Essay craft

The LNAT consists of a 95-minute multiple-choice section and a 40-minute essay, making strategic time allocation crucial. Flagging difficult questions allows candidates to maximize their score by securing easier marks first. In contrast, spending equal time on every question (Option A) is inefficient because passage difficulty varies, and reading every passage twice initially (Option D) would leave insufficient time to answer the questions.

A balanced essay must acknowledge and evaluate opposing viewpoints to demonstrate critical thinking before arriving at a reasoned conclusion. Option A is incorrect because presenting a one-sided argument without addressing counterarguments makes the reasoning appear weak, biased, and intellectually lazy to examiners.

A strong LNAT essay opening establishes a clear thesis and outlines the essay's direction, allowing the examiner to follow the argument's logic immediately. A diagram for this topic isn't available yet — the worked example below walks the same reasoning step by step.

• !Option D is incorrect because personal stories often lack the academic rigor and objective focus needed for a persuasive analytical essay.
• !Option A is incorrect because presenting a one-sided argument without addressing counterarguments makes the reasoning appear weak, biased, and intellectually lazy to examiners.
• !Option C is incorrect because using overly complex vocabulary for its own sake often obscures the author's actual meaning and weakens the overall coherence of the essay.

Answer each from memory — you'll see instantly whether you're right and why.

Run a focused 10-question mini-mock on Essay craft and see it stick.