This blog post is part of the Bar Crawl, a series dedicated to exploring the ins-and-outs of popular bar exams for law students and graduates seeking to qualify in one or more jurisdictions.
Read the french version here.
Preparing for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) can feel overwhelming when juggling work, studies, and family responsibilities. That’s why we have gathered practical, experience-based tips from former and current SQE candidates who have sat the SQE in Paris to give you the best advice for taking on both SQE1 and SQE2. From making the most of mocks and daily MCQ practice, to preparing for skills assessments, building endurance, and navigating qualifying work experience (QWE), these suggestions are designed to help you study more strategically and with greater confidence on your journey to becoming a solicitor.
Begin with the end in mind.
If you can, print the official SQE 1 mock exams, take a timed test in pencil at the start of your preparations (six to twelve months before the exam) and again one month before you’re due to sit the exam. This will give you a good indicator of your base level of knowledge/rationality and your progress. In addition to the official mocks, Practiceworks provides a list of all the mocks you can get your hands on for free here.
SQE 1 is composed of two multiple choice exams assessing your functioning legal knowledge (FLK):
- FLK 1 covers (non-exhaustively): Business, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, Public & EU Law
- FLK 2 covers (non-exhaustively): Property, Wills, Solicitors Accounts, Criminal Law & Procedure
Both exams have tax (business, property, wills) and ethics components.
SQE 2 is composed of:
- a client interview and attendance note in property,
- a client interview and attendance note in wills and probate,
- civil advocacy, and
- criminal advocacy.
Preceded or followed by:
- Case and matter analysis, legal drafting, research, and writing in Business Organisations, Rules and Procedures,
- The aforementioned exercises in property practice and probate, and
- The aforementioned exercises in dispute resolution and criminal litigation
Knowing what areas of law are assessed in both SQE 1 and 2 before starting your SQE journey will help you identify where to focus your attention when revising the substantive law.
SQE1 sessions take place every January and July with SQE2 taking place four times a year. New lawyers will also need to complete two years of qualifying work experience that can be verified by a Solicitor of England & Wales. Qualified lawyers may request an exemption from completing qualifying work experience and/or from passing the SQE 2.
MCQs / Mock Exams
The most important thing is to practice MCQs under time pressure. Consistently doing MCQs is the best way to improve your legal knowledge and prepare for the format of the exam. Aiming for incremental gains while training for skills and endurance is the key to success. It is very exhausting, but the better prepared you are, the more likely you are to succeed.
Candidates once again recommend daily endurance and legal knowledge training using Practiceworks. The perfect way to fit five minutes of practice into a daily commute, lunch break, or early morning/evening study session. It also offers practice sessions from 15 minutes up to a full mock. You can do a little bit each day and it is really good at consolidating info and getting in the zone of doing the MCQ.
The same advice goes for SQE 2 exams. To the extent that it is possible, try to take mocks similar conditions, including under increased time pressure to account for any additional stress or difficulties you may encounter on the day.
Preparation course providers: a practical guide
Based on community feedback, the total cost of qualifying via the SQE route will likely exceed £10,000 once you include exam fees, and each stage — SQE1 and SQE2. The table below sets out the current exam fees alongside indicative course fees for the main providers. Course fees vary by package and are updated regularly, so always verify on the provider’s website before committing.
| Provider | SQE1 course fee | SQE1 exam fee | SQE1 total | SQE2 course fee | SQE2 exam fee | SQE2 total | Combined total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QLTS School | £1,500–£2,400 | £1,934 | £3,434–£4,334 | £1,500–£2,500 | £2,974 | £4,474–£5,474 | ~£7,900–£9,800 |
| BPP (Diploma) | See website | £1,934 | — | See website | £2,974 | — | — |
| University of Law | See website | £1,934 | — | See website | £2,974 | — | — |
| College of Legal Practice | See website | £1,934 | — | See website | £2,974 | — | — |
| InhouseW (SQE2 only) | N/A | N/A | N/A | Supplementary | £2,974 | — | — |
Exam fees as of October 2025: SQE1 £1,934 (£967 per FLK), SQE2 £2,974. Fees are VAT exempt. Course fees are indicative and subject to change.
QLTS School is the standout recommendation for this community, and for good reason: it was the official preparation provider for the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme, the predecessor to the SQE, giving it over a decade of experience preparing candidates for exactly this type of assessment. Friends in this community who prepared with QLTS have had consistently strong results. 94% of QLTS candidates who completed 25 or more mock tests reported passing SQE1, and the mock library — 30 tests for SQE1 (15 for each FLK, with 90 questions each) and up to 300 mock exams for SQE2 with detailed suggested solutions — is the largest available. QLTS mocks are rated the most difficult on the market, which makes them excellent preparation even though they bring your average scores down. The recommendation from this community: do as many QLTS mocks as you can, and do not be discouraged if your early scores are low — that is the point.
The College of Legal Practice is worth knowing about for candidates balancing work and study, given its fully online flexible format. The College offers five to six fully-funded scholarships per cycle for its SQE preparation courses and has received SRA Access and Reinvestment Fund support, making it one of the more accessible options for non-traditional candidates.
InhouseW (Madeleine Weber / Maddy) is not a full course provider but is the most consistently recommended supplementary resource for SQE2 in this community. InhouseW offers realistic SQE2 mock exams written by Madeleine Weber based on her own experience scoring 86%, each with detailed suggested answers designed to mirror the structure, timing and difficulty of the real assessment. Over 1,600 candidates have used InhouseW to prepare for SQE2. The recommendation is straightforward: use InhouseW’s graded mock packages alongside your main course as your primary source of written station practice. The model answers are detailed enough to self-mark against, and Maddy is personally responsive to questions.
On funding, the main avenues for self-funding candidates are: the Law Society Diversity Access Scheme, provider-specific scholarships and bursaries, instalment plans offered by most providers, or a traditional consumer credit or student loan. A fund run jointly by the City of London Law Society, BARBRI and Young Legal Aid Lawyers also supports candidates working in social welfare law — housing, immigration, community care or public law — who are committed to qualifying but may not have the financial means to cover SQE costs.
Additional Materials
Brush up on the basics, candidates who use notion have recommended revising with notes from Anastasiya Gwinnel, Evytherat, or the PBA basic refreshers available here.
While candidates generally recommend getting a prep course for the SQE2 to benefit from a library of mocks, graded submissions and periodic check-ins from your course provider, you may wish to supplement your practice materials in the 1–2-month period of self-study prior to the SQE2 period. You can explore a popular recommendation here.
You may also wish to consult our Advocacy Scripts here.
A word on endurance
For both SQE 1 & 2, once you’ve started, do not stop until it’s over. A great deal of candidates take these exams while balancing full-time work, studies, parenting and carer roles and while it is no walk in the park, Mark, it can and has been done. The important thing is to keep going even when you feel like you’ve already failed – many candidates we spoke to have had to resit exams simply because they did not study in between.
How much full-time preparation is enough?
The honest answer is that it depends on your background, but the community consensus gives a useful anchor. For SQE1, most candidates sitting without firm sponsorship study part-time over three to six months, dedicating around ten to twelve hours a week. If you can go full-time, BARBRI’s accelerated ten-week programme and BPP’s eight-month combined course (requiring forty hours a week) both suggest that a focused two to three months of full-time study is the minimum to be genuinely competitive. The important caveat is that full-time does not mean cramming: endurance and spacing your MCQ practice matters more than raw hours, especially given the national pass rate has fallen as low as 41% in recent sittings.
For SQE2, three to four months of part-time preparation (ten to twelve hours a week) is the floor for most candidates, with full-time preparation condensing that to six to ten weeks. The skills-based format rewards repetition over raw reading: the more graded mock stations you complete and review, the better.
Candidates who struggled on their first attempt frequently report that they underestimated how different SQE2 is from written knowledge exams and wish they had spent more time on mock practice rather than note revision.
A final word: if you are balancing full-time work, do not underestimate what that costs you in recovery time. Several candidates in this community have sat and passed both exams while working, but they consistently report that consistency over a longer runway beats any sprint.
Asking a solicitor to supervise your QWE
Solicitors are more than happy to support your qualification journey by agreeing to supervise your qualifying work experience. While a solicitor in your firm who is able to account directly for your work will preferably carry out your supervision, it is possible for solicitors outside your team, office, or firm to confirm your work experience, provided you can demonstrate that your position satisfies the requirements of QWE. For this, you may wish to provide the contact of a lawyer or senior team member with whom you work closely. If you need help writing to a solicitor in your firm, below is a short email template you can adapt when approaching a solicitor in your firm about supervising your QWE:
Dear [Supervising solicitor],
I hope this email finds you well.
By way of introduction, my name is [Candidate], I am originally from [City] and completing an internship at [Firm] in Paris as part of my [Studies].
In parallel to my studies in France, I am qualifying as a solicitor of England & Wales, having sat [the SQE2 in October]. As part of the SQE requirements, I am required to designate a supervising solicitor and record the skills developed during my qualifying work experience with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
As [Firm] is an SRA-regulated firm, I am writing to ask whether it would be possible to designate you as my supervising solicitor for the duration of my internship.
For reference, the supervising solicitor may be any English-qualified lawyer within the firm or the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP). Further information is available here: https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/sqe/qualifying-work-experience-candidates/qualifying-work-experience-employers/#collapse_e426
I remain at your disposal should you require any further information.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Best regards,
[SQE Candidate]
Study in packs
Preparing for the SQE is not simply about mastering black-letter law; it is about consistency, endurance and learning how to perform under pressure. Small, regular study sessions, realistic mock practice and early familiarity with the exam format can make a significant difference to both confidence and results.
Contribute to the community of SQE Candidates in Paris and join our WhatsApp group here. Sitting SQE2? Offer to provide personal advice and study tips to new sitters. Sitting SQE1? Try out your acting skills and sign-up to be a mock client or judge.
If you are currently preparing for SQE1 or SQE2, we hope these tips help you structure your preparation more effectively and avoid some of the common pitfalls along the way.
Have we left anything out?
Let us know your burning questions in the comments below!