Having successfully navigated one of the most challenging exams in legal training, Legal Cheek‘s Nadia Ismail shares what helped her along the way
If you are about to start SQE1, it is completely normal to feel daunted by the amount of content ahead. The course moves quickly, and it can take time to work out which revision habits are actually helping. Having made it out alive, here are six tips that made SQE1 more manageable for me, and will hopefully do the same for you.
Practise early and vary your sources
Practice questions are not something to save until the end. You can revise an entire topic in detail, but in SQE1 that material may be reduced to a short scenario followed by four possible answers. The real challenge is spotting which part of the law is being tested and linking those few facts back to the wider topic you revised. I found that the more questions I completed, the easier it became to use the wording and answer options as prompts to work out which legal rule applied.
Just as importantly, it helps to use practice questions from more than one source. After working through a large number from the same provider, I began to recognise its wording and recurring keywords. At times, I could spot what was being tested – and even the likely answer – without fully reading the question. That was no reflection on the quality of the materials; I had simply become familiar with how they were written. Trying questions from elsewhere was therefore a useful way to check that I could still identify and apply the law when the wording changed.
I appreciate that SQE1 is already expensive enough, but there are free sample questions available, so branching out does not necessarily mean spending more.
A bad mock score does not mean you will fail
A disappointing mock result can be hard to shake. But many SQE1 mocks take place while you are still attending classes almost every day, learning new material at speed and with little time to revisit what you learned weeks earlier. In that context, a lower score does not necessarily mean you do not know the law; it may simply show that you have not yet had time to consolidate it.
Once teaching finished and I could focus fully on revision, I returned to the same mocks and saw my scores improve. Treat an early result as a snapshot of where you are at that moment, rather than a prediction of how you will perform in the real exam.
Revise as if every topic could come up
It is tempting to look for patterns or convince yourself that certain topics are less likely to appear. I remember people trying to work out whether some areas were “less important”, but SQE1 is not an exam where you can safely gamble on the syllabus. Different candidates can come away feeling as though they sat very different papers, so leaving one area behind because you think it probably will not feature is a risk. You do not need to love every topic, but you should revise on the basis that any of them could come up.
The SQE1 is an endurance test as well as a knowledge test
SQE1 is not just about knowing the law. You also need to read each question carefully and choose the best answer repeatedly over a long exam session. Completing 10 or 20 questions at home may feel manageable, but the real challenge is making the same careful judgement repeatedly when tired. As the exam approaches, try a timed session lasting even around half as long as the real assessment. It can help build the concentration and accuracy you will need on the day.
Make proper use of the break between the two exam sessions. Eat, drink and resist the temptation to replay every question from the first half. You cannot change those answers, and one difficult session does not have to affect the next. Treat the break as a chance to reset and go back in with a clear head.
Perfect notes will not get you through the exam
Law students are often perfectionists, and trust me, I know how tempting it is to keep tweaking your notes until they feel ‘finished’. Rewriting, condensing and tidying can feel productive, but with so much content to cover in SQE1, you cannot afford to spend hours perfecting every page.
Once your notes are clear, accurate and easy to revise from, move on. They do not need to be beautifully formatted or endlessly rewritten. The exam tests whether you can recall and apply the law, so at some point you need to close the document and turn to active recall and practice questions.
Learn when to move on from a difficult question
It is easy to become fixated on one question, especially when two answers both seem right. I know the temptation to keep rereading it in the hope that something suddenly clicks, but every question is worth the same mark.
Make the best choice you can, flag it and move on. Spending several minutes on one uncertain question could leave you rushing through later questions that you might otherwise answer with ease. Just as importantly, do not let one awkward question knock your confidence for the next ten. You can always return to it at the end with a clearer head.
Nadia Ismail is a writer at Legal Cheek. She studied law at Durham University, completed both SQE1 and SQE2 in 2025 and is a future trainee solicitor.
They’re just trying to make it very difficult to become a solicitor, which is one way of dealing with the massive oversupply of candid8s. Never thought the LPC would be the “good old days.”