Blog · FUNDING · 24 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
The cheapest way to prepare for the SQE
Cheapest SQE prep routes compared honestly: assessment-only self-study, low-cost question banks and short courses, with the real trade-offs spelled out.
If you're searching for the cheapest way to prepare for the SQE, the honest answer is that the floor is lower than most people assume, but it comes with real risk attached. You can sit the exam having spent almost nothing beyond the SRA's own fees. Whether that's a good idea depends on how confident you already are with the material and how much time you can put in.
This isn't a "just wing it" post. It's a look at what the budget routes actually involve, what they cost, and where they tend to fall apart.
Start with the one cost you can't avoid
Whatever route you take, everyone pays the same assessment fee to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. From September 2026, SQE1 costs £2,006 and SQE2 costs £3,086, a combined £5,092. That figure is set to rise again in future years, so it's worth checking the SRA's current fee page before you commit to a sitting date.
That fee buys you the exam itself. It does not include any teaching, notes, question banks or feedback. Everything on top of it is optional, and that's where "cheapest" and "most expensive" SQE journeys diverge wildly, from a few hundred pounds to well over £15,000.
Route 1: assessment-only, fully self-taught
This is the genuine floor. You register, study using free or very cheap materials, and sit SQE1 and SQE2 without paying for a structured course at all. Total spend: the £5,092 assessment fee, plus whatever books, past questions or free resources you gather yourself.
Some candidates do exactly this, particularly on a resit after a near-miss, or if they already have strong subject knowledge from a law degree, a paralegal role, or a previous qualification. If you already know the material and just need exam technique, paying £12,000 for a full teaching package can be genuine overkill.
For most first-time candidates, though, this route is demanding. SQE1 alone covers a huge span of legal knowledge, and prep providers commonly put the study load at 300 to 500 hours to prepare for it properly. Building that structure from scratch, working out what to prioritise and when, is a job in itself on top of the studying.
If you're weighing this route, be honest about three things:
- How much of the material is genuinely new to you versus refreshed knowledge
- Whether you can build (and stick to) a study schedule without external structure
- Whether you'll have anyone to check your understanding before exam day
A free SQE study planner can help with the second point specifically. It won't teach you the law, but having your 300 to 500 hours mapped against your actual sitting date takes one of the hardest parts of self-study off your plate.
Route 2: low-cost question banks and short courses
Between "nothing" and "full course" sits a middle tier: standalone question banks, short revision courses, and single-subject top-ups. The University of Law, for example, offers standalone exam preparation courses priced from roughly £650 for SQE1 and around £1,150 for SQE2, aimed at candidates who want targeted revision rather than a full teaching programme.
This route suits people who've already done most of the learning elsewhere, whether through a law degree, a conversion course, or prior self-study, and now want:
- A large bank of exam-style MCQs to practise against
- Focused revision on specific Functioning Legal Knowledge (FLK) areas
- Some structure without paying for content they don't need
The trade-off is coverage. A short revision course in the hundreds-of-pounds range is not a substitute for 300+ hours of guided teaching across the full SQE1 syllabus. It's a supplement. If you try to use a narrow, cheap product as your entire prep plan for a subject you don't already know well, you're likely to hit gaps you don't discover until results day.
Route 3: mid-range providers
If full self-study feels too risky but the five-figure campus courses feel unnecessary, mid-range providers sit in between. BARBRI's SQE courses, for instance, run roughly £5,500 to £5,900 for a fuller, mostly self-paced package, well below the £12,000-plus that BPP and the University of Law charge for their full campus-style courses.
This tier gives you structured teaching without the campus experience, careers support or in-person extras that push the big providers' prices up. For many working candidates studying part-time, that trade suits them fine. See the fuller SQE prep costs breakdown for how these price bands compare across the market.
What actually drives the cost down
Across all three routes, a few decisions do most of the work in keeping your total bill low.
- Sit before the fee rise where you can. Booking before September 2026 locks in the lower assessment fees rather than the post-rise £5,092 total. Check the SQE dates for 2026 and 2027 against your own readiness before deciding.
- Study part-time and self-paced rather than full-time campus. Full-time, in-person courses cost more because they bundle in facilities, timetabling and extra support. Self-paced online formats usually cost less for broadly similar content.
- Buy only what you're missing. If you already have strong subject knowledge, a question bank plus exam technique work may be all you need. Paying for full teaching on material you already know is money spent on redundancy, not results.
- Avoid resits where possible. Every resit adds another assessment fee on top of your original spend. A resit doesn't just cost more time; it's a second £2,006 or £3,086 charge, which is why realistic self-assessment before you book matters as much as the study material itself.
Where a free planner fits, and where it doesn't
A study planner won't teach you contract law or civil procedure. What it can do is turn "300 to 500 hours" into a week-by-week schedule against your actual sitting date, which matters most on a budget route where you don't have a provider doing that structuring for you.
PasSQE offers a free planner and syllabus tracker with email sign-up, alongside a separate paid study system (interactive notes, AI-graded mocks, spaced-repetition flashcards) for candidates who want more structure once they've picked a route. The free tools stand on their own whichever route you choose; there's no obligation to upgrade.
The honest trade-off
Cheaper prep isn't automatically worse, and expensive prep isn't automatically better. What changes with price is how much structure, feedback and coverage is built in for you versus how much you have to build yourself.
If you're confident in the subject matter, have the discipline to self-schedule, and can absorb a resit fee if it doesn't land first time, the assessment-only or short-course routes can genuinely save you thousands. If you're starting closer to zero on legal knowledge, that saved money can end up spent twice: once on cheap materials, again on a resit.
Whichever route you pick, understanding how pass rates vary by cohort is a useful reality check before committing to a fully self-taught path.
Frequently asked questions
What's the absolute cheapest way to pass the SQE? The lowest possible spend is the SRA assessment fee alone (£5,092 for both parts from September 2026), paired with free or very low-cost study materials. It's realistic mainly for candidates who already have strong subject knowledge and good self-study discipline.
Can I prepare for the SQE without a course? Yes. There's no SRA requirement to take any particular prep course, or any course at all. You only need to register for and pass the assessments. Whether self-study without a course works for you depends on your existing knowledge and how well you can structure 300 to 500 hours of study alone.
Are short SQE courses worth it if they're cheap? Short courses, such as ULaw's standalone revision courses from roughly £650, work best as a targeted top-up rather than a full replacement for structured teaching. They suit candidates who've already covered most of the syllabus and want focused practice, not a first introduction to unfamiliar material.
Does a cheaper prep route mean a lower pass rate? There's no published data linking specific providers or price points to individual pass rates, so it's not something this article can claim either way. What the SRA does publish is the overall pass rate by sitting, which is a better starting point for setting expectations.
Is it cheaper to self-study or pay for a mid-range provider like BARBRI? Self-study is cheaper upfront, in the £5,000 to £6,000 range once you add the assessment fee to minimal materials. A mid-range provider adds roughly £5,500 to £5,900 in structured teaching on top of that fee. The right choice depends on whether you value the saved money more than the built-in structure and feedback.