SQE2 format: the 16 skills stations

SQE2 is 16 separate assessments, called stations, sat across roughly five half-days. Some are oral, some are written, and each one tests a specific practical skill rather than legal knowledge on its own. That is the short answer to how does SQE2 work.

The longer answer matters more for planning, because SQE2 is structured completely differently from SQE1, and candidates who treat it like "SQE1 but harder" tend to prepare for the wrong thing.

The basic shape: 16 stations, five half-days

SQE2 spreads its assessment across multiple stations rather than one long paper. Each station is a standalone task, typically built around a short client-style scenario, and you move from station to station rather than answering one continuous set of questions.

Across the full assessment, candidates sit roughly five half-days in total. That is a meaningfully different rhythm from SQE1's two full exam days of multiple choice. Instead of sustained MCQ pace, SQE2 asks you to reset your focus repeatedly, sometimes switching from a written drafting task to a live oral interview within the same day.

The exact scheduling of which stations fall on which half-day is set by the SRA and Kaplan (the SQE2 assessment provider) for each sitting, so always check the current assessment specification on the SRA's SQE website before you plan around specific timings.

Oral stations vs written stations

SQE2 splits its 16 stations between two formats.

• Oral stations, assessed live, usually involve a role-play scenario in front of an assessor (and sometimes a role player acting as a client or witness).
• Written stations, completed at a computer, involve producing a document or piece of analysis within a set time limit.

Both formats are scored against the same underlying skills, just delivered differently. An oral station tests how you handle a conversation in real time, under pressure, without a chance to redraft. A written station tests how you structure and communicate the same kind of professional output when you do have time to plan it out.

The skills being tested

Across the 16 stations, SQE2 covers a defined set of practical skills that a newly qualified solicitor is expected to demonstrate. The main ones are:

1. Client interviewing (taking instructions from a client in a structured, professional way).
2. Advocacy (presenting a case or argument orally, typically in a simulated hearing or negotiation-style scenario).
3. Case and matter analysis (working out the legal and practical issues in a set of facts).
4. Legal research (finding and applying the right legal sources to answer a specific question).
5. Legal writing (producing clear, accurate written advice or correspondence).
6. Legal drafting (producing a formal legal document to a professional standard).
7. Attendance note or case analysis (recording what happened in a client interaction accurately and usefully for a case file).

These skills are tested repeatedly across different practice areas rather than once each, which is part of why the assessment needs 16 separate stations rather than a handful of longer tasks. A single skill, like interviewing, might come up more than once across the sitting, tested in a different context each time.

For a sense of how this compares with SQE1's very different testing style, the post on SQE1's format covers the multiple-choice side of the exam route in the same level of detail.

How marking works

Each station is marked against its own criteria for that specific skill and scenario, generally by qualified assessors trained by Kaplan on a consistent marking scheme. Written stations are marked from the submitted document or answer; oral stations are marked live by an assessor observing the role-play, sometimes supported by a recording for quality checks.

Your overall SQE2 result combines performance across all 16 stations rather than resting on any single one. That means a weak performance in one station is not automatically fatal, but it also means there is no way to "carry" the whole assessment on one strong skill. Consistency across the full spread of stations matters more than being excellent at just one or two.

The SRA sets the overall pass standard for each sitting through its standard-setting process, the same way it does for SQE1, so the pass mark is not a fixed percentage published in advance. If you want the current picture on how many candidates actually clear that bar, the pass rates breakdown covers the latest published figures.

Why the format changes how you prepare

Because SQE2 tests applied skills rather than recall, revision needs to look different from SQE1 prep. Reading notes and drilling MCQs will not, on their own, build the muscle memory for a live client interview or a timed drafting task.

A few consequences follow from the 16-station, five-half-day structure:

• Practise the format, not just the content. Running a mock advocacy station or a timed drafting exercise under realistic conditions matters as much as knowing the underlying law.
• Build stamina for a multi-day event. Five half-days of switching between oral and written tasks is a different kind of tiring than two days of MCQs. Rehearsing back-to-back stations, rather than practising skills in isolation, helps you notice where concentration slips.
• Treat each skill as something to practise repeatedly. Since skills like interviewing or drafting reappear across multiple stations in different practice contexts, it is worth building general competence in the skill itself, not just preparing for one scenario you expect to see.

If you are moving from SQE1 into SQE2 prep, the post on preparing for SQE2 after SQE1 goes into more detail on how the two study approaches diverge. A free SQE study planner can also help block out practice time for each skill across the run-up to a sitting, alongside a syllabus tracker for keeping tabs on which practice areas you have actually rehearsed under station conditions.

Checking dates and costs

SQE2 sits four times a year, and both the sitting dates and the assessment fee are worth checking before you book, since both can shift. The SQE dates post has the current sitting calendar, and the SQE cost breakdown post covers the current fee split between SQE1 and SQE2.

Frequently asked questions

How many stations are in SQE2? 16 stations in total, combining oral and written formats, sat across roughly five half-days.

Is SQE2 oral or written? Both. Some stations are live oral assessments, usually role-play based, and others are written tasks completed at a computer. The skills tested overlap between the two formats.

How long does SQE2 take to sit? Roughly five half-days in total, though the exact scheduling of stations across those days is set by the SRA and Kaplan for each sitting, so check the current assessment specification before you plan around it.

What skills does SQE2 test? Client interviewing, advocacy, case and matter analysis, legal research, legal writing, legal drafting, and attendance note or case analysis, tested across different practice areas throughout the 16 stations.

Is SQE2 marked station by station or as a whole? Each station is marked against its own criteria, but your overall result combines performance across all 16 stations, with the pass standard set by the SRA for each sitting rather than fixed in advance.

Once you see SQE2 as 16 distinct, skill-specific tasks rather than one long exam, the preparation question becomes much clearer: practise the actual doing of each skill, under realistic timing, rather than just revising the law behind it. That shift in approach tends to matter more for SQE2 than for any other part of the qualification route.