This post is for general information only and isn't legal advice. Family law is fact-specific — if you're dealing with a real situation, please speak to a qualified, regulated solicitor.
[Starter post — swap this in for your own SQE1 revision story. Keeping the structure below as a shape to write against.]
A few months into revising for SQE1, here's what I'd tell myself on day one.
I underestimated how different it is from a law degree
SQE1 tests functioning legal knowledge across the whole syllabus, not depth in a few modules. Multiple-choice questions reward being able to apply the law quickly to a fact pattern, not writing an essay about it.
Question banks earlier, notes later
I spent too long making beautiful notes before testing myself. Doing practice questions from week one — even before a topic feels "ready" — would have shown me faster where the gaps actually were.
Spaced repetition, not one big pass
Cramming SQE1's fifteen-plus modules once each doesn't stick. Coming back to the same topic on a schedule, even briefly, made a bigger difference than one long session.
Timing practice matters more than people say
The exam is long and the pace is unforgiving. Practising under real time pressure, not just doing untimed questions, changed how I answered on the day.
What I'd keep doing
Not everything needs to change — working through past SRA-style questions in short, focused sessions, and reviewing why wrong answers were wrong, was genuinely worth the time.
If you're on the SQE pathway too, I'll be posting honest updates here as I go — the useful bits and the mistakes.