SQE FAQs

SQE stands for ‘Solicitors Qualifying Examination’. It consists of two assessments:
• SQE 1, which is assessed by 360 multiple-choice single best answer questions; and
• SQE 2, which is assessed by way of 16 skills tasks – 4 oral skills and 12 written skills.

The syllabus which is examined across SQE 1 and SQE 2 includes:

• Areas of law which form the core of any LLB, GDL, PGDL or Law Conversion Course, such as Tort, Contract, Administrative and Constitutional Law, Trusts, Criminal Law, Land Law, EU Law, the Legal System of England & Wales; and

• Areas of law and practice which still make up the core modules of the LPC: Business Law & Practice, Property Law & Practice, Dispute Resolution, Criminal law and Practice, Wills & Administration of Estates and Solicitors Accounts.

The SRA refers to the syllabus as ‘Functioning Legal Knowledge’, which is often abbreviated to ‘FLK’.

They are assessed across two papers. For Paper 1 (known as ‘FLK1’), you sit 90 questions in the morning (for 2 hours 33 minutes) and another 90 questions in the afternoon (for 2 hours 33 minutes) on one day and you do the same around a week later for Paper 2 (known as ‘FLK2’). That means you have an average of 1 minute 42 seconds to answer each question.

The SRA has published which topics are covered in each paper, but within each paper itself the questions are randomised. So, for FLK1, you could answer a question on Business, then Tort, then one on Contract, then Dispute Resolution and so on.

The pass rate or first sitters for SQE1 has ranged between 53% and 59%, which means that just over half the people sitting each time are passing. The way the pass mark is calculated changed from January 2024

From January 2024, the calculation of the final marks for FLK1 and FLK2 changed. Candidates are now given a final mark out of 500 for each paper, with 300 being the fixed pass mark each time. Candidates’ raw marks out of 180 (i.e. the number of questions they answer correctly out of 180 for each of FLK1 and FLK2) are ‘scaled’ to a score out of 500. Scaling is required as candidates sit different papers on different days, so an adjustment is made to a candidates’ raw mark out of 180 to reflect the relative difficulty of the paper they sat.

Your SQE1 transcript will contain the following details in relation to each FLK assessment you sit: your attempt number, the pass mark (which is fixed at 300/500 for FLK1 and FLK2), your mark out of 500, the number of questions you answered correctly (out of 180) for each FLK paper and your “quintile”. If your mark was in the top 20%, you’ll be in the first quintile and so on. We anticipate that candidates’ quintiles will be a metric which law firms and employers will note as part of the recruitment process as candidates in the same sit can be benchmarked against each other.

“The LPC and SQE 1 differ in a number of ways, with a key difference being the fact that the SQE is examined to the level expected of a newly-qualified solicitor, whereas the ‘bar’ is lower for an LPC exam, being that of a ‘Day 1 trainee solicitor’.

One of the key differences is the syllabus for each of the assessments. Whilst they have a fair degree of overlap, there are significant differences. The entire SQE syllabus is compulsory, whereas LPC students study three specialist electives and can choose which ones to study from their provider’s list. In contrast, unlike the LPC, SQE 1 revisits core ‘black letter law’ subjects from candidates’ law degrees and law conversion courses (PGDL/GDL), such as tort, contract, land, criminal, equity and administrative law and there are no elective subjects.

The exams also differ in terms of the way students are assessed. At the moment for the LPC, each provider can decide how they want to assess students. At BPP, we include a range of assessments including open book exams (NB some LPC providers have a ‘closed book’ LPC policy), multiple choice questions, oral assessments and coursework. The SQE 1 exam is ‘closed book’ and is assessed entirely through multiple choice questions (MCQs), where students are required to give the ‘single best answer’ from five plausible options.

Not necessarily, but LPC graduates who attempt SQE 2 without a undertaking an SQE 2 preparation course will find the SQE 2 assessments challenging for three reasons: 1) although most of the SQE 2 skills are similar to the ones covered in the LPC, only 50% of the SQE 2 marks are for the relevant skill: the other 50% is for knowledge covered in the SQE 1 syllabus; 2) the knowledge areas cover not only core modules on the LPC, candidates will be expected to apply key ‘black letter law’ subjects covered in a law degree/PGDL, such as tort contract, land, trusts etc; 3) the SQE ‘pass standard’ is that of a ‘Day 1’ qualified solicitor, whereas the LPC ‘pass standard’ is that of a ‘Day 1 trainee’.

The SQE 2 assessment is about testing legal skills in the context of the syllabus assessed in SQE 1. The skills include oral skills, which are examined through Client Interviewing and Advocacy and written skills which are examined through Case & Matter Analysis, Legal Research, Legal Writing and Legal Drafting. There are four assessments in the oral skills over two days and twelve assessments in the written skills over three days. The general context you are tested in will be pre-determined and won’t change.The context for the written skills cover Business Organisations, Property, Dispute Resolution, and Wills & Administration of Estates.

In terms of skills and knowledge, the SQE is a minimum ‘floor’ not a maximum ‘ceiling.’ This essentially means that although passing the SQE ensures you meet the minimum standard required to practice, you may want to consider an SQE preparation course which allows you to add on electives and additional skills teaching to ensure you are best prepared for day one of your Qualifying Work Experience (‘QWE’). One such example is BPP’s LLM SQE1&2 which incorporates ‘Essentials for Practice.’ This includes enhanced skills training a choice of one of three specialist knowledge streams: Corporate, Commercial or General Practice.

LPC graduates can still qualify without needing to pass any of the SQE PROVIDED that they secure and complete a traditional LPC training contract. If you have passed the LPC and don’t secure an LPC traditional training contract, there is another way to qualify: you would need to pass SQE 2 and complete two years’ QWE.

Although it is possible to sit the SQE without taking a suitable preparation course, it is not advisable. These are very high stakes exams with the SQE exam fees alone costing £4,780 for one sit of each of SQE1 and SQE2, with no discount for re-sitters. Since the SQE came into force, the pass rate for first sitters for SQE1 has ranged from 53% to 59%, so you need as much preparation as you can get to maximise your chance of passing first time.

There are a variety of courses on offer which prepare you for the SQE. Some are mainly an app with little or no tutor input or live teaching, and there are several courses which include a substantial amount of live face to face live teaching. Some courses will be purely SQE preparation courses and others will allow you to add electives and additional skills teaching, similar to those included in the LPC syllabus. Many firms prefer candidates to have much more of a grounding in these additional areas than the relatively narrow SQE syllabus. At BPP we offer a whole range of all these courses.

At BPP, we spent over five years designing our SQE programmes before they were launched to align with the SRA’s centralised assessments. As at June 2024, no provider has published overall pass rates for all their cohorts which are as consistently high as BPP’s. For example, for SQE1 in January 2024: BPP’s pass rate was 79%, 20% above the national pass rate. Our SQE2 pass rate from April 2023 and July 2023 was 97% and 99%, again, around 20% above the national pass rate. This indicates that the pedagogy we have adopted in designing our SQE preparation courses is working well and does, we believe, offer the best preparation for students who will be sitting the SQE.

Whilst the SRA only requires SQE sitters to have a degree (law or non-law), virtually no students without a full academic grounding in English law’s foundation subjects should entertain taking on such a high stakes exam like the SQE without a GDL, PGDL, CPE or equivalent (such as BPP’s Law Conversion Course). It would be like turning up to an advanced driving course without having passed your driving test.

It is for this reason that some providers, like BPP, require non-law graduates to have passed a law foundations course/PGDL as part of their entry criteria for the SQE 1 Preparation Course. At BPP, we offer an SQE training package for non-law graduates which includes our law conversion course (PGDL) and the SQE 1 Preparation Course: LLM Law Conversion with SQE1. The package initially builds your core foundational legal knowledge, before developing the knowledge of the specific legal practice areas that will be assessed in the first part of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE 1). It will also start to develop the portfolio of skills that are assessed in SQE 2, giving you a head start and the confidence to impress prospective employers. As this package results in a Master’s level qualification (LLM Law Conversion with SQE1), eligible students are able to access postgraduate funding of £12,471 in the 2024-25 academic year.

You need to remember that non-law graduates are lining up for the SQE alongside LLB graduates who have been studying law for 3 years. The whole point of a conversion course is to get the non-law students up to the standard of law graduates in the core foundational law modules. Legal Education providers have been hugely successful over the years in ‘equalising’ the non-law graduates in this respect to the extent that it has become impossible in an LPC class for a tutor to work out who the law graduates are and who studied a non-law subject. That simply wouldn’t be the case without the solid grounding of a GDL/PGDL/Law Conversion Course, which would be obvious on any SQE Prep course.

The expectation of most leading firms is that non-law graduates should continue to get that solid grounding in a full law conversion course like the ones listed in the question. Therefore, any conversion course which purports to get you through all the content in a matter of weeks is one students should be wary of.

Yes, at BPP, as well as offering an SQE Diploma (which comprises SQE1 &2 Preparation), we offer an SQE Master’s degree called ‘LLM SQE1&2’ which includes 1) SQE 1 Preparation 2) SQE 2 Training and 3) Essentials for Practice. For non-law graduates we offer a Master’s course which combines 1) our law conversion course with 2) SQE 1 Preparation. Both of these Master’s are eligible for Student Loans Company Finance (£12,471 for the 2024-25 academic year).

It really depends on which course you have taken and at which education provider. Some law conversion Master’s courses don’t include any SQE preparation, but at BPP, we include our SQE 1 Preparation as the last part of our law conversion Master’s. As candidates can only currently sit SQE1 in January or July, a full time September starter on either our LLM SQE1&2 or postgraduate diploma would be eligible to sit SQE1 the following January and SQE2 (if they pass SQE1) in the April or July a few months later. There is no requirement at BPP that you sit the external SQE 1 assessment at the first opportunity, but because there are only currently two sits per year, you would have to wait 6 months if you deferred your first sit.

At BPP we open applications for our law programmes around 11 months before the start date of the course, which means we accept applications on a rolling basis. We have start dates in September 2024 and February 2025 for our main SQE courses. We have start dates for various other SQE courses throughout the year. All start dates are aligned, wherever possible, to the first available SQE1/SQE2 assessment dates.

The overall pass rate for SQE1 first sitters has ranged between 53% and 59%. In our view, this is unlikely to change significantly in the near future. The SRA has made it clear that as the SQE is the end point assessment, the standard which candidates need to achieve (that of a ‘Day 1’ qualified solicitor) is necessarily high in order to protect the public from poor practitioners. In contrast, the LPC is assessed to the standard of a ‘Day 1’ trainee, which is why most LPC pass rates have been much higher.

(In case you were wondering, the pass rates for SQE2 have been much higher than SQE1, because most candidates need to pass SQE1 before they can sit SQE2. So, the group of students sitting SQE2 is always going to be much stronger overall.

There are currently two sittings for SQE1 each year: in January and July, and four sittings for SQE2 which start in January, April, July and October. Remember that you have to pass SQE1 before you can Register for SQE2. It takes around 5-6 weeks for the SRA to publish the results for SQE1 and 14-18 weeks for them to publish the results for SQE2.

The SRA will allow extra time in exams for students with a recognised learning support need. Any student who thinks/knows that they are eligible for extra time should contact the SRA directly before they book to sit the relevant SQE assessment. If you are eligible for extra time and that is approved by the SRA, the exam length will be adjusted accordingly. For more information see https://sqe.sra.org.uk/registering-and-booking/reasonable-adjustments and https://sqe.sra.org.uk/policies/reasonable-adjustment-policy

There are no such exemptions for LLB graduates. So, effectively, SQE1 re-assesses students on the foundations of legal knowledge covered in an LLB or law conversion course (Tort, Land, Contract, Criminal law, Trusts, Constitution and Administrative Law plus some EU Law) as well as practice-based subjects which most recent LLB and conversion course graduates will not have covered.

The modules covered by the question are: Tort, Land, Contract, Criminal law, Trusts, Constitution and Administrative Law plus some EU Law. Most (if not all) LLBs give undergraduate LLB students the opportunity of studying all these subjects. At some universities, they are all compulsory elements of an LLB, but not all. In particular, since the introduction of the SQE, some universities have made both Trusts and EU law optional. We strongly recommend that any LLLB student who is contemplating a career as a solicitor studies all the above subjects as part of their LLB. This is because there is an assumption by most SQE providers that you have already studied them, and although some may provide ‘revision’ materials, most do not re-teach them.

Contact hours on our full time face to face SQE1 preparation course are on average 10 hours per week (5 x 2 hour live taught sessions with a tutor). Remember, there is a significant range in the amount of live face to face teaching on SQE courses, with several providers offering very little if any live teaching. Most online courses at other providers offer no or little live teaching: at BPP, we have live online SQE courses and as well as more flexible self-study SQE options.

Contact hours on our full time face to face SQE2 Preparation Course varies depending on where you are in the programme.

The centralised SQE assessments are all closed book exams. At BPP, the assessments for our SQE courses are generally open book, as they are developmental to the end goal of passing the SQE assessments.

The SRA has not yet published any pass rates for individual providers or in any granular detail to show how sponsored and non-sponsored students are faring. Anecdotally speaking, we can report that, in general, the SQE1 fail rate for sponsored students at ALL providers is higher than the LPC fail rate ever was for sponsored students. That is not surprising, given the fact that only just over 53-59% of students have passed the SQE1 assessments up to January 2024 and that over 20% of students with first class degrees have failed SQE1 at the first attempt.

There is no hard and fast rule about the timing for when you sit SQE1 and SQE2 and when you choose to apply for and complete qualifying work experience (QWE).

Some people will have completed their QWE before they start on the SQE, others will apply for QWE at the same time as they are studying and some will leave it until afterwards. Everyone’s situation is different and the SQE offers flexibility as to when applicants complete QWE and when they sit the SQE.

Apart from apprentices, the SRA does not share the results of individual SQE sitters with their SQE provider. However, BPP has annually surveyed its largest SQE cohorts (many of whom started their SQE1 preparation in the month of September before sitting SQE1 the following January). We have verified their results and can advise you as follows:

1) SQE1 January 2024: BPP obtained the results of over three-quarters of all cohorts scheduled to sit those assessments, of whom 79% (seventy-nine per cent) passed both SQE1 papers at the first attempt. This means BPP’s pass rate for all cohorts was 20% above the national pass rate for this most recent sitting of SQE1.
2) SQE1 January 2023: BPP obtained the results of over eighty-five per cent of all cohorts scheduled to sit those assessments, of whom 73% (seventy-three per cent) passed both SQE1 papers at the first attempt.

No other provider has published unqualified ‘all cohorts’ pass rates as high as BPP in either of these sittings of SQE1.

BPP’s pass rate for SQE2 has been 17% higher than the SQE2 national average: 97% in April 2023 an 99% for July 2023 (compared to the national pass rates of 80% and 82% respectively).

We suggest that the main pass rate which students should focus on when comparing providers is SQE1, because that is where there will be a significant difference between providers.

Like any provider which offers a range of SQE courses from Face to Face teaching to non-synchronous materials, from a variety of locations and live online, the cost of our courses will vary. Please refer to our webpages for up to date information for the fees for the course of your choice at your preferred location/method of delivery.

SQE1 is a computer based multiple choice assessment, usually taken at a Pearson Vue test centre. You are given erasable white board and markers to use if you wish during the assessment, as well as a digital calculator.

There are 16 assessments for SQE 2, four of them are oral skills which are assessed in person in London, Cardiff, Birmingham or Manchester, when you will be given a highlighter, pen and paper, as well as instructions on paper which you will be able to highlight. The 12 SQE2 written assessments are computer-based, with most students sitting at a Pearson Test Centre.

“Despite the requests of students and education providers, the SRA has been very slow to provide a reasonable number of sample MCQs. As at 10 June 2024, they have only published an additional 40 MCQs over and above the 90 they originally released — so 130 in total. At every opportunity, BPP and other stakeholders have been urging the SRA to, as a bare minimum, provide a full SQE1 past paper comprising 360 questions, which will be a substantial improvement on the 130 MCQs they have so far released.

In fairness to the SRA, they cannot provide MCQs covering every possible type of question on every possible topic which may be examined in the future. However, their resistance in providing any further MCQs would appear to be based on the time and cost of producing them and they have also said that providing more MCQs may give a false impression as to how SQE1 will be examined. We at BPP would rather candidates had examples of more, rather than fewer MCQs, even if it means including a health warning that they are just a small example of how the students may be examined.

As a consequence, as well as providing our students with a large bank of MCQs to practise for SQE1, BPP has released some free additional questions on our website, as we appreciate the need for all students, wherever they study, to get as much MCQ practice as possible. See here.

The position is very complicated for lawyers who are qualified overseas as the position varies widely between jurisdictions and individuals. Whether an internationally qualified lawyer has any exemptions will depend on the professional qualifications they have and, in some cases, how long they have practised at that level.

If you have a legal professional qualification which allows you to practise in the UK or an international jurisdiction, the SRA have said that you may not need to complete QWE.
The best place to start is the SRA’s website, which provides a list of jurisdictions where exemptions may be granted. If you are a qualified attorney or advocate in South Africa, you can apply to the SRA for an SQE2 individual exemption.

From what you say, it is less likely that you might be eligible for an SQE1 exemption, but you can look into this further with the SRA on a separate exemption application if you wish. If you don’t qualify for an SQE1 exemption (which I suspect is the case here) most large firms in the UK would expect you to complete a law conversion course (to provide you the secure grounding you need in English law) plus an SQE1 Preparation course before taking SQE1.

For other candidates reading this answer, remember, because the position varies widely depending on where you are qualified, as well as the qualifications and experience you have, separate bespoke advice is always recommended after you have studied the SRA’s guidance on their SQE and QWE web pages.

I don’t think there is an easy answer to give you as we don’t know enough about your circumstances or career aspirations. That said, many international students are now attracted to the SQE pathway because QWE is easier to acquire than a training contract, the number of which is now declining.

There are very early signs of the SQE becoming recognised in some jurisdictions, more so than the LPC, although we do not envisage developments in this regard to be fast or extensive. The other point to mention is that, generally speaking, you only get the choice between the LPC and the SQE if you started an English LLB or law conversion course before 2022 — otherwise it’s the SQE for you!

QWE must be signed off either by a solicitor qualified in England and Wales or a Compliance Officer for Legal Practice. Ideally, you want to be working for a firm or organisation that has such a person working there too. Either way, you should record what you do during your QWE by using the SRA’s QWE record template: see here.

There are other options, such as going through a third party, who is a solicitor to sign off your QWE. They would have to verify your QWE record with those you worked for. There are a few businesses advertising their services for a fee to do this (which we don’t believe was ever the regulator’s intention), and so we cannot recommend any of them, particularly as the SRA have said they are monitoring the situation.

To qualify as a solicitor under the SQE regime, as well as passing the SQE, you need to complete two years of QWE with up to four legal employers. You are not required to develop all of the SRA’s published competences — but you need to have developed at least two of them. For more details, see here.

The SRA sets out the standard for QWE that it expects employers to provide, but unlike the LPC (which requires trainees to complete at least one contentious and one uncontentious seat), QWE can be in one or multiple practice areas. For more details, see here.

The QWE which you complete does not necessarily have to be in the practice area you choose to qualify into, although you would be best advised to gain some experience in that practice area as part of your QWE.

Yes. Most firms and employers are simply ‘rebadging’ their Training Contracts as QWE, although a number of firms have taken the opportunity to use the flexibility of QWE to innovate and evolve their training to better suit their practice. Some employers have decided to take on their future talent solicitors as solicitor apprentices (after A levels) and/or graduate solicitor apprentices (after their degrees) in lieu of QWE.

This is a very good question, and it depends on which firms you are referring to. Few firms have yet gone on record to say how they would view a portfolio of QWE across two to four employers. Most will say they will consider the application ‘on merit’, which means that they will scrutinise the nature and quality of the training you have had very carefully. Ultimately, it is the quality of the work, training and supervision which firms will be interested in and that will vary considerably for QWE, particularly QWE which is spread across multiple employers. For more details, see the SRA’s Solicitors Competence Statement.

Non-law work experience cannot count as QWE, although working in the in-house legal department of a company could do. If you have already secured a training contract, I would discuss your question with the graduate recruitment team. Most larger firms would still insist you complete their two-year QWE programme even if you have experience elsewhere which is capable of counting as QWE, so they probably wouldn’t have a strong view either way as to what you do in that gap year.

However, if you haven’t yet secured a traditional LPC training contract and are planning taking a gap year after your LPC, I would recommend getting some legal work experience during that period – not only to enhance your knowledge of the profession, but part, or all of it might be capable of counting as QWE if you don’t secure a traditional LPC training contract. But remember, if you pass the LPC and don’t get a traditional LPC training contract, you will need BOTH a pass in SQE 2 and two years of QWE in order to qualify.

In theory, QWE could include work undertaken during a placement year on a degree, but in practice most (if not all) is unlikely to count as QWE. Those signing off on the work and the SRA would want to look closely at what you did, as significant parts may not count as QWE given the early stage you were at in your legal education. What is important is the nature of the work and the range of competencies that an individual has the opportunity to gain during the work experience/placement. The SRA website has a comprehensive list of the competencies that would need to be included for the work to be classed as QWE: see the SRA’s Solicitors Competence Statement.

Working in a University Law Clinic is fantastic work experience and could, in theory, count as QWE, provided you were being supervised by a solicitor qualified in England & Wales and they can sign off on the work, meeting the SRA’s QWE requirements. However, it would have to be a lengthy commitment for such work to count in any meaningful way. For example, if you did an afternoon per week (say 3.5 hours) across 30 weeks of a three year degree (which would be very rare), that would still only work out to be the equivalent of around two months’ QWE. The reality is that most graduates who work in a law clinic during their degree will accumulate far fewer hours than this example. So, whilst it’s good to know that Pro Bono/Law Clinic work can ‘count’ and the experience you get can be great, its significance as QWE has perhaps been a little overstated.

It could be the Pro Bono/CAB work could count towards QWE, like working in a university law clinic, but you would have to have done quite a lot of it to count in a meaningful way over a long period of time as mentioned above. All QWE must be signed off by a solicitor practising in England & Wales or the firm’s Compliance Officer for Legal Practice. The SRA has issued guidelines for determining whether the work is QWE.

The SRA has said that the QWE must be two years’ full-time or equivalent, although there is a little discretion built into the system. It also depends on how ‘part-time’ the role is. The way we have interpreted the regulation is that if you are on a 50% contract as a paralegal, then one year in such a role would probably amount to 6 months QWE, if all the other criteria were satisfied.

It’s not the job title that matters — it’s the work you do. So, yes, if you were developing the solicitor competencies referred to above. But if the role was wholly or purely administrative, it would not count as QWE.

No. Firms offering vacation schemes aren’t signing off on such experience as QWE. In any case, even if you were able to argue that small parts of a vacation scheme amounts to QWE (although much of it would not), that part would amount to such a small fraction of the two years you need, rendering it meaningless as QWE — great work experience, but nothing more. Remember, you can piece together your QWE across different employers, but it is limited to four places of work, so a week or two, or even a month or two is, in practice, will rarely figure in a candidate’s QWE record that they submit to the SRA .

It can sometimes be difficult to get legal work experience before starting university. Although some firms are beginning to offer experience for younger students, most ‘in-firm’ experience starts later in your academic career. But don’t let this put you off! There are some firms and chambers that offer shadowing experience during the summer holidays. Here’s a great article with tips on how to access legal work experience while you are at school.

You could use this time instead to consider volunteering or work experience in another industry. There is often no requirement to have had formal legal work experience before applying for first-year programmes and vacation schemes. Very often, firms are looking for students who have gained transferable skills from any industry, rather than necessarily having a legal background.

In any event, you can easily get exposure to the ‘law in action’ by visiting your local magistrates and Crown Courts — ask the ushers which hearings are public and whether they could suggest which one(s) would be of interest to a potential law student like yourself.

We provide 5 x 6-month paid QWE placements for recent BPP SQE students per year in our Pro Bono Cemtre, which is part of the Social Impact team. This is over and above the work experience they will have obtained in our award-winning Pro Bono Centre during their studies and the expert, specialist guidance which our Law Careers team offers with CV drafting, applications, mock interviews etc.

Yes, the SRA has not stipulated at what stage you need to complete your qualifying work experience. It can be done before, during or after the SQE or a combination of all/any the above. At BPP, as well as full-time courses, we also offer part time SQE preparation courses which allow you to “learn as you earn” so you can do the SQE alongside your QWE if you wish.

There are two main types of apprenticeships for prospective solicitors: the Solicitor Apprenticeship (which is aimed at A level leavers who take 6 years to qualify via the SQE route and complete an LLB along the way) and a Graduate Entry Solicitor Apprenticeship (GESA), which would be more appropriate for you as you have a law degree already. Legal employers have different approaches to their GESA apprentices: what they all have in common is that they employ and train graduates for around 30+ months, during which time they work for the employer, study on SQE preparation courses and complete the SQE assessments.

Where employers differ in their approach is how they deal with the teaching: some have a ‘block teach’ at the start of the apprenticeship when the students are released wholly or substantially from any work in the office until they complete at least their preparation for, and sit, SQE1. Other firms prefer a ‘day release’ model over a longer period, where you would typically spend 4 days in the office and have 1 study day per week. The latter model is much more common.

As SQE2 assesses your skills, working in practice as you prepare for SQE2 can be beneficial as you will probably be practising some of those skills on a daily basis. That works better for the ‘day release’ model, but the down side with that model is that some apprentices on day release find it challenging to balance their work and study commitments.

The SRA has not shared any data on this. Because of the flexibility in how and when you can acquire qualifying work experience (QWE), candidates should be more confident of securing QWE because unlike an LPC training contract, the two years QWE is easier to secure, as it can be acquired at between one and four employers.

The vast majority of the larger firms have committed their future trainee cohorts to the SQE. However, some will still accept applications from LPC graduates. The smaller the firm, the more likely it is that they will allow students to choose the LPC or SQE pathway (if the candidate still has the choice – which ns broad terms would be any candidate who started their law degree or conversion course in the Autumn of 2021 or earlier).

Some firms have reviewed how they train their future cohorts and aren’t running their two-year QWE contracts the same as their old LPC training contracts. For example, instead of a seat rotation structure (e.g. 4 x 6 months seats in different departments), some firms are offering a full two years in a single department so that, upon qualification, each NQ has the experience in their practice area which is closer to a 1-1.5 year PQ solicitor than an NQ solicitor. However the seat-rotation model is still the most popular way of scheduling two year QWE training contract at most firms.

Some people will have completed their QWE before they start on the SQE, others will apply for QWE at the same time as they are studying and some will leave it until afterwards. Everyone’s situation is different and the SQE offers flexibility as to when applicants complete QWE and when they sit the SQE. One thing we would not recommend you to do is to do a full-time SQE Master’s and any meaningful QWE at the same time. You will be spreading yourself too thin and are likely to significantly underperform in both.

Yes — virtually all firms who sponsored students for the LPC are doing so for the SQE. Ultimately, it will vary from firm to firm, but it does tend to be the larger firms who provide sponsorship. In addition, the SQE has seen the introduction of a new form of sponsorship — the Solicitor Apprenticeship (typically for A level leavers) and Graduate Entry Solicitor Apprenticeship. These apprenticeships aren’t just found in large firms — there are many in much smaller and mid-size firms, in-house and in the public sector.

There is no ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ answer to this question: Both options have their pros and cons and it will depend on the individual. At BPP, as well as running full time programmes, we offer SQE courses on a part time basis to allow students to earn as they learn, with many working full time alongside their studies.

Almost all leading law firms are now training the main intake of their future cohorts via the SQE pathway. It’s unlikely that many (if any) of them will be offering traditional LPC Training Contracts by 2026, although several have commented that they won’t turn away talent simply because candidates have an LPC. Such firms may require LPC graduates to qualify via the SQE route, which means requiring a pass SQE2, as LPC graduates are exempt form SQE1. Smaller firms are, as a whole, less concerned about which pathway you have chosen and are likely to offer traditional LPC training contracts for longer, with some offering them alongside other future talent who will qualify via the SQE/QWE pathway.

Firstly, no training contract is easy to secure, especially ones under the old LPC pathway as they are now very much is scarce supply. You can choose either the LPC or SQE route to qualify as a solicitor. If you are a BPTC graduate from BPP, you would normally be exempt from around half of the LPC modules should you choose to study the LPC at BPP. If you studied at another provider, we would have to check your record card to advise further. Unfortunately, the SRA does not routinely provide exemptions from any part of the SQE for BPTC graduates. Always remember, if you choose the LPC pathway now and don’t secure an LPC training contract, you will still need to pass SQE2 and complete 2 years’ QWE. With LPC training contracts in scarce supply, we would normally recommend the SQE pathway for an LPC considerer who has not yet secured an LPC training contract.

‘Training contracts’ are traditionally part of the LPC route to qualification, but the term is still (confusingly) referred to as a two-year period of QWE at a single employer under the SQE pathway. So, for clarity, we like to refer to ‘traditional LPC training contracts’ and ‘SQE training contracts’. If you are planning on qualifying via the SQE route, you will need to complete two years of qualifying work experience (QWE). The reality is that if you complete two years’ QWE at single law firm, your QWE will, in most cases, look like their previous training contract, with seat rotation, although that is not a requirement of QWE. But, remember, you two years‘ QWE can be aggregated in up to four legal employers.

In most cases, candidates who started a ‘qualifying law degree’ in the Autumn of 2021 or earlier can choose either the LPC or SQE route to qualification. As you are considering the LPC, you should have two concerns. Firstly, the number of LPC courses is rapidly diminishing, so you may be left with few choices of provider/location for your LPC after your gap year. Secondly, unless you have already secured a traditional LPC training contract after your gap year, there is a significant risk that you will never do so, because the number of traditional training contracts has significantly reduced following the introduction of the SQE. You might be best advised to see whether you can secure any QWE as part of your gap year and opt for the SQE pathway. If you do choose the LPC and don’t secure a traditional LPC training contract, you can still qualify via the SQE: you would be exempt from SQE1, but would still have to pass SQE2 and complete two years’ QWE. But you may be best advised (in most cases) to opt for the SQE pathway.

Those on the SQE route do not do the Professional Skills Course (PSC). The PSC is a requirement for those students who wish to qualify as a solicitor via the LPC route. At BPP we offer various modes of delivery for our PSC, including F2F and online and a fast track course which can be completed in 8 days. This is normally paid for by a trainee solicitor’s employer shortly before or during their training contract.

Students can apply for the LPC and SQE programmes right up until the start of our courses at BPP – you will have to check the position for other providers. We would strongly advise submitting an application well ahead of time to ensure you are best placed and ready to start the course at the beginning of term. Students who accept offers early normally receive access to preliminary materials a number of weeks before the start of the course so they can ‘hit the ground running’ at the start of term.

Applications to study full time on either the LPC or SQE are made through the Central Applications Board known as Lawcabs. If you wish to study either the LPC or the SQE on a part time basis then you apply directly to BPP via admissions@bpp.com

Yes, for law graduates we offer the LLM SQE 1&2 which prepares students for both parts of the external SQE assessments for the first two terms, followed by additional learning and skills in specialist practice areas. The Master’s option for non law graduates is our LLM Law Conversion with SQE1, following which candidates can progress to our SQE2 Preparation Course.

As a first/second year law student, we would recommend (if you haven’t started already) considering what type of practitioner you want to be and to research the practice areas you are most interested in. You may be starting to consider whether to go down the Solicitor or Barrister route. One way to find out which you would prefer is (if you haven’t already) to join the Law and Bar Societies at your university and attend events they put on. Your university careers service is also a great first port of call, as they will be able to offer advice around applications, the type of firms available as well as helping you with interview preparation for vacation schemes and other key parts of the recruitment process.

BPP also runs a number of career-focused events which will support your longer term plans. See here for BPP’s latest events.

We would recommend treating your research like an additional module at university, perhaps spend 2-4 hours each week researching and attending events. There are also a lot of opportunities for you to ‘try out’ the different career paths available to you. Many firms and larger in-house teams have insight schemes, open days and vacation schemes which will all give you a window into the type of businesses they are, and the work they do.

Take the opportunity of attending as many in person and online law fairs and pupillage fairs that you can. It’s a great way to meet and hear from a wide range of practitioners and recruiters.

All candidates who choose the SQE pathway to qualify as a solicitor will be required to pass the SQE, as the SQE is the end-point assessment to qualification, unless you are still able to qualify via the LPC pathway. If you secure a graduate apprenticeship role at a law firm, you will be ‘earning and learning’ at the same time, although some firms release their apprentices for to complete their SQE1 preparation and assessments as full time students before starting work in the office in earnest. Others will be on day release (one day per week to study) during their 30+ month apprenticeship, so they will be preparing for the SQE alongside work in the office. The training and development team at such firms will advise when you will be studying and which provider’s course they require you to enrol onto. You do not need to complete any SQE training before applying for such a role.

In most cases, candidates who started a ‘qualifying law degree’ in the Autumn of 2021 or earlier can choose either the LPC or SQE route to qualification. Anyone seriously considering the LPC need to be warned of two things. Firstly, the number of LPC courses is rapidly diminishing, so you may be left with a very limited choice of LPC provider/location for your LPC. Secondly, unless you have already secured a traditional LPC training contract , there is a significant risk that you will never do so, because the number of traditional training contracts has significantly reduced following the introduction of the SQE. If you do choose the LPC and don’t secure a traditional LPC training contract, you can still qualify via the SQE: you would be exempt from SQE1, but would still have to pass SQE2 and complete two years’ QWE. Without an LPC training contract, almost all such candidates would therefore be best advised to opt for the SQE pathway.

The LPC and the SQE are qualifications for lawyers who wish to practise as solicitors in England and Wales. Neither qualification permits you to practice in another jurisdiction, but it is becoming increasingly common for lawyers to be dual qualified, particularly commercial lawyers who deal with English law as the governing law in contracts.

In theory the LPC will continue until 2032, but it is fair to say that the LPC is now in its very last stages. Many providers have already decided to significantly reduce their range of LPC courses and locations where face to face teaching is offered. Some have replaced their LPC courses with the SQE completely because they are no longer financially viable to run. There will be a very limited number of LPC courses available in 2025, because demand has now shifted significantly towards the LPC.

At present, if you wish to become a qualified solicitor via the LPC pathway and have completed your LPC, you will need to complete a two-year Period of Recognised training – commonly referred to as a ‘training contract’. During this Period of Recognised Training, you will be supervised by a qualified solicitor and complete the Professional Skills Course. If you do pass the LPC but don’t secure a training contract you can also qualify by passing SQE 2 and completing two years of QWE.

If you are uncertain about pursuing a career in law, then working as a paralegal before committing to studying for a professional qualification can be a good idea. It may well confirm (or not) your interest in a legal career and it will give you valuable experience working in a legal environment. It may count as QWE under the SQE route (your best option) if the work you do meets the competencies outlined by the SRA. On the other hand, some students prefer getting all their education out of the way before they embark on the working world. Neither is a better option than the other — it just depends on your own personal circumstances and preferences. The LPC would not be a suitable option for you as you have not secured an LPC training contract and you are looking to paralegal for a few years, following which we do not anticipate there will be many (if any) LPCs running.

If you started your ‘legal journey’ (i.e. you started an LLB or GDL or equivalent) prior to 1 January 2022, you are likely to still be able to study the LPC, or instead you could start the SQE Preparation course. If you started your law conversion course in 2022 or later, you would qualify as a solicitor via the SQE as you would not be eligible to qualify via the LPC.

It depends on the legal jurisdiction you have studied. If your LLB is in English law, you would not ordinarily need a conversion course, but if the law you have studied relates wholly or substantially to a different jurisdiction, we would recommend you do BPP’s Law Conversion Course to gain a solid grounding in the laws of England & Wales, which you can wrap up into a Master’s with SQE1 Preparation: for LLM Law Conversion with SQE1.

If you are qualified and have practised in an overseas jurisdiction, you may be exempt from SQE2 and QWE. See the ‘International Students’ section of these FAQs for more information.

No, not at all. Whether you choose a Master’s version of the LPC or SQE is a personal decision and is often — at least for domestic students — driven by the ability to access £12,471 of government funding from Student Finance England (2024-25 academic year). There is no general requirement in the profession for students to have a Master’s because the LPC and SQE are, themselves, studied at Master’s level. A very small number of US firms in the past have required a Master’s but they are the exception to the rule.

Our LLM Law Conversion with SQE1 is an SQE Master’s which includes our law conversion course plus SQE 1 Preparation. Or you could undertake our law conversion course as a postgraduate diploma and then complete our LLM SQE1&2 or our SQE1&2 diploma. Non-law graduates will, in most cases, not be able to start an SQE course without a solid grounding in the foundational law subjects. Once they do that (e.g. on a law conversion course) they are on a level playing field with LLB graduates.

At BPP we have a scholarship fund of over £1.4 million for our postgraduate law courses. We use a variety of criteria when assessing eligibility for our scholarships. We offer career commitment scholarships of £2,000 for those who demonstrate commitment to a career in law and we also have a number of full fee scholarships. We are particularly interested in hearing from you if you are from a socially mobile background, have otherwise had a challenging academic journey, if you are a care leaver or a care giver, or if you have been a leader in your community through volunteering or through pro bono work.

You need to read the Ts & Cs of any ‘money back’ guarantees as, in practice, they are not a 100% refund in most cases and eligibility for such schemes is subject to the student satisfying a great number of conditions which many students will not satisfy. At BPP, our SQE Career Guarantee focuses on enhancing a student’s employability by offering further free training.

When the SRA changed the route to qualification, the regulator decided to remove the requirement that all future solicitors needed either a qualifying law degree (QLD) or the Conversion course (GDL)/PGDL). This is because under the SQE regime, the SRA has chosen only to regulate the SQE assessments rather than the journey you take to get there.

There will be a very small fraction of 1) career paralegals who have worked in practice for many years and 2) those who may have studied much (but not all) of a QLD who have accumulated a significant amount of the functioning legal knowledge (FLK) which is required to pass the SQE. The SRA believed that it was not fair on those very few candidates to commit to incurring unnecessary expense and time completing a full law conversion course or LLB, which we would agree.

However, this only applies to a tiny fraction of non-law graduates, perhaps 1% or 2%. The vast majority of candidates from a non-law background have little or none of the depth and breadth of knowledge required to pass SQE1, which would include almost all recent non-law undergraduates. Indeed, the SRA has accepted that, for them, a law conversion course is probably the best option for most of them, but they do still leave it open to the individual to make a decision based on their own personal circumstances.

The expectations of the majority of leading law firms is that recent university leavers should complete a comprehensive law conversion course in order to achieve parity with LLB graduates. The thinking of many of these firms is that if you have taken a short cut with something as important as your legal education, what questionable short cuts might you take in practice?

At BPP, we believe that for students to take on the extremely rigorous SQE1 assessments, you need to have a solid knowledge of these foundational subjects embarking on any SQE preparation course. This is why, with few exceptions, we require an LLB (minimum 2:2) or a pass in a recognised law conversion course as one of our SQE admissions requirements.
One other point you should be aware of is that there are a number of relatively cheap, tempting crammer courses offering a form of law conversion in a matter of weeks. We believe that they will not provide the level of breadth and depth in the foundation subjects which your LLB peers will have covered and should be treated with extreme caution, even if those selling such courses attempt to persuade you that you will be put on a level playing field.

There are lots of ways to fund the SQE:

• Master’s funding: At BPP we offer a Master’s version of our SQE preparation courses (LLM SQE1&2) which will allow you to borrow from the Student Loans Company £12,471 in 2024-25, provided that it’s your first Master’s. Most providers who are universities offer Master’s courses which are eligible for this funding, but those who are just ‘test prep providers’ are unable to do so as they are not universities.

• Scholarships: These are offered by most providers, but the range, sums and number of scholarships will vary considerably. At BPP we also offer a range of scholarships from career commitment scholarships of £2,000 to full fee scholarships. We have a fund of over £1.4m for our postgraduate law students’ scholarships. For more information, see here.

• Part-time study: Like most providers, we offer our SQE prep courses on a part time basis to allow students to earn as they learn.

• Sponsorship: There are a number of firms in the City and across the country who offer sponsorship for students sitting the SQE. The majority of these are leading City, international or commercial firms who tend to pay their future trainees maintenance during their studies as well as their course and SQE assessment fees.

• Apprenticeships: There are a number of firms an employers of all sizes who will hire graduates for 30+ months on graduate apprenticeships, during which time you will both be trained by the employer and prepared for the SQE, usually at a leading SQE provider like BPP.

• Private borrowing from a High Street Bank: High Street banks provide loans to cover fees and living expenses, but they will need to credit score you. One down side about private borrowing is that unlike loans from the Student Loans Company, a bank will normally require you to start repaying the loan shortly after you finish the course and you will generally have to repay the loan over a shorter period at a higher interest rate.

• Other/specialised lenders: there are some who specialise in lending to postgraduate law students (amongst others), such as Lendwise. Their rates and repayment terms may be a little better than borrowing from a High Street Bank, but the repayment terms will not tend to be as generous and flexible as SLC funding.

• Various organisations who help to fund diverse students:

– Law Society Diversity Access Scheme
– Social Welfare Lawyers Qualification Fund
– The Aziz Foundation
– Aspiring Solicitors Foundation

It depends upon a number of factors including which law modules you have studied and how you want to study the additional black letter law subjects not covered in your criminology degree. We suggest you contact our admissions team who will be able to assess your needs and advise you accordingly. In reality, we would normally recommend a person who has not majored in Law to undertake a full law conversion course as you are unlikely to have covered most of the foundation modules which are examined on the SQE. Qualification timings are much less predictable under the SQE regime, mainly because of the low pass rate (just over 53-59% for SQE1), the fact that SQE1 can only be sat twice a year, but also because it depends on how and when you build your QWE. Most non-law graduates are likely to take at least 3.5 years to qualify.

In theory, yes. For example, we have students who started BPP’s SQE prep course in September 2022, who sat and passed SQE1 in January 2023 and then prepared for, sat and passed SQE 2 in April 2023, getting their results in August 2023.

Getting through the SQE in a single academic year also depends upon the availability of places to sit both SQE1 and SQE2 on your preferred dates at your preferred location(s). Some dates/centres get booked up very quickly and the SRA has not always been able to increase the number of sitters at any particular venue.

In theory, yes. We have students who:

– started BPP’s SQE prep course in September 2022;
– sat SQE1 in January 2023;
– went on to do their SQE2 Prep and sat SQE2 in April 2023; and
– received their SQE2 results in August 2023.

One thing we would not recommend you to do is to do a full-time SQE Master’s and any meaningful QWE or paid employment at the same time. You will be ‘spreading yourself too thinly’ and are likely to significantly underperform (if not fail) in both.

Preparing for the SQE requires a much greater commitment and intensity of study than most undergraduate degrees. The SQE is a significant endeavour and is rigorously assessed, so you need to treat any full-time SQE course as a 35-40 hours per week job. Consequently, it is not compatible with any paid employment commitment of more than one day per week, and for most students, that would be too great a commitment alongside the course.

Remember, since the SQE started, the SQE1 pass rate for first sitters has only ranged between 53% and 59% and over 20% of students with first class degrees who have sat SQE1 have failed at the first sitting. So, it doesn’t matter how bright you are: if you don’t put in the time, you will seriously risk failing SQE1.

On the other hand, if you need to work, doing a part-time course at a reputable provider is a much better option, during which time you can be working full-time or part-time clocking up your QWE. But you need to be very organised with your studies and give them as much priority as your paid employment, which means having as few outside distractions as possible.