What I wish I'd known about SQE1

When did you start and complete SQE1?​

Started ULaw course in Sept 2022, sat SQE1 in Jan 2023

Who was your SQE provider?​

The University of Law

Why did you choose the provider you did?​

The provider and course was chosen by my firm. I had the option of studying online but it was strongly encouraged to study at Moorgate with my future colleagues

What kind of support did your provider offer during the SQE?​

The support given was a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion. While during the course I felt a bit like the classes didn't add much value, the teachers didn't seem to have much knowledge of how SQE1 operated, and ultimately 0 support on booking our actual SQE1 exams (weren't warned about how hard it was to book, wasn't told about test centres filling up etc) - in comparison to stories from others online I feel like ULaw is a bit of the best of a bad bunch.

The ULaw textbooks are very thorough, maybe too much so, a lot seemed irrelevant but then it is also hard to tell when studying as it is unclear how much we needed to learn in detail. The ULaw Revision App is the saving grace for the course. There are thousands of revision questions on the app but also you should take ULaw's guidance with a grain of salt when they say to focus on their revision questions. A lot of their questions are worded the exact same and just changing a party name so you end up remembering the answer to that question rather than knowing it in detail. The ULaw questions are close but not exactly like the real thing so it can throw you off in the real thing if you've heavily prepared just with ULaw's questions.

Please explain the structure of the SQE programme in your own words​

We were taught over 10 weeks, with 2 sets of mocks and a 'Prep Course' at the end which was 2 days of more structured mocks.

We studied the 'practical' subjects only in class, so Business Law & Practice, Property Law & Practice, Criminal Practice, Wills & Administration of Estates, Legal Services, Ethics, Solicitors Accounts and Dispute Resolution. Each subject ran for varying times, the main subjects being about 6 or 7 weeks of teaching, smaller subjects like Legal Services being 4 weeks, Solicitors Accounts at just 2 weeks. The 'academic law' subjects were not covered at all during the course.

We would often have 5 or 6 2-hour workshops a week. These required upwards of 5-10 hours of prep reading and tasks to be completed beforehand. This reading is essential as nothing of substance is taught in the workshop, they are just group tasks to reaffirm what you have read. You would then also have consolidation work after every workshop which can again be another 2-5 hours of work. Often you were struggling to keep up with the prep work so most of my classmates never got a chance to touch consolidation work.

We had the first set of mocks after 5 weeks of teaching, and the second set after the 10 weeks of teaching. These were online in the same format as the practice question app. These could be completed at any time during the week from anywhere.

The prep course was 2 days of mocks done in exam conditions however these were split into subjects and only 45 questions each session. So there is no structured 90 question long practice facilitated with the uni to prepare you for how long each exam session in the real thing will be. We then had about 1 month of revision time before the exam. This was a very intensive period as you were both catching up on what you hadn't done previously and trying to memorise everything. ULaw also only released class materials about 1 week before classes started so most of my classmates felt constantly behind.

How did you study for SQE1?​

I attended ULaw in Moorgate about 4 days a week. As I commuted from Kent, I would go up to London for the whole day and study in the library around my classes to complete my prep work. I would also complete a lot of my prep work on the train to and from London as this is about an hour that would be wasted otherwise. However this did make it feel relentless constantly doing work but still being behind.I worked part-time on a Saturday in retail so I would mostly do no work on those days, sometimes doing some prep reading in the evening after I had gotten home. I since started paralegalling 1.5 days a week as well while studying the SQE Plus portion of the course which was much more manageable.

Part-time work or not, there is a lot of content and work to cover and you need to find a 'work smart' method that suits you. I was making thorough notes from the textbook which in hindsight made reading so much longer. One perk was ULaw's SQE textbooks are all in PDF form so you can access any textbook chapter from your laptop. There are prep tasks and weekly tests. Most did not complete prep tasks at all but the weekly tests should be prioritised as they include some academic law questions.

Now that you have completed SQE1, what advice would you have for passing the exam?​

I think you need to have a solid set of simplified but thorough notes to memorise. ULaw emphasised practice questions from their app which is important but do not rely on them solely as they are not exactly like the real exam and often repeat themselves.

Devise a method for narrowing down answers if you do not know the answer straight away. Often look out for words like 'must', 'always', 'never'. These normally invalidate an answer as the answer is often not so clear cut. Try and look over academic law before your course starts if you can as there is no time to do it during the course and the revision period at the end is short. This is almost over half of the content of the real exam.

Try and complete a variety of mocks from different providers. QLTS are meant to be as close to the real thing as possible, although quite hard.

Personalise quizzes on the ULaw app to target specific areas. Devil's Advocate also has mock questions (need to subscribe) or post adhoc questions on their Facebook group.

Check out online resources to supplement your notes. Devil's Advocate is £15/month (less per month if you commit for longer) and contain notes, flashcards and practice questions. They also do online lectures on their Facebook group. I would definitely recommend having a look.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently to study or revise for the exam?​

I definitely would have spent more time doing pure memorisation rather than trying to get a holistic knowledge of everything and focussing on ULaw's practice questions. Do as much memorisation as possible and try a variety of practice questions.

I would have focussed on academic law such as contract, tort etc more. ULaw only told us a month before how much it would actually be in the exam after not being taught it at all during the course.

Try and start revising early. Little and often to build your muscle memory of these concepts. Of course easier said than done when the prep work is so heavy.

Were you employed alongside the SQE?​

I would recommend you just have a 1-day weekend job if you need to. I did find it quite nice to work in retail to get a break from SQE studies once a week. However this does limit your social plans and fully getting a break as you feel like you're constantly working.I already struggled with the workload with just one day of work so I would not recommend anymore. If you are able to read very quickly and take info in and remember it then maybe you can handle more but I honestly think a job should be avoided if possible to avoid burnout and to ensure you don't fall behind. This is however tricky as firm grants aren't very generous (although better than nothing).

Working or not, you really need to be structured in how you do your work. Make sure you don't fall behind with your work as it will have a knock on effect for your following classes. Don't make detailed notes as from my experience I really couldn't keep up.

Is there anything else you feel that future SQE students should know?​

Know the importance of being on the booking website an hour before it opens and constantly clicking to ensure you get in the virtual queue as soon as possible. We were actually not told how important it was to do this (we were sat in a course induction during the booking window opening and was not told anything about it), so many of us took weeks to get booked in. Those who click on at the opening time were still waiting 6+ hours.Try and avoid the Excel Centre for the exam. You have to be there at 7am to register for the 9am exam. There are several checkpoints and security. You are also in a room with hundreds of people. Avoid this if you can for a more calm exam experience.

 

[College of Legal Practice team]

Hi, I think some of your reflections around the SQE1 assessment are really useful. Thanks so much for sharing. We have actually just put together a guide on the secrets to success for the SQE - lets be honest, it is a bit of a minefield and we really recognise that finding your way through it is a worry for many candidates. It might be worth, for those wanting to find out more about the SQE, taking a look at the guide. You can download it here.

Hope it helps! Please also give us a shout if you have any more questions about the actual assessments, we can hopefully find out the answer for you,

thanks

Alice

 

[Caribana]

Very useful post, as I am going to start sqe1 soon and I am surely going to review those foundation modules since it is not taught in the prep course.

Is the e-copy of the manuals they provide printable or is there a restriction? Thank you in advance.