Search "buy SQE1 revision notes" and you get a strange mix: established publishers, university shops, anonymous PDF marketplaces, Etsy listings and second-hand eBay lots — with prices from £3 to £300 for what all claim to be the same thing. Some of those options are excellent. Some are a fast way to revise 2022 law for a 2026 exam.
Here are the seven places candidates actually buy SQE1 notes and study guides, what each costs, and the checks that protect you wherever you spend. (Yes, option seven is ours — we have kept the comparison factual so you can judge it on the same terms as the rest.)
The 7 options at a glance
| # | Source | Typical cost (June 2026) | Practice included | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Publisher series (Revise SQE etc.) via bookshops/Amazon | ~£20–25/subject; full set £250+ | Partial; Q&A sold separately | Cost at full-series scale |
| 2 | University of Law manuals (ULaw shop) | ~£30–35/subject | Limited | Density; cost |
| 3 | Law Answered condensed guides | Varies by bundle | Limited | Depth when learning cold |
| 4 | Course-provider materials (BPP, BARBRI, QLTS) | Bundled in £1,500–£6,000 courses | Yes, in-course | Buying a course for the books |
| 5 | Note marketplaces (Stuvia, Studocu) | £3–30 per document | Rarely | Unverified quality and currency |
| 6 | Second-hand (eBay, Facebook groups, Etsy) | £5–100 | Whatever the edition had | Out-of-date editions |
| 7 | SQE1 Prep study guides (direct, instant download) | £9.99/subject; all 13 for £49.99 | MCQs + flashcards in every chapter | Digital-first (print costs extra) |
1. Publisher revision series
The Revise SQE series (Routledge) is the established name: respected per-subject guides, available in print and ebook from any bookshop. Quality is consistent; the consideration is total cost, since guides and question books are priced separately and a complete 13-subject set passes £250. Our full Revise SQE review covers strengths and gaps in detail. Sensible buy: print guides for your hardest two or three subjects.
2. University of Law manuals
ULaw sells its course manuals to the public at roughly £30–35 per subject. Thorough and authoritative, written to support taught courses — which also makes them dense as self-study primary material. Good for course-grade depth on a chosen subject; expensive as a full set.
3. Law Answered condensed guides
Condensed summaries aimed at consolidation. Strong as a second-pass refresher; thinner as a sole source when meeting a topic for the first time. Pair with a question source.
4. Course-provider materials
BPP, BARBRI and QLTS School materials are generally part of their course packages rather than retail purchases. If you are weighing up whether the whole course is worth it, that is the prep course comparison question — do not buy a £2,000 course as an expensive way to acquire PDFs.
5. Note marketplaces (Stuvia, Studocu and friends)
Marketplaces sell student-uploaded notes for a few pounds per document. Occasionally you find a gem. Structurally, though, you are buying unverified work of unknown currency: no editorial review, no guarantee the author passed, no specification mapping, and frequently no date. For a rules-current exam with a 53% pass rate, that is a lot of risk to save £40. If you do buy, the checklist below is non-negotiable.
6. Second-hand and resale
eBay lots and group resales of last year's materials look like the smart-money move, and for stable black-letter topics much of the content holds. The problem is you cannot see which 10% has moved — specification updates, rule changes, tax figures (Wills and Property questions love current figures). Acceptable for background reading; risky as your only source. If the edition predates the current specification, walk away.
7. SQE1 Prep study guides (ours)
Our series exists because options 1–6 left a gap: nothing was simultaneously complete (all 13 subjects), current, practice-inclusive and under £50. The facts, stated the same way we stated everyone else's:
- £9.99 per subject or all 13 for £49.99 — against £250+ for a publisher print set.
- Specification-mapped chapters across almost 7,800 pages, written to the day-one competence standard.
- Practice built in: nearly 3,000 worked MCQs with explanations and over 5,300 flashcards across the series — the practice layer most note sources sell separately or lack.
- Instant EPUB + PDF download, lifetime re-downloads from your library, updates free. Paperbacks on Amazon if you want print.
The trade-off, stated plainly: digital-first delivery, and no tutor attached — they are books, supported by a free personalised study plan rather than a classroom.
The pre-purchase checklist (use it on us too)
Wherever you buy, five checks before paying:
- Specification edition. Which SRA assessment specification was this written against? If the seller cannot answer, that is your answer.
- Coverage list. Can you see the contents page? All 142 topics findable, or selected highlights?
- Sample pages. Any reputable seller shows you inside the book before you buy.
- Practice questions. Included, sold separately, or absent? Reading-only materials leave the exam's core skill untrained.
- Update policy. What happens when the law moves — free updated files, a discounted new edition, or a fresh full-price purchase?
Red flags that should end the conversation
- No date, no edition, no specification reference anywhere in the listing.
- "Guaranteed pass" claims — nobody can guarantee a standard-set exam.
- Pirated copies of paid series. Beyond the ethics, pirate copies are routinely old editions with the covers changed — out-of-date law at any price is expensive when the resit fee is £1,934.
- Screenshots instead of samples — usually means the seller does not control the source material.
FAQ
How much should SQE1 notes cost?
As a sanity range in June 2026: condensed per-subject guides £10–25; manuals £30–35; complete professional series £50 (ebook, ours) to £300 (print). Above that you are paying for a course; below £10 per subject from an unknown seller, apply the checklist hard.
Are marketplace notes ever worth it?
As supplements — another candidate's summary of a topic you already know — sometimes. As your primary source — the absence of editorial review, specification mapping and dates makes them a poor foundation for a closed-book, rules-current exam.
PDF or print notes?
PDF wins on search, portability and price; print wins for annotators. We include both formats (EPUB + PDF) with every book precisely so you do not have to choose — the full trade-off analysis is in ebooks vs paperbacks.
When should I buy — now or nearer the exam?
When you start studying. Materials do not improve with waiting, and late purchases compress your coverage time. The one timing rule that matters: buy materials written against the current specification, and check whether your sitting falls after a specification update.
The bottom line
Buy from sources that show you their contents, date their editions and include practice — publisher series if print and budget suit you, our £49.99 complete series if you want everything current with practice built in for the price of two printed guides. And run the checklist before you pay anyone, including us: browse the books and sample what is inside.