Writing the SQE Assessments as a Foreign-Qualified Lawyer.

Answering some common questions.

In 2021, I made the decision to dual-qualify in England and Wales as a Solicitor through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) route. I didn’t know what I signed up for until I started my programme at the University of Law (ULaw), in September 2023. On the first day of induction, we were told that only about 50% of the people who write the exams (SQE 1), pass.

In today’s blog, I’ll be guiding you through the process of what to expect by answering some common questions. Although I must warn you, nothing — not the YouTube videos or the endless Reddit threads — really prepares you for the beast that is the SQE.

The SQE is divided into 1 & 2. SQE 1 consists of two law focused examinations (FLK1 and FLK2) made up of 180 multiple style questions each — I say multiple style because it’s actually known as Single Best Answer Questions (SBAQs). The idea is that unlike with most multiple choice questions, SBAQs may have more than one correct answer, however your job would be to find the most appropriate one to answer the question.

FLK1 covers: Ethics; Business Law and Practice; Dispute Resolution; Contract; Tort; Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law; and Legal Services.

FLK2 covers: Ethics; Property Practice; Wills and the Administration of Estates; Solicitors Accounts; Land Law; Trusts; Criminal Law; and Criminal Practice.

The SQE2 is more skills based with about 16 stations — 12 of them are written exams and the last 4 are oral assessments.

As a foreign qualified lawyer with at least a year’s post-qualification experience, you may be eligible to apply for an exemption from the SQE2. However, if you’re like me, you can be brave and do the two sets.

Passing both Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 & 2 (FLK1 and FLK2) of the SQE1 makes you eligible to write SQE2. Furthermore, in order to fully qualify, you would also need to have 2 years qualifying work experience. Nevertheless, as a foreign qualified lawyer, you’d be exempt from this.

Preparing for the SQE.

How did you prepare for the SQE exams? Did you opt for a specific SQE provider or choose to self-study?

To prepare for the SQE, you have the option of self-studying or studying with a provider. I opted to study with a provider, ULaw, as they have the option to complete the prep course with an integrated masters (LLM Legal Practice (SQE 1 & 2)). They also have a range of SQE courses which they offer in person and online. When I was making my decision, I had applied to four other universities for my Masters and had planned to qualify as well, so the obvious decision was to pick a course that prepared me for the qualification exams while also offering me a masters at the end of the programme.

I chose ULaw because I was familiar with them from my undergrad days at Southampton and had spoken to a few of their representatives. Moreover, ULaw has a good reputation and is a top choice for Magic & Silver Circle firms, as well as top US firms looking to sponsor their trainees through law school. I also reached out to a couple of people who had studied with them to get a feel of their experiences, however most of the people I spoke to had studied with them under the old route to qualification — the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

What materials did you prepare with?

When you enrol at ULaw, they offer you a PDF bundle of the SQE 1 FLK subjects, ranging from the black letter law courses (Tort, Contract, etc), to the practice law courses (Property Practice, Business Law, etc). ULaw, like most other providers who offer the course, don’t teach the black letter law subjects because the expectation is that you would have already treated them as part of your undergraduate studies. However, they give you a reading guide of chapters to read in the manuals in preparation for each class. It’s also advisable to refresh your knowledge before starting the semester. I graduated in 2019 so there was a lot of refreshing I had to do.

My days were long and full because I had to prep both black letter law subjects as well as wrap my head around the new practice subjects. Thankfully, some of the practice subjects were similar to some of the courses I did during my time at the Nigerian Law School, which was super helpful. I also had access to some revision materials to help as these were condensed and made it easy to flip through particularly when I was running out of time while revising the black letter law topics.

Additionally, ULaw gives students who enrol on their course access to their question bank with over 3000 SBAQs to help with revision. Furthermore, the app provides you with analytics to track how well you’re doing over time as well as in comparison to your cohort. ULaw always encouraged us to ensure our average was above 60% as this is the passing average for the SQE1. In the first semester, they gave us 2 sets of timed mocks to help with revision under exam conditions and two weeks before the exams, they ran an intense two day prep course to polish our skills.

Did you study full-time or part-time while preparing for the exams?

I studied full-time on ULaw’s programme. I also worked part-time, remotely, as a virtual assistant. Managing my time initially was tricky because I was juggling studying 15 courses (FLK1 & FLK2 subjects) while also preparing for each class and practicing questions in preparation for the exams. I studied Monday — Sunday. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I would have 4 classes across 8 practice subject areas and when I came home I would consolidate what I had learned on each day, while also practicing questions to test those areas of law. From Wednesday to Saturday, I would spend each day preparing for the next week’s classes. I spent on average at least 9–12 hours (or more) preparing per day, due to the volume of content given — the SQE is content heavy, so the earlier you start with prep, the better for you. In between, I would also try to squeeze in some black letter law subjects that made up the remaining 7 of the 15 tested areas in the SQE 1. I spent Sundays either catching up on readings I hadn’t covered or going over some black letter law. I also spent my nights and weekends working on my VA tasks.

To be honest, I had really full days and struggled at first with even finding time to meal prep. But as time went on, I figured out how to prioritise. Of course, not everyone’s journey would be like mine, however, whether you’re studying full-time or part-time, you should be aware that you would need to make a lot of sacrifices to ensure that you’re adequately prepared for the exams. During my induction, we were told to pick between studying, friendships and the gym but we couldn’t have all three — it would be almost impossible. Though extreme, the person who gave the advice wasn’t too far from the truth.

We were also told to cancel whatever trips we had until after exams, because we needed to give our full attention. I didn’t take this advice. I took a 2 week trip to Qatar, about 4 weeks before the exams. I would definitely recommend doing something similar, to take your mind off studying especially if you’ve been going hard for the last couple of months. Of course, I didn’t stop studying. The revision materials and the ULaw question bank came in very handy. I would literally be walking through the souk or sitting at breakfast and solving an SQE question.

What was your experience while taking the SQE1 exams?

I sat the SQE1 in January 2024. The exams were done over two days and although I was nervous to write them, I felt the ULaw questions had prepared me quite well for the two sets. However, there were definitely a good number of questions that were not in the nature and style of the ULaw questions.

FLK1 came first with 180 questions divided into 90 questions for the first half of the day and the latter 90 in the second half of the day. In total, you’d spend around 5 hours answering questions (You have about 1 minute 42 seconds to answer each question). FLK2 was the following week and took the same format.

FLK2 scared me and I remember answering the questions, thinking I was going to walk out of the centre and tell my family that I may not pass the exam. I recall that during the break, I had chosen to revise a bit before the second half because the first half had rattled me so much. But after a couple of minutes, I decided to close my notes and trust in God’s ability to do His best work through me.

The SQEs are probably the only exams I’ve ever written where I’ve been unsure of how well I’d done, if at all I’d done well. They’re that unpredictable.

How do I book? How much do the exams cost? Are there any incidental costs?

You book through the SRA website. Ideally, you should have registered on the website before the booking window opens. Once the window opens, it’s best to book ASAP as slots fill out quickly. However, if you get a slot you don’t like, you may be able to change it later on as people tend to cancel, allowing slots to open up as time goes on. Booking is a bit like queuing up for Beyoncé tickets — you join a virtual queue and could be sat there for up to 4, 5 or even longer hours. It’s always best to join early.

From September 2024, the cost would be: SQE1 — £1,888 (£944 for FLK1 and £944 for FLK2), SQE2 — £2,902. You can find more information about the fees here. If you’re studying with a provider, you should know that the costs for the exams are separate from your provider fees as you would have to book the exams on your own.

There are incidental costs such as hotel fees, transport fees, etc. During SQE1, I was lucky enough to be in a centre in my city. However, for SQE2, my written exams were in a different location so I had to pay hotel fees. For the oral exams, I also had to pay hotel fees as you can only take the oral exams in London, Manchester, Birmingham or Cardiff. In total, I ended up spending a bit over £600 on hotel costs alone.

There was also someone at my centre during the SQE1 who was lucky enough to take the FLK1 with us but for FLK2, the only available location she could book was in Abu Dhabi! Luckily for her, she had enough time to travel and turned the trip into a holiday too.

In retrospect, would you recommend the SQE provider you chose to other aspiring solicitors?

I would definitely recommend ULaw for SQE1 prep as they were very helpful. I think the content within their manuals was also very useful and of course, this forms the foundation for the content you’re tested on in SQE2 as SQE2 is 50% skills and 50% law.

Share any advice or insights you have for fellow foreign qualified lawyers who are considering taking the SQE1 exams.

If you’re a foreign qualified lawyer preparing to take the exams here’s what I would say:

1. Ask questions before you start! I believe more and more foreign qualified lawyers, especially Nigerians, are taking the SQE, so reach out to any and ask questions. Of course, if you would like to reach out to me as well, you can drop a comment and I’ll get back to you. I didn’t know anyone who had taken the exams and didn’t have a community beyond those I met at university and a few others I met along the way, so I wasn’t armed with a lot of information. LinkedIn and Reddit threads became my friends however, I would warn against Reddit threads because there’s a tendency to pick up anxious thoughts when you keep feeding on people’s horror stories or worse — statistics. I found r/uklaw very helpful.
2. Keep family and close friends close, you’ll need all the support you can get! One thing I will say till the end of time is you can’t do this journey on your own. Yes, you’ll need study buddies but even more so, you’ll need people who would offer you emotional support. I spent a lot of nights crying but my family and close friends, were there for me. If you’re lucky enough to have someone to cook and help with little tasks around the house, that’ll be great — hold them close.
3. Prepare for the SQE costs but also make room for incidental costs.
4. Practice! Practice!! Practice!!! Apart from the resources I gave, there are so many other resources available. Try not to use too many though so as not to confuse yourself. But ensure you’re practicing as many mocks as possible.
5. Approach the SQE with confidence! Although the SQE is unlike the bar exam in my home country or yours, it is still a beast that can be tamed. If you are religious, this is the time to pray like you haven’t studied and study like you haven’t prayed before. But trust that you can do it with God on your side! Remember the exam I thought I was going to fail? I ended up finishing in the 1st Quintile (Top 20%) — Glory to God!

If you’ve decided to take the SQE, I wish you all the best and I trust that you are graced for this. One thing that helped me along the way was making daily declarations and affirmations over myself. If you’d like to do the same, you can find the declarations I use, here.

The SRA has a lot of information around the exams on their website, including some practice questions, so check them out here.

Some other helpful resources:

1. Daniel Hill’s tips on LinkedIn
2. Catherine Snook’s SQE WhatsApp Hub

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a virtual coffee chat, feel free to email me at simi.law@icloud.com. 🙂 Please note, I do not provide legal advice.