One of the most common LNAT questions, and an important one to get right before you sit it: can you retake the test if it goes badly? The short answer is that you can only sit the LNAT once per admissions cycle, so your one attempt has to count.
Can you retake the LNAT in the same year?
No. You are allowed to sit the LNAT once per admissions cycle. If you take it and are unhappy with your performance, you cannot book a second sitting that same cycle to improve the score. The result from your single sitting is the one that goes to every LNAT university you apply to that year.
This is different from tests you can resit for a better mark. With the LNAT, there is no second chance within the cycle, which is exactly why preparation matters so much: you are not building toward a best-of-several score, you are getting one timed attempt right.
Can you resit the LNAT in a future year?
Yes. If you reapply to university in a later admissions cycle, for example after a gap year or as a reapplicant, you sit the LNAT again for that new cycle. Each cycle is a fresh test and a fresh single attempt. An earlier score does not carry over, and it does not follow you, so a reapplication starts clean.
Does a low LNAT score stay on your record?
Only for the cycle you sat it in. The LNAT score you receive is used for that year’s applications and no longer. It is not a permanent record that trails you into future applications, and universities in a later cycle only see the score from that cycle’s sitting. So a disappointing result now does not damage a reapplication later.
What should you do if you are worried about your LNAT score?
Prepare so that the one attempt you get is your best one. Because there is no resit within the cycle, the entire game is making that single sitting count, and the only thing that reliably does that is practice under real time pressure.
Start with a full timed paper to see where you stand: our free practice paper takes 95 minutes and comes with worked answers. If you have time before your sitting, work through several full papers so the format and pacing feel automatic on the day. Our practice bundles give you four or eight full papers for exactly that.
For more, see how hard the LNAT really is and our step-by-step registration guide.