From Paris to London: how I passed SQE1 with six months of focused preparation

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

My name is Lou, and I’ve been studying law for the past 7 years (ouch!). I started by doing a double law degree run jointly by QMUL in London and the Sorbonne in Paris (which gives you, in four years, a full UK LLB, a French Licence, and a French Master 1). This consisted of two years in London studying common law and then two years at the Sorbonne studying the French civil law system.

I then took a gap year and interned at LVMH in their Paris offices. I stayed in Paris and went on to study my Master 2, still at the Sorbonne, specialising in intellectual property and digital law, covering topics like US vs French copyright law, the AI Act, deepfakes—you name it.

After that, I worked for a year in an international law firm based in Paris in IP/IT law.

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

I started studying for the SQE months in advance. The first time, I began about 3–4 months before the exam with a private provider (BPP). Their teaching was irreplaceable, but their mocks were not close enough to the real thing. I think the combination of having only 3–4 months to cover 14 topics (including PC & Ethics!) and the lack of realistic mocks played a big role in me failing on my first attempt.

I picked myself back up in September after relaxing for a few weeks and found the strength to go back at it. I owe my success this time to having a full 6 months (the first 3 months I had before, plus the following 3 months from October to January).

In my opinion, having 6 months is necessary because the content of the exam is both extremely broad and very deep. You need at least two months to go over everything once. Then you need at least a good month to learn everything by heart. Finally, you need one or two months to focus on MCQ practice and doing as many mocks as possible.

I would recommend doing mocks from different providers because you never know exactly what the questions and answers will look like. That said, I honestly think the Law Drills platform is really good at producing accurate MCQs and answers.

I definitely owe my success to taking more time to prepare and, especially, to practising mocks over and over again.

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

The hardest part was working alone the whole time. During my first few months at BPP, I was an online student, so I got to interact with other students—but that was only a glimpse of my reality. Most of my days consisted of working alone in my flat, in front of my books and computer.

I got through it with the support of a close circle: my family (especially my parents), whom I would call and who would visit if I needed their presence or help, and of course my friends. I also tried to keep my weekends lighter (for example, taking Saturday off and working 4–6 hours on Sunday), except in the few weeks before the exam, and that really helped.

Having something to look forward to is extremely important, whether it’s short-term (like going to a restaurant on a Friday night) or after the exam (celebrating!). Giving meaning to all of this is important too: I reminded myself that I wanted to become a lawyer, work in an international law firm, and be independent. That really motivated me during tough times.

And remember, some days are great and others are not—and that’s completely fine! We wouldn’t appreciate sunshine if it never rained ;)

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

I would start revising even earlier—I would take 7–8 months if I could to prepare for SQE1.

I would still stick with a provider such as BPP, ULaw, or QLTS, but on top of that, from the beginning (once the whole programme is clear in your mind), I would do even more mocks from Law Drills, SQERevise, etc. I would feel much more comfortable going into the exam. At that point, there wouldn’t be much more you could do!

Any final piece of advice for SQE candidates?

Remember why you’re doing it, and keep that in mind on tough days. Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment and the technicalities of a complex, niche point of law that we forget the bigger picture: this is an exam that will allow us to complete our legal studies and become actual lawyers!

You’re almost there—work hard, and celebrate even harder afterwards!