguments and showcase your ability to apply real-world knowledge to support your points.

Consider multiple perspectives

The LNAT essay often requires you to analyse a topic from various angles. Avoid presenting a one-sided argument and, instead, consider different perspectives. Acknowledge counterarguments and demonstrate your ability to evaluate different viewpoints critically. This approach highlights your analytical skills and strengthens the overall quality of your essay.

Revise and edit

Don’t underestimate the importance of revising and editing your essay. Allocate a few minutes at the end to review your work, checking for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and clarity of expression. Improving your essay’s overall coherence through editing can significantly enhance your score.

Seek feedback and practice

To refine your writing strategy further, seek teacher, mentor, or peer feedback. Ask them to review your practice essays and provide constructive criticism. Engaging in regular practice and incorporating feedback during your LNAT prep will help you identify areas for improvement and polish your writing skills.

Developing an effective writing strategy which includes understanding the requirements, practising timed writing, structuring your essay, and using relevant examples, is essential to succeed in LNAT Section B. 

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Time Management Techniques

In the context of LNAT, where time is crucial, mastering time management becomes even more critical. Let’s explore some time management techniques to help in your Lnat Prep and maximise your performance in the LNAT section B.

Prioritisation and planning

• Start by creating a study plan or a schedule that allocates specific time slots for LNAT prep, including essay practice.
• Prioritise tasks based on their importance and urgency. Identify the topics or areas that require more attention or those that align with your strengths and weaknesses.
• Break down larger tasks into smaller, manageable chunks and assign realistic deadlines to each task.

Eliminate distractions

• Minimise distractions during study sessions to maximise concentration and productivity.
• Turn off notifications on your electronic devices or put them in silent mode.
• Find a quiet, dedicated study space where interruptions are less likely.
• Use website-blocking apps or browser extensions to restrict access to social media or other distracting websites during study periods.

Efficient reading techniques

• Develop efficient reading strategies to optimise comprehension and save time.
• Skim through passages or articles to understand the content before diving into detailed reading.
• Use techniques like highlighting or underlining key points, making brief notes, or creating mind maps to aid comprehension and retention.
• Practice speed reading techniques to increase reading speed without compromising comprehension.

Review and get constructive feedback

• Allocate time for reviewing and analysing your practice essays or LNAT essay responses.
• Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your writing, identifying areas that require improvement.
• Seek feedback from peers, mentors, or LNAT prep resources to gain insights into your writing style, structure, and argumentation skills.
• Implement the feedback received and incorporate it into subsequent practice sessions.

Self-care and breaks

• Recognise the importance of self-care and taking regular breaks to maintain focus and prevent burnout.
• Incorporate short breaks during study sessions to relax, stretch, or engage in activities that rejuvenate your mind.
• Ensure you get sufficient sleep, eat nutritious meals, and exercise regularly to support your overall well-being.

By implementing these time management techniques, you can effectively manage your study time, allocate appropriate attention to essay preparation, and improve your performance in LNAT Section B. Remember that consistent practice and adherence to these techniques will lead to enhanced time management skills.

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Get Professional Essay Writing Support

When preparing for the LNAT, seeking professional essay writing support can significantly enhance your chances of success. A proficient essay writing tutor can provide valuable guidance and help you develop the necessary skills to excel in the LNAT’s Section B , which focuses on essay writing. Using their expertise, you can learn effective essay structures, improve your critical thinking abilities, and enhance your writing style. The Lawyer Portal offers an LNAT tutoring service with step-by-step strategies to tackle both sections of the LNAT exam. 

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LNAT Guides

LNAT Section B - Your Guide to the Second Section of the LNAT

Written by: Matt Amalfitano-Stroud

Section B of the LNAT is your chance to show off your essay writing skills. This could either be the easiest or the most challenging part of your application. Either way, let’s take an in-depth look at what to expect from Section B and how you can succeed. Carry on reading for LNAT facts, tips and practice questions!

BASICS OF THE LNAT

Before we get to essay writing, let’s go over the basics of the LNAT to make sure we understand what the exam is all about.

The Law National Aptitude Test  (LNAT) is a two paper exam used primarily to test a potential student’s abilities in various disciplines of reading and writing.  

You’ll be likely to encounter the test if you’re applying for a Law degree in the UK , starting from undergraduate level. While not every university will require you to sit the LNAT (such as Cambridge University), 9 UK universities and 2 international universities use the LNAT in their application process. These universities include Oxford , Cambridge ,   University College London and the London School of Economics,   which are some of the highest-rated Law universities in the UK .  

The LNAT lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes and is split between Section A and Section B, which will both ask different styles of questions to test your reading and writing skills.  

Section A consists of 42 multiple-choice questions based on a total of 12 argumentative passages . Each passage has three or four questions to answer and you will have 95 minutes to complete all of these.  

The passages you’ll find in the LNAT are based on a variety of topics . They typically aren’t focused on law-related issues but will instead cover anything from politics, science, history, technology and much, much more! But no need to fret, you won’t need to start revising for every possible question! Section A isn’t about your knowledge of a topic but instead your ability to decipher and explain meanings from non-fiction literature , including intentions behind specific words or phrasing and discussion of the writer’s viewpoint of the topic.  

In Section B, you’ll have a choice of three questions to write a single argumentative essay about. You will have 40 minutes in total to complete this essay and you have a maximum of 750 words.

Just like Section A, your essay will be answering a general question. Many questions that have previously been asked have related to ethical issues and current affairs such as “How should judges be appointed?” or “What is ‘political correctness and why does it matter?”. When choosing your question, you’ll want to make sure you have at least some level of interest and knowledge on your chosen topic, as you will need to be more informative in your answer than Section A. However, the primary focus of this Section is to test your comprehension, creativity and reasoning abilities , so don’t worry if you’re not an expert on the subject.

The LNAT is sat at any time between September 1st and January 20th (October 15th for Oxford and Cambridge applicants) and must be taken at an LNAT testing centre . You will have to register for a testing date on the LNAT website , which can be done from August 1st until September 15th for Oxford applicants and January 15th for applicants at other universities. Bear in mind that you’ll need to pay a fee of £75 for testing in the UK and £120 outside of the UK.

The LNAT scoring for Section A is very clear, giving you a mark out of 42 based on your correct answers . Section B however does not have an official or consistent marking scheme. Each university will mark your essay differently with some placing great importance on your performance in this section and others not considering it at all . We have a Definitive Guide to LNAT Scores if you would like to learn more about your results in the test.

Here’s a quick summary of the basic details we’ve learnt so far:

LNAT Exam Format

Want to learn more about the LNAT? Check out our Definitive LNAT Guide to learn more general information about what you can expect from the exam!  

Struggling with your LNAT preparation?  

With the LNAT Preparation Platform , you’ll be able to use an amazing collection of revision notes, strategy guides and expert tutorials to learn everything you’ll need to write the perfect essay!  

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE LNAT SECTION B

With the basics of the LNAT out the way, it’s time to go headfirst into Section B, or, “The Essay Section”.

The structure of Section B is very simple in theory! You’ll be given three unrelated questions and a couple of blank pages to craft a thought-provoking essay based on one of them in 40 minutes . Here’s an example of what your question page will look like:

As you can see, none of the questions are particularly lengthy and all cover very different topics . This variety should mean that you’ll have at least one question that you can confidently answer.  

Although the topics are very different, the structure of each question is fairly similar . Whether the question provides a quote or a general topic, each one will essentially be asking you to express your view on what has been presented to you. The purpose of this section is to determine your skills in argumentative writing , after all, so expressing your opinion understandably and convincingly will be the core of your essay.  

Of course, it’s no coincidence that Section B is structured this way, expressing convincing arguments is an essential skill in almost any profession within Law. Even if your chosen university doesn’t officially mark your essay, you should still put your all into this section as a way to practice and demonstrate your skills for your potential future profession.  

For some, this Section may be a breeze. Essay writing is a natural skill for some , while many others may feel overwhelmed with options when they first begin. Especially with a 40-minute time limit, many people may freeze up when either choosing a question or beginning to write their essay . Getting started is always the hardest part of writing but once you’ve overcome that roadblock, you should find yourself finishing the essay with time to re-read it ( which you will definitely need to do )!  

Exams.Ninja Tip

750 words are considered on average to take up three standard-sized pages , with 250 words per page. Remember though that 750 words is the maximum , not the minimum . While you should always aim to get as close to the word limit as possible, you will typically be given around 10% leeway (75 words) in either direction, so don’t worry if you’re a few words over or under.

As we mentioned, you’re going to want to save some time at the end to double-check your writing . Between five and ten minutes should be sufficient time to check everything, so try to wrap up your essay quickly if you’re still writing in the last minutes of the exam. The examiners aren’t expecting perfection from your essay here, as there’s only so much a person can do in 40 minutes without any additional preparation time! The time spent double-checking should be used to catch out any spelling or grammatical errors rather than trying to change your wording or arguments.  

As we’ve already discussed, marking for Section B is very loose and does not have a set standard between different universities. Unfortunately, many unis don’t provide much information on how they mark or use the essay in your application. We do know that the following universities do not consider Section B within your application:

Universities That Do Not Consider Section B of the LNAT

London School of Economics

University of  Glasgow

Kings College London

How Do Universities use Section B?

Universities that consider Section B may use it in a variety of ways. For example, they may compare it against your personal statement or r eference it in questions during your interview . When a university has two or more borderline applicants to choose between, the Section B essay will definitely come into play, which should reinforce the idea that you should put as much effort as you can into your essay.  

Oxford University is generally the most considerate of Section B , with a percentage scoring scheme used to determine an essay’s quality. A good essay will generally score 60% or above in this marking scheme, with points being awarded to displays of application, reasoning ability and good communication. You can see here the Section B results for successful applicants of Law at Oxford in the 2020-21 admissions cycle. Only 15 of the 238 applicants scored under 60% , with the most common score being 63% .  

Essay Scores for Successful Oxford Applicants (2020-21)

Remember, Section A is typically going to hold more value for your LNAT score, so be sure that you are equally prepared for it. You can check out our LNAT Section A Guide for more tips on how to get the best score that you can!

WHAT SKILLS DO I NEED FOR SECTION B?

What exactly are the examiners going to be looking for from your essay? Let’s find out!

Section B isn’t a test of your general knowledge on certain topics. Your efforts in the 40 minutes need to be focussed on writing a compelling and convincing argument based on the question you are asked. Let’s take a look at the different areas of essay writing that need to be considered for this section of the exam:  

Choosing a Question

Before you do anything, you’ll of course have to choose a question . Your process for doing this will depend heavily on the questions available, which you will have no hint towards before you start the section.  

Firstly, you’ll need to ensure you have properly read every question . We recommend taking about two minutes to go through every question properly, as you need to be certain that you know what the question is asking . This can be difficult with the number of different variations of question types you can get. For example, what is each of these questions asking?

1. Do you agree that there is art for the masses and elite culture? How do you feel about being “the mass”?

2. Birth controls shouldn’t be prescribed to teenagers without parental consent. What is your opinion?

3. Web   2.0   has brought about a different method of communicating over the Web through “online social networking” and this signals a shift in how people relate to the divide between private and public space. Discuss.

Question 1 has first asked you a simple yes or no question , whether you agree with the statement. While obviously, you will need to be i n-depth and argumentative in your answer, the style of question does limit your response to a certain degree as you will need to remain within the parameters of whether you agree with what they have told you.  

Question 2 meanwhile simply asks for an opinion on the topic , a much more open-ended method of asking your viewpoint. You will have more of a chance to explore different factors of the topic as you are not restricted to a yes or no question .  

Finally, Question 3 is the most open-ended of the three in terms of the structure, with only the instruction to discuss the statement provided . Your essay could go in several directions here, with any option falling under the instructions provided by the question , as long as it’s relevant to the topic of course!  

It’s natural to assume that the best question to pick would be the easiest , but this definitely isn’t always true . The amount of knowledge you have on a subject will matter when choosing a question, there’s no point in trying to answer something you have absolutely no knowledge of , but you’ll equally want to consider which topic you have the most interest in .

Which would make the better choice for an essay; a topic that you know lots of facts about but don’t have any strong feelings towards, or a topic that you don’t know quite as much about but have a strong opinion or interesting argument relating to it.  

Examiners are looking for the ability to make a strong case , not just the ability to state information, so the best option will always be the question that you feel you could write an interesting argument for .  

Planning your essay

Creating a plan may feel like a waste of your time given how little time you have , but it’s important to go into your writing with a clear idea so you don’t begin to ramble or go off-topic.  

Your plan should only take around 5 minutes and does not have to be extremely in-depth. The main purpose of your plan should be to pin down what your argument is and what points you are going to use to express it , as well as having a rough structure to keep the essay focused and organised.  

When creating your plan, the first step is always going to be to generate ideas , you won’t get far without them! You may have already developed some while reading the questions and making your decision, so be sure to write them all down . At this stage, no idea is a bad idea , so think of anything that may be relevant and put it in your collection of ideas.  

Once you think you have enough (or more than enough) talking points, it’s time to build the structure of the essay . Everything will need to be built around an effective introduction and conclusion , which will be the two tentpoles of your argument. However, all the points you are going to make in between need to be carefully placed to maintain a good flow throughout the essay. Paragraphs should connect with each other and points shouldn’t feel like a checklist. The discussion should feel natural, without any sudden shifts in topic or tone .  

Once you’re happy with your plan, it’ll be time to start writing . One major benefit to having a plan is that you will find yourself writing much faster when working from a plan. You won’t need to be worrying about structure or points you should make as all of that will have already been decided . You’ll be free to focus on the strength of your writing!  

Writing the Essay

The two most important sections will always be the introduction and conclusion . You’ll need to properly explain the argument you’re making to give the rest of the essay meaning and you will need to provide some form of definitive answer to the question once you’ve expressed all the points you had.

Everything in between the beginning and end needs to be relevant and well-thought-out or else your argument will fall flat! You’re going to need to use your deductive reasoning skills to ensure all your points need to be relevant and explained clearly so the reader can understand why you’re writing about it and what it means to the question you’re answering.  

Of course, the most basic thing that you will need to be careful about is your spelling and grammar . During the initial writing stage, it can be easy to overlook this , especially when under a strict time limit. The best way to prevent any problems here is to save time in the exam to go over your work . Speaking of which…

Double-checking your Work

You may feel confident that your work is perfect, but there is almost certainly going to be at least one error or aspect that can be corrected or improved . Giving yourself five or ten minutes before the end of the exam could be an absolute life-saver and save you from an embarrassing mistake .

Spelling, grammar and wording are all key things to look out for. This time shouldn’t be about changing up your argument or adding extra points, but ensuring the f undamentals of your essay are flawless . An examiner is much more likely to forgive a slightly clunky argument in your essay than a collection of blatant spelling errors.  

However, don’t rush the second half of your essay or skip over key points for the sake of having time at the end. It’s ok to cut things out that don’t necessarily fit the best, you do only have 750 words after all, but don’t do this at the cost of your essay’s overall quality . Correcting a couple of errors isn’t going to save your mark if the essay that you’ve written feels incomplete .

Exams.Ninja Tip 

What do LNAT examiners look for? The three major things to consider are as follows: 

• You need to offer a uniques perspective on the topic. Examiners don’t want to read 100 essays covering the same basic point, so provide an interesting angle to keep their interest. 
• You need to keep things as definitive and objective as possible. You’re going to have opinions on the topic, but you will need to avoid expressing them outright and focus on facts and evidence to explain your overall point. 
• Examiners take the word count very seriously. Aim for less than the 750-word limit, try to hit around 600 instead.  

HOW CAN I PREPARE FOR SECTION B?

You’ll need to make sure you practise everything we’ve discussed so far, but what’s the best way of doing so? Here are a few tips that will help you out!

1. Develop a Preparation Plan

The LNAT is slightly different to some other exams, as your time revising won’t be spent remembering facts but instead practising your reasoning and critical thinking . It can be difficult to know where to start with this, so you should create a plan for how to tackle it, much like how you do with an essay.

You should devote time to the areas that you feel you need the most work . Ideally, you’ll have time to thoroughly cover everything but in reality, you’ll want to prioritise the areas that you aren’t as comfortable with .

Bear in mind that the LNAT is only one part of your application process. Your time should be split between other areas of application as well, including your interview and personal statement , as well as revising for your A-Levels or equivalent!

Not sure on the best way to tackle a plan? Check out our 6-Month Preparation Timeline for some inspiration!

2. Read and Write as much as you can

As you should know by now, reading and writing are the two most important skills that you will need to revise. These are both very general topics that have lots of areas to practice in, but in general, these are the two things you will need to know how to do well as you will be relying on these skills for both Sections of the exam.  

The most effective way to revise reading and writing is to just do it! There are countless ways to practice so try to find something that feels beneficial to you , while also being enjoyable. For your writing skills, you’ll want to take any opportunities to write about topics that interest you . Writing on a topic that requires little research is a great way of being able to focus on important parts, your cognitive and argumentative abilities .  

For something a bit more challenging, you may want to ask a friend or family member to give you a question that you can answer with a short essay. Let them catch you off guard with something you didn’t know they would ask, and then present them with your essay to see if they understand the argument you were trying to make or were at all convinced by your points . Of course, don’t always expect a review as in-depth as an LNAT examiner may give!

3. Answer Previous LNAT Questions

Creating your own questions or just writing about something you care about is great practice, but the best way to get a true understanding of what sitting the LNAT is like is to answer actual questions from past papers . These will be the best representative of what you can expect in the real thing because they are the real thing , just a bit older!  

To take your preparation to the next level, you answer the questions under exam conditions , complete with the time limit. This is always a great way to test your nerves and see how you perform under pressure , especially for an exam like the LNAT. You could either try Section B alone or sit the full test with both Sections in the 135-minute time limit (we recommend you do both!).  

How can you get a mark on your practice LNAT exam? With Exams.Ninja!

With the Exams.Ninja LNAT Preparation Platform you’ll be able to complete a selection of LNAT past papers under exam conditions . You’ll get an estimated mark at the end of the exam and you can go through worked solutions and practice essays to help improve your abilities.

EXAMPLE PRACTICE ESSAYS

It’s time to have a look at some examples of top-quality LNAT essays and some questions with suggested talking points so you can get an idea of what you’ll need to write to get a great score!

LNAT Example Essay 1

‘There is a time and place for censorship of the internet.’ Discuss with particular reference to the right of freedom of expression.  

In today’s day and age it is extremely easy for anyone to access explicit or dangerous content on the internet. There have been talks of censorship on the internet, but is it necessary? One would argue that the censorship of the internet is against our freedom of expression, which is why in this essay I will provide an answer in response to the statement ‘There is a time and place for censorship of the internet’.  

In our current education system there is a heavy emphasis put on the usage of the internet to aid our learning. However, once children learn how to use the internet, the whole world is just one click away. Children could be easily exposed to indecent images, which is why some say the Government should censor the internet for the safety of children. Possible solutions could be only allowing websites with adult material to be accessible at late-night, reducing the chances of indecent exposure to children. Accordingly, in this instance, censorship is justified.

Similarly, one could easily research the internet to find information about illegal activities such as drug or bomb making. This means that the internet could be used as a tool to threaten national security, hence why the internet should have tough censorship in order to prevent criminals from accessing dangerous material, for the benefit of everyone’s safety.

On the other hand, blocking certain websites strictly goes against our right of freedom of expression and instead of blocking certain dangerous websites, the Government should have a more efficient surveillance strategy in order to track people who are accessing such dangerous websites. This would ensure that our right of freedom of expression is not breached and at the same time, criminal activity would be prevented.  

Furthermore, with regards to the access of sexually explicit websites, more work should be some in order to educate children not to access such websites. Good parent is a better alternative to preventing children accessing such websites, rather than blocking sites which goes against our right of freedom of expression.  

In conclusion, there is no time and place for censorship as it goes against our right to freedom of expression. Other alternatives such as internet surveillance would be more effective as it ensures the safety of the general public and at the same time our freedom of expression is not breached.

Examiner’s comments:

Introduction: This is a very good introduction. It highlights the conflict between censorship and freedom of expression, which is a good place to point it out. In the final sentence, though, the student wastes time in saying ‘which is why in this essay I will come with an answer in response to the statement….’ – this is obvious and there is little point in saying it. It just wastes time and prevents one using the time for writing something more useful. Other than this, the introduction is very good and concise.

Main body: The student considers two main instances of censorship in the main body (indecent images and dangerous websites) and suggests that censorship could be used, but suggests alternatives would be more effective. This is quite a persuasive essay because the student has considered alternative points of view, which makes the essay balanced.  

Conclusion: The conclusion is very clear and brings the arguments advanced in the essay to a final judgement. The candidate directly addresses the question and refers to the whole part of the question by considering freedom of expression (unlike in Example Essay 2). On the whole, this is a very impressive essay.

Style: This candidate makes two typographical errors. First, ‘more work should be some’ should read ‘more work should be done’. Second, ‘Good parenting’ should be referenced, not ‘Good parent’. Proof read!

LNAT Example Essay 2

‘Developed countries have a greater obligation to tackle climate change than developing countries.’ Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement.

Climate change is a global issue that affects all nations and its peoples, and in light of the newly released global sustainability goals, perhaps we should focus on what actions should be taken to effect a change rather arguing who should take responsibility. Hence, I disagree with this statement and will be presenting my argument in this essay.

Firstly, climate change is a global issue and all nations are obligated to combat it. We must abandon the attitude that developing nations are somehow inferior to developed nations simply because of their global position. With this approach in mind, all nations therefore must be taken as accountable for this global crisis that affects us all. Perhaps the view that combatting climate change is an ‘obligation’ should be abandoned. Improving the condition of our world and fixing our mistakes should be regarded not as a chore, but as a responsibility to future generations. After we have confronted these issues and changed our perceptions, will a global effort truly be effectively carried forward?

Secondly, while it is true that developed nations have a greater capacity financially and structurally to enact a change, efforts to improve the infrastructure of a country to make it more green can be done by developing countries. Rather than seeing sustainability as an expensive undertaking, requiring new carbon capturing machines, knowledge of other ways to lesson our carbon footprint should be made clear. These simple methods such as planting more trees than the number being cut down or effective garbage disposable and recycling to minimise burning of garbage. Such inexpensive methods could easily be undertaken by developing countries, eliminating the idea that climate change is a concern of the rich.

Thirdly, to separate countries into two spheres is damaging. This segregation lead to the belief that ‘developing nations’ are somehow able to ‘get away’ with releasing high amount of greenhouse gases or deforestation by simply claiming that they do not have the capacity to make such a change. It is not enough for the developed countries to take the initiative; developing nations are equally obligated to combat climate change.  

In conclusion, no country should be viewed as having a greater obligation towards alleviating climate change.

Introduction: The introduction is excellent. The candidate states her main view concisely and proceeds to continue with the main body. The candidate also adopts a unique take on the question, which is positive.

Main body: The second paragraph raises interesting points but it is not clear how it relates to the question. A running theme throughout the essay is that every country shares a responsibility to be sustainable and reduce climate change. However, counter-arguments are not readily considered, accordingly the essay is not as persuasive as it might be. You must consider the other side of the argument.

The other side of the argument could have been discussed out the very good point made about developing countries still being able to plant trees. For example:

Climate change affects every country and, thus, every country should be obliged to tackle climate change.

Despite this, some argue that richer countries have far more resources than developing countries to spend on developing non-renewable energy sources (e.g. solar panels).

Nonetheless, poorer countries can still do their part by planting trees and taking other inexpensive methods and should not consider themselves ‘off the hook’. Climate change affects everyone and, therefore, everyone should contribute.

One could also note that the money concern is a practical issue that can be addressed. An example of a policy to deal this could be that each country pays a certain percentage of its GDP to tackle climate change.

Conclusion: The candidate succinctly presents her final response to the question in the conclusion. This could have been elaborated on a little more but is still fine nonetheless.  

LNAT Practice Question 1

The general trend towards the liberalisation of marriage undermines its religious basis.’ Discuss this comment with reference to the idea of abolishing marriage as a legal concept.

• Marriage from a religious perspective is between a man and a woman and the liberalisation of this the rise of divorce and the legalisation of same sex marriage does undermine its religious basis.
• This is not, however, necessarily a bad thing – one idea would be to abolish marriage as a legal concept – making a joint union for the purposes of taxation that would be between whoever wants to create that union. Marriage then would be left as a separate union in the eyes of god alone and not in the eyes of the law. Whatever happens, the legal union will be separated from the religious one.
• Religion and the law should be separated, especially given our aim to be a multi-cultural and multi-religious society.  
• It is to be unfairly preferential to one group of people to integrate one religion with the law above all others.

For – Challenges

• Why do we support relationships in the first place – partially mutual support that a long term commitment gives to someone, but also procreation, which is lost by extending it beyond heterosexual couples.
• This may be the case if we were creating the law now, but Christianity is inherently connected to the English legal system by virtue of its history and fused past.
• Religious basis is changing – lots of Christians believe that the concept of marriage should be extended to fit in one with modern perceptions

Against – Challenges

• But this is only as a response to the law changing what the understanding of marriage is.  
• Marriage is traditionally a religious concept and its being integrated with the law means that the religious community has lost control of what marriage is.

LNAT Practice Question 2

Should tuition fees be reduced?

• Tuition fees should be reduced as high tuition fees are hindering low-income students from considering higher education, resulting in a lack of social mobility and a denial of the right to education based on income-levels.  
• Tuition fees have become increasingly unaffordable in recent years, and this has become a huge deterrent for students who are not from well-to-do families from pursuing higher education, even though they may be academically-capable of doing so.  
• Tuition fees should be reduced as universities already have the benefit of huge donations and grants being given by alumni and research organisations in order for them to survive and provide quality education, it is unfair to charge students exorbitant tuition fees and create a high barrier to entry based on financial means.  
• The argument that tuition fees are needed to sustain a university is weak in this day and age when the bulk of a university’s revenue comes from research grants and legacy donations.

For – Challenges  

• Tuition fees should not be reduced as tuition fees are needed for universities to remain competitive and hire the best professors and have the best resources for students in order to ensure quality teaching.  
• If tuition fees were reduced, even if more students will be enticed to enrol in university as a result, it will mean that all students will end up receiving sub-standard education with the lack of resources and   financial-backing needed.  
• Tuition fees should not be reduced as not all universities have the benefit of large grants and legacy donations.  
• Only the top-ranked universities and the most prestigious universities will be able to attract sufficient funding and donations from successful alumni and be able to survive even without charging high rates of universities.  
• Many other universities will struggle to survive without charging sufficiently high tuition fees, and reducing tuition fees might be counter-intuitive and result in less university places being available.
• Tuition fees should not be reduced as there is already the student loan scheme in place which ensures that students only need to start re-paying their loan upon graduation if they earn a certain amount of income.  
• This helps to ensure that low-income students will still have easy access to universities, and they will only need to pay off the loans if they manage to secure a job that pays enough for them to repay the loan.  
• Tuition fees should not be reduced as too many students are going to university for the sake of it and do not take their degree seriously.  
• It is well-known that many students in less rigorous courses and universities only treat university as an extra 3-4 years of socialising and partying.  
• Taxpayers should not have to subsidise these students when they are not doing something of value and tuition fees should remain as it is in order to act as a deterrent for students who are not naturally inclined for university education in the first place.
• Tuition fees should be reduced as the high level of tuition fees being charged causes many students to be heavily-indebted upon graduation, causing an immense financial burden to them and provides a disincentive for many students to consider university in the first place, even if they qualified for university academically.  
• Tuition fees should be reduced as university not only provides academic teaching, it also provides important soft-skills and allows students to figure out what they are good at and what they want to do in life.  
• Studies have shown that university education is highly beneficial in terms of a person’s success later on in life as well as their earning capacity.  
• Hence, we should not deny this opportunity to many students who might otherwise be put off by the high tuition fees.

Want even more practice questions? With the Exams.Ninja Preparation Platform , you’ll have access to 50 unique Section B questions to answer, each with a fully worked solution to tweak your method and write the best essay possible!  

So now you’ve read our guide to Section B, it’s time to start writing an LNAT masterpiece! Section B may be the easiest or most difficult part of your whole application, but with the knowledge you now have of how it works, you shouldn’t have any problems writing an essay that will impress any examiner who reads it!

LNAT Deductive Reasoning: Deducing Arguments in the LNAT

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Sample LNAT Essay and Advice

Introduction.

The Essay forms an important part of the LNAT. Students often underestimate it, yet certain Universities place quite a considerable emphasis on the Essay in the admissions process. Head over to our Guide about LNAT Universities & Required Scores to find out more (we recommend paying attention to the official LNAT Essay mark scheme as released by University of Oxford).

Having said that, performing well in your Essay will be of great advantage to your application. The tutors are looking for candidates who possess a high level of written skill, since the study of Law revolves around delivering exceptional written arguments. Furthermore, law exams are famously known for consisting of hours dedicated to writing essays in a summative format.

To write a great essay, you need to practise under timed conditions, be well-versed on various topics, and continually analyse your performance. In particular, you should consider the following suggestions:

Be concise and succinct

Be persuasive, sample lnat essay, question: should people accused of a criminal offence retain anonymity.

“The Criminal Justice System is predicated on the supposition of innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law. This principle applies whether the defendant is known to the public and hence subject to public prejudices, or wholly anonymous prior to the alleged offence. I believe and shall argue that, wherever possible, the anonymity of the accused ought to be persevered. My reasons for thinking so are several; that the legal process must be as free from bias as is feasible; that the public interest is not served by the publishing of the accused’s identity and that the right of the individual to privacy would be breached in the publication.

First, one must consider what is the nature of the legal process; it is a dialectic process in which the prosecutor must prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt; the defence must either cast doubt on the case of the prosecution or prove the defendant’s innocence outright. This will require the gathering of many articles of evidence and an extensive familiarity with the facts pertinent to the case, as well as the stipulations of the law and the precedents set by previous cases. It would be antithetical to the very nature of the legal process to allow public prejudice to colour the legal proceedings, as it potentially would in the case that the defendant’s anonymity was compromised. A beloved darling of the people would excite a general clamour in his or her defence; a public pariah would arouse the most damning of execration.

A public bias is no less heinous than any other sort of bias and it could be argued that in magnitude it far outweighs the others. Thus, the objectivity of the court, which must be assumed a priori, can only be degraded by the general knowledge of the accused’s identity and can never be served by it. The accused ought only to be tried by a court and never by mob or media.

Second, any action by a public body, such as the police or the judiciary, ought to be in service of the public interest. It is in the public interest to seek the perpetrator of a crime, as it is to punish those found guilty and to publish their names so that they may be known as criminals to the public whom they have offended. It is hard to see how the publication of an accused person’s identity can serve the public good. In the event that they are innocent, the accused will be forever the subject of suspicion in certain quarters and may suffer reprisals from members of the public who are not satisfied by the outcome of the trial. In the event that the accused is guilty, then their guilt will be published and the public will thereby learn all of the relevant details. This is not to suggest that criminal cases ought to be tried in secret courts; persons with an intimate connection either to the accused or the victim ought to be entitled to observe the proceedings, in which case the preservation of anonymity becomes a matter of individual conscience.

Third, the individual who has been accused must be afforded the general right to privacy. Legally speaking man acquitted a hundred times is as innocent as a man acquitted but once or never prosecuted at all, but the public rarely considers criminal matters from a legal perspective; if it were so, then courts would hardly be necessary. It is precisely because certain elements of the public are quick to judge and often liable to punish unjustly that a legal system is required in order to provide due process and to prevent the miscarriage of justice. The circumstances of a crime may excite unease and discontentment in many and a person may never escape the taint of having once been accused of a crime of which they were never guilty. In some cases, suspects have been killed prior to their trials; most notably, perhaps is Lee Harvey Oswald, thanks to whose death we may never know the true circumstances of the terrible crime of which he stood accused.

In conclusion, I reaffirm the importance of anonymity in the case of a criminal accusation. For whilst the public is entitled to know the identity of criminals who threaten their security and against whom the state has levied punishment, it is imperative that we presume the defendant to be innocent until guilt is confessed or proved. Upon this principle we may hope to preserve the objectivity of the court and the dignity of the accused.”

There is no exhaustive list that will allow you to write amazing essays. It is truly the case of ‘practice makes perfect’ (and being widely read!). So maybe you are tempted to write an answer to this sample LNAT Essay Question?

Well, Arbitio allows you to do just that: we have developed an Essay Writing Simulator that accurately recreates the LNAT exam environment and provided you with 20+ Questions on a variety of topics reflective of the LNAT curriculum. The Model Answers to each Essay Question will help you see what good essay writing is all about, with some salient points you may wish to adopt into your argumentative arsenal. The subscription includes Essay Marking Service, where one of our tutors will deliver detailed feedback on an essay of your choice.

UCL Faculty of Laws

LNAT Advice and Guidance

Find out more about the LNAT and how to prepare for the test

Book your LNAT test here.

Don't forget - All applicants to UCL Laws Undergraduate Programmes must take the LNAT  alongside their UCAS application.

All applicants to undergraduate degree programmes at UCL Laws must take the LNAT alongside the UCAS application. You must take the test  no later than  31 December 2023 (some universities have earlier deadlines).

Please note that applicants who register for the LNAT just before the registration deadline may experience difficulties obtaining an available test slot by 31 December 2023 due to high demand. We recommend registering and booking the test as early as possible to avoid this problem.

If you do not take the LNAT by the 31 December 2023 deadline, your application will be regarded as a late application, and therefore we will not be able to consider you for a place on one of our LLB degree programmes in the relevant admissions cycle, even if your original application was submitted by the UCAS deadline of 31 January 2024.

Test Centres

You can register to take the LNAT at a test centre near you: the LNAT has 500 test centres in 165 countries around the world.

If you are unable to take the LNAT because there are no test centres in your home country, or your local test centres are closed due to an enforced lockdown relating to COVID-19, please contact [email protected] before 31 December 2023 and include your UCAS ID number so we can make appropriate checks. We will be able to provide an alternative test if you are unable to book a test at an official test centre.

LNAT bursaries

LNAT have a bursary system under which they waive the test fee altogether for those in receipt of certain state benefits in their country of residence. This applies to UK and EU applicants only, sitting at UK and EU test centres only.

For more information please visit the LNAT bursaries website .

Reasonable adjustments

If you require special arrangements for the LNAT please follow the instructions on the LNAT website well in advance of the deadline. If you are struggling to get a test arranged, please get in touch with us ahead of the LNAT deadline.

Extenuating circumstances

Before the test If you feel unwell (mental or physical) before your test, we suggest that you reschedule your test rather than sitting your LNAT examination. If you decide to take the test when you are unwell, we will have no way of knowing how you would have done if you had not been unwell and will therefore not be able to take into consideration your circumstances.

To confirm, if you attend the exam you are declaring you are fit to do so and the mark you achieve will stand. You will not be permitted to receive any additional consideration from UCL Laws relating to that assessment unless you fall into the category below.

During the test If there is an incident while you are sitting the test (e.g. a fire alarm or you suddenly fall ill), the test centre will do what it can to minimise the disruption (and to let you finish your test if you are well). The incident will be logged and you will be given an incident number by the test centre staff. Once you have your incident number you need to contact the LNAT Consortium at once so that the incident can be investigated and, where appropriate, a resit test offered (please request a resit if your test was negatively affected).

If you were unable to continue with your test due to a sudden illness, you will need to request an approved resit from LNAT. We will then disregard your first attempt and use your resit score, even if your original score is higher than your resit.

More information on test day problems can be found on the LNAT website .

About the LNAT

The LNAT measures the reasoning skills at the heart of legal education, including:

• comprehension
• interpretation

The LNAT is a two-part test. The first part includes multiple-choice questions based on passages of text, and the second part requires you to answer one of three essay questions. The LNAT is a computer-based test and lasts for two hours and 15 minutes.

When you have completed the test, your scores from the multiple-choice section are checked by computer, and a mark out of 42 is created. This mark is known as the LNAT score. Your LNAT score and your essay will be sent to participating universities, including UCL. Your results from the LNAT are then used to supplement your university application and demonstrate your aptitude for studying undergraduate law.

You are advised to familiarise yourself with the style and the format of the test before you take it. The LNAT website provides lots of resources and information to help you prepare for the test and what to expect.

• Find out more about how to register and book a test on the LNAT website .

LNAT Guidance from UCL Laws 

Our top tips for preparing for the LNAT

1)  The test is designed to provide an assessment of a candidate’s potential for studying law. You should read the information available on the LNAT website , including the ‘ Guide to Preparing for the LNAT ’.

2) Practise, practise, practise.

• The best way to improve at anything is to practise, and the LNAT is no different. You are only allowed one attempt at the LNAT, so the more practise you do now the better prepared you will be. Start with small steps now.

3) The LNAT must be completed at a test centre, and this will be an unfamiliar place, using unfamiliar software. One of the best things you can do to familiarise yourself beforehand in order that you’re able to perform as your best without being unsettled by the environment is to use the official LNAT test simulator . This will familiarise you with the real LNAT as it will appear on screen during your LNAT test. You’ll be able to practise navigating the screens, ensuring you:

1) Don’t make any mistakes in navigation (such as ending the test too early!),

2) That you’re comfortable using the navigation so that you don’t need to spend time and your precious mental energy figuring it out on the day, and

3) Feel familiar with the environment and are therefore able to relax, as it’s something you’ve seen before.

That way you will be able to perform well in the test itself.

• As well as practising to learn about the test structure itself, you can also benefit from practising the individual components of the test, namely the multiple choice question section (95 minutes) and the essay component (40 minutes).
• The multiple choice section is divided into 12 sub sections; each sub section has between 3 and 4 questions giving 42 questions in total. Each question has only one correct answer.
• Improve your ability to read and comprehend complicated passages of text, at test speed..
• Get an understanding of how much time you need to allocate to answer the questions within the time limit.
• Be able to pace yourself and your reading time appropriately so that you don’t run out of time at the end.
• It’s better to have time to consider and answer all of the questions, than taking too long at the start and not having the time to properly consider the later questions.
• Don’t forget that if you are really struggling on a question, that it is OK to leave it and return at the end if you have time. Don’t let getting stuck on one question deflect your concentration from answering the others or dent your confidence. You are not expected to get full marks in this test.
• Don’t overanalyse the questions – they are not there to trick you. Do think carefully about every word in the question. What are you being asked? The answer is in the text.  

4) The LNAT essay provides a choice of three essay questions, you must select and answer one.

• The LNAT as a whole is designed to assess your verbal reasoning skills. Skills which are essential to the successful study of law.
• Verbal reasoning skills include comprehension, interpretation, analysis, synthesis, and deduction.
• The LNAT questions are based on short passages of text that you are given during the test.
• There is no subject-specific revision you can do for the LNAT questions. However, the passages of text will fall into these seven general categories: law, philosophy, politics, media, science, ethics, and education.In fact, relying too much on your own prior knowledge can be a false friend in this kind of assessment. Do not rely on what you know from other sources in answering the multiple-choice questions. The questions are always only about the passage itself. If there is something in the passage you disagree with or know to be incorrect, that does not matter, treat the passage as true for the purposes of the test.
• Once again, there is no prior knowledge of these areas that is required to be able to do well in the test, but a general awareness of current affairs is recommended, both by UCL and by the LNAT itself.

LNAT Essay Guidance

• Comprehensiveness and accuracy;
• Clarity of argument and expression;
• Integration of a range of arguments;
• Insight into the theoretical issues.
• ‘Read ahead – The more you know about current affairs, the greater the chance you will have of getting essay questions you understand and have some prior knowledge and familiarity with.
• Read a broadsheet newspaper. The advice provided on the LNAT website is worth repeating:

As you read -

• Think about the issues being raised;
• What assumptions are being made?
• What information is being relied on to draw which conclusion?
• How would you frame a counterargument?

Reading a quality daily newspaper will help you to be aware of the world around you. The LNAT essay topics will not be specifically about current affairs, and you will not be judged by what facts you know. But knowing how the world ticks, in general terms, will help you to write intelligently about a host of different topics.

• We have listed some newspapers below worth considering. You can read the online versions (usually freely available, although registration may be required). If you do read the online versions, remember to read the comment pieces as well as the news. (One question you might ask yourself: What exactly is the difference between news and comment? Is the contrast really apparent in practice?)
• The Economist
• The Financial Times
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Irish Times
• The New York Times
• The Scotsman
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Washington Post

Pick the right question – Identify which question you have lots of knowledge about, not necessarily the one that you feel most strongly about. You will need to argue different points of view so make sure you have enough information to make a balanced discussion. Make sure you fully understand the question; if you don’t, pick another question.

• Plan the structure of your essay – You will only have 40 minutes, so before you start writing, think about what points you want to make and how you will create a concise, balanced argument on your chosen topic. Make sure the structure of your essay is logical and progresses in a structured way.
• Plan your time – A common mistake is for students to spend too much time on writing their introduction or making a single point. Allocate time to planning the essay structure, writing the introduction, middle, conclusion and to checking your work.
• Make your essay stand out – Consider what supporting evidence your argument has and how it can be used to best effect. Try not to be obvious and give ‘middle of the road’ bland answers. Instead, try to ‘think outside the box’ and demonstrate creativity in your arguments. Could the question itself be flawed?
• Evaluate any flaws or potential implications in the points you make. Don’t just give opinions – Without having an in-depth knowledge of a subject, it is easy to fall into the trap of using opinion to argue, rather than giving evidence. The essay is not looking for your assertions, but how you can build a case using the evidence you have available.’
• Practise writing essays under timed conditions on a computer, prior to sitting the test. Ask your teachers to set questions for you!

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• LNAT Preparation: The Complete Guide

Last Updated: 27th May 2022

Author: Chloe Hewitt

• Admissions Test

Table of Contents

If you are applying for Law at Oxford, Cambridge, or other top universities, one of the biggest hurdles you will be faced with is the LNAT.

Unlike any test you have ever done before, ensuring you have effectively prepared for the LNAT will make all the difference when it comes to scoring highly.

But how can you prepare for the LNAT? This guide runs through each of the two sections of the LNAT, explaining the skills that will be required to succeed and the ways you can develop your understanding and improve your technique. Before we dive into Section A, let’s review the basics of the LNAT. 

What is the LNAT?

If you aren’t familiar with the LNAT, check out our LNAT Basics Guide before continuing, as you’re going to need to know how the LNAT is structured, how it is marked and why it is used. If you know about the LNAT already, here is a very quick recap.

The Law National Admissions Test (LNAT) is an entrance exam used by a consortium of UK universities to assess prospective undergraduate law students. The LNAT is used to supplement other selection procedures — your A-level results, personal statement, and admissions interview — not to test your knowledge of the law. Instead, the computer-based exam assesses critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills.

What is the structure of the LNAT?

The LNAT has a time limit of two hours and 15 minutes and is divided into two parts: Section A, a set of multiple-choice questions, and Section B, an essay writing task. These tasks are separated and each has a set time to complete, with 95 minutes to complete Section A and 40 minutes to complete Section B.

Effective LNAT preparation is crucial to achieving an offer, so let UniAdmissions guide you through it. 

The LNAT is a major part of your Law application, so make sure you’re ready for it with guidance from experts. Our LNAT Tuition Programme supports you through every aspect of the test through One-to-One Tuition, Live Courses, Comprehensive Materials and much more . 

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LNAT Section A Preparation

In Section A, you will have 95 minutes to answer 42 multiple-choice questions based on 12 passages of text provided. This means that you’ll need to complete three to four questions per passage. There will be five possible answers to each question, but only one will be correct.

You do not need to have any particular knowledge to complete Section A. However, you must spend time preparing for LNAT Section A to know what to expect during the test. As part of your LNAT Section A preparation, it is also a good idea to practice the skills the admissions tutors are looking for applicants to demonstrate. It would be worth brushing up on these skills so you are confident when it comes to the test.

What does LNAT Section A test?

Section A is all about your comprehension and reasoning skills. The admissions tutors want to know that you can understand, analyse and interpret information. In the test, you will need to work out what the question is asking, pinpoint which part of the text is relevant, and choose the best answer from the multiple-choice answers provided. This will need to be done using the following:

• Comprehension
• Interpretation

The LNAT is also used to identify if students can understand different parts of a passage. An integral point to understand is what constitutes a good argument. These are:

Evidence : arguments based on opinions and value judgements are weaker than those based on facts and evidence.

Logic : arguments should flow and the constituent parts should fit well into an overriding view or belief.

Balance : a good argument should concede that there are other views and beliefs (counter-arguments). Creating a strong argument involves dismantling these ideas and explaining why they are wrong.

What do you need to know for LNAT Section A?

Here are a few key ideas that you will need to revise and prepare for before sitting Section A of the LNAT:

ARGUMENTS vs ASSERTIONS vs EXPLANATIONS

ARGUMENTS vs ASSERTIONS

 vs EXPLANATIONS

The following clip is from a UniAdmissions LNAT Live Course, in which our expert tutor explains how you can determine the differences between these three types of discussion within a passage:

PREMISE vs CONCLUSION

• A conclusion is a summary of the arguments being made and is usually explicitly stated or heavily implied.
• A premise is a statement from which another statement can be inferred or follows as a conclusion.

Hence, a conclusion is shown/implied/proven by a premise. Similarly, a premise shows/indicates/establishes a conclusion.

FACT vs OPINION

Sometimes you will be required to distinguish between a fact and an opinion.

• Fact is something that can be tested to be true or false.
• Opinion cannot be tested to be true or false.

CORRELATION vs CAUSATION

Just because two incidents or events have occurred does not mean that one has caused the other. For example:  “French people are known for having a glass of wine with dinner and they have a larger life expectancy than we do. Therefore, we should consume wine to be healthier.”

This argument is flawed. There are 2 events: (i) French people known for having wine and (ii) French people having a larger life expectancy. There is no suggestion in the extract that (i) wine is causally related to (ii) or that having wine actually leads to a longer life. Accordingly, in itself, the premises do not adequately support the conclusion – there could be other reasons such as diet or exercise.

How should I prepare for LNAT Section A?

1. Read a wide range of texts

As Section A assesses your ability to comprehend and analyse texts, it is important to improve your reading comprehension. You can do this by studying a variety of quality texts, such as news articles, academic journals, and literature, and then summarising the main points. Be sure to identify the tone and analyse the author’s argument.

2. Practice thinking critically

As you read these texts, you should check your understanding by asking yourself questions on their meaning, such as:

• Is the statement one of fact or opinion?
• Have you focused on the detail or jumped to a conclusion?
• Have you made a logical deduction about the information?
• Is there something in the statement that has been left unsaid?
• Is the statement supported by evidence?
• What is the writer’s attitude? For example, are they being serious or making a joke?
• Is the statement relevant or irrelevant to the question?

If there are ambiguities, they are assessing how well you cope with ambiguities. However, the solution is always in the passage somewhere. 

3. Practice your Time Management

Time management skills are crucial for the LNAT. With 95 minutes to answer 42 questions, that gives you roughly two and a quarter minutes to answer each question. In fact, many students find the most difficult part of the test is not answering all of the questions correctly, but doing so under its timed conditions and working at a steady pace.

Decide how long you want to spend on each passage of text and the multiple-choice questions. You have 95 minutes to complete Section A, therefore you could decide to spend 7 minutes reading each passage of text and then answer the connected questions. The remaining 11 minutes could then be used to go back over any questions you found difficult.

4. Understand the format of the test

It is essential to familiarise yourself with the format of the LNAT, including the types of questions that may appear in Section A. To do so, you should definitely take advantage of the official practice tests available, which will help develop your understanding of the test structure and the types of questions you may encounter on the day.

Extra LNAT Section A Tips

• Read the question carefully and make sure you understand what is being asked.
• Look for any keywords in the question and answer options before reading the passage of text.
• When you then go on to read the passage of text, look out for those keywords.
• Consider the questions listed above when deciding what a statement means and selecting your answer.
• Use a process of elimination to find the correct answer. By discounting the incorrect answer options, it helps to narrow down the answers until you are left with one.
• If you are unable to narrow the options down to just one, then go with your gut feeling when selecting an answer and come back to it later.
• No points will be deducted for an incorrect answer, so make sure you answer every question even if you are unsure.

One of the hallmarks of a good multiple-choice question is the inclusion of one or more answer options that are wrong but almost right. Questions like this are not tricks. They are there to test whether your powers of discrimination are fine-grained or coarse-grained. Work hard to find and eliminate them.

Boost your LNAT Score with expert support from UniAdmissions.

With our LNAT Tuition Programme, you will have complete guidance for both Sections of the LNAT, with regular tuition from an expert tutor and a whole suite of revision and practice resources to get yourself ready. 

Effective learning strategies are techniques and approaches that have been shown to enhance applicants’ learning and retention of new information . These 4 science-proof study techniques are designed to help you engage with your study materials more deeply, make connections between different concepts, and remember what you learn over the long-term to boost your LNAT preparation .

LNAT Section B Preparation

In this section, you will be presented with a choice of three essay questions, and you will be required to answer one of them in a well-structured, persuasive manner under a time limit of 40 minutes.

What does LNAT Section B test?

To answer Section B of the LNAT, you will need to have strong critical thinking and analytical skills, good writing skills and a strong command of written English. You need to be able to communicate your ideas clearly and coherently, structure your essay effectively, and present your arguments in a logical and persuasive manner.

Having a good knowledge of current affairs will also work in your favour. The admissions tutors really like to see interesting and creative arguments which are backed up by evidence rather than opinions. Focus on these skills in your LNAT Section B preparation.

1.Choosing your question

As mentioned, you have three options for your essay. We have a video snippet from our Law Programme in which our tutor Amy Gregg goes through the explanation of selecting the right question.

We’d recommend you take two minutes to read all the questions! While one essay might seem easy, you may find you run out of points and arguments. Using your time wisely will enable you to gauge how comfortable you are with a topic from your background knowledge.

2. Remember to Plan your essay

There are many reasons why you should plan your essay before you begin writing. These include:

• You don’t have much space so you need to make it count!
• It allows you to get your thoughts down on paper before writing
• You’ll write faster once you have a plan
• You run the risk of missing the point if you don’t plan

There’s no set period of time that should be dedicated to planning. This differs for everyone because everyone is different! You should spend as long as you want planning, provided you have enough time to legibly write your essay. As a rough guide, we’d recommend 5-10 minutes.

3. Learn how to structure your essay

It is important that your essay has a clear framework and logical progression, such as the following structure:

• Introduction: introduce the topic and give a brief outline of what you will discuss.
• Main argument: discuss the facts in favour of your position.
• Counter-argument: present arguments to the contrary.
• Conclusion: state what you believe and why.

You can then begin to structure your essay, including the way that points will be linked. At this stage, it is worth considering the balance of your argument and confirming that you have considered arguments from both sides of the debate. Once this general structure has been established, it is useful to consider any examples or real-world information that may help to support your arguments.

Finally, you can begin to assess the plan as a whole and establish what your conclusion will be based on your arguments. You can use a variety of methods to actually put your ideas down, whether this is a mind map, bullet points or PROs and CONs, use what is best for you.

4. Practise timed essay writing

Section B of the LNAT requires you to write a 500-750 word essay in 40 minutes, so it’s important to get used to writing under strict time constraints. To get started, we recommend working with the sample essay topics , focusing on building a compelling argument with a logical structure. It may be beneficial to begin writing without time constraints before gradually picking up the pace.

Never avoid writing about topics you do not know much about. This can be dangerous for your LNAT score in the exam if only topics you are uncomfortable with come up. If you need someone to look over some practice essay answers for the LNAT and provide any guidance, then ask our LNAT tutors to mark your essay .

5. Review top-scoring essays

The LNAT website not only lists sample topics, but provides top-scoring answers to certain questions, such as “Does it matter if some animal and plant species die out?”. It is strongly recommended to read through these, to gauge how you should present your argument and get an idea of what the examiners are looking for.

Writing an LNAT Essay

To give you an idea of what you should be trying to achieve with your LNAT Section B essay, we’ll do a brief worked example together. Consider the question: “Abortion should only be permitted in certain circumstances.” Discuss.

Introduction

Present a brief outline of what you will discuss. In this case, you should clearly define “Abortion” (e.g. the termination of a pregnancy). If you wish, you can highlight the key themes that will run through the essay, but keep it short!

You should have a bunch of points written down that you can call on for this section. Here are some points considering arguing for abortion we came up with during the planning stage:

In the event of a medical issue

Disability of the child

Sexual assault

The mother wants to give up the foetus

The mother is too young

You now have a choice of several points you can use, but you can’t go into detail for all of them! You should focus on the  quality  not  quantity  of points made. Choose the points from which you can make the most original contribution.

Once you have chosen your points, you should create a structure:

Paragraph 1: Disability of the child

Paragraph 2: Sexual assault

Paragraph 3: In the event of a medical issue

You should then write PROs and CONs of each point for each paragraph. Ensure you have a balanced essay that considers all points of view fairly. Thinking about all elements of an argument is important; thinking of alternative views can strengthen your argument for or against something.

Here you will bring together the points from the main body. You shouldn’t bring any new points into the conclusion, focus just on what you have previously spoken about. If you have summarised each point in the main body, then a shorter conclusion will suffice, and vice versa.

Extra LNAT Section B Tips

• The ideal LNAT essay is 500-600 words long. If you write less than this your essay will be too short to be evaluated properly and you are unlikely to do well.
• You should try and remove repetition, surplus words, and digressions. This kind of discipline will be rewarded.
• Do not sit on the fence or say that each side of the argument has a point unless you go on to say which point each side has. This is different from considering both sides and will come off as indecisive. 
• Your opinions do not matter, all the Admissions Tutors are interested in seeing is your ability to defend a position which may or may not be your own personal opinion.
• Do not try and impress with fancy words or elaborate style that have no substance. Be straightforward in your writing and your argument.

Practical Preparation for the LNAT

Preparing for the LNAT isn’t all about practising for the questions, however. There are some practical considerations to keep in mind, away from the content of the Admissions Test itself. You will need to ensure you are ready to attend the actual test, or else you may face complications before you even see the paper. 

Make sure to check the deadlines for the universities you are applying to and remember that test places get booked up quickly. Do not leave it until the last minute. It should go without saying, but you must ensure that your chosen universities actually require the LNAT first. Doing some research into how these unis use the LNAT will also help you set your expectations for the minimum you should achieve. 

If you are applying for Oxford or Cambridge, you will need to have sat the LNAT on or before 15 th October. If you are not applying to Oxbridge, you have until 25 th January.

Make sure to take photo identification and a printout of your confirmation email to the test centre with you. Arrive 20 minutes early, as if you are late, you may not be allowed to sit the test.

Ultimately, passing the LNAT test is a challenging but achievable goal, but by following these steps for your LNAT preparation, you can improve your chances of doing so and pave the way towards a rewarding future in Law.

What you have got to remember that the LNAT is your opportunity to demonstrate to the Admissions Tutors that you are capable of succeeding at an academically demanding subject. As long as you use your skills of deduction for the multiple-choice questions and argue coherently in your essay you are sure to do well. 

Remember, the LNAT is not designed to trip you up. Its purpose is to allow you to demonstrate the skills that are necessary for a career in Law. Following these tips and effectively preparing for the test will improve your chances of getting a good LNAT Score .

Looking to effectively boost your LNAT score?

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Sample LNAT questions

So you’re flying the nest and leaving home to study law at university. It’s the first step on a long road to becoming a lawyer but even after you’ve sent off that lovely law personal statement and selected your five university choices, but now you have to sit the LNAT.

Of course, by now you know what the LNAT is and you’ve been preparing well, but what about practising for the LNAT and having some sample questions to check out? Don’t fear, LNAT student, AllAboutLaw is here to provide. (Don’t mention it…).

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LNAT multiple choice questions

The first part of the LNAT test is made up of 42 multiple-choice questions lasting 95 minutes. There are three or four questions for 12 argumentative passages that test your reasoning skills.

There’s no way to revise as such, as you don’t know what the passage will contain, but there are example questions you can try your hand at. Such as this one (which we borrowed from the lovely folks at The Guardian ):

Example LNAT questions

Consider the following argument:

There are numerous mentally ill offenders in our prisons. This is shameful. The only point of punishment is deterrence. But to be deterred one needs to be a rational person, and a rational person is a person who understands the likely consequences of his or her actions. Mentally ill offenders are, by definition, less than fully rational. So they cannot be deterred, and should not be in prison.

1. Which of the following is an unarticulated assumption of the argument?

(a) There are numerous mentally ill offenders in our prisons

(b) Imprisoning the mentally ill is shameful

(c) Imprisonment is a form of punishment

(d) Rational people understand the likely consequences of their actions

(e) Those who cannot be deterred should not be in prison.

2. Which of the following is a flaw in the argument?

(a) It does not tell us anything about the definition of mental illness that it is using

(b) It starts from the assumption that we should be ashamed of our prisons

(c) It suggests that we have to embark on a very troublesome review of the way that imprisonment is used as a punishment

(d) It does not allow for the possibility that some people who were not mentally ill when they offended might become mentally ill in prison

(e) It relies on statistics.

3. Which of the following can we most reliably infer that the author of the argument believes?

(a) People should not be sent to prison except as a last resort

(b) Mentally ill people should be treated in hospital for their illnesses

(c) Offenders who are not mentally ill should always be punished by imprisonment

(d) All offences have consequences

(e) The point of punishment is not rehabilitation.

LNAT stress that there is only one correct answer to these questions and they don’t include trick questions. You just have to think critically!

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LNAT Sample Essays

• Updated on  
• Dec 3, 2022

LNAT or National Admission test for law is an aptitude test that is conducted across 89 universities in the UK before offering admissions into their law programmes . Due to an ever increasing competition, this test was developed by oxford university to solve the problems faced by institutes with respect to shortlisting candidates. LNAT is mandatory for both home as well as international students, applying for law courses in the UK . LNAT is a 130 minute long exam that consists of 2 sections; an MCQ type and an essay type. In this blog we bring you various practise questions that’ll help you ace your LNAT Sample essays.  

LNAT Sample Essays: Structure and Format

While writing the essay it is important to keep the following points in mind in order to write a well-structured essay.

• What – try to understand the motion that is put forward. Is the motion based on law, politics, economics or ethics? What exactly is being asked of you? While writing the essay you are required to display high levels of critical thinking which must be visible in your essay.
• Why – ask yourself why this question is being asked? What could be the purpose of such a statement? Provide evidence to suggest the accuracy or inaccuracy of the motion. Question why you are required to use certain terms, phrases or literary technique. Your analytical ability and persuasiveness will be put to test.
• How- how is this statement concluded and what are the practicalities of implementing it? What are the ways in which this can be challenged? How can it be enforced and monitored? You will be required to provide solid logical reasoning and demonstrate how your answer forms a conclusion.
• What if – another question you must ask yourself is about the alternatives you have provided in your essay. Are there any views to consider? What are the practical implications of the arguments you have put forth? Can those be challenges? If yes, how? Weigh in both the strengths and weaknesses of your argument.

Practise Questions 

Here are some of the best questions that can help you practise for LNAT essays: 

• What disciplinary sanctions should teachers be allowed to use?
• Make the best case you can for public funding of the arts.
• How should judges be appointed?
• ‘It is right that students should contribute to the cost of their degrees.’ Do you agree?
• Does it matter if some animal and plant species die out?
• What is ‘political correctness’ and why does it matter?
• Should the law require people to vote in general elections?
• We must be prepared to sacrifice traditional liberties to defeat terrorism.’
• Should private cars be rationed? If so, how?
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LNAT Sample Essay

Should the privacy of the accused be maintained in Criminal legal proceedings?

The criminal justice system is rooted on the principle that the suspect is innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. This principle is applicable whether the person is renowned in the public sphere, therefore making the case susceptible to prejudice or someone wholly anonymous. Therefore, I am of the opinion that wherever possible, the anonymity of the accused ought to be maintained. There are several reasons to believe so. Firstly and most importantly, the legal system ought to be free from biases and prejudices. Secondly, publishing the accused’s identity does not serve public interest. It would be a gross breach of an individual’s right to privacy when publishing the identity.

The nature of the legal process is a dialectic process; it is a rule of thumb that the prosecutor must prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.  the defence ought to cast doubt on the case of the prosecution or prove the defendant’s innocence. This process necessitates the gathering of evidence, familiarity with the facts pertinent to the case and precedents set by the previous cases. If a defendant’s anonymity is compromised that could potentially colour the legal proceedings with public prejudice. This would be antithetical to the very nature of legal process. 

A public bias is as dangerous as any other bias and can impact the legal proceedings in negative ways. Therefore there is the possibility that the disclosure of the accused’s identity can impact the objectivity of the court. The accused only ought to be tried by the court and not by the media. 

To elaborate on the 2nd issue, the publishing of the accused identity can be extremely counterproductive and in general unhelpful to the public interest. Media trials can be extremely dehumanizing which apart from affecting the trial can additionally impact the accused life if found to be innocent.  

Most importantly, an individual’s right to privacy has been recognized as a fundamental right. A man acquitted 100 times is the same as a man once or never prosecuted at all, but seldom do the larger public view the situation from a legal perspective. The person may never escape the humiliation and public prejudice of having once been accused. 

In conclusion, I’d like to reiterate the importance of maintaining anonymity in a case of criminal accusation. It is a fair argument that the public at large ought to know the argument of the criminal who threatens their safety and security, however the principles of law dictates that a person is innocent until proven guilty. By abiding by this view, we can maintain the objectivity of the court and preserve the dignity of the accused.

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This was all about LNAT essay questions. We hope this blog has given you a brief Idea as to how to go about your essay. In case you need additional guidance in navigating various aptitude tests and exams, get in touch with our experts at Leverage Edu today! Call us immediately at 1800 57 2000 for a free 30-minute counselling session.

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Essay Questions

Lnat questions – essay advice.

This page has free essay questions and advice for LNAT essays.

LNAT essays should be 500 words minimum to 700 words maximum.

This equals 2 to two and a half pages on the computer screen.

You will get 40 minutes to write your LNAT essay.

Essay Questions for the LNAT – Scoring

Your LNAT essay response will not be marked as such.

So, you won’t receive a score for your essay.

Different universities use the LNAT essay for different admissions purposes.

Essay Questions for the LNAT – Free Samples

LNAT essay questions will be in the form of either a question or a statement.

Here are some LNAT essay questions for you to practise:

Should public transport be compulsory in certain areas?

Being fair to the community is more important than being just to the individual. Discuss.

Make the best argument you can for full government funding of undergraduate education.

“Everyone would benefit from doing a stint of manual labour.” Do you agree?

Animal rights should be sacrificed when human life might be at stake. Discuss.

Should the government do more to encourage people into the teaching profession?

LNAT Practice Tests and Essay Writing Guide

• LNAT Practice Tests
• Practice Login
• LNAT Essay Questions
• Essay Speed Analyzer

The Complete Guide On How to Ace the LNAT 2024 and 2025

• Revised & updated LNAT 2024 Edition
• 30 Full-Length Practice Tests
• 360 LNAT-Style Passages
• 1,260 Multiple-Choice Questions
• All Answers Include Explanations
• 90 Essay Questions - with model answers
• Access for 12 months from the date of purchase
• Option to Repeat All Tests Thrice for Enhanced Practice
• Random Shuffling of Answers for Repeat Practice Sessions
• Try the Free Full Length LNAT 2024 Practice Test

The Law National Admissions Test (LNAT) was started by some of the popular Russell Group of Universities, to assist them in shortlisting and selecting students for their Law programs, from among the thousands who applied every year.

The LNAT helps understanding the abilities and competencies of the applicants from a perspective of their suitability to study the undergraduate law programs.

The LNAT is intended to assess your intellectual aptitude rather than your expertise in a specific subject.

Considering that applicants from diverse backgrounds apply for the Law programs, the LNAT is a standardized test that presents a similar challenge to all test-takers.

The ground rule for the LNAT is that no specific external knowledge is required or expected from the candidates. All the MCQs in section A need to be answered strictly on the basis of the information within the passages. There are no facts or figures to memorize for the text.

The LNAT does not have any pass or fail marks. The maximum marks that can be scored are 42 (out of 42), in Section A, which is automatically graded by the system.

The LNAT essay is sent ‘as is’ to the universities, to be internally assessed by them as per their specific criteria.

Unlike some other tests (e.g., GMAT), you can sit for the LNAT only once in every admission cycle. Therefore, it is very important to make your attempt count!

Format of the LNAT 2024

The LNAT is divided into two sections and candidates have 2 hours and 15 minutes (135 minutes) in total to complete the test.

Section A – There will be 42 multiple-choice questions based on 12 passages, each accompanied by three or four questions. Test-takers have 95 minutes to answer all questions.

Section B – candidates are given 40 minutes to respond to one of three essay questions on various topics. Candidates are expected to write an essay of between 500 – 700 words in length.

Any time saved in one section cannot be carried over to the other section.

Typically, we have seen that candidates are pressed for time in section A; and not so much in section B.

LNAT 2024 Section A – Explained

In section A, there will be 12 passages in total. 6 passages will have 3 questions following them and 6 will have four questions.

So, in total there will be 42 questions – each carrying 1 mark.

There is no negative marking in the LNAT, therefore, the minimum marks a candidate can theoretically score is 0 and the maximum is 42.

As per the official information, the passages for LNAT section A, will cover seven broad areas:

This list of seven is very deceptive – since most newspaper articles, book extracts or general essays will fit into one of these categories. Don’t believe it? Just pick any article from today’s Guardian website and it can be classified under one of these seven topics.

In short, the passages in the LNAT may be derived from anywhere and on any subject.

While no prior knowledge of any specific subject is necessary, practically speaking, having a good general awareness is beneficial.

While designing the LawMint LNAT practice tests, we analysed the lengths of the LNAT passages, and we found that they are typically between 400 to 700 words in length. With some exceptions, a majority of them are closer to 500 words.

We have ensured that the passages in our LNAT practice tests cover a wide range of topics; and average around 500 words.

Time management for Section A of LNAT

The LNAT is not a difficult test per se. If taking the test without any time constraint, many candidates can score 35+.

However, the average LNAT score of all test takers in the recent cycles has hovered a little over the 50% mark, i.e., 22/42. Why is that?

The key to getting a high MCQ score in the LNAT is time management.

Candidates will have 95 minutes to complete section A, which has 42 questions – which means that on an average, test takers will have 135 seconds per question – a little over 2 minutes per question.

You will have to read the passage, read the questions and the answer options and select the correct answer, all within 2 minutes per question.

• 6 passages will have 3 questions each – that translates to 6 minutes per passage
• 6 passages will have 4 questions each – that translates to 8 minutes per passage

This is where extensive practice is very essentially:

• to develop the skills required to read lengthy passages in a couple of minutes
• to train your eyes and your brain to skim over superfluous info and focus on the main content
• to quickly understand the context and the content of the passage and the questions
• to comprehend dense and vaguely written passages on a wide variety of subjects

When we designed the LawMint LNAT practice tests, we first selected 360 passages, from a wide variety of sources. From 18 th century books on philosophy and politics, to extracts from the latest scientific journals.

Even the questions are intentionally longer and a little more complex than what you will see in the actual LNAT.

If you score at around the 50% mark in the LawMint LNAT practice test series, you will score higher in the actual test.

Can verbal reasoning skills be taught?

The LNAT is first and foremost a test for verbal reasoning. The questions are designed to assess components of verbal reasoning, such as:

• Comprehension
• Interpretation

The multiple-choice section aims to assess some of your skills such as

• Do you possess an attention to detail or tend to make hasty assumptions?
• Can you draw reasonable conclusions from the data provided to you?
• Can you effectively discern between facts, opinions, and deductions?
• Are you able to recognize the constraints of a given assertion?
• Can you detect unspoken inferences or implications?
• Are you able to identify when claims lack sufficient evidence?

Nobody is a born expert. Be it physical or mental tasks, practice does make a person perfect.

So, yes; All of the skills required for acing the LNAT can be taught, developed and honed with practice.

Dealing with the MCQ section of the LNAT 2024

The most important rule for lnat section a – mcqs.

When you start practicing for the LNAT, you need to train yourself to ignore outside information.

The most basic rule for LNAT section A is that all the answers have to be within the given passage. Do not introduce any external data or information when you are going through the passages and the questions.

Anything that is not specifically stated, implied or can be inferred on the basis of the passage is external information.

For example, read this passage and answer the question that follows:

Passage: In the current European landscape, the United Kingdom holds a unique position within the European Union. As one of the largest economies in the bloc, Britain plays a pivotal role in shaping EU policies and regulations. Although it opts not to adopt the Euro as its official currency or join the Schengen Area, the UK enjoys the benefits of the European Single Market, enabling the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. This access fosters economic growth and stimulates cultural exchange between Britain and the rest of Europe. The UK’s participation in the EU facilitates cooperation and collaboration, strengthening the region’s global influence.

Question: Which of the following statements is incorrect?

I. The United Kingdom holds a unique position within the European Union. II. Britain plays a pivotal role in shaping EU policies and regulations. III. UK enjoys the benefits of the European Single Market.

Option 1: All of the statements are correct Option 2: None of the statements are correct

As per your general awareness, the correct answer as of today, will be Option 2. However, there is nothing given in the passage to support Option 2. The passage explicitly supports Option 1. Therefore, Option 1 will be the correct answer, even though it is outdated.

How to answer LNAT section A questions

• Read the passage and understand the context, intent and content.
• Understand the progression and structure of an argument – in the passage as well as the question
• Pay close attention to the author’s tone – e.g., factual, neutral, opinionated, sarcastic, ironic, mocking.
• Differentiate between Facts, Assumptions, Inferences and Opinions – strictly on the basis of the passage.
• Read the questions carefully and understand what is being asked. For example, are there any double negatives? E.g., Isn’t it true that you don’t dislike pizza?
• Practice filtering out relevant information from extraneous material
• See which reading technique works for you – a thorough reading in the first pass, or a quick skim through first and focussed reading next
• Some test takers prefer reading the questions frost and then reading the passage. Some prefer an opposite approach – try and see which approach works best for you.

In the LawMint LNAT Practice Tests, there are 360 passages, with 1260 questions. Experiment with different techniques and see which ones work best for you.

When you repeat a practice test, the order of the questions under each passage, and the answer options – both are shuffled for better repeat practice.

The LNAT 2024 Essay – Section B

The section ‘B’ essay part of the LNAT requires you to write a 500-to-600-word essay on one of the three given essay questions or prompts. The time limit is 40 minutes.

In each of our LNAT practice tests, you will be given three essay questions or prompts to choose from. Such as:

• Can a policy of complete open borders be justified? Discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks.
• Should social media platforms be held accountable for the spread of fake news? Explain your answer.
• Should the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement be regulated? Explain your answer.

Unlike the MCQ section, the LNAT essay is not marked. The LNAT essay is sent ‘as is’ to the universities chosen by the test-taker.

The universities evaluate the applicant essays as per their own admissions process. Some may give the essay significant weightage in the overall candidature; whereas others may use it as an additional parameter, used marginally at best.

The important thing to remember about these essay questions is that they do not have a right or a wrong answer.

The essay is being used to evaluate your:

• Ability to understand the topic
• Ability to write a concise and compelling argument
• Ability to defend a point of view
• Command of the English language

Each of the three essay questions will appears in its own screen. Answer only one question. You can view all three of them by using the ‘Next’ and ‘Back’ buttons and select the essay question you like.

The LNAT essay question screen will have buttons for ‘cut’, ‘copy’, ‘paste’, ‘undo’ and ‘redo’. There is no spelling or grammar check function.

The system has a built-in word counter at the bottom of the text field. The ideal length of the essay is 500-to-600-words, translating to approximately one A4 page of content; to be written in around 30 minutes. The remaining 10 minutes should be used to review and polish your essay.

How to approach the section B essay

In our LNAT practice tests, we have provided 90 essay questions for extensive practice. By writing essays on a wide array of topics, you will become comfortable with structuring the information you have in a compelling manner.

• Plan a balanced essay – The essay should display your ability to consider multiple aspects of the topics, both pros and cons.
• Put your thoughts down – Type out your thoughts to create the basic outline of your essay. You can then build on the outline.
• Keep an eye on the clock – Remember, thirty minutes for planning and typing out the 500–600-word essay; and 10 minutes to edit and polish it.
• Argumentative not Opinionated! – Your essay should be based mostly on arguments and not simply on opinions. Your data and evidence to support your arguments.

Practicing for the LNAT 2024

Try out the free LNAT practice tests available on the official website and other sources.

The more you practice, the better prepared you are for the real LNAT.

Check out LawMint LNAT 2024 Practice Test – which includes 360 passages, 30 full length tests with 1260 questions and 90 essay questions.

Stay tuned for more articles on how to crack the LNAT.

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Home > Blog > LNAT: Sample Questions And Answers

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Lnat: sample questions and answers.

The Law National Admissions Test (LNAT) is one of most challenging and complex assessments for aspiring undergrads. The test is designed to assist University Law Admissions teams with selecting the best students for their course. Law courses are naturally extremely demanding, and therefore the LNAT 2016 is unlike any other assessment, in that it does not measure intellectual ability. The test is a measure of common sense, competency and a person’s ability to prove that they can handle a university degree in law. In this blog, we’ll provide you with sample questions from each part of the test.

What does the LNAT test involve?

There are two parts to the LNAT. The first is a multiple choice assessment, consisting of 12 passages, with 4 questions following each passage. For this part of the assessment, you will be given 1 hour and 35 minutes to complete all 42 questions. The second is an essay based assessment, where you will choose a subject from a range of topics to argue for or against. You will be given a choice of 3 questions, of which you must answer one. The essay will need to be typed and submitted in an electronic format. You will have 40 minutes in which to complete the essay.

The LNAT does:

• Test candidates’ ability in regards to Verbal Reasoning;
• Assess candidates’ ability in Deductive and Inductive Reasoning skills;
• Evaluate candidates’ ability in regards to understanding, interpreting and analysing large amounts of information;
• Test candidates’ ability to distinguish between inferences, generalisations, opinions and conclusions.

The LNAT does not:

• Assess candidate’s intelligence regarding the law;
• Rely on candidate’s knowledge and understanding obtained from previous education;
• Expect candidates to have prior knowledge to the topics used in the assessment;
• Guarantee a candidate’s place at their chosen university.

LNATMultiple Choice Assessment

Within the multiple-choice section of the LNAT exam, you will be provided with different styles of questions, in order to assess your comprehensive ability. It is important that you understand the skills being tested in this section and how they are extremely specific and tailored to aspiring law students.

The three main types of questions that you can expect to answer during the multiple-choice section are as follows:

• Argument Questions;
• Literary Style Questions;
• Analytical Questions.

Now, let’s take a look at a sample LNAT multiple choice style passage. Read through the passage and then have a go at answering the 2 questions below.

Diving In Football

Speaker A – The popularity of modern football has reached an all-time high. Football is by far and away the most popular sport in the world. In a way, you could argue football has transcended sport itself. It has become a language, a means to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. Unless, of course, you are American. Unfortunately, as its popularity grows, so does the desperation to win. Now more than ever, the financial rewards for winning in football have grown disproportionate, and this has given rise to a new form of sporting cancer – diving.

Diving (or flopping as it’s known in the USA) is the practice of faking or exaggerating injury, in order to con or cheat the referee – thereby gaining an advantage. Whether that advantage is a free kick or a penalty, the result is irrelevant. The bottom line is that this has to stop. The phrase ‘football is a man’s game’ is horrendously outdated, but there is some truth behind it. Not only is diving cheating, but it slows the game down. It’s embarrassing to watch perfectly healthy athletes pretending to be hurt, and it’s even worse when your team suffers the consequences of it. Cheating is cheating, plain and simple. We need to kick this out of the game, before it kills football altogether.

Speaker B – One of the biggest debates currently raging in football at the moment, particularly in the United Kingdom, is on the issue of diving. Speak to almost any football fan in the UK about the subject of diving, and you’ll be met with anger, rage and frustration. You’ll hear phrases such as ‘football is a man’s game’ and ‘diving is cheating’. Britain’s rage towards diving is palpable. More so than any other country, Britain holds the moral integrity of its footballers above all else. The ideal British footballer is strong, quick and above all else – honest. The problem with this image is that it’s just not true.

In reality, Britain has become absurdly hypocritical with its footballers. Diving is seen as one of the ultimate evils, yet crunching leg breaking tackles are openly cheered. A bevvy of footballers have lined up to admit that they openly set out to hurt the opposition, and certain managers rejoice in inflicting physical pain on the opposition. Yet in Britain, these people are not villains. Some of them are even seen as heroes. What is worse, openly jeopardising the career of a fellow professional, or seeking to gain an unfair advantage? Life is about taking advantage of your opportunities. In football, just as in any other area of life, there will be people who cheat to get ahead. I am not suggesting we should let this go unpunished, but it is what it is. Let’s not kid ourselves – diving IS cheating. However, it’s nowhere near as bad as British football would have you believe; and it certainly doesn’t put other players at risk.

1. What is the overall point that Speaker A is trying to make?

A – Diving is not manly. B – Diving is embarrassing. C – Diving is outdated D – Diving needs to be stopped.

2. In paragraph 2, speaker A uses the term ‘bottom line’. What is the name for this type of phrase?

A – Idiomatic B – Platonic C – Idiosyncratic D – Nomothetic

Question 1: What is the overall point that Speaker A is trying to make? Answer = D. Diving needs to be stopped. Explanation = Speaker A is clearly trying to show that diving needs to be stopped. While he does describe diving as embarrassing and not manly, these are both just used to illustrate a wider argument. Similarly, the term outdated is used to describe the term ‘football is a man’s game’, not diving itself.

Question 2: In paragraph 2, speaker A uses the term ‘bottom line’. What is the name for this type of phrase? Answer = A. Idiomatic. Explanation = An idiomatic phrase is an informal English expression, containing words which mean different to what is used in the expression. For example, bottom line does not mean the bottom/lowest/very last line. It means ‘the definitive truth is…’.

LNAT Essay Questions

For Section B, you will be required to answer only one question out of three possible choices.Your answer should be no longer than 750 words, and a standard essay should be between 500 to 600 words. You will only have 40 minutes to conduct the entire essay, and so time management is crucial.

You will need to construct a clear and concise argument that is straight to the point, provides a quality argument, and most importantly, written in a persuasive, controlled and detailed structure.

The best preparation in regards to the essay section of the assessment, is to practice drafting essay plans and reading high quality newspapers (usually in the form of a broadsheet). Reading newspapers will allow you to gain a basic understanding into the goings-on in the world around you, including current affairs, economics, technological changes, and social developments. You are not expected to have a detailed understanding of the essay topics in which will appear in the LNAT exam. What is expected from you, is to create an argument based on explanations, assumptions and analysis that fundamentally form a persuasive and conclusive argument.

Let’s take a look at a sample essay based question:

‘Arranged marriages should no longer be tolerated within Western societies’. Discuss.

This question focuses on your ability to discuss your opinions and provide valuable explanations and examples and discuss the importance of both sides of the argument.

To argue ‘for’ banning arranged marriages, the key points you could include are:

• As human beings, it is in our nature to find our own life partner through freedom of choice. You could expand this claim by providing examples of freedom of choice, equality and diversity;
• It can be argued that arranged marriages can lead to abuse, neglect and deprivation that could have been avoided if a person was given the opportunity to make their own choices;
• Arranged marriage is a barrier to integration. It encourages segregation and rejects diversity and equality. You could talk about different cultures and how in some cultures, this is deemed to be the ‘norm’ and therefore prolongs their culture to live through exclusion and repression.

To argue ‘against’ arranged marriages, the key points you could include are:

• Religions and customs are difficult to separate and would prove extremely difficult to change. You can discuss how arranged marriages are more apparent in some cultures than in others, and highlight the implications of removing traditions from a culture that have ultimately been followed for hundreds of years;
• Perception of cultural attack. The perception of attacking a person’s beliefs and culture could be seen as discriminatory. People will feel victimised and disassociated with wider cultures. You can discuss how societies have become more notoriously aware of equality and discrimination. Attacking a person’s culture and their traditions could be seen to be an act of discrimination, which will ultimately cause conflict amongst cultures, religions and society;
• Taking away a person’s traditions. It may be tradition for arranged marriages to take place, and taking it away from their culture, it taking away what they believe in. From generations to generations, it is likely that the family member is subject to arranged marriages because family history has been no different;

Other Products You Might Be Interested In

If you are interested in more questions just like the above, make sure you purchase our Law National Admissions Test Guide . Containing essential info and more, this is the ultimate guide to passing the LNAT.

Andy Bosworth

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10 LNAT tips you should read for TOP grades on the LNAT exam

If you are preparing for the LNAT , here are 10 things you must know for top grades on the exam. It can be a confusing test to get your head round, and it is certainly a very difficult test. These 10 tips break the exam down for you, and give you simple and quick hacks to help you turn your score around and feel more confident going into the exam …

LNAT Tips 1. Small changes lead to big improvements

Every small thing you do to help you prepare will lead to big improvements in your final mark, so, whilst you might not feel like your practice is improving your score now, stick with it and you will see that it was worth it in the end.

Here is a little list of small things and handy LNAT tips that you can do today to get that top score on test day …

• Start reading newspapers , articles and journals so you know what good writing looks like
• Create a list of common question types and things you can do to tackle them
• Do a test with a timer next to you, and move on at exactly 8.5 minutes per passage
• Write an essay on your favourite topic and one on your least favourite topic, compare them and work out how you can get better at writing about topics you dislike

LNAT Tips 2. Start early

The earlier you start the better , you don’t need to jump straight into full timed mock exams but it is never too early to familiarize yourself with the test format, question types and essay topics. Especially, you should widen your reading, head to the non-fiction area of your library and see if you can find a book on the common and current debates in Science, Politics, Law, Media and Education. Or, if books aren’t your thing, take a look at an online newspaper or watch a TED Talk on YouTube whilst you get ready for school. This way, by the time it comes to the exam you will be equipped with a much better understanding of the LNAT essay topics .

LNAT Tips 3. Identify common question types and patterns – build up a bank of question tackling skills

The more you practice, the more you will release that the LNAT test involves certain question types which repeat. This is great news! It means you can build up a bank of question types that you are familiar with, and write down the tricks you use to tackle those specific questions.

Here are a few ideas …

• Main Point Questions: Take another look at the intro and conclusion of the passage, these usually give you an idea of the author’s main point
• Argument Questions: Cover up the answer options and write down what you think the answer is first, then pick the answer option which is most similar to what you wrote down
• Which of the following can be inferred Questions: Think about what the author has said and use it to jump to the next step, this is likely to be the inference
• Essay Questions: Imagine you are making your argument to a friend, what would they say? How would they criticise your points?

4. Think about the question from a new angle

With essays, it is important to nail the basics. This means a clear essay with some strong arguments which are introduced with topic sentences and developed in your paragraphs. It also means making sure that your paragraphs are always relevant to your argument, and that you are not straying away from your point. Once you think you have nailed those essay basics, it is time to get on to some top mark tricks. The best one is to think about the essay from a new angle – this means extending the scope of the essay and thinking about why it is important or how it could be tackled in a totally new way. Take this example …

5. Teach somebody else!

The best way to learn is through teaching , so grab your mum, dad or just a cuddly toy, and talk them through the different LNAT Question types, how to tackle the LNAT essays, and your best LNAT tips. This will help you think about the exam as a whole, and will make sure that all your knowledge and skills are right at the forefront of your mind on test day.

Timing is a killer in the LNAT. You can be brilliantly skilled, but, if you don’t get through the paper you are going to struggle to get a top mark. This is especially true when we remember that the LNAT is a multiple choice test, leaving an answer blank means you have 0% chance of getting the question correct, guessing gives you a 20% chance and if you can rule a few answer options out you are heading towards 50% (the average LNAT score!). In the weeks before the exam, you need to be practicing under time conditions , being strict with yourself so that you move on, find the questions you have the most chance of answering correctly and get to the end of the paper.

LNAT Tips 7. Confidence, don’t stress!

The LNAT is really hard, and you are unlikely to get your best score until right up to the days before the exam. This can be deflating and it is easy to give up early on if you don’t see score improvements. Please don’t give up , the skills you are learning in practice now will eventually turn into score improvements, even if you can’t see it yet. Stay confident, you should be impressed with yourself for preparing for such a difficult test, and remember that the LNAT averages are low, and your score will be considered along with lots of other parts of your application. A confident and calm candidate will always do better than a stressed candidate – so give it your best shot!

LNAT Tips 8. Mock tests

You should take full mock tests before your exam, this helps you …

• Get used to the online test format
• Work on how you are going to keep within time limit
• Familiarize yourself so you are less stressed in the exam
• Get used to sitting down and focussing for an extended period of time

If you have a question book you can use it to create mock tests, then, close to your exam date, you can head to the LNAT website and do their 2 mock tests which are formatted in the same way as the exam will be on test day.

LNAT Mock Test – Click Here

LNAT Tips 9. Ask for feedback

It can be hard to know how strong your essays are, it is not like the multiple choice section  where there is a correct and incorrect answer. To improve your essays you need to get feedback, so take your essay to someone, tell them what it’s for and how much time you have to write it, and then ask them to really critique it and find any flaws they can. Also, get their perspective on the question, what kinds of things might they have said that you didn’t consider.

People to ask for feedback-

• Teachers (English, Politics, Law, History, Geography teachers might be best but any teacher will be able to help you)
• Family Members

• Friends (Make sure to tell them to be mean, you want to know how to improve!)
• Yourself (Put the essay away for another day, when you come back to it, imagine you are an examiner and think about what you would critique)

LNAT Tips 10. Look for clues

The LNAT is not about knowledge it is about skills . One of those skills is inference, being able to work something out from the information you are given, a bit like a detective! So, if the LNAT question asks you for the meaning of a word and you don’t know it, use the text to work it out. Take a look at the words around the text, and the author’s argument in the passage, and pick the word that fits best in the context.

So that’s all the tips we have for the LNAT Exam. We wish you all the best in the exam and there’s lots of help available throughout the internet. If you’re interested on something personalised, be sure to check out our 1-1 LNAT Tutoring. We have expert LNAT tutors who have scored in the top 5% of the LNAT and have a wealth of advice they can give you. Here is more information about this: LNAT Tutoring

Preparation – LNAT FAQ’s

Q – how do i prepare for section a of the lnat.

A- LNAT Section A preparation is all about practice, you should do as many practice questions as you can. You should be able to start to recognise the most common question types, and draw together a skills bank to help you tackle common questions. See our post “10 Tips LNAT Section A” for more LNAT Section A grade boosters.

Q- How do I prepare for section B of the LNAT?

A – You can improve your essay skills by reading professional articles in newspapers, journals and books. Try to identify what makes the writing persuasive and effective and include it in your own work. You should look over sample essays and use them to critique your own work, try and spot places where your argument could be clearer or where you could have considered a counter argument. LNAT – Practice test https://lnat.ac.uk/how-to-prepare/practice-test/

Click Here for LNAT Sample Essays

Q- How do people do well on the LNAT?

A – LNAT is about natural skill, but it is also about practice. The more familiar you are with the test process and common question types the better you will perform. It is also really important to get used to the time pressure of the LNAT test, best candidates will have done a good number of timed mock tests.

Q- Can you get tutoring for the LNAT?

A – Yes you can. If you would like specific guided help with the LNAT, LawMind offers 1 on 1 LNAT tutoring with sessions to help you tackle the Multiple Choice Questions and improve your essays and skills.

Q – How do I get used to the online test format?

A – The LNAT is an online test, and you will not be able to highlight or edit the questions on screen, but you are given a little whiteboard to make notes. To get used to the online format, make sure to take the two mock tests on the LNAT website, which are in the same format as the exam will be on the day.

Click Here for LNAT mock tests

Q- How should I prepare myself on test day?

A – On test day, stay calm, take a look over the common question types and strategies you have learnt in your mock practice. Get all your documentation ready (a list will be given to you after registration, see the LNAT website), have something to eat as it is a long test, stay calm and confident and do your best.

Click Here for LNAT Test Day Information

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How to prepare

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The LNAT is designed to test your intellectual abilities rather than your knowledge about a particular subject. However, students are strongly advised to practise and prepare for the test.

There are no facts to learn in preparation for the test. However we strongly recommend you make use of our preparation materials which will help you concentrate on exercising the relevant parts of your brain, and on familiarising yourself with the test format.

The LNAT is a 2¼ hour test in two sections.

• Section A consists of 42 multiple choice questions. The questions are based on 12 argumentative passages, with 3 or 4 multiple choice questions on each. You are given 95 minutes to answer all of the questions.
• For Section B, you have 40 minutes to answer  one  of three essay questions on a range of subjects..

We do not recommend that candidates pay for coaching and we advise you to be sceptical about anyone’s claims to be able to help you do well in the test by coaching.

The LNAT Consortium has no connection with and does not endorse or recommend any preparatory materials provided by any other individual or organisation, whether commercially or free of charge. Any attempt to suggest that the LNAT Consortium makes any such endorsement should be  reported to us  so that action may be taken against the perpetrator.

Be aware that coaching organisations’ screen views of any preparatory test may not resemble the real LNAT screens.

Reading and Thinking

Candidates can prepare for the LNAT by exercising the relevant parts of their brain. This can be done by reading a quality newspaper (in English) every day. As you read

• Think about the issues being raised;
• What assumptions are being made?
• What information is being relied on to draw which conclusion?
• How would you frame a counterargument?

Reading a quality daily newspaper will help you to be aware of the world around you. The LNAT essay topics will not be specifically about current affairs, and you will not be judged by what facts you know. But knowing how the world ticks, in general terms, will help you to write intelligently about a host of different topics.

We have listed some newspapers below worth considering. You can read the online versions (usually freely available, although registration may be required). If you do read the online versions, remember to read the comment pieces as well as the news. (One question you might ask yourself: What exactly is the difference between news and comment? Is the contrast really apparent in practice?)

• The Economist
• The Financial Times
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Irish Times
• The New York Times
• The Scotsman
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Washington Post

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