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The Solicitors Qualifying Examination replaced the Legal Practice Course as the standard route to qualifying as a solicitor in England and Wales in September 2021. It is now the assessment every aspiring solicitor must pass, regardless of their degree background, the route they took into law, or the firm they train at. Understanding exactly how it works, what it tests, what it costs, and how to approach it is not optional. It is the foundation of your qualification plan.

This guide covers everything: the structure of SQE1 and SQE2, entry requirements, qualifying work experience, costs, preparation strategies, how the SQE compares to the LPC it replaced, and how training contracts fit into the picture.

What the SQE is and why it was introduced

The SQE is a centralised set of assessments designed and administered by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Its purpose is to ensure that every person who qualifies as a solicitor in England and Wales meets the same consistent standard of competence, regardless of where or how they trained.

Before the SQE, the standard route to qualification involved completing the Legal Practice Course (LPC), a taught postgraduate qualification at a university or law school, followed by a two-year training contract. The LPC was typically £10,000 to £20,000 in fees, inconsistent in quality across providers, and offered little flexibility in how candidates could gain the practical experience required to qualify.

The SQE was designed to address these problems. By separating the assessment from the preparation (you can prepare in any way you choose, then sit a centralised exam), the SRA intended to make the route to qualification more flexible, more accessible, and more consistent. Whether it has fully achieved those goals is debated, but the SQE is now the route, and understanding it thoroughly is the starting point for any qualification plan.

The two stages of the SQE

SQE1: functioning legal knowledge

SQE1 tests legal knowledge across two written papers. Each paper consists of 180 single best answer (SBA) multiple choice questions. The two papers are sat on separate days.

Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 (FLK1) covers:

• Business law and practice

• Dispute resolution

• Contract law

• Tort law

• The legal system of England and Wales

• Constitutional and administrative law

• Legal services regulation

Functioning Legal Knowledge 2 (FLK2) covers:

• Property law and practice

• Wills and the administration of estates

• Trusts

• Criminal law and practice

Each paper runs for approximately five hours and fifteen minutes, giving candidates around 1 minute 45 seconds per question on average. Time management under exam conditions is a specific skill that needs to be practised, not assumed.

The pass mark

The SQE1 pass mark is not fixed. The SRA uses a standard-setting process called the Modified Angoff method after each sitting to determine the pass mark based on the difficulty of that particular paper. Historically the pass mark has fallen in the range of approximately 56 to 63 percent, but this varies between sittings. The SRA publishes pass rates and score distributions after each sitting, which are worth reviewing when planning your preparation timeline.

Attempts and resits

Candidates who do not pass SQE1 can resit. The SRA limits the total number of attempts at the SQE assessments. As of 2025, candidates have a maximum of six attempts at each assessment overall. Failed attempts count toward this limit, which makes thorough preparation before your first attempt significantly more important than simply sitting the exam to see how you get on.

SQE2: practical legal skills

SQE2 tests how well candidates can apply legal knowledge in a practical context. It is structured around five skill areas assessed across multiple written and oral tasks:

• Client interviewing and attendance note

• Advocacy and oral presentation

• Case and matter analysis

• Legal research and written advice

• Legal drafting

These skills are assessed across six practice contexts:

• Criminal litigation

• Dispute resolution

• Property practice

• Wills, intestacy, and trusts

• Business organisations, rules, and procedures

SQE2 consists of 16 assessed tasks in total assessed across multiple days. The written tasks include drafting exercises, research tasks, and matter analysis questions. The oral tasks include a client interview and an advocacy or oral presentation exercise.

What SQE2 actually tests

SQE2 is widely considered the harder of the two stages for candidates who have strong academic legal knowledge but limited practical experience. It does not reward the ability to recall and apply legal rules in a knowledge-test format. It rewards the ability to handle a legal matter as a practitioner would: identifying what the client needs, applying the law to their specific situation, advising them clearly, drafting documents that actually work, and presenting arguments coherently in a professional context.

Candidates who prepare for SQE2 by reading about legal skills rather than practising them consistently underperform. The assessment is a simulation of professional practice, and the preparation needs to reflect that.

Qualifying work experience

Passing both stages of the SQE is necessary but not sufficient to qualify as a solicitor. Candidates must also complete two years of qualifying work experience (QWE).

What counts as QWE

QWE can be completed in up to four different legal organisations. It does not need to be a traditional training contract, though training contracts at law firms satisfy the QWE requirement in full. Other qualifying contexts include:

• Paralegal roles at law firms or in-house legal teams

• Legal clinic work and pro bono placements

• Roles at the Crown Prosecution Service or Government Legal Department

• In-house legal roles at companies or public sector bodies

• Work at not-for-profit organisations with legal functions

The experience does not need to cover any particular combination of practice areas. What matters is that a solicitor signs off on the QWE to confirm that during the period in question the candidate demonstrated the SRA's statement of solicitor competence.

The statement of solicitor competence

The SRA's statement of solicitor competence sets out the skills, knowledge, and attributes a solicitor must demonstrate. It covers four main areas: ethics, professionalism, and judgment; technical legal practice; working with other people; and managing themselves and their own work.

When a solicitor signs off your QWE, they are confirming that your work during the relevant period demonstrated these competencies. This means it is not enough to have worked in a legal environment. You need to have been doing legal work at a level that demonstrates the relevant competencies, and the supervising solicitor needs to be satisfied that this is the case.

Traditional training contracts and QWE

Most large law firms still recruit through traditional training contracts, which provide the QWE in a structured, supervised format. A training contract at a law firm satisfies the full two-year QWE requirement. The firm typically funds SQE preparation fees and provides a maintenance grant during the study period.

For guidance on securing a training contract, see our how to get a training contract guide. Vacation schemes remain the most reliable route to a training contract offer at large firms. For guidance on vacation scheme applications, see our vacation scheme guide.

Entry requirements

To sit the SQE, you need to hold a degree (in any subject) or an equivalent level 6 qualification. This is a broader entry requirement than the old LPC route, which was primarily designed for law graduates.

Non-law graduates who have not completed a law conversion course can sit the SQE directly, though in practice most candidates find that a structured grounding in legal principles (through a law degree, GDL, or PGDL) is necessary to pass SQE1, which tests legal knowledge in depth across a wide syllabus.

There is no requirement to have completed the SQE in any particular order relative to your QWE. You can:

• Complete SQE1 before starting your QWE

• Complete your QWE and SQE2 simultaneously

• Complete all of your QWE before sitting either SQE stage

The flexibility is genuine, though in practice most candidates who have a training contract follow a path structured by their employer: completing SQE1 (often while studying at a preparation provider) before starting the training contract, then completing SQE2 during or toward the end of the training contract period.

The cost of the SQE

The SQE has not delivered the cost savings the SRA originally projected, primarily because SQE preparation providers have grown into a significant industry with courses that are expensive in their own right.

SRA assessment fees (2026/27)

The SRA charges assessment fees directly:

• SQE1: £2,006 per sitting (both FLK1 and FLK2)

• SQE2: £3,086 per sitting

• Total assessment fees for one attempt of each stage: Approximately £5,092

Preparation course fees

Preparation courses vary widely in cost and format:

• Online self-study courses: £1,500 to £5,000. Provide materials, question banks, and mock assessments without live teaching.

• Part-time or blended courses: £5,000 to £12,000. Combine online materials with some live tuition.

• Full-time intensive preparation courses: £10,000 to £18,000. The most comprehensive option, often offered by university law schools as part of a combined LLM programme.

The total cost of SQE preparation for a candidate without employer funding is typically between £5,000 and £20,000, depending on the level of support they choose. This is lower than the LPC was at its most expensive but not the transformative reduction in cost that was originally anticipated.

Employer funding

Most large commercial law firms fund SQE preparation fees in full for candidates who have accepted a training contract offer. Magic Circle firms and many Silver Circle firms also provide maintenance grants of £15,000 to £20,000 per year during the preparation period. US firms tend to offer similar or higher maintenance grants.

If you have a training contract offer, you should receive a clear breakdown of what your firm covers before you need to commit to a preparation provider. Do not pay for SQE preparation independently if your firm will cover it.

The cost for candidates without training contract funding

The SQE path for candidates who do not have a training contract offer involves genuine financial planning. Assessment fees, preparation costs, and living expenses during the study period can easily total £20,000 to £30,000 or more. This is one of the most significant practical barriers to qualification for candidates from less financially secure backgrounds.

The government apprenticeship levy funds SQE preparation for candidates on Level 7 Solicitor Apprenticeships, which removes the cost entirely for that route.

How to prepare for SQE1

SQE1 rewards breadth and the ability to apply legal principles quickly and accurately under time pressure. The multiple choice format is deceptively demanding. You are not being asked to write an essay where partial knowledge can carry you through. You must identify the single best answer from four plausible options, which requires genuine understanding of the legal rules and the ability to apply them to a specific set of facts in under two minutes.

Build knowledge systematically across the full syllabus

The SRA publishes a detailed syllabus for each FLK paper. Read it carefully and treat it as your revision checklist. Preparation providers structure their courses around the syllabus, but if you are self-studying, mapping your preparation to the syllabus topics ensures you do not leave gaps.

The most common preparation mistake is spending too long on the areas you find interesting or already know well, and not enough time on weaker areas. SQE1 tests the full syllabus. A strong performance in five topic areas cannot compensate for a poor performance in the remaining areas if the gap is significant.

Practise questions from the beginning, not the end

Do not wait until you have finished all the content before starting practice questions. Testing yourself on material as you cover it serves two purposes: it reinforces learning through active recall, and it shows you quickly whether you have understood the material well enough to apply it or just well enough to recognise it.

The SBA question format requires a specific skill: distinguishing between the correct answer and plausible but incorrect alternatives. This skill develops through practice. Candidates who have done thousands of practice questions before their first sitting perform significantly better than those who have covered the same material but done fewer questions.

Practise under timed conditions

Each SQE1 paper requires 180 questions in approximately five hours and fifteen minutes. Most candidates find that time management is a genuine challenge, particularly in the first paper they sit. Practising full papers under timed conditions before the real sitting is essential preparation, not optional.

Understand the standard-setting process

The pass mark varies between sittings. A sitting with a harder paper will have a lower pass mark than one with an easier paper. This means raw percentage scores are less meaningful than the scaled scores the SRA uses to determine passes. Understanding this reduces unnecessary anxiety about whether you have "passed" based on counting correct answers against a fixed percentage.

How to prepare for SQE2

SQE2 preparation needs to be active and practical. Reading about how to conduct a client interview or draft a legal document does not develop the skill. Doing it repeatedly, under something approximating assessment conditions, does.

Understand what each skill assessment is testing

The SRA publishes assessment criteria for SQE2. Read them carefully before beginning preparation. Each skill is assessed against specific criteria: a client interview is assessed on how well you identify the client's objectives, explain the legal position, advise on next steps, and manage the interaction professionally. Knowing what assessors are looking for allows you to practise against the right standard rather than a vague sense of what a good interview looks like.

Practise each skill type specifically and repeatedly

The five skill areas require different techniques. Drafting, research, advocacy, client interviewing, and matter analysis each demand specific preparation. Work through each type of task multiple times before the assessment.

For drafting: practise producing professional-standard documents (letters of advice, attendance notes, contract clauses) within a realistic time limit, then compare your output against a model answer or assessor feedback.

For advocacy: practise presenting legal arguments clearly and concisely to a simulated tribunal or interview panel, responding to questions without losing the thread of your argument.

For research: practise using Westlaw or LexisNexis to locate relevant authority quickly, then translating what you find into clear, usable written advice within a time limit.

Seek feedback on your performance

SQE2 is harder to self-assess than SQE1 because the quality of practical legal skills is more nuanced than whether a multiple choice answer is correct or incorrect. Working with a tutor who can give specific, detailed feedback on your drafting, your client interview technique, and your advocacy is particularly valuable in SQE2 preparation.

Most preparation providers offer mock assessments with feedback. These are worth investing in, particularly for the oral tasks, where the opportunity to practise under realistic conditions with a credible observer is difficult to replicate independently.

The SQE versus the LPC: what actually changed

For candidates who trained or studied alongside people who qualified under the LPC route, or who are advised by mentors who did, understanding the key differences matters.

The most significant practical change for candidates is the flexibility in QWE. Under the LPC, a training contract was the only route to the practical experience required to qualify. Under the SQE, QWE can be gained across multiple organisations and in a wider range of legal roles. This opens the qualification route to candidates who cannot secure a training contract at a traditional law firm, though it also means more personal responsibility for managing the QWE process and ensuring it is properly documented and signed off.

Common misconceptions about the SQE

"The SQE is easier than the LPC"

It is not. The SQE1 pass rate across all sittings to date has been below 60 percent. The LPC was a taught course with continuous assessment, which meant that a determined student could pass with consistent effort over the year. SQE1 is a high-stakes written examination where the pass mark is set against a defined standard of competence. Candidates who underprepare consistently fail.

"You can pass SQE1 with a few weeks of revision"

Some candidates attempt this, particularly those who have recently completed a law degree and feel confident in their knowledge. Most find that the SBA format and the breadth of the syllabus require more structured preparation than a short intensive revision period provides. The candidates who pass first time consistently are those who have prepared systematically over several months, not those who have crammed.

"Any work experience in a legal setting counts as QWE"

Not automatically. QWE requires a solicitor to sign off that the experience demonstrated the SRA's statement of solicitor competence. Work in a legal environment where you were doing administrative rather than legal work, or where no solicitor is in a position to assess and sign off your competence, does not qualify. Before starting any period of work you intend to count as QWE, confirm with your supervisor that they are a solicitor, that they will be able to assess your competence, and that they are willing to provide the sign-off.

"The SQE has made qualification cheaper"

For candidates without employer funding, the total cost of preparation (course fees plus assessment fees plus living costs during the study period) is broadly comparable to the old LPC route in many cases. The potential for cost savings exists in theory, but requires candidates to self-study effectively and pass first time, which is a significant assumption.

Planning your SQE route:

Whatever your current stage, use this framework to map your route to qualification:

1. Identify your QWE strategy. Do you have a training contract offer? If yes, your employer will structure the SQE preparation and QWE for you. If not, identify what legal experience you can access and how you will document and sign off your QWE.

2. Set a realistic SQE1 timeline. Most candidates need four to six months of structured preparation for SQE1 if starting from a law degree background, and six to nine months if starting without legal knowledge. Build this into your plan realistically.

3. Choose your preparation route. Full-time course, part-time course, or self-study with a question bank. The right choice depends on your learning style, budget, and how much support you need. If your firm is funding preparation, follow their recommended provider.

4. Plan SQE2 separately. SQE2 preparation is different in character from SQE1. Allow at least three to four months of practical skills practice, ideally with some assessed mock exercises and feedback built in.

5. Track your QWE carefully. Keep a contemporaneous record of the work you are doing, the competencies it demonstrates, and the solicitors who are supervising you. Do not leave QWE documentation until the end. The SRA requires evidence that the experience was genuine and properly supervised.

Want to build the commercial and legal foundation that SQE1 requires?

Our Commercial Awareness Starter Pack covers the business law and commercial context that underpins the SQE1 Business Law and Practice and Dispute Resolution topics, including how businesses are structured, how commercial contracts work, and how to think about legal problems in a commercial context. It is a useful supplement to formal SQE preparation, particularly for candidates approaching the qualification from a non-law background.