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Message: <blockquote data-quote="average_jo123" data-source="post: 212236" data-attributes="member: 15838"><h3>Subject-specific advice for SQE1</h3>I've seen quite a few questions floating around here as well as Reddit about which topics you could possibly ignore and still pass. People have mixed opinions about this and I have seen questionable advice given on Reddit as well as TikTok — saying things like you can ignore solicitors' accounts and certain tax topics and still pass. In theory this is correct, but only if you can make sure that you get an almost perfect score on everything else lol — from my experience, this is not a chance you want to take. I personally felt like the only way that I personally could find any little bit of reassurance was you want a decent coverage across the entire FLK blueprint (see Annex 4 of the spec).<h4>English legal system:</h4>The ULaw manuals for English Legal System was so UNBELIEVABLY LONG. I remember having a full scale meltdown during the week I had to cover separation of powers lol. It is incredibly boring and is not covered in way that is remotely intellectually stimulating like the way you are introduced to the subject back at undergrad level. And of course, I don't expect any of this content to be exhilarating, as it is only meant to prepare you for a handful of mind-numbing SBAQs. The biggest struggle I had with English Legal System is I found it hard to revise for because I found it extremely hard to imagine how an SBAQ can be crafted from this sort of information e.g. how does one become a lord in the House of Lords 💀. But anyone who has sat the exam will tell you, you absolutely cannot neglect this subject and you do need to have a decent grasp on the content. You just need to find the right way to revise for it. ELS was one of those subjects that I did put in effort making flashcards at the start, but tapered off towards the end when every other subject seemed to become more important and demanded more of my time. But I do think it's just one of those subjects that would have been more manageable if I thought a bit more critically as I was making my flashcards - noting the key points and stuff you can anticipate being examinable, rather than trying to plow through hundreds of pages of extremely boring content. I look back on my flashcards now and they make absolutely no sense and reviewing them was a nightmare.<h4>EU law:</h4>This will be specific to ULaw only — the question bank in the ULaw practice app can be outdated. The simple errors like outdated tax rates are calm but the outdated questions on EU law properly screwed with my head. Basically the position on retained EU law etc changed drastically post-REULA 2023 but some of the questions in the bank didn't reflect this as they would have been drafted back in 2022. ULaw may have fixed this already by the time the next batch of students arrive but in case this has not been resolved, just make sure you get to grips with the actual law first, then attempt the questions so you can easily spot when the question is outdated and that you are not tripping.<h4>Legal services:</h4>If you examine the SQE1 reports you will see that legal services is consistently one of the lowest scoring modules across all candidates. The content isn't at all tricky, just boring. And I suspect that's why a lot of people (myself included) ignore and avoid it to some extent lol. Again, check Annex 4 of the spec and remind yourself that just because it's boring doesn't mean you can let yourself go on this subject. I found legal services challenging for almost the same reason as ELS above - I found it really hard to pick out what is examinable and what isn't. I think you can try to work this out to create flashcards strategically but at the same time, you do need to have really detailed knowledge across the board even for the stuff that at first glance, you don't think is examinable - because the SRA can very well think otherwise lol. Don't underestimate the level of detail they can test even on the most unassuming topics like POCA, FSMA, insurance for law firms / solicitors, rights of audience etc.<h4>Tax:</h4>This forms a huge part of the FLK blueprint and is not something you can or should skip. I remember another user on this forum in the year above who said something similar, and I completely agree. Even if it takes you a whole day to figure it out, you do just need to lock in and do it. If you struggle with starting out with the fine print, just start with practice questions first and work your way backwards. I remember feeling like pulling my hair out when I did the inheritance tax reading in the wills manual for the first time - needless to say the flashcards I made were complete rubbish because I completely didn't understand what I was reading (wasted so much time on this!!). Same went to some of the other tax topics like income, capital gains and corporation tax. But it all clicked only after I attended the workshops and was guided on how to calculate and apply the reliefs. So there might be some topics where if I could do it all over again, I probably would have stopped pulling my hair out earlier, just skim the manual and try to understand it in the workshop, then schedule in time to come back to it again to make long-form flowcharts, tables or notes on the fine print, only after I at least understand the big picture. For both SQE1 and SQE2, unfortunately in my experience, you do need to know both big picture and fine print.<h4>Ethics and professional conduct:</h4>The most effective way to make notes for ethics and PC that I've found is this:<table style='width: 100%'><tr><th>Para from CoC</th><th>Exact wording from CoC</th><th>Remarks</th><th>Example scenarios</th></tr><tr><td>1.1</td><td></td><td>Explanation of what this para means</td><td>Scenarios which you may be tested on in relation to this particular para in the CoC</td></tr><tr><td>1.2 ... repeat for all other paras</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></table>This way everything is in one place and you can be sure you've covered basically the whole Code of Conduct. I found flashcards slightly less helpful for this topic, as the questions are so fact-dependent. So the more you go through the example scenarios and how it relates to each para and how it applies, you would be able to choose the right option.I wish I had made a giant table for the CoC earlier instead of fumbling about with flashcards trying to predict what type of ethics questions might come up. For CoC-related questions, just familiarise yourself with the effect of the para itself and focus on learning how to apply it to complex fact patterns. Also don't neglect all other parts of ethics and PC e.g. SRA principles and what it means in detail.From my experience in SQE1, the ethics questions really do pervade. Some of them were extremely tricky because the fact patterns were very long and complex. In retrospect I felt that even if I had memorised the entire ULaw ethics textbook, I still couldn't have answered those questions LOL. So I felt it was a matter of literally just understanding how specific provisions of the CoC apply and trying your best to apply it to the situation you are given.<h4>Solicitors' accounts:</h4>This was another one of those topics where reading from the manual alone without having a clue how to apply it made me want to pull my hair out. Things started to click a tiny bit more once I had some practice during the workshops. But I do recall I spent 1.5 days dedicated to just solicitors' accounts really drilling down on the accounts rules. I would recommend structuring SRA Accounts Rules notes as CoC above and make sure that you understand the effect of each para within the SRA Accounts Rules. Also do lots of practice questions to make sure that you can apply both double entry bookkeeping rules and SRA Accounts Rules to complex fact patterns. Again, you may be tempted to skip solicitors' accounts, but same as my thoughts on tax above, even if you find it difficult at first, just try to switch up how you're learning and give it a second go.---These are just some subject-specific thoughts I had off the top of my head and major mistakes I made that hopefully you don't have to repeat and can save yourself precious time. If you have questions about any of these subjects or other subjects in particular, feel free to pop your questions below and I am happy to share more on how I approached it.</blockquote>

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