SQE Knowledge

Revision plans

I’m a great fan of organisation, lists of tasks I can cross off and Microsoft Excel. Especially when there is a lot to do, I think it’s very important to have a good overview of everything that needs to be done and by when to avoid becoming overwhelmed by it all.

A good revision plan needs a bit of preparation. I used The University of Law’s course content as my starting point, firstly adding the year planner into Excel, so I could track which week we are in and which units I should be working through that week.

In addition, I added the tasks to be done for each unit into a separate Excel sheet, so I could see exactly what was still outstanding and whether I was on track time-wise.

In the 1-2 months running up to the SQE1 assessment, I really ramped up revising the SBAQs in the ULaw SQE App. To help me in this, I tracked my scores per chapter for each topic in colour-coded Excel tables. This way I could see immediately where I had to focus my revision efforts and which topics I already did well in.

The ULaw SQE App

Using the SQE App to practise SBAQs in addition to working through the course work for each module is a really good way to make sure you’ve actually understood the material.

Being able to filter questions either by topic or not taken/not answered correctly before, is really useful to target your revision in the right areas.

It sounds like the amount of time per question given in the SQE1 assessment seems like an impossibly short time, but actually doing a lot of practice questions shows that it’s not as scary as it sounds.

While doing just general revision after working through a unit, taking your time and reviewing the answers for each question is a great way to ingrain the knowledge without stressing about the time.

Once you start doing practice tests, you then find out that while some questions do take a bit longer, you get through most questions pretty quickly.

One great bonus of having the SQE App is that you can practise a lot to get used to the monotony of answering 180 similar style questions in one day.

If there’s one tip I can give it’s: don’t underestimate the mental fatigue that such monotony can cause. Practise doing a lot of SBAQs in one go to help retain the motivation and focus throughout the actual SQE1 assessment.

You can download the ULaw SQE App for free on the Apple AppStore or Google Play. (AppStore/Google Play).

Booking with the SRA

I was one of the unlucky many who encountered issues when registering for the SQE1 assessment but I managed to get it all sorted out relatively well in the end.

All I can say is:

1. Try to stay calm. It’s a stressful day already and while it might take a while to get through to support from Kaplan if something does go wrong, they are there and happy to help get you sorted out.
2. Make sure you go through all the pre-registration steps well before the registration for your assessment opens. That way, you don’t need to worry that you might need to finish any actions and simply have to book your assessment.
3. If you can’t get a place in the assessment centre you wanted initially, try to find anywhere else and take what you can get. If you check back in to the SQE registration site regularly, you may find that a spot opens up closer to where you are and you could change your booking.

On the assessment day

What to bring:

• Two forms of ID as stipulated by the SRA
• A (large) water bottle. Although candidates aren’t allowed to bring water into the assessment room, you will be allowed to leave the room to go to your assigned locker and have a drink of water if needed. I found it useful to have a larger bottle so I wouldn’t have to try and find somewhere to refill it.
• A cardigan or hoodie over a t-shirt. While the assessment centres are equipped with air conditioning, everyone likes different temperatures, so it’s good to have a cardigan or something you can take on or off as needed.

Other points:

• Wear something comfortable. You’ll be sitting an assessment for most of the day which is stressful enough as it is – you don’t need to wear business attire, so just make sure you wear comfortable clothing to avoid being distracted by feeling physically uncomfortable.
• Arrive well in time. You don’t want to be running around feeling stressed out because you couldn’t find the centre immediately, or because parking was a nightmare.
  Give yourself plenty of time to find the centre and get yourself settled before going in.

General tips

Don’t forget you’re not alone.

If you can, join a WhatsApp, or Facebook group or other way to get in touch with people going through the same thing as you.

Sometimes you might feel that it’s all too much, you’re falling behind on your schedule, life happens and you lose focus or motivation – chances are, others are feeling exactly the same. Being able to talk to others can help vent a bit of that stress now and again, even if just to know you’re not in it alone.

If you’re following a preparation course, it’s likely that your course provider can give support if you need it too, whether that’s in the form of asking your tutor a question about a topic you don’t quite understand, or accessing their wellbeing resources.

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