The 6-month SQE1 plan for working candidates

If you are working full-time and have about six months before your SQE1 sitting, the number to plan around is roughly 12 to 15 hours a week. That is not a guess. It comes from the widely cited estimate, used across SQE1 prep providers and study guides, that most candidates need somewhere in the region of 300 to 500 hours of preparation, spread over a six-month run.

Twelve to fifteen hours a week is manageable alongside a job: two or three weekday evenings plus a solid weekend block. It is less comfortable with a demanding commute or caring responsibilities on top, but it is realistic for most people with a normal working week.

This post lays out what that six months can look like, broken into phases rather than a rigid day-by-day script, because real weeks rarely go exactly to plan.

The maths behind 12 to 15 hours a week

Six months is roughly 24 to 26 weeks. At 12 hours a week that is around 300 hours by exam day; at 15 hours a week you are closer to 375 to 390 hours. Reaching the very top of the commonly cited 300 to 500 hour range would need nearer 19 to 20 hours a week, which starts to feel less sustainable alongside a job.

The practical takeaway: 12 to 15 hours a week lands you in a reasonable, defensible part of that range without giving up your evenings and weekends entirely for half a year. Coming from a law degree or a recent conversion course, the lower end may be enough. If SQE1 content is mostly new to you, lean toward 15.

For a fuller breakdown of how the hours scale across different timelines, the study hours guide works through 3-month, 6-month and 12-month versions side by side.

The six months in four phases

Rather than assigning a fixed topic to every single week, which tends to fall apart the first time work gets busy, it helps to think in phases with rough week ranges.

Phase 1: Foundations (weeks 1 to 8)

This is the bulk of first-pass content learning across the FLK syllabus. The pace here should be steady rather than fast: you are building a base you will return to repeatedly, not racing to finish.

• Aim for roughly 10 to 12 hours a week early on while you find a rhythm, rising toward 13 to 15 as the phase progresses.
• Interleave subjects rather than finishing one completely before starting the next. Mixing topics across a week tends to help retention more than long single-subject blocks.
• Start light, low-stakes practice questions from week 3 or 4, even before you feel ready. Testing yourself early flags weak spots while there is still time to fix them.

Phase 2: Consolidation (weeks 9 to 16)

By now you have touched most of the syllabus once. This phase is about closing gaps and turning passive familiarity into active recall.

• Increase question practice as a share of your weekly hours. A rough split of roughly half content review, half active practice works for many candidates at this stage.
• Keep a simple error log: which questions you got wrong, and why. A short weekly review of that log is often more valuable than another hour of re-reading notes.
• Revisit your weakest one or two subject areas specifically, rather than assuming general revision will fix them on its own.

Phase 3: Timed practice (weeks 17 to 22)

This is where full-length, timed mock conditions become the priority. SQE1 is 360 multiple-choice questions across two days, with roughly one minute forty seconds allowed per question, so pacing under pressure is a skill in its own right, separate from knowing the content.

• Sit at least a few full timed mocks under real exam conditions during this stretch: no notes, no pausing, the same time limits you will face on the day.
• After each mock, spend real time on review, not just the score. Understanding why an answer was wrong matters more than the mark itself.
• This is also a sensible point to check your booking is confirmed and your revision is on track against the current SQE dates, since booking windows close roughly five weeks before a sitting.

Phase 4: Final polish (weeks 23 to 26)

The last few weeks should feel calmer, not more frantic. If you are cramming new content in the final fortnight, that is usually a sign the earlier phases ran short, not a sign you need to work harder now.

• Shift toward targeted review of your weakest areas and lighter, confidence-building practice.
• Protect sleep and downtime in the final week. Fatigue affects recall and concentration more than most candidates expect going into a two-day MCQ exam.
• Do a final logistics check: exam location, ID requirements, and what a typical SQE exam day actually involves, so nothing on the day itself is a surprise.

A sample week at 12 to 15 hours

There is no single correct weekly template, but a common working pattern looks something like this:

• Two weekday evenings, roughly 2 hours each (4 hours)
• One shorter weekday top-up session, 1 to 2 hours
• One weekend day with a longer session, 4 to 5 hours
• A shorter second weekend session or admin/review time, 2 to 3 hours

That lands around 12 to 15 hours without requiring every evening or an entire weekend. The specific slots matter less than picking ones you can actually protect most weeks. A vague plan to "study most evenings" tends to erode within a month; fixed slots in your calendar hold up far better.

What tends to derail a 6-month plan

• No buffer for real life. Six months is long enough that illness, a heavy week at work, or a holiday will happen at least once. Build in a lighter recovery week every few weeks rather than assuming every week will go as planned.
• Content without practice. Reading notes and highlighting feels productive but does not train the recall and pacing that SQE1 actually tests. Question practice should start early and grow throughout, not appear only in the final month.
• No visibility into progress. Six months is long enough to lose track of which FLK topics you have covered versus which you meant to get to. A syllabus tracker that shows gaps at a glance beats a mental tally. A free SQE study planner can turn a target hour range and your sitting date into an actual week-by-week schedule, alongside a syllabus tracker for exactly this reason.
• Ignoring the booking deadline. Booking windows close around five weeks before a sitting. Losing track of that date and having to shift your plan late is avoidable with an early check against the current dates.

PasSQE builds week-by-week structure directly around interactive notes, AI-graded mocks and spaced-repetition flashcards, so the plan and the content you work through stay connected.

Frequently asked questions

Is 6 months enough time to prepare for SQE1? For most working candidates, yes. At 12 to 15 hours a week over roughly 24 to 26 weeks, you land in a reasonable part of the commonly cited 300 to 500 hour range for SQE1 preparation. It suits people balancing a job with study far better than a compressed 3-month timeline would.

How many hours a week is a realistic SQE1 study schedule while working full-time? Around 12 to 15 hours a week is a common, sustainable target for working candidates over a 6-month run. That typically breaks down into two or three weekday evenings plus a weekend session, rather than one long marathon block.

Should I follow a strict week-by-week SQE1 revision plan or a flexible one? A phase-based structure tends to hold up better than a rigid day-by-day script, because working weeks are unpredictable. Set rough goals for each 6-to-8-week phase (learning, consolidation, timed practice, final review) and let the exact daily schedule flex around your job.

When should timed mock exams start in a 6-month SQE1 plan? Light question practice can start within the first month, but full, timed, exam-condition mocks are usually most useful in the last 8 to 10 weeks, once most of the syllabus has been covered at least once.

What if I fall behind on a 6-month SQE1 study schedule? A missed week or two is normal over a 6-month run and rarely fatal on its own. The bigger risk is not noticing the drift. Checking progress against a syllabus tracker regularly, rather than only at the end, makes it much easier to catch a slipping plan early and adjust rather than cram.