- The SRA owns and sets the SQE. Kaplan is contracted to deliver the assessment.
- Neither of them is your preparation course, and neither endorses one.
- Preparation is an open market: large providers, universities, and self-study.
- The routes differ mainly in price and structure, not in what the exam asks.
- Compare included question volume and timed mocks, not headline hours.
The short answer
If you are comparing BARBRI SQE against Kaplan or the SRA, you are comparing two different kinds of thing. The SRA sets the SQE and Kaplan is contracted to deliver the assessment itself, which is a separate market from preparation. BARBRI and the other course providers sell training for the exam and have no part in setting or marking it.
So the real comparison is between preparation routes: a large commercial provider, a university-attached course, or self-study with a question bank. This page sets out what each is, factually, without ranking them for you.
Every provider detail here reflects what those companies published as at September 2026. Prices and course structures change, so confirm on the provider's own page. Nothing on this page implies endorsement by the SRA, by Kaplan, or by any provider named.
1. The SRA, Kaplan and everyone else
This trips up almost every candidate at the start, and searching for sra sqe or kaplan sqe expecting to find a course is why.
The SRA is the regulator. It designed the SQE, decides what is examinable, sets the standard and admits you as a solicitor at the end. Kaplan holds the contract to deliver the assessments: booking, test centres, delivery and marking. Preparation providers are commercial businesses selling training, entirely separate from both. No preparation provider can enter you for the exam, and none of them marks it.
| Organisation | Role | Do they teach you? |
|---|---|---|
| SRA | Sets the SQE, sets the standard, admits solicitors | No |
| Kaplan | Contracted to deliver and mark the assessments | No, this is the assessment side |
| BARBRI and other providers | Sell preparation courses and materials | Yes, and this is a separate market |
| Universities | Sell SQE preparation, often with a master's attached | Yes |
2. The large commercial providers
BARBRI is the name most searched here, alongside the other established legal education businesses that moved into SQE preparation when the route replaced the LPC. What they have in common is scale: recorded teaching across all thirteen SQE1 subjects, a large bundled question bank, timed mocks, and a fixed timetable you follow.
What differs between them, as published on their own sites in September 2026, is the price tier, whether SQE2 is bundled or sold separately, how much live teaching sits alongside the recorded content, and how flexible the deferral policy is. Those four points are worth checking individually because the headline price hides all of them.
- Full coverage of both FLK1 and FLK2 subjects
- A bundled question bank, with volume varying substantially between providers
- A set timetable, which suits candidates who want the decision made for them
- Priced in the thousands, and often more with SQE2 included
- Part-time versions exist for candidates working alongside study
3. University-attached courses
Many universities and law schools now sell SQE preparation, frequently wrapped in an LLM or similar postgraduate award. The teaching content covers the same syllabus as a commercial provider because the exam is the same for everyone.
The difference is what else you get. A degree, a campus, a cohort you see in person, and sometimes access to student finance because the award is a recognised qualification. The extra cost buys the award, not a different exam.
- Same SQE syllabus, since the assessment does not vary by provider
- An academic award attached, which may unlock funding routes
- In-person teaching and a physical cohort, which some candidates need
- The highest price tier of the three routes
- Fixed academic terms, so less flexible on start dates
4. Self-study with a question bank
The third route is buying the practice and skipping the teaching. It works for the SQE in a way it would not for many professional exams, because the examined law is public: statutes, case law and procedural rules are freely available.
What you buy instead is a bank of single best answer questions with five options, explanations that say why the best answer beats the second best, and timed mocks that run the way the real sittings do. That costs tens or low hundreds of pounds rather than thousands.
The honest limit is teaching. If you have never studied Land Law or Trusts, questions alone are a hard way to meet them. Whether you need a course comes down to exactly that.
5. The three routes side by side
Set against each other on the things that actually differ.
| Large provider | University course | Self-study plus question bank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rough price tier | Thousands | Thousands to five figures | Tens to low hundreds |
| Teaching included | Yes, mostly recorded | Yes, often in person | No |
| Structure imposed | Yes, fixed timetable | Yes, academic terms | No, you build it |
| Tutor to ask | Usually | Yes | No |
| Question practice | Bundled, volume varies | Bundled, volume varies | The whole product |
| Best suited to | New to several subjects, wants it decided | Wants an award or in-person teaching | Knows the subjects, needs exam fluency |
6. How to compare them without guessing
Ask every provider the same short list and the differences stop being marketing.
The two questions that separate courses most reliably are about practice, not teaching, because teaching content is broadly similar when the syllabus is fixed by someone else.
- How many practice questions are included, and are they five-option single best answer
- How many full timed mocks, and do they run as two sessions of ninety questions
- Is SQE2 included in this price or sold again later
- What is the deferral and resit policy if your circumstances change
- Is any part of the fee refundable once the course opens
- What does the whole route cost once assessment fees are added
