The Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT) consists of two main sections, A and B.
Today, we will be focussing on LNAT Section B to help you start preparing for the essay section of the LNAT. We go through how to structure your essays and how to select the right LNAT essay question.
Our guide for Section A of the LNAT can be found here.
What is Section B of the LNAT?
In Section B, students are required to answer 1 essay question in 40 minutes.
You will be given a choice of three essay questions to choose from and you’ll have no idea of the topics beforehand! To score the highest marks, you must:
- Answer the question (around 25% of essays we mark don’t do this!)
- Follow a logical structure
- Be as clear as possible
- Develop a coherent argument
- Convey the argument to the reader
Structuring your LNAT essay
The structure of an essay consists of three parts: the Introduction, the Main Body and the Conclusion. You don’t necessarily need to give headings for these sections, but staying in this format will keep your essay easy to follow.
In your introduction, say what you’re going to say; in the main body, you say it and in your conclusion, say what you’ve already said by bringing it all together.
Keep this saying in mind:
We will now take you through the steps to tackling LNAT essay questions, including selecting questions, planning your answer and writing the essay.
How should I select an LNAT Essay 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 which is definitely worth a watch!
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 the time wisely will enable you to gauge how comfortable you are with a topic from your background knowledge.
How to plan an LNAT Essay question?
Why should I plan my LNAT essay?
- 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
How much time should I spend planning?
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.
How do I plan my essay?
Firstly, you need to gather ideas relevant to the question. These will form the basic argument.
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.
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Writing an LNAT essay
To help you out, 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!
Main Body
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:
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- 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
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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:
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- Paragraph 1: Disability of the child
- Paragraph 2: Sexual assault
- Paragraph 3: In the event of a medical issue
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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.
Conclusion
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.
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UniAdmissions helps students refine and hone their abilities so that they’re exam-ready on test day for all aspects of the LNAT exam. Our expert tutors will guide you through past papers in mock exam scenarios so that you are well-prepared by the time your exam comes around.
