The route from law degree or apprenticeship to admission: SQE1, SQE2, qualifying work experience and character and suitability.
Free SQE1 mocks exist in the loose sense. A free full-length, two-session, mixed-subject mock is much rarer, and the gap between the two is where most preparation goes wrong.
Exam guideAbout 5 hours 6 minutes of assessment per paper, split into two sessions, with FLK1 and FLK2 sat on separate days. Here is the full timetable and what it means per question.
Exam guideRoughly 300 to 500 hours, spread across four to eight months. The hours depend on your background, the calendar depends on your week, and the calendar matters more.
Exam guideThe number is easy. What it means for your marking, your pacing and how thinly the subjects are spread is the part worth reading.
Exam guideYes, and the reasons are specific rather than vague. Here is what makes SQE1 hard, who finds it hardest, and what the pass rate does and does not tell you.
ResourceYes, and the real question is what the degree adds. It does not replace the exam, it does not exempt you from it, and it costs a great deal more than standalone preparation.
CostThe assessment fees alone run to roughly four thousand pounds across SQE1 and SQE2. What you spend on top of that is a decision, not a bill.
ComparisonThree of the names people compare are not competitors at all. Two of them run the exam. The rest sell preparation for it.
TrainingNo rule says you must take one. The honest answer depends on how many of the thirteen subjects you have never studied.
ResourceFour kinds of SQE1 material exist, they do two different jobs, and almost everybody buys too much of one and not enough of the other.
Exam guideTwo papers, 360 questions, thirteen subjects and about 102 seconds each. Here is exactly how the SQE1 exam is built, and what that means for the way you prepare.
Exam guideThree attempts, inside a fixed window. Almost everyone worries about the wrong one of those two numbers.
Exam guideThere is no published percentage to revise towards, and that changes how you should think about your target score.
Exam guideRoughly half to six in ten candidates pass SQE1, and the number changes every sitting. Here is why it moves, how the marking actually works, and what the headline figure hides.
PracticeSQE1 is single best answer of five, and two of the five are usually defensible. Here are ten free questions with the full reasoning, and the skill that separates the best answer from the second best.
Exam guideThe wait is long, the result is thinner than you expect, and nobody tells you the exact hour. Here is the pattern, why it exists, and what happens next either way.
Exam guideThirteen subjects, two papers, 360 questions. Here is what the assessment specification puts on each paper and how deep each subject goes.
Exam guideThe Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme is gone. The SQE is the route now, and exemptions from part of it are decided case by case rather than by nationality or job title.
Exam guideThe seven SQE1 FLK2 modules, what the assessment specification puts inside each one, and how FLK2 differs from FLK1.
Exam guideOne national exam replaced a patchwork of routes. Here is what the SQE is, what it is made of, and what else you need alongside it before you can be admitted.
Exam guideThe pattern is two to three months, the exact date is published before you sit, and no hour of the day is promised. Here is why the wait is that long.