SQE2 / SQE2 Prep course

Hello,

I am a 2017 LPC graduate who has been working in the legal industry for several years. I am currently considering taking the SQE2 as my company are willing to pay for the exam and confirm my QWE so that I can qualify as a solicitor. However as its been a long time since I graduated and I'm pretty settled in a niche area, I'm concerned that I have forgotten quite a bit of the underlying legal knowledge from the core areas that the scenarios for the SQE2 exam are based on (I.e. Tort, Criminal, Land, Wills etc.). I'm considering joining a prep course but wondering whether it's worth it - has anyone been preparing for the SQE2 who has done a prep course with any of the providers who thinks it's worth doing? I've been looking at barbri as it will fit around my (full-time) work but not sure whether it'll provide the relevant underlying legal knowledge.

Many thanks in advance!

Reply 1

Gmaster1980

As most of SQE2 assesses practical skills I really wouldn't overthink it and probably just go with the cheapest option.

Reply 2

carzyyy

Hi OP,

Did you decide which course you are going to take? I’m in a similar position as you except I took SQE 1 back in November and decided to take a break between SQE 1 and 2 as I work full time and in all honesty, I’m exhausted.

I took SQE 1 with Barbri but was looking to see who might be better for SQE 2.

Reply 3

Alenamai

I did SQE1 with Barbri and rated it highly. I passed in the first quintile. I am doing SQE2 with Barbri and it is ok. It is not as good as the SQE1 but I think it is almost impossible to predict what will come up, so I doubt any provider will be better. The exams are in a few weeks, I’ll let you know after I take them how well prepared I was

Reply 4

Romas83

@Alenamai Do you mind sharing your feedback on the exam? Do you think you were adequately prepared with Bar bri?

thanks

Reply 5

Alenamai

Hi,
I felt as prepared as anyone for the exam. The SQE 2 is a completely different ball game to the SQE1 though as it is very difficult to feel well prepared as literally anything could come up.

I felt that Barbri SQE1 course was brilliant. I was not as impressed with the SQE2 course but I don't think that is Barbri's fault as much as it is a really difficult exam to prepare for and to take. The SQE2 was much harder than the SQE1 and also as they are not setting the pass mark until they have marked all of the candidates, it is hard to know what we are aiming for. The SRA have examples on their site which they say meets the threshold standard but they cannot really possibly know that because they are not setting the threshold standard until everyone has completed the 16 tasks.

One thing I would say though is to use the time between SQE1 and SQE2 to keep going back over the legal knowledge as you need to know all of the legal knowledge in depth for SQE2.
Alena

Reply 6

joejani

Hey Alenamai, I'm just curious for the SQE2 exam did you have to learn any extra legal knowledge or were the exams all based off of legal knowledge you'd learnt for the SQE1?

Reply 7

Romeo_80

Original post by joejani

Hey Alenamai, I'm just curious for the SQE2 exam did you have to learn any extra legal knowledge or were the exams all based off of legal knowledge you'd learnt for the SQE1?