Failed SQE1 twice — what finally worked for me third attempt — Forums

Hannah K.OP

May 27, 2026

I'm not going to sugarcoat it: I failed SQE1 in November 2024 and again in April 2025. Both times I thought I'd prepared enough, and both times the FLK papers absolutely wrecked me. After the second fail I took a proper step back and completely changed my approach before sitting it again this January.

The biggest shift was ditching the passive reading and actually drilling questions obsessively. I found a solid SQE practice test bank and committed to 80–100 questions every single day for eight weeks. I also built out a study guide for each of the 14 FLK topic areas and forced myself to write out the rule before checking the answer — that retrieval practice honestly made the difference. Went from hovering around 57–60% on mocks to consistently hitting 72–75%.

Anyone else been through multiple attempts? Curious what study strategies actually clicked for you, especially for the Wills & Succession and Land topics which I found brutal. Also happy to share my timetable if it helps anyone starting out.

Kevin O.

May 28, 2026

Honestly this gives me so much hope. I'm sitting in July and Land Law is killing me too. The way concurrent ownership gets tested is just brutal — the distractors are so close together. I've been using practice papers timed to 1 min 12 sec per question to get the pacing right. What topic area would you say gave you the biggest score improvement once you really drilled into it?

Jessica L.

May 28, 2026

Three attempts is tough but you did it, that's what matters. I passed first time in September but I'll be honest — I had six months of prep time and was doing 50 questions a day from month two onwards. The exam tips that actually helped me were: flag anything where two answers both look correct and come back, and never change your first instinct on the ethics questions. Good luck to everyone sitting soon.

emily_w

May 28, 2026

The retrieval practice thing is real. My tutor told me the same — just re-reading notes is basically useless for SQE1. Writing the rule out cold before checking locks it in way faster. Wills absolutely destroyed me on my mock too, so you're not alone there.

Failed SQE1 twice — what finally worked for me third attempt

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