How ready did you feel for SQE1?

[StemGrad2020]

I'm asking this question to those who have already sat the SQE1 exams (whether you passed or not!) -

As objectively as possible, how 'ready' did you feel leading up to the SQE1 exams, and how did it correlate with your performance in the real exam?

I know a lot of us law students are quite harsh on ourselves, myself included. And, although I have decent mock results so far, I struggled to cover even half of the academic law thus far and am almost there with a revision of the practice law we learned this term. This has left me feeling incredibly conflicted; underprepared, but somehow getting through OK, especially with fellow SQE takers saying that 'you never feel ready', despite them passing (and some failing). Can I pass whilst feeling this way?

So what I wonder is, if you were to look on your preparation and performance as objectively as possible (without the classic self-deprecation and belittling of oneself); how prepared were you? (maybe consider how many mocks taken, practice SBAQs, how recently you had reviewed Academic Law, how genuinely confident you felt on a scale of 1-10). And how did you perform? (I'm talking grade, but also whether you felt it was a true reflection of your preparation).

It would be a great insight into what is a realistic 'feeling' prior to sitting the exam, and an indication of how too far gone I may actually be without realising it...

 

[j.s.cox]

Hi! I passed SQE1 and SQE2 in the first quintile.

For SQE1, I felt very overwhelmed with the volume of things we were required to know, but I felt like I generally had a pretty good grasp on the basics, and I was about 75% okay with the more complicated stuff (e.g. tax) which I focused on a little more. I really felt like it could have gone either way when I walked into the exam and I physically shook for about an hour after I opened my results from the adrenaline and stress, despite my great results. Going into the exam, I was maybe 51% confident that I could pass.

I took the January 2024 SQE1 sitting and practiced MCQs from September 2023 onwards. I did a full practice test with BPP in December where I got over 70% in both papers (can't remember exactly what I got), but this was an open book exam, so I didn't feel that confident afterwards especially as they didn't tell us which specific questions we got wrong. I then practiced any MCQs I could get my hands on, but I used these as a basis to guide my revision rather than the only thing I used. I revised the FLK hard, and then did a full mock paper two weeks before the exams (the ReviseSQE mocks). I did another full mock the week before the exam (QLTS). I think I was getting around 57% on these, so it didn't fill me with confidence, but I was achieving the pass mark they had set. Again, I used these more as a way to guide my revision than as my sole revision technique.

Honestly, I think I could have prepared better, but I think everyone feels that way. I think I outperformed where I thought my abilities were as I was expecting either a marginal fail or a marginal pass, certainly not the first quintile. That said, I worked very hard from September to put myself in the best possible place to pass, and I think I was good at recognising where my weak spots were and focusing on those.

I hope that helps.

 

[StemGrad2020]

Hi! I passed SQE1 and SQE2 in the first quintile.

For SQE1, I felt very overwhelmed with the volume of things we were required to know, but I felt like I generally had a pretty good grasp on the basics, and I was about 75% okay with the more complicated stuff (e.g. tax) which I focused on a little more. I really felt like it could have gone either way when I walked into the exam and I physically shook for about an hour after I opened my results from the adrenaline and stress, despite my great results. Going into the exam, I was maybe 51% confident that I could pass.

I took the January 2024 SQE1 sitting and practiced MCQs from September 2023 onwards. I did a full practice test with BPP in December where I got over 70% in both papers (can't remember exactly what I got), but this was an open book exam, so I didn't feel that confident afterwards especially as they didn't tell us which specific questions we got wrong. I then practiced any MCQs I could get my hands on, but I used these as a basis to guide my revision rather than the only thing I used. I revised the FLK hard, and then did a full mock paper two weeks before the exams (the ReviseSQE mocks). I did another full mock the week before the exam (QLTS). I think I was getting around 57% on these, so it didn't fill me with confidence, but I was achieving the pass mark they had set. Again, I used these more as a way to guide my revision than as my sole revision technique.

Honestly, I think I could have prepared better, but I think everyone feels that way. I think I outperformed where I thought my abilities were as I was expecting either a marginal fail or a marginal pass, certainly not the first quintile. That said, I worked very hard from September to put myself in the best possible place to pass, and I think I was good at recognising where my weak spots were and focusing on those.

I hope that helps.

This is really insightful and good to know coming into December now...

I definitely feel a bit behind where you would have been when you sat. I was also super overwhelmed with the content during the learning period from Sep-early Dec and so struggled to keep on top of Academic Law and SBAQs. But now I'm in control of revision and not reading, I feel like I'm pulling my knowledge up to a good standard.

I think what is letting me down is my pure lack of self-confidence. So comparison is all I have to try and instil confidence in myself... (but I think a large proportion of students are exactly the same) and so, I have the same plan of mocks interspersed with flashcards etc during the next few weeks and hopefully that does set me up well for the exam. Especially if you were top quintile, I'm hopeful that yours is a great example to be aligning to, so thank you for that!

Thank you for taking the time to respond!!

 

[average_jo123]

I'm sitting SQE1 in January 2025 as well and was wondering if anyone who's done the exam before can share how you approached Dec-Jan time revision? Or if you are also sitting SQE1 in January 2025 you could share how you are preparing as well.

I'm finding it incredibly hard just going back on my notes because it's just information overload and I just come away with it feeling extremely frustrated because I get so overwhelmed by the amount of minute details that I need to commit memory when I don't even know if half of it will be tested in that level of detail.

I have found just doing practice questions (I'm with ULaw, so just practising using ULaw's question bank) much more manageable because I feel like it does more in helping me spot the little details that I have forgotten (after which I will review the questions I answered incorrectly and only go back on my notes to have a second look at those areas instead of reading back the whole chapter, which also saves me time).

However I am very worried that if I don't go back enough on the actual material itself I would be caught off guard if in the actual exams I am tested on stuff that I have not encountered in the practice questions but is probably just buried in my notes/flashcards somewhere but I've just not reviewed it and so can't answer those questions.

I feel like doing practice questions is the only thing (oddly enough) that's preserving my sanity right now because dry reviewing a mountain of materials makes me feel so much more hopeless. Yet I am also worried that what I am doing is a 'shortcut' and I will not have covered the material in enough detail for the actual exam.

Feeling very stuck, worried and panicked at the moment — I have about 3 weeks left till I sit FLK1 but I don't really know what I should be focusing on :'( if anyone can shed some light on their experience, it would be very helpful.

 

[j.s.cox]

I had different revision methods for different parts of the syllabus:

Tax
I just practiced lots of calculations. I know that some people just ignore these and wing the tax questions, but without breaking the NDA, I will just say that being able to do these calculations was essential to my SQE2 success, so you might as well get it sorted in SQE1.

Timelines
I had the timelines written in my notes, but I then got a bunch of post-it notes to stick in the correct order and match the correct time limits. It is really important you learn these. Disputes, Criminal, and Business Law all have significant timelines. I also used a whiteboard to write these out from memory as well.

Practice questions
Don't get too comfortable with these as you can start to get used to the format of your provider which is not necesarily the same as the SRA questions. Simply use these to guide your revision, paying attention to small words like must, should, could etc. If you make an error, add this to your notes along with the correct answer and why it is the correct answer. I think a lot of people use practice questions too passively. You will only learn from these if you are actively looking to find out why you are getting questions wrong.

Notes
I was constantly updating these with questions I got wrong, but I always had a printed copy with me, so I could read through it on the train, or any opportunity where I had a few minutes. I also recorded myself saying my notes out loud and would play it back when I was cooking, doing laundry etc. I wasn't always actively engaged with this, but the more I heard and read, the more confident I felt. I also made sure that my notes were written in my own words. Sometimes I needed to reword revision guides or textbooks so the concept made sense to me, even if it didn't make sense to anyone else. I also had a highlighter and pen with me when I had my hard copy around to annotate and focus on what I was finding hard. I would then add these to my digital notes, so I was constantly engaged.

Focus
I also made sure that I didn't spend time on the parts of the SQE that I was confident in. I had a checklist of the FLK we needed to know from the SRA and I also used these as headings for my notes so I didn't miss anything. I didn't write notes for the bits I felt confident in, but having the headings made me re-evaluate whether I needed to write notes for that section every time I returned to my notes, which also helped me to actively engage with what I was doing.

Using a whiteboard
You get a whiteboard notebook in the exam, so I practiced using a whiteboard and pen instead of paper to help me prepare. I found this useful for my prep.

Full Practice Papers
These are so helpful to be prepared for the exam, but use them purposefully and closer to the exam. As I mentioned above, I did one at the end of December, one 2 weeks before the exams, and one 1 week before the exam. I then used my results to dictate where my focus should be going forward.

I hope that helps!

 

[DKLaw]

I had different revision methods for different parts of the syllabus:

Tax
I just practiced lots of calculations. I know that some people just ignore these and wing the tax questions, but without breaking the NDA, I will just say that being able to do these calculations was essential to my SQE2 success, so you might as well get it sorted in SQE1.

Timelines
I had the timelines written in my notes, but I then got a bunch of post-it notes to stick in the correct order and match the correct time limits. It is really important you learn these. Disputes, Criminal, and Business Law all have significant timelines. I also used a whiteboard to write these out from memory as well.

Practice questions
Don't get too comfortable with these as you can start to get used to the format of your provider which is not necesarily the same as the SRA questions. Simply use these to guide your revision, paying attention to small words like must, should, could etc. If you make an error, add this to your notes along with the correct answer and why it is the correct answer. I think a lot of people use practice questions too passively. You will only learn from these if you are actively looking to find out why you are getting questions wrong.

Notes
I was constantly updating these with questions I got wrong, but I always had a printed copy with me, so I could read through it on the train, or any opportunity where I had a few minutes. I also recorded myself saying my notes out loud and would play it back when I was cooking, doing laundry etc. I wasn't always actively engaged with this, but the more I heard and read, the more confident I felt. I also made sure that my notes were written in my own words. Sometimes I needed to reword revision guides or textbooks so the concept made sense to me, even if it didn't make sense to anyone else. I also had a highlighter and pen with me when I had my hard copy around to annotate and focus on what I was finding hard. I would then add these to my digital notes, so I was constantly engaged.

Focus
I also made sure that I didn't spend time on the parts of the SQE that I was confident in. I had a checklist of the FLK we needed to know from the SRA and I also used these as headings for my notes so I didn't miss anything. I didn't write notes for the bits I felt confident in, but having the headings made me re-evaluate whether I needed to write notes for that section every time I returned to my notes, which also helped me to actively engage with what I was doing.

Using a whiteboard
You get a whiteboard notebook in the exam, so I practiced using a whiteboard and pen instead of paper to help me prepare. I found this useful for my prep.

Full Practice Papers
These are so helpful to be prepared for the exam, but use them purposefully and closer to the exam. As I mentioned above, I did one at the end of December, one 2 weeks before the exams, and one 1 week before the exam. I then used my results to dictate where my focus should be going forward.

I hope that helps!

Hi, how many questions would you say you were doing daily during the revision period? I have only managed to do 1000 so far, and there's around 3000 left with ULaw, I am confident I can get through them before the exams but I dont know what is a good number to do everyday to build mental stamina for exams. Thanks

 

[j.s.cox]

Hi, how many questions would you say you were doing daily during the revision period? I have only managed to do 1000 so far, and there's around 3000 left with ULaw, I am confident I can get through them before the exams but I dont know what is a good number to do everyday to build mental stamina for exams. Thanks

I didn't count the number of practice questions I did, so I can't give you a good answer for this. I think it was more important that I was using the questions to guide my revision than doing them for the sake of doing them. I reckon I probably did no more than 50 questions in a day on a regular basis (untimed) because I spent more time trying to see where I was going wrong and where I needed to revise more, or why I got a question wrong and what the correct answer would be. I then added these to my notes. I only did 3 full practice tests, and these were more to gauge if I was spending the correct amount of time on questions and if I was roughly performing where I wanted to be rather than to build stamina. Personally, I think there is a fine line between building stamina and totally burning out because you spent effort on just doing hundreds of questions every day. The latter definitely would not have worked for me.

That said, the way that I revised worked for me but it won't work for everyone, so you need to find a method of revision that works for you. If doing hundreds of questions is what you need to do to feel prepared, then that is what you should do. Just remember to source these questions from a variety of providers as each provider's questions tend to follow their own format and you should be prepared to come across questions that are phrased differently than what you are used to.

Another thing I did was come back to the same questions I had gotten wrong a few weeks before and try them again. This way I wasn't rote learning the answer to that specific question, but trying to gauge if my knowledge had improved since the last time.

I hope that helps

 

[average_jo123]

This might just be my anxiety / imposter syndrome speaking but I have found that my issue is comparing (perhaps too much) of my practice test scores with what other people are scoring, and I am not sure if it is in any way healthy. I know for a fact that a lot of people at ULaw and other people in my class consistently score over 80% (and some even in the 90-regions) in ULaw practice tests and I just can't help myself but compare myself to them and feel extremely stupid when I still keep getting lots of questions wrong.

I have attempted a good amount of practice questions (I do them in timed conditions but semi-open book whereby I would attempt a response, then only check my materials whether my instincts / memory served me right - after which I would review what I got wrong and focus on reviewing the content on weak areas and stuff that is just not sticking in my head), but despite my efforts I am still stuck at an average of 70% across both FLK1 and FLK2 (I do slightly worse on bad days and slightly better on good days, but I never exceed 80%). The questions I get wrong are mainly just obscure stuff that I learnt ages ago that I can't remember, or stuff that I genuinely have no clue of, but the broader concepts and key deadlines etc I am starting to build a stronger grasp now that I have done more practice.

However it still fills me with a lot of anxiety thinking everyone else seems to be learning and memorising the content so well to be achieving a steady > 80% even in closed book exam conditions, and I keep thinking that the fact that I can't score that high, that steadily, must mean I don't know enough content to be prepared for the exam.

I have just attempted the ReviseSQE mocks in exam conditions (am taking the exam in approx 2 weeks time) and scored in the 70% region but I still have no clue how prepared I feel. My thinking is I would feel safer if my practice tests returned > 80% to give me more a 25% buffer well above the actual average pass mark, rather than barely passing the practice tests and risk actually failing the real exam. But ultimately I don't know if this thinking / approach is doing more to eat away my confidence rather than help me gauge my abilities - and of course comparing myself to others who are scoring much higher than me just makes me feel worse and more anxious.

Sorry for the the rant, but if anyone would like to share how you are feeling and how you are using your resources to prepare, that would be very helpful.

 

[ssszzg]

I didn't count the number of practice questions I did, so I can't give you a good answer for this. I think it was more important that I was using the questions to guide my revision than doing them for the sake of doing them. I reckon I probably did no more than 50 questions in a day on a regular basis (untimed) because I spent more time trying to see where I was going wrong and where I needed to revise more, or why I got a question wrong and what the correct answer would be. I then added these to my notes. I only did 3 full practice tests, and these were more to gauge if I was spending the correct amount of time on questions and if I was roughly performing where I wanted to be rather than to build stamina. Personally, I think there is a fine line between building stamina and totally burning out because you spent effort on just doing hundreds of questions every day. The latter definitely would not have worked for me.

That said, the way that I revised worked for me but it won't work for everyone, so you need to find a method of revision that works for you. If doing hundreds of questions is what you need to do to feel prepared, then that is what you should do. Just remember to source these questions from a variety of providers as each provider's questions tend to follow their own format and you should be prepared to come across questions that are phrased differently than what you are used to.

Another thing I did was come back to the same questions I had gotten wrong a few weeks before and try them again. This way I wasn't rote learning the answer to that specific question, but trying to gauge if my knowledge had improved since the last time.

I hope that helps

This is a completely different topic sorry, but could I also ask what you did on the day? I'm travelling by train in the morning and want to bring my notes, but I'm not sure whether I have to chuck them before I walk into the building?

 

[j.s.cox]

This is a completely different topic sorry, but could I also ask what you did on the day? I'm travelling by train in the morning and want to bring my notes, but I'm not sure whether I have to chuck them before I walk into the building?

I'm not sure if there are different rules at different centres, but I was at Chiswick, London and I had to lock my notes away in a locker before going up to the test room. I was allowed to access them in the break, but I don't think that was great for my mental health as I ended up checking the answers to questions I had not been sure about instead of revising and it filled me with anxiety when I knew I had made errors. It was helpful to have them beforehand, however, as I arrived quite early at the test centre and it gave me something to focus on.

 

[j.s.cox]

This might just be my anxiety / imposter syndrome speaking but I have found that my issue is comparing (perhaps too much) of my practice test scores with what other people are scoring, and I am not sure if it is in any way healthy. I know for a fact that a lot of people at ULaw and other people in my class consistently score over 80% (and some even in the 90-regions) in ULaw practice tests and I just can't help myself but compare myself to them and feel extremely stupid when I still keep getting lots of questions wrong.

I have attempted a good amount of practice questions (I do them in timed conditions but semi-open book whereby I would attempt a response, then only check my materials whether my instincts / memory served me right - after which I would review what I got wrong and focus on reviewing the content on weak areas and stuff that is just not sticking in my head), but despite my efforts I am still stuck at an average of 70% across both FLK1 and FLK2 (I do slightly worse on bad days and slightly better on good days, but I never exceed 80%). The questions I get wrong are mainly just obscure stuff that I learnt ages ago that I can't remember, or stuff that I genuinely have no clue of, but the broader concepts and key deadlines etc I am starting to build a stronger grasp now that I have done more practice.

However it still fills me with a lot of anxiety thinking everyone else seems to be learning and memorising the content so well to be achieving a steady > 80% even in closed book exam conditions, and I keep thinking that the fact that I can't score that high, that steadily, must mean I don't know enough content to be prepared for the exam.

I have just attempted the ReviseSQE mocks in exam conditions (am taking the exam in approx 2 weeks time) and scored in the 70% region but I still have no clue how prepared I feel. My thinking is I would feel safer if my practice tests returned > 80% to give me more a 25% buffer well above the actual average pass mark, rather than barely passing the practice tests and risk actually failing the real exam. But ultimately I don't know if this thinking / approach is doing more to eat away my confidence rather than help me gauge my abilities - and of course comparing myself to others who are scoring much higher than me just makes me feel worse and more anxious.

Sorry for the the rant, but if anyone would like to share how you are feeling and how you are using your resources to prepare, that would be very helpful.

I totally understand this, and it is something I felt a lot when I was preparing. I had the exact same anxiety and I was getting a much lower mark in the ReviseSQE mocks than you. I felt physically sick in the preparation period and yet I still managed to pass in the first quintile. The self-doubt is always going to be there, you just have to trust in your knowledge and stay calm in the exam as much as you can. It sounds like you are in a good place with you scores, but I completely understand wanting to get any anxiety out in a rant.

It's also worth noting that people getting higher marks in the ULaw questions could be because they are remembering the specific questions or question formulas that ULaw asks. This is something I have heard happened with a fair number of students. It sounds like you have branched out to other provider questions and are still performing well, so I would take confidence from that.