LNAT faqs

Cataga asserts with confidence that the LNAT will NOT be impervious to preparation. The experience of university aptitude testing in the United States provides extremely strong evidence in favour of the benefits of test preparation.

In the United States , where admissions tests are a crucial part of the university entrance process, it is accepted that test preparation improves students’ scores. However, this was not always the case. The US College Board (1) initially portrayed their Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) as impervious to preparation and made explicit claims that coaching was ineffective; this was before the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a study into the effectiveness of test preparation. As a result of the initial FTC study, test preparation schools were not cited with fraudulent advertising, but it was the College Board itself who got into trouble for their ‘impervious to coaching’ claims. At the time, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection said that contrary to the explicit claims of the College Board, coaching can be effective.(2)

US students themselves have found that test preparation works and over the years they have passed on this concept. The current attitude of the College Board towards test preparation is shown by the fact that they are now selling test preparation books and videos teaching test taking strategies. The College board markets these as “test prep from the test makers”. British universities responsible for the LNAT have not provided the same, but Cataga is providing test preparation books and practice tests to help highly motivated students achieve their goals.

(1) The US College Board is a not-for-profit membership association of more than 4,500 US colleges. Through its subsidiary the Educational Testing Service (ETS) it is responsible for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), an exam with similar aims as the LNAT and BMAT.

(2) Levine, Arthur E. Effects of Coaching on Standardized Admission Examinations: Revised Statistical Analyses of Data Gathered by Boston Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection . Washington , DC : US Government Printing Office, 1979.

Preparation above reading a quality newspaper can make a big difference to performance on the day.

Cataga does not question the importance of reading; the LNAT will be very hard for students who do not read regularly. There is no substitute for reading quality passages of reasoned argument, however we disagree that the best preparation is ONLY to read a quality newspaper daily.

Cataga aims to provide students with the tools and techniques to tackle the LNAT. Given that Section A (the scored section of the LNAT) will be entirely ‘reading comprehension multiple choice’ questions, the testers are limited in both the type and number of questions they can ask. This format of examination lends itself to some proven analytical techniques and test taking strategies. Familiarisation with the common question types and the best answering method for each, will enhance confidence, speed and performance on the day.

No, we believe that a motivated student with suitable preparation material, including our low cost LNAT preparation eBook, can be just as effective in their preparation as those attending courses.

The question of fairness and equal opportunities in education is an ongoing issue. Cataga hopes to reduce inequality and promote fairness by offering affordable test preparation materials to everyone, rather than have quality preparation provided by only a few well-funded public schools.

Clearly one could argue, like private education in general, that this is unfair. Is it fair that some children have access to better education because their parents are able to pay for it; that a child has a better education because s/he lives in a particular school catchment area; even that a child had parents who encouraged reading from an early age? With an inherently unfair world, Cataga would like to promote some fairness by providing low cost test preparation materials to those who attend schools that do not provide BMAT/LNAT preparation classes for their students.