Crt1s v SQE

[crt1s]

With my SQE studies at ULaw starting next week, I thought I'd start this thread to track my progress, keep myself accountable and trauma bond with anyone else going through it. The wider forum was a massive help during my TC applications, so I'm hoping this thread has the same effect.

A bit about me...

• 2024 Law Graduate
• 2 years’ paralegal experience
• Starting the SQE LLM at ULaw, September 2026
• Working 2 days a week alongside 3 days at ULaw

Thoughts so Far:

• I’m continuing to work part-time alongside my studies. I know it'll be tough, but people manage the SQE around full-time jobs, so I don't think I've got much of an excuse. I've agreed a decent study leave period for the run up to the January exams, which gives me some peace of mind.

If anyone's worked alongside SQE studies, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

• I’ve done my ULaw baseline test and scored 58%, which was a pass. I’ll take that as a small win given I haven't studied law in over 2 years, and the test covered underlying law I hadn't looked at in 4–5 years. Interestingly, I did well on the “hard” questions but not so well on “easy” and “medium” ones. It was useful just to get a rough starting point and I'll be using it to track progress from here. I LOVE to see all the analytics and insights.

• I've started working through a few topics, mostly the ones I disliked at undergrad, just to get them out of the way first. So far I've ticked off Land Law and Trusts, and I'm making my way through Constitutional Law now. It's mainly been about refamiliarising myself with content I should already know at a basic level, and so far I've remembered more than expected. It’s put me at ease a bit that I haven't forgotten everything. I've been using the SQE Revise books, which I've enjoyed, and I'll keep using them alongside the ULaw content to fill any gaps. I've also found it useful to upload my long form notes into Claude/NotebookLM and ask for simple explanations when I'm stuck on a concept. This was especially helpful for some of the trickier parts of Trusts.

To Do List:

• Create a plan from now to January.
• Sign up with the SRA so I can book my assessment as soon as slots are released.
• Get familiar with the ULaw portal and resources.
• Finish Constitutional Law.
• Check what's required reading for my first two weeks at ULaw and make a start.