LNAT Practice Essay

An LNAT section B practice essay.

Hello everyone, for this week’s issue of More About Law, I am going to provide you with one of my LNAT practice essays. Similarly to my last issue on this subject, it will be from the section B of the LNAT: An argumentative essay, with a 700 word, and 40 minute time limit. This essay took me 29 minutes.

I hope you enjoy:

School should focus more on life skills than exams. Discuss.

It is clear and undeniable that school should not focus more on life skills as a substitution of exams. This conclusion can be determined from these three points: (1) What is the current schooling system; (2) What do exams offer as a concept; and (3) How would this change alter current society and schooling.

What is the current schooling system?

Schools around the world tend to focus on 1 key goal: using exams to prepare students for university life, with these exams acting as a placeholder for student abilities. The current system, especially within the UK, does not focus purely on preparing students for life beyond university, possibly leaving students unaware and ill-prepared for future, adult life. It could therefore be said that the current schooling curriculum focuses too heavily upon qualifications, rather than actual transferable life skills. Nevertheless, equal emphasis could be placed upon the fact that life skills are embedded in every schooling activity, such as taxes within maths, social skills within English, and careers within talks and meetings with career advisors. Therefore, as long as schools teach students to harness their initiative, thus allowing them to transfer all of their learnt (could a better word be used) skills into daily life, a change within schooling is not needed. Thus, when considering (1), it is evident that a change towards life skills, rather than exams is not necessarily the ideal approach, with more simple remedies being clear.

What does the concept of exams offer?

In today’s society, exams are glorified as a representation and a showcase of student ability; nevertheless, they fail to prepare students for alternate phases of life: life focused outside of education. Exams, especially from the ages of 10-18 offer students’ satisfaction for their studying, qualifications for personal statements, and recognition from institutions such as universities. This viewpoint of exams clearly illustrates what exams can give you, especially on an academic front. Nevertheless, exams fail to provide young students with a key factor for their future: life skills. Life skills are what truly gives adults security and confidence regarding their everyday activities, especially for the more timid individuals. Therefore, the exam system fails most heavily in preparing students for life after school, disregarding the importance of making people’s lives simpler and more convenient. However, it should not be stated that exams and life skills are direct substitutes. Besides the fact, exams and life skills are equally important aspects of life, especially for students’ futures. With exams providing the academic skills, and life skills providing the domestic skills, a balance would be most suitable for the future. Thus, when considering (2), it is clear that a direct substitution of exams for life skills is not the most ideal approach.

How would this change alter the current society and schooling?

A substitution within the field of education from exams to life skills would provide a completely juxtaposing society in comparison to how it is today. For instance, although individuals would be more suited for daily activities, the realm of business and work would be completely undermined. With no baseline of skill, previously determined through exams and qualifications, many companies would miss-hire, and under/over-pay their employees. On an economic front, this would cause complete uproar, with underemployment, and stagnant economic growth being standout problems in the economy. Moreover, within education, students may become demotivated without the pressure of examinations, as well as lazy due to the new focus on future skills, rather than current ones. It could be stated that society would recover and find a new way to cope with these problems, nevertheless, the simplicity within todays social and economic system should not be disregarded, with society coping relatively smoothly.

When considering points (1), (2), and (3), there is shallow and poor reasoning as to why exams should be replaced by the teaching of life skills. There are clearly more justifiable options to this ‘problem’, all more suitable for both societal and economic reasons. The current education system, as well as the qualifications that come with it, is working efficiently when paired with the labour force. Therefore, if any change were to be made, it should be as an extracurricular, providing students with the life skills needed, without the sacrifice of qualifications and exams.

I hope that you enjoyed my essay, and once again, it is not perfect or a model answer, simply my best attempt at this current time. Please leave a like and comment, have a nice week.