For someone working full time, most candidates need somewhere between 300 and 400 hours total across FLK1 and FLK2, spread over three to six months depending on existing legal background. A qualified lawyer with an SQE2 exemption, sitting only SQE1, is usually at the lower end of that range.
Broken down, that is roughly 15 to 20 hours a week over three months, or 10 to 12 hours a week over six months. The six month pace is easier to sustain alongside a job, and worth choosing over the faster option where there is a choice, since burnout in the final weeks is one of the most common reasons candidates underperform on the day.
A pattern that works well for people with full time jobs is an hour before work on most weekdays, plus a longer three to four hour session on one weekend day, which adds up to 12 to 15 hours without touching weekday evenings, which most people genuinely need for rest.
The hours maths is the easy part to explain. The daily reality of holding it together is harder, and worth planning for directly rather than hoping willpower covers it.
Feeling tired often during prep is normal, not a sign anything is going wrong. On the most tired days, a short session beats no session, even 30 minutes keeps the routine alive.
A social life shrinks for a period, and that is easier on everyone once close friends and family hear about the exam date early. Most people adjust well to a temporary change once it has been explained clearly, once.
Some weeks go worse than others. A bad week does not predict a bad result, and the right response is returning to the plan the next day without extra guilt about the days that slipped.
One full rest day a week, where possible, is not wasted time. A brain without rest does not learn well, regardless of how many hours go into a session.
The final two weeks carry a specific risk. Many candidates try to add extra hours right before the exam to cover gaps, and this often backfires through poor sleep and poor focus. Trusting the plan built earlier tends to work better than a last minute push, and booking time off work in the final one to two weeks, where possible, makes a real difference for consolidation and timed mock practice.
Materials that already come with a study plan built around this kind of schedule remove one more thing to manage on top of a full time job, which is part of what SQE Cracker's structure is built to do.