Srihith's Success Story: How to Succeed in the UNSW Law Admission Test

The LAT isn't about knowing the law. It's about thinking like a lawyer before you've even studied law.

When I first heard about the UNSW Law Admission Test, I assumed it would be all technical jargon and legal theory. I was wrong. The LAT doesn't test what you know; it tests how you think, how clearly you argue, and how well you can stay calm when faced with a completely unfamiliar prompt and a ticking clock.

Hi, my name is Srihith, and I am currently in my first year of UNSW law studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Laws at Australia's number one law school. I know how difficult it is to prepare for the LAT, and I've tried to fill this guide with all the tricks I used to conquer Australia's most competitive law pathway.

The conventional wisdom that you can't "study" for the LAT is true, in a sense. There's no textbook with LAT answers and no content syllabus to master. But you can prepare for the exam by developing the skills required to deal with an unseen scenario and be able to deconstruct an argument and create your own.

How I Approached the LAT

Returning to that initial statement, the best way to develop analytical skills is to practice them from scratch. Here's how I practised for the infamously "unpreparable exam"

Opinion Editorials:

This is the best way to prepare for Question 1, since opinion articles are very similar to the material you are given in Section 1, and you can analyse the arguments presented to you. I used these to help me practice my argumentative framework (AMI), where you first make a claim, explain why it matters and then why it is true. This framework is essential to evaluating persuasiveness and making a persuasive argument. The logical argument will feel incomplete if any of these aspects are missing. When reading opinion articles, it is essential to evaluate their persuasiveness by writing how effective each element of their argumentative framework is, and to see if you can develop counterarguments to attack their points.

Practice Papers:

I'm surprised people regarding the lack of Law Admission Test papers available to students. While there are papers out there that may appear similiar at first glance, there is nothing like the Law Admission Test. ACER provides students with 1-2 practice papers and besides that there is not much else. As a result, I highly recommend obtaining at least 1 additional practice paper provided by LAT Academy here. Additional practice papers are also available as part of their platinum package.

The Unseen Preparation

Reading the News

Excluding just practice, I also did much work preparing in other subtle ways. It helps to read widely, the law admission test preparation is often based on current affairs, such as whether vapes should be legal and gambling advertisements. When I was preparing for the exam, I made it a habit to always swipe to the newsfeed page on my phone to either skim headlines or articles. This is the most powerful and easy way to tackle the LAT, as you become more informed on various issues, meaning you have more to say regarding them. I knew about the vape legalisation issue before I sat my LAT Exam, and it helped me at least a little in understanding the stimulus and developing my arguments, rather than if I was unfamiliar with the topic.

Grammar and Punctuation:

LAT markers hate typos, wordy, clunky sentences, and improper grammar and punctuation. When preparing for the LAT test, I turned off autocorrect on my phone and replied to my friends in proper grammatical English. It got me some weird looks, but it helped me get used to writing with appropriate grammar and allowed me to not make mistakes in the exam.

How I approached the Questions

What's most important is to develop an argumentative framework. It's best to make a claim, explain why it matters, and then prove it's actual (AMI). This should be the backbone for all your responses for both Questions 1 and 2.

Approaching Question 1

Question 1 requires you to examine an existing piece of content and evaluate its overall persuasiveness on an issue. This can be either a letter, a newspaper article, or a blog post like this! It is essential to note what form of media you have since it drastically impacts the piece's audience. It also helps to have an overall thesis for your piece to highlight whether the Author successfully persuaded his audience. Remember that the Author's audience may not be you, so put yourself in their audience's shoes. You must also isolate a few themes under which you can group your arguments, such as the Environment, Economy or Ethical implications. This will allow you to isolate the Author's persuasiveness in each aspect and see if they have been overall persuasive in their piece.

Under each theme, you should first have a topic sentence detailing whether the Author was persuasive or not for that specific issue. Then you should analyse each example using the argumentative framework (AMI) at least three times. Following this, you should then introduce a counterargument to highlight either one effective or ineffective aspect of the Author's argument. Then comes an analysis of their expression, which is essential as using too much informal language weakens one's argument and being too opinionated can be unreasonable. With this done, you can make your final judgment of the Author's persuasiveness.

An example of this can be seen below:

Analysing the environmental effect of the development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:

"Mr. Carter's argument that the development of the Refuge will cause significant harm to the surrounding natural environment is initially persuasive. He claims that "such proposed developments would forever destroy the wilderness character of America's only Arctic Refuge and disturb countless numbers of animals that depend on this northernmost terrestrial ecosystem." While this highlights the potential environmental impact, it lacks supporting evidence and specific details about how the development leads to such outcomes, weakening its persuasiveness.

Carter also addresses counterarguments, such as the relatively small area required for drilling and the limited effect on wildlife and landscape. However, his rebuttal relies on emotionally charged language rather than rational analysis: "I was saddened to think of the tragedy that might occur if this great wilderness was consumed by a web of roads and pipelines, drilling rigs and industrial facilities." This appeal to emotion does not effectively refute the opposing point and instead seeks to sway the reader through sympathy, reducing the argument's logical strength.

Nevertheless, one persuasive element of Carter's argument is his tone and expression. He maintains a balanced writing style and uses some technical language, conveying credibility and openness to alternative viewpoints. Additionally, as a former U.S. President, Carter holds significant authority on social and environmental issues, enhancing his claims' legitimacy. These factors make his overall argument compelling, despite its emotional appeals and lack of evidence in certain areas."

Approaching Question 2:

Question 2 is much more free-form, giving you much creative freedom. You are presented with a scenario and are typically asked to advise a panel to make a decision. This section is all about persuasive writing, and it is important to approach it like a report. You should fully play the role and write as if you are the person. For example, suppose you are a policy advisor for the NSW Department of Education. In that case, the markers reward students who write throughout the piece as if they are that person, using lines such as "I would advise". Think of it like role-playing.

In approaching and deconstructing the question analytically, you should write more like an essay. However, each evidence would be an AMI argument, and you should also aim to use three sets for each paragraph. You should also preempt and refute any potential counterarguments that could be raised against you.

The subtle things are more important for this section. Writing almost as if it's a narrative can help, talking about what department you are from, what has been asked of you and why you think a certain way helps. It is also important to use all the stimuli provided and tie them in cohesively. Do not use the stimulus material superficially but rather to strengthen the story and your recommendation.

An example of a Section 2 Introduction and Paragraph can be seen below:

Analysing the Impact of Banning Phones in School: Learning, Communication, and Student Behaviour

“Dear Student Body,

My name is Srihith Hundi, and I am writing to express my strong support for our school's continued ban on mobile phones. This policy positively impacts young people for three key reasons: its effects on learning, the availability of alternative communication methods, and the influence of phones on student behaviour. 

Mobile phones are highly distracting, especially for impressionable young teenagers, and can significantly hinder their focus on schoolwork and classroom learning. Additionally, phones are not essential for communication within the school context, as alternative devices, such as pagers, serve this purpose without being disruptive. Furthermore, students often misuse phones to circumvent school rules, creating loopholes undermining the school environment. Overall, the presence of phones contributes to a negative learning experience, and continuing the ban will enhance the educational environment for all students in the long term.

Phone's negative impact on learning:

Firstly, mobile phones should remain banned because they create a highly distracting environment and lead to poorer academic outcomes. Their addictive nature causes students to feel the need to constantly check and carry their phones, which detracts from their focus in class. As mentioned in Item 1, the school principal observes, based on first-hand experience, that "Classes are being severely disrupted by students who insist on hiding phones and bringing them into class." This results in students paying more attention to their phones than to the material being taught, leading to diminished learning and wasted class time.

Poor academic engagement due to phone use results in weaker preparation for assessments and standardised tests, ultimately lowering academic performance. This has long-term consequences, as poor academic results reduce students' access to future educational and career opportunities.

Schools should adapt to modern times by integrating phones into the curriculum as learning tools. For instance, Item 3 states, "Certain rules govern life in a [school], which may seem quite out of step with the surrounding society." However, this argument overlooks the risk of increased distraction. Encouraging phone use in the classroom may heighten students' exposure to non-educational content, further weakening their learning outcomes.

Therefore, mobile phone use in schools should remain prohibited due to its addictive nature and its detrimental effect on students' academic performance."

Important Advice

Start Preparing Early 

It's important to begin preparing for the LAT as soon as you decide you want to go to UNSW Law. These skills take a long time to get right, and it's quite challenging, even with all the tips and tricks anyone can give you. This is because the LAT works under time pressure, meaning you need to replicate your knowledge under immense stress and haste, so you must ensure you know the exam pattern and that your writing quality is exceptional. A good way to start preparing is to attend the LAT Academy Premium Masterclass, which helped me get to grips with the basics of the LAT and the ways to improve my writing.

Choose an effective study space

For me, choosing a study space wasn't too difficult; we only have one desk in our house, but it is enormous and makes studying easy. Where you study doesn't matter as long as you are productive there. Still, I find that I cannot study in rooms in my house where I typically do not work, for example, I find it almost impossible to study in my bedroom or the living room, but at my desk, I enter a flow state. So if that's you, stick to places you know you work best in. 

Consistency is key

This is the most underrated study tip ever. Unfortunately, I don't always follow it myself. Still, it's game-changing for the LAT. Even as little as 10 minutes a day can boost your chances of doing well in the test, focusing on analysing one editorial a day, or doing one section per day. You will see your skills dramatically improve.

Balancing School and the LAT

The best way to balance school and the LAT is to keep a consistent schedule, dedicate specific times to the LAT, as much as you can manage but ensure you prioritise your schoolwork and preparing for your assessment tasks, this is because the ATAR is very important in getting into UNSW law and a good LAT score alone does not guarantee you a place.

Attend the LAT Academy Premium Masterclass

Preparing for the LAT on your own can be daunting. I did so in Year 11 and faced a lack of material and contradictory guides. When I finished sitting on the exam, I had no idea other students were using secret techniques I didn't even know you had to use. What's worse is that there was no way to know what the LAT markers wanted in my response. After attending the 2 day LAT Academy Masterclass I was able to learn valuable tips such as the fact LAT markers expect students to use the Oxford comma in their writing and want them to construct sentences in the order of Actor, Action and Object ("who is doing what to whom in this sentence"). With these tips, I could improve my writing style and communicate my ideas more effectively. With the help of LAT Academy's exemplar responses, I learnt how to deconstruct questions more effectively, allowing me to excel in the exam.

Some final tips to use in your preparation

• Use subheadings - LAT markers hate huge blocks of text, and these small reading inconveniences are penalised heavily when marking.

• Write as short as possible - If there's a shorter and more precise way to express your sentence, you should use it. LAT markers want to know that you can communicate succinctly, a skill we are taught even in UNSW Law!

• Title your piece! - A good title follows the rule of three, so include your best three arguments within the title to tell the markers your arguments immediately.

• Use Active Voice - it's easier to read and less complicated, meaning you can communicate your ideas more easily.

  
  

Conclusion

In conclusion, I recommend you use these tips in your preparation to maximise your chances of acing the LAT exam and getting into UNSW Law. The hard work is worth it, and it's a significant step forward as soon as you enrol, due to the endless career and social opportunities you are exposed to. I recommend attending the LAT Academy Premium Masterclass, and I hope to see you on campus someday!