SQE1 Preparation Course - Full-time

This course is for those who wish to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales using the SQE pathway to qualification. It is designed for law graduates or those who’ve completed a law conversion course, including our SQE Law Essentials. The course will prepare you for the SRA’s centralised SQE1 assessments, which will test functioning legal knowledge (FLK). It is part of our new suite of SQE courses.

Course Requirements

None required. However, the SRA requires a degree (or equivalent) to qualify as a solicitor.

Course Details

This course will prepare you for the SRA’s centralised SQE1 assessments. The SQE1 assessments will test functioning legal knowledge (FLK) through two multiple-choice assessments, each comprising 180 single best answer questions.

The course will also help you prepare for Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) as a trainee solicitor, by helping you to develop functioning legal knowledge for practice.

Why choose the SQE1 Preparation Course?

• Adaptive and personalised learner journey, using our dynamic learning model: Prepare, Engage, Consolidate (PEC), covering all professional practice subjects and revision of all law subjects in the SRA’s assessment specification.
• Confidence for the assessments, with the opportunity to practise daily for the exact type of questions you’ll face. Our intelligent revision app, ULawSQE, will give you practice tests using multiple-choice questions, which prepare you for the SQE1 exams, so you’ll know exactly what to expect. It will focus on the topics you need to improve, giving you the best preparation for success in the assessments.
• Benefit from our extensive experience in preparing students for the type of questions in the SQE1 assessments.
• In-depth tutor guidance and support from our experienced tutors, who are all practitioners. Your tutor will monitor your progress and give you weekly individual feedback using predictive analytics, so you’ll know where to focus.
• Brand new resources, developed specifically for SQE by our expert tutors. You’ll be provided with all course materials, including an extensive bank of practice exam questions, ULaw SQE – our intelligent revision app provides practice tests and feedback, and 15 brand new online study manuals, written specifically for SQE1.
• Experience of working in practice. You’ll learn in the context of our virtual law firm, ULaw LLP. ULaw LLP replicates the working environment of a law firm and students perform real-world tasks on simulated cases, deals and transactions as if they were in the office.
• Support for your career. You’ll have access to ULaw’s award-winning Employability Service, for information, advice, practical experience and links to the profession to help you to succeed in your career. Available at all campuses, the Employability Team will help you achieve your career and work experience goals.
• We also work with over 90 of the top 100 law firms.

Introductory offer

When you book this course, you’ll get our SQE1 Exam Preparation Course for free. This short, intensive revision course will ensure you’re confident and fully prepared for the SQE1 assessments.

Following this course, we recommend:

• SQE1 Exam Preparation Course. Introductory offer: when you book the SQE1 Preparation Course, you’ll get the SQE1 Exam Preparation Course for free.
• SQE2 Preparation Course - This course is designed for those who’ve completed SQE1 training, such as our SQE1 Preparation Course.
• SQE2 Exam Preparation Course. Introductory offer: when you book the SQE2 Preparation Course, you’ll get the SQE2 Exam Preparation Course for free.

Course Structure

Pre-course study

Students will be required to complete a pre-study online diagnostic test to check their understanding of the key foundational law subjects. This should be completed within 24 hours of the start date.

This Academic Legal Knowledge Quiz is made up of 7 subjects which represent the Black Letter Law subjects.

We use diagnostic testing to assess each student’s knowledge in these subjects for SQE1. Based on your results, we may recommend extra revision aids or a law conversion course.

Modules

This course has two modules. Ethics and Professional Conduct is taught across both FLK 1 and FLK 2.

The appropriate level of academic law knowledge is likely, though not required, to have come from a previous course of academic study. Academic law subjects will not be directly taught in the SQE1 Preparation Course, but students will have opportunities and materials to enable them to revise academic law content throughout. Students whose academic law knowledge may not be sufficient or sufficiently recent to undertake the SQE1 Preparation Course may wish first to undertake our SQE Law Essentials course, which provides a solid academic law foundation and a firm basis for progression.

Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 (FLK1)

• Professional Practice
  • Business Law and Practice
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Legal Services
• Academic Law
  • Contract
  • Tort
  • Legal System of England and Wales
  • Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law

Functioning Legal Knowledge 2 (FLK2)

• Professional Practice
  • Property Practice
  • Wills and the Administration of Estates
  • Solicitors Accounts
  • Criminal Practice
• Academic Law
  • Land Law
  • Trusts
  • Criminal Law

There are four to five units per week throughout the course (two units per week on the part-time course). Each unit follows our unique dynamic learning model: Prepare, Engage, Consolidate (PEC).

Prepare. You will spend approximately six hours per unit preparing, using the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE) where all resources will be accessible. The Prepare stage includes a rich mixture of learning activities, including study manuals, multi-media, preparatory tasks, and quizzes.

Engage. The Engage stage involves between four and five two-hour classroom-based and tutor facilitated face to face workshops where you will be asked to apply the knowledge you have acquired in the Prepare stage.

Consolidate. You will complete the Consolidate stage using our VLE. This stage involves a mixture of short consolidation learning activities and weekly revision tests on practice and law subjects using our intelligent revision app.

There will be regular mock assessments throughout the course, along with opportunities to review your progress and ask questions of your subject expert tutors in group review sessions.

Assessment

There are no formal ULaw exams. There are mock SQE1 assessments throughout the course, to track your progress and help you prepare for the requirements of the real assessments.

This course does not lead to an academic award. However, students who successfully pass the SQE1 assessments will accumulate 60 credits, which can be applied towards an award under the University’s Recognition of External Assessments Policy.

You will sit your SQE assessments at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and internationally. For details on how to book, pay and receive your results for your SQE assessments, as well as request any reasonable adjustments, please visit the SRA website.

• There are two multiple-choice assessments over two days – one for FLK1 and one for FLK2.
  • FLK1 covers: Business Law and Practice; Dispute Resolution; Contract; Tort; Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law; and Legal Services
  • FLK2 covers: Property Practice; Wills and the Administration of Estates; Solicitors Accounts; Land Law; Trusts; Criminal Law; and Criminal Practice
• On each day the assessment is likely to take five hours, with a break in the middle.
• Each assessment contains 180 single best answer questions.

The SQE Explained

From September 2021, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) will be phased in to become the new centralised way to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. It will eventually replace the current route to practice – the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

94% Employed

94% of postgraduate students in employment were in Highly Skilled Occupations 15 months after graduating (2017/18 Graduate Outcomes data).

Choice of Courses

With a range of SQE courses, locations and flexible study options, we will prepare you for your career as a solicitor, as well as SQE exam success.

More than SQE

Alongside our careers support, you’ll work in our virtual law firm, with our expert tutors, and develop knowledge and skills beyond the SQE.

Your Route to Becoming a Solicitor

You can continue with the current Legal Practice Course (LPC) route if, before 1 September 2021, you complete, start, accept an offer, or pay a non-refundable deposit for one of the following:

• A Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) / the Common Professional Examination
• Our MA Law
• The Legal Practice Course (LPC)
• A period of recognised training (also known as a training contract)

For a qualifying law degree (QLD) and exempting law degree (ELD), such as our LLB, you must complete, start, accept an offer or pay a non-refundable deposit by 21 September 2021.

In most cases, for the qualifying law degree (QLD), exempting law degree (ELD) and CPE, the relevant course must start at the latest on or before 31 December 2021.

If you have already started a qualifying law degree, Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or training contract there are transition arrangements in place until 31 December 2032 to qualify as a solicitor under the current routes, as long as courses still remain available.

Alternatively, we’ve developed a range of new courses that will prepare you for a career as a solicitor, as well as SQE success.

Frequently Asked Questions

We understand you may be uncertain about how the SQE could affect you. Don’t worry, we’re here to ensure you have all the information you need to make an informed decision about your future.

What is the SQE?

The SQE will be the centralised assessment for anyone who wants to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. It will be part of a new, four-stage route to becoming a solicitor:

• A degree (or equivalent) in any subject
• Pass SQE1 and SQE2 assessments
• A minimum of two years of Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)
• Show you are of satisfactory character and suitability

What does the SQE involve?

The SQE has been divided into two parts – SQE1 and SQE2.

In SQE1 you will be tested on ‘functioning legal knowledge’ which tests your application of law based on realistic client-based scenarios in multiple-choice questions. The assessments will cover subjects you will have studied on a law degree or a conversion course, as well as the vocational practice areas in stage 1 of the LPC. There will be two lengthy multiple-choice papers of 180 questions each, covering all aspects of the SQE1 syllabus. You must pass SQE1 before being eligible to sit the SQE2 assessments.

In SQE2 you will be tested on the practical legal skills required for practice, including:

• Interviewing (with written attendance note/legal analysis)
• Advocacy
• Legal research
• Legal drafting
• Legal writing
• Case and matter analysis

What is the Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)?

Under the new route, you will need to complete a minimum of two years’ Qualifying Work Experience before you can qualify as a solicitor.

Qualifying Work Experience is similar to a training contract and can be completed at any point during the qualification process (although it is anticipated that most students will complete this after SQE1).

Qualifying Work Experience may be completed with up to four different legal employers. The type of work which qualifies as Qualifying Work Experience includes placements while studying for your degree, time spent as a paralegal or working in a law clinic, as well as working for a two year period with a single law firm.

All Qualifying Work Experience is signed off by the legal employer, who must be a solicitor, and is usually also the compliance officer.

If you have already completed part of the required Qualifying Work Experience, such as through a Pro Bono placement, it will be up to individual law firms to decide how they accept your previous work experience. On obtaining Qualifying Work Experience at a law firm, you might be required to complete the entire two year period of Qualifying Work Experience with them, if that is what they require for practice at that firm.

Will I have to complete a training contract?

No, if you do the SQE, you will not be required to complete a training contract. In order to qualify with the SQE route, you will need to complete two years of Qualifying Work Experience instead.

How much will the SQE assessments cost?

In addition to tuition fees, students will pay exam fees directly to the SRA. The total cost for taking both SQE assessments will be £3,980.

• SQE1: £1,558 for the two examinations, consisting of 180 questions each, testing functioning legal knowledge.
• SQE2: £2,422 for the written and oral tasks, testing both practical legal knowledge and skills, including advocacy, client interviewing (with written attendance note/legal analysis), legal research, legal writing, legal drafting, and case and matter analysis.

The SRA has not confirmed a cost to re-sit the SQE. It is likely that the re-sit will cost the same as a first attempt.

If I start a course can I switch to the SQE later?

Yes. If you have chosen to study the LPC during the transitional period, you will be able to sit the SQE exams in the future if you wish. Although this is unlikely to be necessary if you pass the LPC as you can continue to qualify under the current route.

If you have chosen to study the GDL or MA Law, you will be able to select either route on completion of your programme.

Do I have to do the SQE?

If you’re already studying or training you can continue to qualify through the existing routes. For example:

I’ve started a qualifying law degree.

• Current route: if you’re currently studying for an LLB or other qualifying law degree, or you plan to start in September 2021, you’ll be able to continue on to the LPC, whether or not you have a training contract. Our LPC will run until at least 2026.
• SQE route: you could do the new LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2), which starts in August 2021, or you could do our new SQE preparation courses.

I’m doing a non-law degree and I’ll graduate in Summer 2021.

• Current route: if you’re planning to start a GDL or MA Law conversion course in September 2021, you can continue to the LPC, which will run until at least 2026.
• SQE route: you also have the choice of our new PGDL or MA Law (SQE1) conversion courses. Both will give you access to the new LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2). Or you could do our new SQE preparation courses.

I’m doing a non-law degree and I’ll graduate in Summer 2022 or later.

• You’ll qualify on the SQE route. We recommend that you apply for one of our new law conversion courses – PGDL or MA Law (SQE1) or MA Law (Conversion) – and then the new LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2). Or you could do our new SQE preparation courses.

Webinar: SQE or LPC

In this webinar, you’ll find out about the different routes available to qualify as a solicitor and how to decide which route is best for you and your career.

This is the transcript of the webinar that was recorded in October 2020.

Our SQE Courses

Whether you’re a law or non-law graduate, want to study full-time, part-time, on-campus or online, we have the right course for you. We offer a wide range of SQE courses from Master’s with SQE1 and SQE2 included, to short revision courses to help you get ready for your SQE exams.

Our SQE Support

We’re committed to your legal career, as well as SQE success. From our award-winning Employability and Careers Service, to help to fund your studies, we’ll support you every step of the way.