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Worried about LNAT exam

Does anyone know how the practise LNAT tests on Arbitio and in the Mark Shepherd book compare to the real thing. I seem to get high scores in the Mark Shepherd book yet regularly struggle to get above 20ish in Arbitio and sometimes get a really low mark. Obviously, this is a bit demoralising so any insight would be appreciated :smile:
Reply 1
I did mine a few weeks ago. My average in the Mark Shepherd book was about 32 and on Arbitio was 25. I found the actual thing much easier than Arbitio and only a little bit harder than the Mark Shepherd, so hoping for around 30. The average score on Arbitio is 18.3 but the average score that someone who uses it gets is 27, which is a really good score, so I wouldn’t worry. I would suggest focusing on going through your answers slowly, reading and understanding the explanations and identifying and working on types of questions you consistently get wrong.
Original post by swjp
I did mine a few weeks ago. My average in the Mark Shepherd book was about 32 and on Arbitio was 25. I found the actual thing much easier than Arbitio and only a little bit harder than the Mark Shepherd, so hoping for around 30. The average score on Arbitio is 18.3 but the average score that someone who uses it gets is 27, which is a really good score, so I wouldn’t worry. I would suggest focusing on going through your answers slowly, reading and understanding the explanations and identifying and working on types of questions you consistently get wrong.

How were ur LNAT essay questions?
Reply 3
Original post by Sophxxxdd
How were ur LNAT essay questions?

Relatively similar to Arbitio (but none of those long weird quote ones on Arbitio). Two of them I had no clue about but one I had written a relatively similar essay in practice so I was confident with my points but still a tad rushed. The topics were things to be expected - current hot topics and debates.
Original post by swjp
Relatively similar to Arbitio (but none of those long weird quote ones on Arbitio). Two of them I had no clue about but one I had written a relatively similar essay in practice so I was confident with my points but still a tad rushed. The topics were things to be expected - current hot topics and debates.

Would you recommend me to read up on vaccinations, organ sales etc?
Reply 5
Original post by Sophxxxdd
Would you recommend me to read up on vaccinations, organ sales etc?

Don't research specific topics in the hopes of somehow predicting the essay question. You should stay knowledgeable on current affairs because this will help you think critically (useful for the MCQs) and formulate arguments.

However, the essay question is designed to make you formulate these arguments on your own (they are testing how you think), so you need to practice forming reasons to support a viewpoint, not memorising facts about a particular topic.
Reply 6
Original post by swjp
I did mine a few weeks ago. My average in the Mark Shepherd book was about 32 and on Arbitio was 25. I found the actual thing much easier than Arbitio and only a little bit harder than the Mark Shepherd, so hoping for around 30. The average score on Arbitio is 18.3 but the average score that someone who uses it gets is 27, which is a really good score, so I wouldn’t worry. I would suggest focusing on going through your answers slowly, reading and understanding the explanations and identifying and working on types of questions you consistently get wrong.

Thanks! I'll do that. Sounds like you'll get a great score.
ps. How were you on time? I seem to generally cut it a bit fine on Arbito.
Reply 7
Original post by Dstudent432
Thanks! I'll do that. Sounds like you'll get a great score.
ps. How were you on time? I seem to generally cut it a bit fine on Arbito.

Thank you so much. I definitely had more time than for Arbitio - I finished with about 20/25 mins to check, which was definitely more than I had on Arbitio.
Hiya, I did my LNAT last Tuesday and used arbitio to practice, along with the official LNAT sample papers. Arbitio is a lot harder IMO and your score on arbitio is not reflective of how you will do in the real thing (just from anecdotal evidence I have heard). I actually found the LNAT tested different skills than arbitio did.

The sample papers/official simulators are a lot more realistic and are the best way to gauge how you are doing. Because of NDA I won't be disclosing any specifics but the best way to prepare for the essay is to do a few of the example questions on the LNAT website, look into some philosophical/political concepts (e.g. different forms of justice) and read about current affairs.

Good luck x
Original post by _Kestrel_
Hiya, I did my LNAT last Tuesday and used arbitio to practice, along with the official LNAT sample papers. Arbitio is a lot harder IMO and your score on arbitio is not reflective of how you will do in the real thing (just from anecdotal evidence I have heard). I actually found the LNAT tested different skills than arbitio did.

The sample papers/official simulators are a lot more realistic and are the best way to gauge how you are doing. Because of NDA I won't be disclosing any specifics but the best way to prepare for the essay is to do a few of the example questions on the LNAT website, look into some philosophical/political concepts (e.g. different forms of justice) and read about current affairs.

Good luck x

Did u manage to finish ur essay on time?
I did sat the LNAT last year and used Arbitio to practice. My score was 27 which tbh I wasn't too happy with as I was aiming for around 29 (not to say 27 is a bad score at all! just personal goal wise), I think maybe I rushed a little bit especially on the MCQs and wished I slowed down a bit and allocated more time to eat question (I think this was just nerves). I did find that Arbitio was MUCH harder in that the passages they give you are more complicated. It's normal to feel nervous but don't let it consume your thoughts, just try your best and keep practicing! Good luck :smile:
Original post by _Kestrel_
Hiya, I did my LNAT last Tuesday and used arbitio to practice, along with the official LNAT sample papers. Arbitio is a lot harder IMO and your score on arbitio is not reflective of how you will do in the real thing (just from anecdotal evidence I have heard). I actually found the LNAT tested different skills than arbitio did.

The sample papers/official simulators are a lot more realistic and are the best way to gauge how you are doing. Because of NDA I won't be disclosing any specifics but the best way to prepare for the essay is to do a few of the example questions on the LNAT website, look into some philosophical/political concepts (e.g. different forms of justice) and read about current affairs.

Good luck x

Thanks, that's really helpful!
Hope you get a good score :smile:
Original post by Winona03
I did sat the LNAT last year and used Arbitio to practice. My score was 27 which tbh I wasn't too happy with as I was aiming for around 29 (not to say 27 is a bad score at all! just personal goal wise), I think maybe I rushed a little bit especially on the MCQs and wished I slowed down a bit and allocated more time to eat question (I think this was just nerves). I did find that Arbitio was MUCH harder in that the passages they give you are more complicated. It's normal to feel nervous but don't let it consume your thoughts, just try your best and keep practicing! Good luck :smile:

Thanks, I do find the passages on Arbitio a pain to get through so that's reassuring. Well done on the score tho, i'd happily take 27 lol

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