My SQE1 Journey: January 2027 – Can I Do It?

[h.reena]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been 'studying' towards SQE 1 for the past two months, although if I’m being completely honest, I haven’t done as much as I would like! I’m properly starting my preparation now, so I thought this would be a good point to start documenting the journey as I prepare for the January 2027 exam.

I’m hoping to share the good weeks and the difficult ones and hopefully everything I learn along the way. It would also be great to hear from you guys and learn from your experiences, as I’ll need all the help I can get!

About me

I’m a History graduate and completed my PGDL whilst working part-time. I’m now studying full-time for the SQE before starting my training contract next year, so the stakes are definitely high!

Outside of studying, I love going to the gym, going to the cinema and travelling.

My approach

Typically, I am very last minuite.com but I know this won't work for the exam. So my approach is to just get stuck in and try a few things, it's a marathon not a sprint and I think just being consistent really helps.

What hasn't worked (from hindsight) and the plan going forward

• Rewriting notes passively – nothing seems to go in! I’m finding that I need to be much more active with my revision rather than just copying things out.
• Trying to memorise everything right now – particularly with procedural subjects like Dispute Resolution. For now, I’m focusing on understanding the process rather than trying to memorise every timeframe. That’s what the last month is for!
• Trying to stick to really long, set hours every day – I’m finding that this isn’t necessarily the most productive approach. On days when I have the concentration, I’ll smash through a couple of topics. On days when I don’t, I’ll aim to get at least one done rather than forcing myself to sit there for hours and not take anything in.

At the moment, my plan is to:

Work systematically through FLK 1 and 2
Use MCQs regularly alongside learning the content
Build up consistent study hours
Experiment with different revision techniques to work out what is actually effective for me

For now, my first goal is to enjoy a quick city break to France, come back refreshed and then get stuck back into Dispute Resolution, which I’m currently about halfway through!

What I'll be sharing

I’ll try to update this thread regularly with:

• What I studied
• What I found difficult
• What revision techniques worked (or didn’t!)
• Any mistakes or lessons learned
• My goals for the following week

So, here we go!

If anyone else is sitting SQE1 in January 2027, feel free to share where you are in your preparation too. It would be great to follow everyone else's progress!

 

[Jaysen]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been 'studying' towards SQE 1 for the past two months, although if I’m being completely honest, I haven’t done as much as I would like! I’m properly starting my preparation now, so I thought this would be a good point to start documenting the journey as I prepare for the January 2027 exam.

I’m hoping to share the good weeks and the difficult ones and hopefully everything I learn along the way. It would also be great to hear from you guys and learn from your experiences, as I’ll need all the help I can get!

About me

I’m a History graduate and completed my PGDL whilst working part-time. I’m now studying full-time for the SQE before starting my training contract next year, so the stakes are definitely high!

Outside of studying, I love going to the gym, going to the cinema and travelling.

My approach

Typically, I am very last minuite.com but I know this won't work for the exam. So my approach is to just get stuck in and try a few things, it's a marathon not a sprint and I think just being consistent really helps.

What hasn't worked (from hindsight) and the plan going forward

• Rewriting notes passively – nothing seems to go in! I’m finding that I need to be much more active with my revision rather than just copying things out.
• Trying to memorise everything right now – particularly with procedural subjects like Dispute Resolution. For now, I’m focusing on understanding the process rather than trying to memorise every timeframe. That’s what the last month is for!
• Trying to stick to really long, set hours every day – I’m finding that this isn’t necessarily the most productive approach. On days when I have the concentration, I’ll smash through a couple of topics. On days when I don’t, I’ll aim to get at least one done rather than forcing myself to sit there for hours and not take anything in.

At the moment, my plan is to:

Work systematically through FLK 1 and 2
Use MCQs regularly alongside learning the content
Build up consistent study hours
Experiment with different revision techniques to work out what is actually effective for me

For now, my first goal is to enjoy a quick city break to France, come back refreshed and then get stuck back into Dispute Resolution, which I’m currently about halfway through!

What I'll be sharing

I’ll try to update this thread regularly with:

• What I studied
• What I found difficult
• What revision techniques worked (or didn’t!)
• Any mistakes or lessons learned
• My goals for the following week

So, here we go!

If anyone else is sitting SQE1 in January 2027, feel free to share where you are in your preparation too. It would be great to follow everyone else's progress!

Love it - excited to follow you in your journey

 

[h.reena]

Love it - excited to follow you in your journey

Thanks Jaysen! Your YouTube video documenting your journey has been super helpful, so thanks for that

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been 'studying' towards SQE 1 for the past two months, although if I’m being completely honest, I haven’t done as much as I would like! I’m properly starting my preparation now, so I thought this would be a good point to start documenting the journey as I prepare for the January 2027 exam.

I’m hoping to share the good weeks and the difficult ones and hopefully everything I learn along the way. It would also be great to hear from you guys and learn from your experiences, as I’ll need all the help I can get!

About me

I’m a History graduate and completed my PGDL whilst working part-time. I’m now studying full-time for the SQE before starting my training contract next year, so the stakes are definitely high!

Outside of studying, I love going to the gym, going to the cinema and travelling.

My approach

Typically, I am very last minuite.com but I know this won't work for the exam. So my approach is to just get stuck in and try a few things, it's a marathon not a sprint and I think just being consistent really helps.

What hasn't worked (from hindsight) and the plan going forward

• Rewriting notes passively – nothing seems to go in! I’m finding that I need to be much more active with my revision rather than just copying things out.
• Trying to memorise everything right now – particularly with procedural subjects like Dispute Resolution. For now, I’m focusing on understanding the process rather than trying to memorise every timeframe. That’s what the last month is for!
• Trying to stick to really long, set hours every day – I’m finding that this isn’t necessarily the most productive approach. On days when I have the concentration, I’ll smash through a couple of topics. On days when I don’t, I’ll aim to get at least one done rather than forcing myself to sit there for hours and not take anything in.

At the moment, my plan is to:

Work systematically through FLK 1 and 2
Use MCQs regularly alongside learning the content
Build up consistent study hours
Experiment with different revision techniques to work out what is actually effective for me

For now, my first goal is to enjoy a quick city break to France, come back refreshed and then get stuck back into Dispute Resolution, which I’m currently about halfway through!

What I'll be sharing

I’ll try to update this thread regularly with:

• What I studied
• What I found difficult
• What revision techniques worked (or didn’t!)
• Any mistakes or lessons learned
• My goals for the following week

So, here we go!

If anyone else is sitting SQE1 in January 2027, feel free to share where you are in your preparation too. It would be great to follow everyone else's progress!

Hey!

Good luck with your SQE1 journey! I think your approach sounds really sensible, particularly the point about experimenting with different revision techniques.

One of the main things I wish I had done when I first started studying for the SQE was experimenting with techniques much earlier, rather than defaulting to the methods I had used during university. It took me a while to realise that I needed to approach revision differently, and that ultimately ate into some of my preparation time in those early few months. So I'd definitely recommend experimenting now and being honest with yourself about what is and isn't working - sometimes it takes too long or it doesn't help you retain information, so it's best to try another way!

I would also definitely agree with you on MCQs. They are really useful not just for testing whether you know the content, but for getting used to the way SQE questions are actually phrased and spotting any gaps.

I think you are right that consistency is much more important than trying to force yourself to do huge hours every day, and it is much better to have a realistic routine that you can maintain over several months than to burn yourself out early on. During my prep, some days I did 8+ hours, and others I barely scraped 3 or 4 hours, but I made sure to be consistent across the months - I personally felt this really helped me!

Enjoy your France trip, and good luck when you get back to Dispute Resolution - I'll be interested to follow your progress, and just shout if you had any questions!

 

[h.reena]

Hey!

Good luck with your SQE1 journey! I think your approach sounds really sensible, particularly the point about experimenting with different revision techniques.

One of the main things I wish I had done when I first started studying for the SQE was experimenting with techniques much earlier, rather than defaulting to the methods I had used during university. It took me a while to realise that I needed to approach revision differently, and that ultimately ate into some of my preparation time in those early few months. So I'd definitely recommend experimenting now and being honest with yourself about what is and isn't working - sometimes it takes too long or it doesn't help you retain information, so it's best to try another way!

I would also definitely agree with you on MCQs. They are really useful not just for testing whether you know the content, but for getting used to the way SQE questions are actually phrased and spotting any gaps.

I think you are right that consistency is much more important than trying to force yourself to do huge hours every day, and it is much better to have a realistic routine that you can maintain over several months than to burn yourself out early on. During my prep, some days I did 8+ hours, and others I barely scraped 3 or 4 hours, but I made sure to be consistent across the months - I personally felt this really helped me!

Enjoy your France trip, and good luck when you get back to Dispute Resolution - I'll be interested to follow your progress, and just shout if you had any questions!

Hi Abbie

Great to hear from you and good to know you’ve had a similar experience. When did you sit SQE 1 and were you studying full-time?

The honesty thing is really important. They’re not lying when they say the SQE is a super exam and so traditional methods don’t always work effectively. I was initially feeling like if I couldn’t see tangibly ‘what I had done’ I was not making progress when that isn’t necessarily the case. I definitely wasted some time sticking to something I knew wasn’t working.

I’ve been finding reading and then blurting a page summary helps followed by MCQs. That way you can see what you are retaining. The reassuring thing is that you realise you don’t have a blank canvas in the exam because you are presented with options in the MCQs to draw on.

If you have any top tips, even specific to any particular modules I would love to hear from you!

Yes, I’ll be stuffing my face with croissants before buckling down for the autumn!