The Student Room Group

When do I need to take the LNAT?

Hi!
I am thinking about applying to do law at Bristol and Birmingham and I have read you need to take the LNAT. I am currently in Year 12 so will be applying for Uni next academic year in September. When should I take the LNAT? Do I need to have a score in it to apply to my Unis? Thanks so much!

Reply 1

Hello!

I applied this year and in my experience, I had until January 20th to take the LNAT (unless you're applying for Oxford in which case it needs to be done before the 20th October). The date might be slightly different but it'll be around the same time.

You don't find out your score until sometime in February/March. Your unis will find out your score and will see your essay a couple of days after you have taken the test and it will influence your offer, so the higher the score the better.

There's a lot of freedom about when you do your LNAT! However, the sooner you do your LNAT, the sooner you'll start getting offers, but it's totally up to you.

Hope this was helpful :smile:

Reply 2

Original post by papertown
Hello!

I applied this year and in my experience, I had until January 20th to take the LNAT (unless you're applying for Oxford in which case it needs to be done before the 20th October). The date might be slightly different but it'll be around the same time.

You don't find out your score until sometime in February/March. Your unis will find out your score and will see your essay a couple of days after you have taken the test and it will influence your offer, so the higher the score the better.

There's a lot of freedom about when you do your LNAT! However, the sooner you do your LNAT, the sooner you'll start getting offers, but it's totally up to you.

Hope this was helpful :smile:


Yes thank you so much! If you were me, when would you recommend taking it? i.e after as levels, summer holiday or September time? Thanks

Reply 3

Original post by robyn2000
Yes thank you so much! If you were me, when would you recommend taking it? i.e after as levels, summer holiday or September time? Thanks


Personally I did mine in Oct, about a week after submitting my UCAs :smile: It was to accompany my friend who applied for Oxford (which requires applicants to sit their LNAT before the 20th), but it felt good to do it and get it out of the way somehow. I guess prepare for it during summer? Or during half term. I squeezed in my LNAT revision during the last week of summer and a week running up to the exam, but I haven't heard back from KCL yet so I'm sorry that I can't advise you on anything further :/

Spoiler

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 4

The earlier you take it, the better. Just get it out of the way so it doesn't interfere with mock exams etc. You can't really revise for it and the longer you take to do it the more you'll fret about trying to.

Reply 5

I took mine at the end of October. I think this is a good time because it gives you a good couple of months to revise, but at the same time doesn't take up too much of your time and you get it out of the way relatively early, so you can start getting offers and revising for mocks.

Reply 6

Hi everyone. I am a bit confused. I have just done my gcses about a month ago, getting my results for them in 3 weeks time. Id like to study law at uni but i don't really understand the time scales. Would I have to do my lnat in year 12 or year 13? And what months of the year too... sorry to be a pain. Ive read the discussion but im just a bit lost. Could i aslo ask when you have to submit the ucas application as well?

Reply 7

Original post by XxPhantom
Hi everyone. I am a bit confused. I have just done my gcses about a month ago, getting my results for them in 3 weeks time. Id like to study law at uni but i don't really understand the time scales. Would I have to do my lnat in year 12 or year 13? And what months of the year too... sorry to be a pain. Ive read the discussion but im just a bit lost. Could i aslo ask when you have to submit the ucas application as well?

This thread is 7 years old but you sit the LNAT in Year 13. Different universities have different deadlines for sitting but the earliest deadline is the Oxbridge one, which will be in mid October. You submit your UCAS application in mid October for the Oxbridge deadline, if you are applying for Oxbridge, or late January for every other university and most courses (except medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine which also use the October deadline). The latest LNAT deadline is in late January. You have to check the website to see which specific universities require it and when their individual deadlines are, but ultimately, you have another year before you have to start the LNAT process.

Reply 8

Original post by bibachu
This thread is 7 years old but you sit the LNAT in Year 13. Different universities have different deadlines for sitting but the earliest deadline is the Oxbridge one, which will be in mid October. You submit your UCAS application in mid October for the Oxbridge deadline, if you are applying for Oxbridge, or late January for every other university and most courses (except medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine which also use the October deadline). The latest LNAT deadline is in late January. You have to check the website to see which specific universities require it and when their individual deadlines are, but ultimately, you have another year before you have to start the LNAT process.


Thank you so very much for this, you’ve been super helpful. And one last thing if you don’t mind, from my understating you don’t actually know what your lnat result is before you send it to the uni right? They find out before you correct?

Reply 9

Original post by XxPhantom
Thank you so very much for this, you’ve been super helpful. And one last thing if you don’t mind, from my understating you don’t actually know what your lnat result is before you send it to the uni right? They find out before you correct?

Yes that’s correct. I believe the results are released for the MCQ section in February. Depending on where you apply, your essay will be marked internally and you may get a score given back to you by the university.

Reply 10

Original post by bibachu
Yes that’s correct. I believe the results are released for the MCQ section in February. Depending on where you apply, your essay will be marked internally and you may get a score given back to you by the university.


Thank you for everything! You’ve been a great help and I really appreciate it 🙂

Quick Reply