Two Exams, One Career Decision
If you are deciding where to qualify as a lawyer in a major common-law market, two exams dominate the shortlist: the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in England and Wales, and the US bar exam. Lawyers in India, Nigeria, Pakistan and across Europe weigh the two against each other every year. So do English law graduates eyeing New York, American JDs eyeing London, and practising solicitors and attorneys planning a second qualification.
2026 is an unusually interesting year to be making the choice, because both systems are in motion. On this side of the Atlantic, the SQE's assessment fees rise again in September 2026. On the other side, the United States is in the middle of the biggest redesign of its bar exam in fifty years: on 28–29 July 2026, six states and four US territories administer the first ever NextGen Bar Exam, with most remaining states switching over by 2028.
This guide puts the two routes side by side — structure, eligibility, cost, difficulty and timelines — and ends with the question that actually decides it: where do you want to practise?
The Two Routes at a Glance
| SQE (England and Wales) | US bar exam | |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifies you as | Solicitor of England and Wales | Attorney in one US state |
| Who runs it | The SRA — one national system, delivered by Kaplan | Each state's board of law examiners; the NCBE writes the core exam |
| Structure | SQE1: 360 MCQs over two papers, then SQE2: 16 practical skills assessments | NextGen: 1.5 days of MCQs, integrated question sets and performance tasks, plus state components in some states |
| Sittings per year | Four for SQE1 (January, April, July, October) | Two (February and July) |
| Law degree required | No — any degree or equivalent, in any subject | JD is the standard route; foreign lawyers only via specific state rules |
| Exam fees | £4,808 total today; £5,092 from September 2026 | Varies by state — a few hundred dollars to $1,500+ |
| Other requirements | Two years' QWE (foreign-qualified lawyers generally exempt), character and suitability | MPRE in almost every state, character and fitness, state-specific components |
| Pass rates | SQE1 hovers around 53–60% per sitting | Historically 60–85% for first-time US law graduates; far lower for foreign-educated candidates |
What the SQE Involves
The SQE is the single national route to qualifying as a solicitor of England and Wales. It has two stages:
- SQE1 tests functioning legal knowledge through 360 single best answer MCQs, split across two papers (FLK1 and FLK2) covering 13 subjects of English law. It runs four times a year.
- SQE2 tests practical skills — client interviewing, advocacy, drafting, legal writing and research — across 16 assessments.
The SQE's defining feature is open eligibility. There is no law degree requirement: any degree (or equivalent qualification), from any country, in any subject, gets you a seat. Alongside the exams you need two years of Qualifying Work Experience and to satisfy the SRA's character and suitability requirements — and foreign-qualified lawyers are generally exempt from QWE on the strength of home-jurisdiction practice. If you already hold a legal qualification elsewhere, you may also be eligible for exemptions from parts of the assessment itself. The full pathway for overseas candidates is covered in our guide to SQE1 for international lawyers and non-law graduates, and the method for the exam itself in how to pass SQE1 in 2026.
What the US Bar Exam Involves — and Why 2026 Changes Everything
There is no single American bar exam and no national licence. You are admitted state by state, and each state's board of law examiners controls its own gate. For the last decade most states used the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE). That era is now ending.
From July 2026 the United States is switching to the NextGen Bar Exam — the largest overhaul in the exam's history. The first sitting takes place on 28–29 July 2026 in ten jurisdictions: Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon and Washington, plus four US territories. Most other states follow in July 2027 or 2028. New York — the state most international lawyers actually care about — runs its final UBE cycles now and moves to NextGen in July 2028, and the last legacy UBE administrations nationwide run in February 2028. California, as ever, sets its own exam (and is pursuing NextGen adoption for 2028). If you want to know when a specific state switches, our sister site maintains a state-by-state NextGen switchover timeline.
The new format runs over a day and a half: three three-hour sections, each containing 40 standalone MCQs, two integrated question sets and one performance task. Scores sit on a new 500–750 scale, with the NCBE recommending a passing score of 610–620 — deliberately calibrated to match the old 260–270 UBE band. Only about 49% of the marks come from standalone MCQs; the rest are earned on skills-based items that test drafting, client counselling and legal research against provided materials. For the full picture of the new format, see this guide to the NextGen Bar Exam's format, subjects and scoring.
Who Can Actually Sit Each Exam
The SQE is open by design. Any graduate, from any country, in any discipline, can enter. This is why the SQE has become the default route for international lawyers and career changers: the door is simply not guarded the way the American one is.
The US bar is restrictive by design. The standard entry ticket is a JD from an ABA-accredited law school — three years of postgraduate study. A minority of states offer alternative doors for foreign-qualified lawyers, and New York is the classic one: many international lawyers become eligible by completing a one-year LLM at a US law school, and some common-law qualified lawyers are eligible on the strength of their home qualification and practice. California also admits foreign-qualified lawyers under its own rules. Every state is different, and the details are unforgiving — always confirm your eligibility with the state board before you plan around it.
The practical consequence: for most internationally qualified lawyers, the SQE is the lower-friction door. The US bar usually costs an extra year (the LLM) before you even reach the exam hall.
Cost: What Each Route Really Adds Up To
SQE: the assessment fees alone are £4,808 today, rising to £5,092 from September 2026 — our SQE cost breakdown itemises every fee. Traditional prep courses add £2,000–£5,500 on top, though self-study platforms cover the same ground for a small fraction of that.
US bar: the exam and admission fees themselves are often cheaper — a few hundred dollars to $1,500+ depending on the state, once registration, character and fitness and laptop fees are counted. The famous cost is preparation: the big-brand American bar courses run $1,699–$4,199. And if you need an LLM to become eligible in the first place, add tuition measured in tens of thousands of dollars before a single exam fee.
So on pure exam fees, America is often cheaper; on the total journey — especially with an LLM in the middle — the US route usually costs a foreign-qualified lawyer far more.
Difficulty and Pass Rates
SQE1's pass rate hovers around 53–60% per sitting. There is no fixed pass mark — it is set per sitting using a modified Angoff method, typically landing around 57–62%. Every candidate, from fresh graduate to twenty-year practitioner, sits the same 360 questions on English law, and most start from scratch. Our guide on how hard SQE1 really is unpacks the numbers.
US pass rates look friendlier — for locals. First-time takers from US law schools historically pass at 60–85%+ depending on state and sitting. Foreign-educated candidates pass at much lower rates — historically under 50% in New York, the state where most of them sit. The NextGen exam is too new for published pass rates: the first results land in autumn 2026, though the NCBE has calibrated the new passing band to hold the line on difficulty.
So which is harder? For an international lawyer, they are hard in different ways. SQE1 is a breadth problem: 13 subjects of unfamiliar English law, tested in fine detail. The US bar is an access-then-format problem: becoming eligible at all, then mastering a distinctly American style of testing. Raw pass rates flatter the US exam because most of its takers spent three years at a US law school being trained for it.
Timelines
SQE: with four sittings a year, momentum is easy to keep. A focused candidate preparing alongside work typically takes 4–6 months for SQE1 and a few more for SQE2. A foreign-qualified lawyer with a QWE exemption can realistically go from first study session to admission within 12–24 months. Use the SQE1 exam dates and deadlines timeline to plan backwards from a sitting.
US bar: two sittings a year, so a missed window costs six months. If you need an LLM first, add an academic year before you can even register. American prep culture assumes 8–10 weeks of near-full-time study after graduation, results take two to four months, and character and fitness review follows. A foreign lawyer starting from zero should think in terms of 18 months to 3 years.
Which Should You Take?
Ninety per cent of the answer is a different question: where do you want to live and practise? A New York licence is worth little in Leeds; a practising certificate is worth little in Manhattan.
- You want to work in England and Wales, or on English-law matters anywhere (much of international finance, shipping, arbitration and commercial contracting runs on English law) — take the SQE.
- You want to live and work in the United States, or serve US clients from abroad — take the bar exam, in the specific state where you intend to be admitted.
- You are genuinely mobile and undecided — weigh friction and optionality. The SQE has no degree gatekeeping, four sittings a year and one national licence; the solicitor title also travels well into offshore and international in-house roles. The US market is larger and its top salaries higher, but you must pick a state and clear its gate.
One transition-era wrinkle: if your target state switches to NextGen mid-plan, decide early whether you are sitting the last UBE cycles or the first NextGen ones — the differences between NextGen and the UBE are substantial enough to change how you prepare. But do not let the exam format choose your jurisdiction; choose the jurisdiction and take whichever exam it offers.
Dual Qualification: Taking Both
Plenty of lawyers end up with both — the England and Wales solicitor + New York attorney pairing is the classic combination in international finance and arbitration. Sequencing is everything:
- Already qualified somewhere else? The SQE is usually the faster second badge: QWE exemption, possible assessment exemptions, and four sittings a year. Start with our country-by-country SQE exemptions guide.
- English solicitor first, US second? New York will assess your qualification; some solicitors are eligible directly, others after an LLM. Check the New York board's rules early — before you commit to timings.
- US attorney first, SQE second? US attorneys typically apply for individual SQE exemptions, and most still sit at least one FLK paper, because land law, trusts, wills and solicitors' accounts barely overlap with US bar content.
Whichever direction you run it, qualify in one jurisdiction before starting serious preparation for the other. Preparing for two bar-level exams simultaneously is a reliable way to fail both.
Preparing for Each Without Course-Price Regret
Both exams reward the same study style: practice questions first, passive reading second. Both are also surrounded by course industries happy to charge four figures for structure you can impose yourself.
For the SQE side, that is exactly what this platform exists for — practice questions in the real single-best-answer format, full timed mocks, flashcards and notes for a one-time payment (see pricing). For the US side, our sister platform BARGO — NextGen Bar Prep applies the same philosophy to the new American exam: realistic NextGen-format practice questions, integrated question sets, performance tasks, flashcards and study notes, one payment, no subscription.
FAQ
Is the SQE harder than the US bar exam?
The raw numbers say yes — SQE1's 53–60% pass rate sits well below typical first-time US rates. But the populations differ: most US takers have three years of targeted law school behind them, while SQE candidates include thousands of people encountering English law for the first time. For a foreign-educated candidate specifically, US pass rates drop below 50%, and the gap largely disappears.
Can I qualify in both England and the United States?
Yes, and many commercial lawyers do. The usual advice is to complete one qualification fully, then use it: qualified lawyers get QWE exemptions (and sometimes assessment exemptions) on the SQE, and New York will assess a completed common-law qualification for bar eligibility.
Does passing the SQE give me any rights in the United States?
No. They are entirely separate licences. An English qualification can help you become eligible for a US bar exam in states like New York — it never substitutes for passing it.
What is the NextGen Bar Exam?
The redesigned US bar exam that replaces the UBE from July 2026: a day and a half of standalone MCQs, integrated question sets and performance tasks, scored on a 500–750 scale, with most states adopting it between 2026 and 2028.
When does the UBE disappear?
The final legacy UBE administrations run through February 2028. States switch to NextGen between July 2026 and July 2028 — New York goes in July 2028.
The Bottom Line
Choose the jurisdiction, not the exam. If your future clients, colleagues and cases are in England and Wales — or anywhere English law is the governing law — the SQE is the open door, and it is entirely passable with disciplined, question-led preparation. Build a free personalised study plan, work the subjects systematically, and treat the pass rate as a filter you are on the right side of.
And if your answer is America — or both — you now know exactly what is waiting: a state-by-state system in the middle of its biggest reform in fifty years, and a sister platform of ours standing ready on that shore too.