Expressing the idea of something being done once or several times during a certain pe
 

Here are two sentences:

Last year I was there twice.
In the last year, I was there only once.

Do they express the same idea?

Re: Expressing the idea of something being done once or several times during a certai
 

No, they are different.

Last year is 2015, in other words - I only went there once in 2015.

In the last year, means from 12 months ago until now, in other words - I have been there twice since August 2015.

Notice, that I changed the tense from past simple to present perfect in the second sentence because the time period includes the present.