From legal secretary to SQE1 pass: how I studied part-time around a full-time paralegal job

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

I completed my LLB Law degree in 2024 and went straight into working in the legal profession as a legal secretary, before quickly progressing into paralegal roles. At that stage, I hadn’t mapped out a perfect plan for my future in law. I knew I wanted to become a solicitor, but with the SQE still being relatively new, I decided to prioritise gaining practical legal experience first.

A couple of months into my first real estate paralegal role, I realised that I could see myself qualifying into property law through the SQE and QWE route. I then spent a considerable amount of time researching the SQE, the qualification process and the different preparation courses available before enrolling on BPP’s part-time course. I attended online classes once a week, on Saturdays from 9am–1pm, while continuing to work full-time as a paralegal.

My plan was to gain my two years of QWE while studying for and sitting the SQE part-time, allowing me to build up my practical experience alongside working towards qualification.

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

Initially, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content covered by SQE1. To begin with, I prioritised becoming confident with the content, focusing on the black letter law while my prep course covered the practice subjects. I’m really glad I did this, as the black letter and practice subjects carry equal weighting in the exam.

After a couple of months of reading my textbooks cover to cover, I moved on to MCQs to consolidate my knowledge. I mainly used BPP, Law Drills and The One Hundred’s MCQs, and completed thousands and thousands of questions - I believe I completed around 8,000 in total by the end.

I kept an extensive error table for each subject, where I recorded any concepts I got wrong or misunderstood, together with an explanation. Whenever I got a question wrong, I would refer back to my error table, and I found that I would often get those questions right when they came up again.

I did MCQs whenever I could. I had the Law Drills app, so I would do questions on my walk to work, during my lunch break, at the pub with my partner while watching the World Cup matches, or in bed instead of scrolling through social media. If I came across something I wanted to remember, I would text myself notes to add to my error table later!

I also had a routine throughout my preparation. One week, I would focus on FLK1, covering one subject per day, and the following week I would focus on FLK2. I repeated this cycle right up until exam day, which helped me to keep both FLK1 and FLK2 fresh.

Ultimately, I think understanding both the structure of the exams and the law itself is key. Having a clear understanding of what the exam was actually testing, combined with consistent MCQ practice and revisiting my mistakes, made a huge difference to my preparation.

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

It was really challenging working full-time while studying. When I started my course, I was commuting almost an hour and a half to work in the morning and another hour and a half home, which left me with very little time to study. I had to quickly manage my social life, expectations and priorities.

Admittedly, I had very little of a social life during this period and accepted that I had to make that sacrifice for a few months, knowing it would be worth it in the end. A couple of months before my SQE1 exams, I moved closer to work, which meant I could walk to the office and work more flexibly. This gave me much more time in the evenings to study and made a huge difference.

I became very focused on passing - it was often all I could think about! That mindset motivated me to pick up the books even after a long day at work. I kept reminding myself that this was temporary and that, once qualified, I would have my evenings and weekends back.

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

At the time, it was really, really hard. I was incredibly stressed and emotional in the lead-up to the SQE1 exams and in the weeks that followed. It’s easier said than done, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have trusted my preparation and knowledge more and given myself a bit more credit.

There is so much scaremongering online about these exams, and I completely fell into that trap. I constantly convinced myself that I wasn’t doing enough, despite putting in so much work. In reality, I had done more than enough, and ultimately placed in Quintiles 1 and 2.

Again, I know it’s easier said than done, and it’s something I’m trying to remind myself of now while preparing for SQE 2, but if you put the time in, make the necessary sacrifices and genuinely know your stuff, give yourself some grace. Trust the work you’ve put in and remember that you probably know far more than you think you do!

Any final piece of advice for SQE candidates?

Again, it is easier said than done, but listen to your mind and body and take breaks when you need them. I sometimes took full days off to properly recharge, knowing that giving myself that time to rest would make me 10 times more focused and productive the following day.