What’s your background, and why did you decide to do the SQE?

I studied Law with International Law degree at the University of Birmingham and graduated in 2022. Like many law graduates, I left university without a training contract and with uncertainty about my next steps. At that time, the legal profession was undergoing a major transition, from the traditional LPC route to the new SQE framework. Some firms were still offering the LPC pathway, but many had already begun moving over to the SQE.

I didn’t feel confident self-funding the LPC, especially as it seemed increasingly outdated and less supported by firms. After two years of persistent applications, I finally secured a training contract. Fortunately, the firm that offered me the position included full-time SQE preparation and support as part of the training. I began studying full-time for the SQE in September 2024 and will complete it by September 2025.

Whether you're self-funding, working through qualifying work experience, or training at a firm, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll need to take the SQE. While the process can be daunting due to the volume and complexity of the content, it is absolutely achievable with consistent preparation and the right strategy.

How did you prepare, and what made the biggest difference in your success?

One major advantage I had was being enrolled with an SQE training provider for both SQE1 and SQE2. These providers can be incredibly useful: they offer structured teaching, access to legal academics, and curated materials tailored specifically for the exams. However, the single biggest factor in my success was doing as many practice questions as possible across every subject area.

SQE1 in particular is all about breadth. You’re expected to be familiar with a wide array of topics from different areas of law. Just passively reading textbooks or watching lectures isn’t enough. Active recall, through practice questions, is essential. I used my provider’s question banks extensively, but I didn’t stop there.

To assist with breaking down the vast amount of content you are expected to learn, I used additional resources such as Law Drills and the Revise SQE. They break down each subject into concise, understandable parts and highlight the key concepts that regularly appear in exams. These books were invaluable for building foundational knowledge quickly and efficiently.

Once I had that baseline understanding, I returned to more comprehensive textbooks to deepen my knowledge, especially for the niche details that often show up in tougher SQE questions. For instance, a question might ask, “What form do you file when transferring land?”.

What was the hardest part, and how did you push through it?

Without a doubt, the most difficult part of the SQE journey was the enormous amount of content and the depth of knowledge required. You’re expected to be proficient in a wide range of legal areas, some of which you may not have studied in years, or at all. For me, subjects like property practice and business law felt completely new, and revisiting others like trusts and equity after three years was a real challenge.

Initially, I tried to keep on top of everything during the semester, but I quickly realised that full-intensity revision months in advance just wasn’t sustainable. About 15 weeks before the exams, I took a more structured approach. I downloaded the official SRA syllabus and entered all the subject areas into ChatGPT, asking it to generate a personalised revision timetable. This timetable covered each topic day by day, with built-in flexibility for planned events, breaks, and holidays over the Christmas period.

That structure gave me purpose and motivation—I never had to wake up and wonder what to revise that day. I knew exactly what to focus on, and I made sure to include time for my weakest areas.

One piece of advice: be honest with yourself. It’s tempting to spend most of your time reviewing topics you already know well. But that’s not where the learning happens. You’ll have days where you get a lot of practice questions wrong, and that’s okay. For me, Tort Law was a particular struggle, and I often found myself frustrated by it. But pushing through those challenges is what builds progress.

I also made flashcards, especially for questions I kept getting wrong. I organised them into separate decks for FLK1 and FLK2. Alongside my daily revision topics, I reviewed these decks regularly to reinforce my weak spots and track my progress.

If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?

Looking back, I would have given much more attention to Functioning Legal Knowledge (FLK), the black-letter law portion of the SQE1. My provider spent a lot of time going in-depth on the practical areas of the exams but gave very little emphasis to FLK. That gave me the mistaken impression that the bulk of the SQE1 would focus on practical application. In reality, the exam is split evenly between FLK and practical law, and FLK is where many of the most difficult questions appear.

If I could start over, I would begin by relearning the FLK subjects, particularly those I hadn’t touched since university. I’d buy the Revise SQE books much earlier and build a strong base before moving on to the more detailed materials. These books are brilliant for breaking down large topics and identifying key concepts that appear repeatedly in practice questions.

I would also look for different questions earlier. Law Drills was a great resource for when I felt that I finished all the questions with my provider. The AI technology meant that the questions targeted my weakest areas and it was great for testing me on niche areas of law!

Any final advice for SQE candidates?

Final Tip 1: Prioritise your weakest subjects.

It’s easy to avoid the topics you find boring or difficult, but they don’t go away. In fact, they often show up in the exam when you least want them to. For me, that subject was Tort Law. I kept putting it off, even though I knew it was my weakest area. In hindsight, I should have tackled it earlier and more thoroughly. You learn the most when you challenge yourself—don’t wait until the final days to do that.

Final Tip 2: Know when to let go.

No matter how hard you study, there will always be a few topics that just don’t click. For me, it was the criminal hearsay rules. I tried several times to understand them, but they just didn’t stick. In the end, I accepted that it was okay to have one or two blind spots. You can still pass, comfortably, without perfect knowledge. With the current grade boundaries, you can get around a third of the paper wrong and still pass.

Be strategic: if a sub-topic is eating up too much time and mental energy, and you’ve tried your best, it’s okay to move on. Focus on maximising your marks in the areas where you can make the most impact.