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FLK1 practice questions and topics

FLK1 is the first SQE1 assessment: 170 single best answer questions in two sessions of 85, across Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, the Legal System with Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Legal Services. Practise FLK1 below by session, then read what each area covers.

Updated 24 September 2026 · Checked against SRA sources listed below

FLK1 mixed

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  1. Question 1 · Contract Law

    A woman bought a new sofa online from a furniture retailer for her home. Before she ordered it, the retailer's website stated that the sofa's frame was made of solid oak. Relying on that statement, she ordered the sofa.

    It was delivered with a printed care label stating the frame was, in fact, a mix of oak veneer and manufactured board. She did not notice this until months later, when a leg cracked. The retailer says the website description was 'just marketing' and that the care label reflects the true materials.

    Is the retailer's website description of the frame as solid oak a term of the contract?

SQE1 at a glance

questions in each FLK
170
per question on average
1.8 min
out of 500 to pass each FLK
300
SQE1 fee for sittings from October 2026
£2,006
Sources for these figures

What FLK1 covers

FLK1 is the first of the two assessments that make up SQE1. The letters stand for Functioning Legal Knowledge, and the paper tests the ability to apply law to facts at the standard of a newly qualified solicitor. Kaplan SQE runs the assessment for the SRA, and it is sat on screen, closed book, at Pearson VUE test centres.

From January 2027 the paper has 170 single best answer questions, each with five options. Ethics and professional conduct is examined across every subject area, so a question that appears to be about civil procedure may turn on a solicitor's duty to the court.

Structure and timing

ElementFLK1 from January 2027
Questions170
Sessions2 sessions of 85 questions, with a 60-minute break between them
Time per session2 hours 33 minutes
Question formatSingle best answer, five options
Time per questionAbout 1.8 minutes (108 seconds)
Session 1 subjectsBusiness Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Legal Services
Session 2 subjectsContract, Tort, Legal System with Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law
ResultScaled score from 0 to 500, pass mark 300, marked separately from FLK2

From January 2027 each session covers a fixed group of subjects, and questions are randomised within the session. Before that, each FLK had 180 questions in two sessions of 90. The exam format guide covers the day in more detail.

FLK1 topics and subject areas

The SRA lists six subject areas for FLK1. The Legal System of England and Wales is examined together with Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law as one area.

Subject areaTypical question territory
Business Law and PracticeChoice of business medium, directors' duties, shareholder resolutions, partnership authority, corporate insolvency, business taxation
Dispute ResolutionLimitation, pre-action conduct, track allocation, interim applications, disclosure, costs, appeals, enforcement
ContractOffer and acceptance, consideration, terms and exclusion clauses, misrepresentation, frustration, remedies and remoteness
TortDuty of care, breach, causation, remoteness, occupiers' liability, nuisance, product liability, vicarious liability
Legal System, Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU LawCourts, precedent, statutory interpretation, sovereignty, devolution, judicial review, the Human Rights Act 1998, EU law's place in the UK constitution
Legal ServicesRegulation of the profession, money laundering, financial services, funding including civil legal aid

The SRA publishes the weighting as ranges in a blueprint, Annex 4 of the specification, and the only version that can be read is the 2019 one. In the SRA's 2019 blueprint ranges the first five areas each make up 14 to 20 percent of FLK1, and Legal Services 12 to 16 percent. Ethics and professional conduct and money laundering together can make up to 20 percent of the questions, and money laundering is tested in FLK1 only.

How FLK1 questions are written

A typical FLK1 question opens with a client scenario of three to six sentences. It may describe a company director considering a transaction, a claimant approaching a limitation deadline, or a public body making a decision. The question then asks what advice is correct, what the likely outcome is, or what the solicitor should do next.

Distractors are built from real rules applied to the wrong facts, from rules that apply in a neighbouring area, and from outcomes that would be right if one fact were different. Reading every fact in the scenario is the first defence.

Where candidates lose marks in FLK1

The SRA's annual report for 2023/24 gives the mean scaled score by practice area. In FLK1 the lowest were Dispute Resolution (278) and Business Law and Practice (279), both below the pass mark of 300. Legal System (294) and Tort (299) were close to it, and Contract (335) was the highest apart from ethics (362).

  • Business Law and Practice, where law graduates often have no background and the tax and insolvency topics are unfamiliar.
  • Dispute Resolution, which turns on procedural detail such as time limits and track thresholds that must be known precisely.

The guide to how hard SQE1 is sets these scores beside the FLK2 subjects, and the SQE1 pass rate page has the FLK1 pass rate for every sitting.

How to prepare for FLK1

The full SQE1 syllabus lists what each subject contains. A workable order is to begin with the subjects that come out weakest in a diagnostic, cover the rest in turn, then move to mixed practice under time within each session group. FLK2 is sat in the following week of the same window, so the FLK2 guide belongs in the same plan, and the SQE1 study plan lays out the weeks.

Practice for FLK1 should be scenario-based from the start. Single best answer questions with a rationale for each option teach the reasoning the paper rewards, and the SQE1 practice questions page has a free set. The free diagnostic gives a first read on every subject in about 15 minutes.

Questions candidates ask

Functioning Legal Knowledge 1. It is the first of the two SQE1 assessments and covers Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, the Legal System of England and Wales with Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law, and Legal Services.

From January 2027 FLK1 has 170 single best answer questions in two sessions of 85, each lasting 2 hours 33 minutes, with a 60-minute break between them. That is about 1.8 minutes a question.

No. FLK1 and FLK2 each have a pass mark of 300 on a scale of 0 to 500, and both must be passed. A candidate who passes one and fails the other resits only the one they failed, within the limit of three attempts in six years.

Sources

SQE1 Ready is independent of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Rules, dates and fees can change: the SRA is the authority, and this page is checked against it.

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