How to pass SQE1: a step-by-step plan

Understand what is being assessed

SQE1 tests functioning legal knowledge, which the SRA describes as the ability to apply law to a factual situation at the standard of a newly qualified solicitor. It does not test the ability to write an essay or recall a definition in isolation. Every one of the 340 questions across FLK1 and FLK2 is a single best answer question set in a scenario.

That shapes preparation from the start. Reading a textbook cover to cover builds knowledge in the order the author chose. The assessment presents that knowledge in random order, in disguise, with a clock running, and preparation needs to close that gap.

Know the structure before you plan

Dates and fees change between sittings, and the number of correct answers needed to reach 300 is set for each sitting. The SRA website is the authoritative source for the current position, and the exam format guide explains each element in more detail.

Start with a diagnostic

A plan built on guesswork about strengths will spend time in the wrong places. Before any structured study, answer a mixed set of questions across every subject and record the result by subject. The pattern is often surprising.

Candidates with a law degree frequently find that the practice-based subjects, such as solicitors accounts and property practice, are the weakest, because those were never taught at undergraduate level. The diagnostic result becomes the ordering principle for everything that follows. Weak subjects go early, when there is time to fix them, and strong subjects get maintenance practice later.

Work subject by subject, then mix

The SQE1 syllabus covers thirteen subject areas across the two papers, with ethics and professional conduct examined across all of them. Take each subject in turn. For each, learn the rules from a concise source, then practise single best answer questions on that subject until the explanations stop teaching you anything new.

Once every subject has been covered, switch to mixed practice. From January 2027 each session covers a fixed group of subjects with the questions randomised within it, so the real paper moves from a trusts question to a land law question without warning. The skill of switching context needs its own practice, and mixed sets are most realistic when they follow the session groups.

Use questions as the main study method

For most candidates, the balance of time should tilt towards questions and away from reading well before the exam. Every question with a full explanation is a short lesson on one rule, delivered in the format the exam uses. Every wrong answer is a specific gap identified.

A written error log is the tool that turns questions into learning. One line per wrong answer, stating the rule and why the distractor was tempting. Review the log weekly, and study the entries that recur.

Build stamina in the final weeks

A single FLK is 5 hours 6 minutes of assessment time, and over six hours including the 60-minute break. Concentration in the last thirty questions of a session is a skill separate from knowledge, and it needs rehearsal. In the final four to six weeks, sit at least one full-length timed mock per paper under exam conditions, and review each in the way the mock exam guide describes.

Plan the calendar

Work backwards from the exam date. The SRA does not prescribe a preparation period, and the time needed depends on how recently you studied law and which subjects you already know. The SQE1 study plan counts the hours you have before your sitting and builds a week-by-week schedule from them, and the shape is the same at every length. The first phase covers each subject once, the second phase repeats the weak subjects with more questions, and the final phase is mixed practice and mocks.

Protect the plan from the most common failure, which is spending the first half of the available time on the first two subjects in the book. Set a fixed number of days per subject and move on when they are used, even if the subject does not feel finished. Repetition later is more valuable than perfection now.

Check readiness before the exam

Readiness has three observable signs. Mixed-subject practice scores hold comfortably above the raw pass marks the SRA published before scaling, which were between 52% and 57% for the sittings from 2021 to 2023. Since January 2024 the pass mark is a scaled 300 out of 500 and the raw equivalent is not published, so a practice score is a guide rather than a prediction. Timed practice is completed with time to spare, and the error log has stopped growing in any one subject.

If you have not yet started, the free diagnostic gives a first read on every subject in 13 questions and about 15 minutes, and the SQE1 practice questions page has a free set in the exam format.