Short answer: The University of Law's SQE1 Preparation Course costs £5,250 outside London and £6,650 in London. It sits in the middle of the big three on price, it is the only one of them offering a free course repeat if you fail, and its pass-rate claim is the most honestly framed of the three — though it is derived from a survey, which matters. If you want a taught SQE1 course and are paying for it yourself, ULaw is arguably the best-value of the three taught options.
Fees, modes and claims below were checked on the University of Law website on 18 August 2026. Verify before you pay.
What ULaw SQE1 Prep Costs in 2026
| Location | Fee (2026/27) |
|---|---|
| London | £6,650 |
| Outside London | £5,250 |
The £250 deposit is included in the fee, not added to it. You can pay in one instalment, or spread it over three months on the full-time course and six months part-time. The SRA assessment fee is separate.
Where that sits against the others, like-for-like on SQE1 preparation only:
ULaw undercuts BPP at every equivalent tier — £650 cheaper outside London, £450 cheaper in London — and is roughly 1.75 times BARBRI. As with BPP, ignore the £15,000–£18,000 figures that circulate for ULaw in comparison articles: those are LLM and combined SQE1 and SQE2 programmes, not the SQE1 preparation course. Our provider comparison uses SQE1-only pricing throughout.
The London premium here is £1,400 — larger than BPP's £1,200 — for a syllabus set by the SRA rather than by ULaw. If you can study outside London, that is the single easiest saving on this page.
Study Modes and Start Dates
| Mode | Duration |
|---|---|
| Full-time | 14 weeks |
| Part-time (day or evening) | 27 weeks, or 46 weeks extended |
| Weekend options | Full-time and part-time weekend routes available |
Start dates run September 2026, January 2027, March 2027 and June 2027, with availability varying by location and mode. Four intakes a year is more flexibility than BPP offers, which matters if your exam date does not line up neatly with a September start — booking for the January 2027 sitting opens 8 September and closes 20 November 2026.
The 46-week extended part-time route is the most job-compatible option offered by any of the big three. If you are preparing while working full-time, that is the one to look at.
What You Actually Get
- Digital study manuals (eBooks) included in the fee; print versions at a 50% discount
- The ULaw SQE revision app with practice questions
- Weekly mock assessments
- Practitioner lecturer support with personalised feedback
- Access to ULaw LLP, a virtual law firm environment
- Academic coaching
Two of these are genuinely notable. Weekly mocks is a concrete, published commitment — BPP does not publish a mock count at all, and BARBRI charges £450 extra for its mock set. Since full-length timed practice is the highest-yield activity in SQE1 preparation, a provider that builds it into the weekly rhythm is doing the right thing.
The manuals included as eBooks also matters, because ULaw sells those manuals to the public at roughly £30–35 per subject. Bought separately across the 13 subjects that is real money, and they are well regarded — we cover them in best SQE1 books and revision notes versus textbooks.
The Free Resit Guarantee
ULaw's stated position: "if you don't pass SQE1, you can repeat our SQE1 Exam Preparation Course for free up to two further times."
This is a real differentiator and no other big-three provider matches it. On a £5,250 course it is meaningful downside protection, particularly given that the national first-attempt pass rate has been between 46% and 58% at recent sittings.
But read the terms before you rely on it. The conditions sit in a separate terms and conditions document rather than on the course page, and providers typically attach requirements — minimum attendance, completion of assessments, sitting within a defined window. We are not going to summarise conditions we have not read. Ask ULaw directly for the incentives terms and conditions in writing, and confirm:
- What attendance or completion threshold you must hit to qualify
- Whether the repeat must be the same mode and location
- How long the entitlement lasts
- Whether it survives a deferral
Note also what the guarantee does not cover: the SRA assessment fee. Failing costs you £1,934 (£2,006 from autumn 2026) regardless of who repeats your teaching for free. The resit guide covers what a second attempt actually involves.
The 76% Pass Rate Claim, Decoded
ULaw's claim: "76% of our students passed the January 2026 SQE1 assessment at their first attempt, compared to the SRA's national first time pass rate of 58%." The stated basis is "over 2,000 responses; all eligible cohorts contacted."
Against the SRA's published figures:
| Sitting | Candidates | Overall pass rate | First-attempt pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 5,851 | 41% | 46% |
| January 2026 | 7,863 | 53% | 58% |
Source: SRA published results, sra.org.uk.
Credit where it is due: this is the most honestly framed claim of the big three. ULaw compares first-attempt against first-attempt, for the same sitting, and quotes the national comparator correctly at 58%. BARBRI compares a filtered subset of course completers against the overall rate at the worst sitting on record. BPP states its gap three mutually incompatible ways and discloses no denominator at all.
The problem is the collection method. "Over 2,000 responses" means this is survey data, not a register. Candidates who passed are more likely to answer a survey about their result than candidates who failed — that is ordinary non-response bias, and it pushes the number up. ULaw says all eligible cohorts were contacted, which is the right thing to do, but it does not fix the bias in who chose to reply.
So treat 76% as an upper bound rather than a measured rate. The genuine 18 percentage-point gap over the national figure is probably smaller, and part of what remains reflects who enrols at ULaw rather than what ULaw teaches. As with every provider on the market: the SRA does not publish or audit provider-level pass rates, so none of these numbers are independently verified. See the January 2026 results analysis for what the national data actually supports.
Who ULaw Is Genuinely Right For
1. Self-funders who want a taught course. This is the strongest case. You get lecturer support, weekly mocks, included manuals and a free-repeat safety net, for £650 less than BPP. If you have decided you want teaching, ULaw is the sensible default of the three.
2. Candidates with an awkward exam date. Four intakes a year and a 46-week extended part-time route give more scheduling room than the alternatives.
3. Anyone who genuinely fears failing. The repeat guarantee is worth real money if you rate your own risk as high — for example if you are a career changer or returning to study after a long gap.
4. Sponsored trainees whose firm nominates ULaw. Same logic as BPP: not your money, take the teaching.
Who Should Not Pay For It
Disciplined recent law graduates. You covered contract, tort, land, equity, criminal and public law within the last couple of years. What you need is question volume and exam technique, not re-teaching. The self-study guide sets out what has to be replaced.
Anyone defaulting to the London campus. £1,400 for the same SRA specification is the easiest saving available.
Resitters with a specific, diagnosed weakness. If your score report shows two weak subjects, targeted work beats another full course — even a free one, which will re-teach you the eleven subjects you already passed.
Anyone who wants the cheapest taught course. That is BARBRI, at a little over half the price.
The Honest Total Cost
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| SQE1 assessment fee (SRA) | £1,934, rising to £2,006 for bookings from autumn 2026 |
| ULaw SQE1 course (outside London) | £5,250 |
| ULaw SQE1 course (London) | £6,650 |
| Total with ULaw | £7,184–£8,656 |
| Total self-study — SRA fee + our platform, or + the 13-book bundle | £2,004–£2,126 |
The autumn 2026 fee rise applies to bookings that include the January 2027 sitting. The full cost breakdown covers the rest of the road to qualifying, and the funding guide covers loans, scholarships and sponsorship.
What the Alternative Looks Like
Self-study means four things: enough questions to practise properly, full-length timed mocks, spaced-repetition revision, and a schedule you actually keep.
The schedule is free. We publish a 12-week plan, a six-month plan and an hours calculator, and you can generate a personalised plan across all 144 topics without an account.
For practice, our platform carries 4,400+ SQE1 questions with worked explanations, full FLK1 and FLK2 mocks and 5,500+ flashcards for £69.99 once. There are no lectures, no tutor and no cohort — what it replaces is the question bank and the mocks. If you want the manuals as well, our 13-book study guide bundle covers every subject for £49.99.
Verdict
The University of Law is the one we would pick if we were paying for a taught SQE1 course out of our own pocket. It undercuts BPP at every tier, includes weekly mocks and the manuals, offers four intakes and a genuinely job-compatible extended route, and is the only big-three provider that will re-teach you for free if you fail.
Its pass-rate marketing is also the most honest of the three — which is not the same as saying 76% is a measured figure. It is survey-derived, and survey-derived pass rates flatter.
Buy it if you want teaching, you are self-funding, and the resit guarantee has value to you — but get the terms and conditions in writing first, and study outside London if you can. Skip it if you are a disciplined recent graduate, or you want the cheapest taught option, in which case BARBRI is a little over half the price.