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LNAT guide

LNAT Dates and Deadlines

Every date that matters for the current LNAT cycle — registration, booking, sit-by deadlines and how they interact with UCAS — checked against the official sources and labelled with the cycle they belong to.

Last reviewed: LNATpractice Editorial Team

Which cycle this covers

This guide covers the 2026–27 test cycle — tests sat from September 2026 for 2027 university entry. All dates below were verified on 17 July 2026 against the official LNAT dates and deadlines page and the universities' own admissions pages. Deadlines genuinely move between cycles, and universities can impose their own earlier dates — check the official page again before you book, and if you are reading this in a later cycle treat every date here as historical until re-verified.

The cycle at a glance

  • 1 August 2026 — LNAT registration opens. You create an account on the LNAT (Pearson VUE) system, then book a test slot at a centre.
  • 1 September 2026 — testing begins. You can sit the test any day a slot is available at your chosen centre from this date.
  • 15 September 2026 — registration and booking deadline for Oxford and Cambridge applicants.
  • 15 October 2026— Oxford and Cambridge applicants must have sat the LNAT, and the UCAS deadline for Oxford and Cambridge falls the same day (6pm UK time). Oxford's Foundation Year in Law is the exception: its applicants sit by 13 January 2027.
  • 31 December 2026 — sit-by date for UCL, LSE and KCL applicants. Note this is earlier than the January UCAS deadline: the London universities want your test done before your application is considered.
  • 13 January 2027 (6pm UK time) — UCAS equal-consideration deadline for non-Oxbridge courses. Bristol and Durham applicants must also have sat the LNAT by 13 January 2027.
  • 25 January 2027 — sit-by date for the remaining LNAT universities (book by 20 January 2027).
  • Results — universities receive scores directly from Pearson VUE (generally within 24 hours of your sitting, from late October). Candidates who test on or before 26 January receive their own score by email in mid February; later sitters receive it in mid August.

Deadlines by university group

Different universities impose different sit-by dates within the same cycle. These are the published groupings for 2027 entry:

LNAT deadlines by university group, 2026–27 cycle (2027 entry). Dates verified on 17 July 2026.
Applying toRegister and book bySit the LNAT by
Oxford and Cambridge15 September 202615 October 2026 — Register and book between 1 August and 15 September 2026.
KCL, LSE and UCLBook early — slots fill31 December 2026 — Earlier than the generic January deadline.
Bristol and Durham13 January 202713 January 2027
All other LNAT universities20 January 202725 January 2027

If you are applying to a mix — say Oxford plus three London universities — the earliest deadline governs everything: one sitting by 15 October 2026 satisfies all of them, because every LNAT university receives the same result. See the Oxford guide, Cambridge guide and UCL, LSE & KCL guide for what each university does with the score once it arrives.

LNAT registration and UCAS are separate systems

A surprising number of strong applicants trip over this: submitting your UCAS application does not register you for the LNAT, and registering for the LNAT tells UCAS nothing. You must do both, on their own deadlines. The LNAT side has three distinct steps — creating the account, booking the slot, and sitting the test — and the deadlines above attach to the last two separately for some universities.

The linkage happens behind the scenes: when you register for the LNAT you supply the universities you are applying to, and Pearson VUE releases your score and essay to them directly. You never send your score to a university yourself, and for most of the cycle your universities will see your score before you do.

The one-attempt rule

You may sit the LNAT once per cycle (1 September to 31 July). The official guidance is blunt: if a candidate sits the test twice without authorisation, the later sitting is invalidated. There is no resit to improve a disappointing score in the same application year — which is the strongest argument for sitting only when your practice results have stabilised, not at the first available slot.

Results also expire with the cycle: if you reapply next year, you sit the test again. Nothing carries over.

Why booking early matters more than sitting early

Test centres have finite capacity, and the official booking guidance itself notes that the earlier you book, the better your chance of an appointment on your preferred day. Booking late does not just risk missing the deadline — it risks being pushed to a distant centre or an inconvenient date while slots near you fill. Booking early costs nothing and fixes none of your preparation in place: as currently published, tests can be rescheduled without charge up to roughly two working days before the appointment (the official pages state this two slightly different ways — “48 hours” and “12 noon two working days before” — so treat the earlier of the two as your real deadline). If you need exam access arrangements such as extra time, apply well before booking: arrangements can take three weeks or more to set up.

The practical pattern that follows: book your slot as soon as your universities' window opens, then plan your preparation backwards from the sitting date. A structured way to do that is to schedule two or three timed mocks in the weeks before the test and track whether your accuracy is still climbing — if it is, and your deadline allows, reschedule later in the window; if it has plateaued, sit.

Frequently asked questions

When should I actually sit the LNAT?

As early as your preparation allows within your universities' windows. Oxford and Cambridge applicants must sit by 15 October 2026, so most aim for late September or early October. If your earliest deadline is 31 December (UCL, LSE, KCL) or January, sitting in October or November leaves margin for illness or a rebooking without colliding with the deadline.

Can I take the LNAT twice in one cycle?

No. You may only sit the LNAT once per test cycle (1 September to 31 July). If a candidate sits it twice without authorisation, the later sitting is invalidated — you cannot retake it to improve your score within the same application year.

Do LNAT results carry over if I reapply next year?

No. The official LNAT guidance states that results are not carried over from one year to the next — if you reapply through UCAS, you must sit the LNAT again in the new cycle.

Is the LNAT deadline the same as the UCAS deadline?

No, they are separate systems with separate deadlines. For Oxford and Cambridge both happen to fall on 15 October 2026, but you must register for the LNAT (by 15 September 2026 for Oxbridge) independently of submitting your UCAS application. For most other LNAT universities the UCAS equal-consideration deadline is 13 January 2027, while LNAT sit-by dates range from 31 December 2026 to 25 January 2027 depending on the university.

What happens if I miss my university's sit-by date?

It depends on the university, but the published positions are strict: Oxford states an application without the LNAT is incomplete, and KCL states it will be unable to consider applications where the LNAT was not sat by 31 December. Some universities accept late sittings only for late UCAS applications. If you have genuinely missed a date, contact the university's admissions office directly rather than assuming either outcome.

Sources

The facts in this guide were checked against the official pages below. If anything here conflicts with an official source, trust the official source — and tell us so we can correct it.