1. What is your current level of knowledge of the foundation areas of law of England and Wales? 

To study for the SQE, you should have a good and secure knowledge of the following foundation areas of law of England and Wales, commonly studied in an LLB or GDL: Criminal Law, Equity and Trusts, Law of the European Union, Contract Law, Tort, Property/Land Law and Public Law. 

If you're not so confident in your foundational legal knowledge, we recommend you consider taking a longer course to give yourself more time to revise these areas.

We would only advise you take a full-time course if you have a strong and secure knowledge of these areas of law and ready to learn more to prepare for the SQE. The SQE specification includes 13 practice areas all built on these foundations.

2. What is your academic ability?  

If you have a 1st or 2:1 classification in your undergraduate degree, you are more likely to pass the SQE.

So, think about your academic ability, and if you don’t have a 1st or 2:1 classification, we would advise that you give yourself more time to study through a longer course, either 20-week or 40-week courses or part-time LLM programme. 

3. How many other commitments do you have?  

To be fully prepared for the SQE exams, you will need to study for at least the recommended study hours per week, every week, for your course. The full-time courses for example, requires 30-35 hours per week of study for every week in each module.

If you are working, for the College’s 20-week courses, you will need to study for at least 15-20 hours a week, perhaps more if you haven’t studied law recently.

You should also make sure you have some flexibility in the working week to attend live sessions and supervisions to make the most of the course. They run throughout the week, so we recommend taking at least one day equivalent of study off work across Monday-Friday, as part of your overall study time for SQE1 and more for SQE2.

If this feels too much alongside your other commitments, take our 40-week prep courses. They are purposedly designed for students who have a high level of caring or demanding work commitments whilst they are studying. 40 weeks gives you lots of time to learn and revise and our students on these courses are performing very well.

4. When can you start your study?  

The good news is that if you are studying for SQE1, our 20-week courses start seven weeks earlier than our 13-week courses. So, for the same course fee, you can give yourself a much longer time period to learn, compared to the full-time students. The two courses are timed to finish for exactly the same SQE1 assessment.

This is the same for SQE2, although SQE2 assessments run every three months. So, it is worth considering whether you can start your study earlier and give yourself more time to prepare fully for the SQE exam that you want to take. 

The SQE isn’t a sprint, take the time you need 

Why are we advising these options, you might ask? I just want to qualify as quickly as possible.... The SQE standard is that of a day one solicitor, so it is much more challenging than either your undergraduate degree or an LPC. It isn’t expected that everyone can pass SQE1 and/or SQE2 first time, and many students may take longer due to its intensity and their required focus on their work in the sector.

You can be reassured however that we will offer you excellent support along the way, but the decision is down to you and the amount of study is down to you. You will need to decide how much time you can dedicate to these courses to ensure that you are fully ready for the exams.

If you are at all unsure about which course to take, we can help. Call us or book a 1-2-1 course options advice chat today.