Five years away from law and back again: how I passed SQE1 on my first attempt

What’s your background, and why did you decide to do the SQE?

I graduated from law school in 2021 and spent about five years working in different non-legal roles in the charity sector. During that time I also completed an MA in Social Policy (studied part-time whilst working). While I always knew I wanted to go into the legal sector, I wanted to give myself some time away to figure out what I actually wanted to do and what area I might like. Last year, I decided to take the leap and self-fund my SQE while looking for paralegal roles in my home city (I really didn’t want to move to London or Manchester!). Early on in my SQE journey, I had found out about the Diversity Access Scheme scholarship, applied, and ended up getting it — which has been a huge help in funding the SQEs.

I’ve now sat and passed SQE1 on my first attempt (January 2026 sitting), and I’m preparing for SQE2 in October 2026. I’ve been studying while working full-time the entire time. I am now also working as a paralegal in the private sector and I’m absolutely loving it!

How did you prepare, and what made the biggest difference in your success?

The biggest factor in passing SQE1 on my first attempt, was knowing my own learning style. This exam is one giant memory test, so I knew flashcards would be my best friend. From day one, I was making flashcards and building revision into my routine early. For every two hours of learning new content, I’d spend one hour making or reviewing flashcards. That made a huge difference when revision time came around and I was doing lots of MCQs.

What was the hardest part, and how did you push through it?

The hardest part was the amount of sacrifice. I gave up a lot of hobbies, a decent chunk of my social life, and sometimes even a healthy amount of sleep. I would be working full time during the week and spend my weekends in the library… it really wasn’t easy! What kept me going was the thought that if I failed, I’d have to do it all over again — and I had zero desire to do this twice!

If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?

I’d spend way less time making notes. I’d focus on flashcards, mindmaps and one-page summaries, but I wouldn’t bother making full workshop notes. Whether you’re using a course provider or textbooks, there’s no point copying info word-for-word into your own notebook. It doesn’t help you learn unless you’re actually transforming the material — like turning it into mind maps, summary sheets, diagrams, etc. There’s so much content in this course, and looking back, I wasted so much time making pretty notes that I never looked at again.

Any final piece of advice for SQE candidates?

As I mentioned in the video, no one goes into SQE1 feeling 100% prepared — and honestly, I’d be worried if you did! You’ll always feel like there was more you could’ve done. You could study full-time for three years and still feel like you’re missing something. Just make a clear plan for learning the content, try and learn most of it, and leave at least 2-3 weeks before the exam purely for MCQs and revision.