First in my family to university: how I passed SQE1 by learning from every wrong answer

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

I grew up as the first in my family to consider going to university. Despite not knowing any lawyers or legal professionals, I always had a strong interest in how the law works in practice.

I worked towards an undergraduate law degree, during which I gained experience as a student advisor in a Law Clinic and completed digital work experience in various areas of law. I also studied areas of the law that I grew particularly passionate about, such as IP, family, land and trusts law. Experiencing the law in its academic and client-based contexts, while solving the problems of condensing complex information into practical advice, confirmed that I wanted to become a solicitor.

I was also lucky enough to build a connection with a firm through my first to final year at university. This firm offered a training contract, bringing my dream career closer to a reality.

I wanted to sit the SQE to realise my lifelong goal of becoming a solicitor, make my family proud, and honour the firm that had offered to support and train me. All while developing a practical understanding of the law that I had already loved academically.

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

I prepared by creating revision resources that would help me in the long-term. This included flashcards and podcasts. I structured this revision to ensure that, not only was every topic covered at least 3 times, but that I had used all of my resources to consolidate that topic. Staying consistent and trusting my schedule made a huge difference in my success.

One of my resources was Law Drills, which I had access to 3 months ahead of SQE1. This was very useful for spotting gaps in my knowledge and topics I had forgotten about or neglected. I used it for daily drills to embed knowledge and for timed MCQs to build stamina and resilience.

I also did mocks and practice questions from various providers to practice recognising the relevant issue and applying my knowledge accurately under time constraints. Using various providers, including Law Drills, actively tested my knowledge and understanding from memory, instead of relying on my familiarity with a particular style of question.

Using the SRA pre-tested questions was also a game changer for understanding the question style and content I could expect.

The biggest thing that made a difference in my preparation was making a note of each question I got wrong and putting them on flashcards. I found it very important to understand exactly why some answers were wrong, because the difference between two options in an SQE1 exam can often be niche or subtle.

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

The hardest part was managing the sheer amount of content whilst staying ready for future challenges. There were points where it felt like there was always a topic to refresh or an area I could improve, so it was quite easy to feel overwhelmed.

What helped me push through this was revisiting things in small amounts, but very often, to help the workload feel lighter and more manageable.

I used practice questions and mocks to identify the areas that I most often got wrong and targeted those specifically, rather than revising everything equally.

I also treated setbacks or wrong answers as a good thing, instead of evidence that I couldn’t succeed, as I’d rather choose the wrong option and learn from it ahead of time than make the same mistake in the real exam. In fact, some of my biggest improvements came from mistakes as I filled the gaps in my knowledge and committed them to memory!

Most importantly, I made peace with the fact that I would never be perfect at everything, but I’d worked on my weaker topics enough to feel comfortable if they came up. This mindset boosted my confidence, ability to consistently revise and to perform under pressure.

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

If I could go through the process again and change anything, I’d prioritise taking good care of myself and trusting myself. The exams require a lot of knowledge, but a lot of resilience and stamina too. It makes a huge difference to remember that the exams are a marathon, not a sprint, and you can only give your best performance if you are in good form.

This includes being hydrated, rested and in a positive mindset. Also, know your limits; if you find yourself terrified by SQE Reddit, that’s probably a sign to take care of yourself instead!

This also includes focusing on your own growth and not comparing yourself to other people. Just because someone else can work for 15 hours straight, or practice 500 questions a day, doesn’t mean the same thing would be beneficial for you.

Trusting myself and the work I’d put in, while knowing I’d be proud of myself regardless of the outcome, would have saved me a lot of unnecessary worry. Once I was in the real exam, I knew much more than I thought I did.

Any final piece of advice for SQE candidates?

Try to make the most of topics you come across and enjoy! Follow your natural interest and curiosity, as this can help you prepare for niche questions without feeling like you’re overworking yourself. There is such a huge amount of content in the SQE that it can sometimes feel impossible, so appreciating the good and enjoying the parts that genuinely interest you can help make the experience more positive for yourself.