Top Five Tips for when Studying for the SQE2

Disclaimer: This article is written by Anna Mueller. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the team editor nor any entities they represent.

This guide outlines five tips when preparing to sit the SQE2 assessment.

Compared to the SQE1 assessment, the SQE2 assesses the practical skills a newly qualified solicitor will have acquired during his training. This will include written skills such as Legal Writing, Legal Drafting, Legal Research and Case & Matter Analysis, as well as oral skills such as Advocacy and Interviewing.

There is a total amount of 16 exams, taken over a five-day period. Depending on your exam period, you may take the Oral assessments and then the Written assessments or the other way around. Your study plan may vary subject to the order in which you take your exams, however, the tips below are applicable either way.

1 – Functioning Legal Knowledge [FLK] & Legal Skills.

As with the SQE1 assessment, a combination of black letter law and practice manuals will be the fundamental building block. However, the topics covered in the SQE2 assessments vary from the SQE1. While there are arguably less topics, a greater in-depth understanding of those is expected.

Whether you have taken the SQE1 and then jump straight into the SQE2 or had a break in between: having a solid understanding of the FLK will allow you to really focus on developing your legal skills. Use your relevant SQE1 notes (and update them if necessary) as the foundation of your study plan and pay particular attention to those areas you struggled with in SQE1. It is worth staying on top of revision because you will be unable to take full advantage of practicing your legal skills without having the relevant understanding of the law.

And for those that go straight for the SQE2: plan ahead. While you may have an advantage as to the written and oral skills, the list of relevant FLK is long. You may find yourself in a position where you have to re-study some of the topics from scratch which can be particularly challenging if you only have a limited time frame to study.

By now, there are plenty of resources available when studying for the SQE2. This includes study manuals covering the FLK, SQE2 prep courses, and more – if you can, make use of this. It is worth investing money and time considering the difficulty of these exams.

Top tip: the list of topics you will need to be familiar with can be found on the SRA website = SQE2 assessment specifications -> Functioning Legal Knowledge [use this as a study guide].

When it comes to the legal skills, the key point is: practice, practice, practice. You should split your revision in oral skills and written skills and use SRA mock papers and any available study materials as a guideline.

Oral assessments
Arguably one of the trickiest assessments, when it comes to advocacy, what you want to focus on is how your oral submissions flow and if you can make your submission within 15 minutes. Learn phrases that can be utilised no matter what your submission is, including how to request a short moment from the Judge to go over your material again or when faced with a question you need to think about. You should also be aware of the different court etiquettes and how material is introduced or challenged, depending on who you make submissions for in the Criminal/Civil Court.

As for the interview, how you start and end an interview is likely to stay the same. Know what you need to address (but make sure to look at your instructions) and how an attendance note is written afterwards. For the questions to be asked during the interview you may find it helpful to have practiced with a set of standard questions that can help you ease into the present scenario.

Written assessments
A standard set of ‘how to write’ is a little more challenging here, but there are key points that will help you. To begin with, be aware of who you are writing to and what your instructions are; then adjust your language accordingly. Secondly, you will be required to address legal issues in a structured way which also includes concise and clear use of language. There will be different approaches depending on the assessment and you may wish to spend some extra time on practising how to structure a client letter or how to draft individual forms depending on your strengths and weaknesses.

The full assessment criteria for each written assessment can be found on the SRA website and is also flagged in each SRA mock exam.

2 – The devil is in the details.

The SQE2 will not only require a solid knowledge of the FLK, but it may also challenge you to explain the finer details of a particular area of law. This is a little different from the SQE1, as you may or may not be provided with a specific question about an area of law and your answer will depend on what is asked of you. Overlying principles are as likely to come up as questions about one specific legal element. Therefore, it is paramount that while revising you not only focus on basic legal principles but pay particular attention where for example case law is involved or there are different steps that need to be addressed.

While knowing all the details may seem rather extensive, remind yourself that an SQE2 question could be as narrow as asking about one specified remedy or element of an offence. The worst-case scenario of not being able to explain a legal point, can cost you as much as 50% of that question.

3 – The importance of ethics

There is a big emphasis on potential ethic problems during the SQE2 assessments. Considering the various areas of law as well as how client instructions may breach the broader concepts, you should make sure that you have a firm understanding of your responsibilities and limitations as a solicitor.

The easiest way to be on top of this is making a chart or some form of document for each area of law and then identifying situations where ethical issues may arise – one example being whether you can act for more than one party in a property transaction. Your guideline here will be the Code of Conduct set out by the SRA together with any study material available.

4 – Pay attention to the assessment instructions.

It is paramount that you understand what you are expected to write or advocate – this includes the content of the task, as well as who you are writing or talking to. With only limited time available for each assessment, there is little to no room for a mistake as fundamental as not correctly understanding the task. Therefore, when reading your instructions ideally highlight (Oral Assessments) or write down the points you need to address before going ahead (Written Assessments). Ideally also make sure that you identify issues you should not address. This will not only save you time when writing your notes or advice, but it will also provide you with a checklist to keep you organised and focused only on the relevant points.

Furthermore, also pay close attention to any instructions given by the programme you will be using for the Written assessments. Because the exam is timed, you want to ensure that you do not click “next” too early and that you properly end the exam as instructed.

5 – Know your Technology (written exams only)

The SRA has introduced a special programme that is used for taking the written exams. A preview of this programme is available to test out on the SRA website and you should start to familiarise yourself with it early on.

The programme is quite different from how you would usually access materials and it takes some time getting used to its limitations. Upon accessing it, you will be given a step-by-step guide before having the option to take a mock exam. This is a valuable resource you should make use of as it allows you to practice your FLK, written skills, timing and understanding of the programme all at the same time. It will indicate any shortfalls you may have such as needing to adjust the time spend on reading the materials before starting to write or that you come across areas of law that require extra revision.

Top Tip: if you are unfamiliar with writing on a British keyboard it may be helpful to practice this before the assessment.

Overall, there is no doubt that the SQE2 can be even more challenging than the SQE1. However, with a solid study plan in place and a realistic timeline as to your revision it is not impossible to pass without burning yourself out.

Remember, the aim is not perfection. While you should still aim to give it your best shot, be realistic enough to recognise that you are unlikely to excel in every single exam and that is okay.

All the best to those taking the SQE2 in July and August 2023!