We looked at what every major SQE1 provider actually charges, because most of them do not show you a number until you are three or four clicks in behind a "get a quote" form. Here is what we found.
| Provider | SQE1 price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| QLTS School | £1,990 to £2,990 | Recorded lectures, question bank, mock exams; the Premium package adds 2 hours of tutor support |
| BARBRI | £2,999 to £3,299 (£5,499 for SQE1 and SQE2 together) | Structured course, tutor access, mock exams |
| University of Law | £5,250 online | Full taught course, textbooks, mock exams |
| BPP | £5,900 online or regional, £7,100 London | Full taught course, tutor led |
None of that includes the SRA's own exam fee, which every candidate pays regardless of provider, or of using no provider at all. It is £2,006 for SQE1 for anyone who books to sit it from October 2026 onwards, up from £1,934 before.
Now the harder number. The SRA's most recent statistical report, covering the January 2026 sitting, puts the overall SQE1 pass rate at 53 per cent. Split by first language, candidates who grew up speaking English passed at 62 per cent. Candidates with English as an additional language passed at 46 per cent. That is the SRA's own figure, not a provider's. None of the four providers above publish a pass rate the SRA has actually checked, what sits on their marketing pages is self reported.
Where the pass rate gap actually comes from
SQE Cracker was built by lawyers who sat and passed SQE1 themselves, one in July 2025 after training in a civil law system, the other in January 2026. Their experience matches what many candidates report, whether they are law graduates, changing career, or already lawyers somewhere else. If you studied law in England and Wales, much of FLK1 will be familiar. If you trained in a common law system, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, most of the Commonwealth, a good part of FLK1 is not new to you either. Contract, tort, the basic structure of a legal system, reading a statute and applying it to facts, that is most of what SQE1 tests, whichever system you trained in.
What actually catches candidates out is narrower than that. It is the England and Wales specific detail with no real equivalent in most other systems, trusts and land law and solicitors accounts in particular. And it is the exam itself, answering under time pressure, in a second language if English is not your first, which is a different skill from knowing the law. Neither of those gaps needs a five thousand pound course to close. They need targeted practice on exactly those weak spots, and enough timed questions that the exam format stops being the thing that beats you.
So is self study actually enough
Paying for a full course is not a mistake. Candidates who need a deadline they cannot ignore, or who learn better with a live tutor in front of them, get real value from that structure, and the higher priced options above are mostly selling exactly that.
But for candidates who can study on a schedule they set themselves, with materials that actually mirror the FLK1 and FLK2 format, self study is a genuinely reasonable route, not a compromise anyone should settle for because they could not afford better. It works when the materials are built for it.
That is the gap SQE Cracker fills, on its own or alongside a course. Every subject has one full topic pack unlocked for free, plus one complete mock, no time limit, plus an AI tutor to ask anything as you go. Cheat sheets turn harvested exam questions into thematic clusters and the silent killers most candidates miss, quick fire MCQ practice is filterable by exam, subject, and topic, and premium unlocks unlimited full mock exams. Try the free tier first and judge the question quality and exam format for yourself.
January 2027 registration opens in September and the booking window closes on 20 November. The earlier candidates start, the more room they have to close the exact gaps this article covers. [Start free on SQE Cracker.]