Everyone says it. Use active recall. Active recall is the key. Active recall, active recall, active recall.
And then nobody really explains what that looks like when you’re sitting at your desk with an FLK outline in front of you and an exam in eight weeks.
So here it is — what active recall actually means for SQE2, and how to do it.
First, what it isn’t
Active recall is not reading your notes.
It’s not re-reading your outline. It’s not watching a video walkthrough of Criminal Litigation for the third time. It’s not highlighting in three different colours or reorganising your Notion page.
All of those things feel like revision. None of them are — not in any meaningful sense.
Passive study creates the illusion of learning. You recognise the information when you see it. But recognition is not the same as retrieval. And SQE2 tests retrieval.
In the exam, there are no notes. No outlines. No colour-coded highlights. Just you, a scenario, and a time limit.
The only way to prepare for that is to practise it.
So what does active recall actually look like?
It’s simple — almost frustratingly so.
You close the notes. And you try to retrieve the law from memory.
That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
What varies is how you do that. Here are the formats that can work well for SQE2 specifically:
1. Brain dumps
Pick a topic within a subject. Close everything. Set a timer. Write down everything you can remember: the legal framework, the key rules, the exceptions, the common issues.
Then open your outline and check. What did you get right? What did you miss? What was vague when it needed to be precise?
The gaps you find are your actual revision list. Not everything in the outline — just the things that didn’t come out cleanly.
2. Explain it out loud
This one feels slightly unhinged but it works.
Explain a legal concept out loud as if you’re talking to someone who doesn’t know it. No notes. Just talking.
If you can explain it clearly, you know it. If you stumble, repeat yourself or trail off — you don’t, not yet. The oral assessments make this format especially useful; you’re essentially rehearsing the skill at the same time.
3. Timed mock practice
This is active recall under exam conditions — which is ultimately the only conditions that matter.
A timed mock forces you to retrieve the law, structure an answer and apply it to a scenario, all within a fixed window. It replicates the pressure. It shows you what you actually know versus what you think you know.
If you’re not doing timed mocks regularly, you are leaving a significant gap in your preparation. Not occasionally. Regularly.
How to build it into your week
Active recall works best as a daily habit, not a one-off exercise.
A realistic rhythm looks something like this: Monday to Friday, spend the bulk of your study time on active recall — brain dumps, out-loud explanation, flashcard retrieval. Work through your FLK subjects in rotation rather than spending a whole week on one and moving on.
Weekends are for timed mocks and reviewing your performance honestly. What did you apply well? Where did your structure fall apart? Where did you run out of time?
The review is as important as the mock itself. A mock you don’t learn from is just a stressful hour.
The honest part
Active recall is harder than passive revision. It’s meant to be.
You will sit down to do a brain dump and realise you remember far less than you thought. That’s not a bad sign — that’s the whole point. You’ve just identified exactly what you need to work on, instead of spending another hour re-reading something you already know.
The discomfort of not knowing is more useful than the comfort of re-reading.
Lean into it.
The bottom line
Active recall for SQE2 means closing your notes and retrieving the law from memory — through brain dumps, out-loud explanation, and timed mock practice.
Do it daily. Review honestly. Repeat.
It’s not complicated. But it does require you to sit with the discomfort of not knowing — and trust that working through it is exactly how you get to knowing.
The starting point for any brain dump or active recall session is knowing what you actually need to retrieve. inhousew’s SQE2 outlines cover all FLK subjects — giving you a clear, structured base to learn from, test yourself against, and return to when the gaps appear. You can find them here.