Gap between degree and TC

Afternoon, all - please forgive me if this question falls into the 'stupid Q' category but...

Why are the training contracts for this year's cycle not beginning until Autumn 2026 or early 2027?

Once we graduate from whatever degree we are undertaking (in my case LLB but it could be GDL or LLM QLD etc) - doesn't that mean we have a full year + a few months gap? In some people's case, if they are a 3rd year law student, that means they would be waiting TWO years between graduation and TC.

I understand during this time we would complete the SQE but also, we must keep paying rent and funding ourselves, without much more than the small firm stipend. That won't go far in London with rents etc.

* Is it possible to speed up this process?
* Isn't it possible to do the SQE in 6 months?
* How do people fill this time productively other than looking for paralegal work?

HSF Open Day

Hi everyone,

I am set to attend an open day with HSF in their offices in London and this is going to be my first time attending a law firm's offices in general. Hence, I wanted to get your advice on how I should approach the day, what questions I should ask, and how important is this open day in relation to a vac scheme ( any advice would help so much).

Thank you in advance!

Possible mitigating circumstance

Hello, I am conflicted about how to properly explain a low score that I had in 1 module without it looking like an excuse. So this module, I only answered two out of three questions and barely passed the 50 mark. It is inconsistent with my other modules and obvious that something might have gone wrong I guess but I don't want to present it sloppily. I was genuinely physically sick and in pain on the day I wrote this module and coupled with the anxiety of the exam, I was only able to answer 2 questions. There's also the part of if I knew I was sick I should have contacted the school and probably rescheduled my paper but I was really overwhelmed and could not do that out of fear. How best can I explain this whole situation? I still got a high 2.1 overall for my aggregate so I meet the minimum qualification but I can't help but worry about this low score. Thank you for your help!