SQE1 resit planner

After failing SQE1

A candidate who passes one FLK and fails the other resits only the one failed, at a later sitting. A candidate who fails both resits both, in the same window. Each FLK can be attempted three times in all, within six years of the first SQE assessment, and the same six years cover SQE2. Booking follows the steps the SRA publishes for each sitting, set out with their dates on the SQE1 dates page.

Resits pass at a much lower rate. In 2024, 16% and 20% of resitting candidates passed SQE1, against 59% and 48% at the first attempt, according to the SRA's annual report. Repeating the same preparation is unlikely to change the result. The pass mark decoder explains the scaled score, quintile and practice-area chart on a result.

How the resit plan is built

The plan uses the same phases as the SQE1 study plan: learning and practice by subject until about seven weeks out, then timed mixed practice by 2027 session, then a final fortnight of mocks. It counts the weeks to the first day of the FLK being resat, and covers only that FLK's subjects.

The practice-area chart on a result sets the weighting, by our method. An area read as under 300 gets half as much time again, an area at 350 or more gets a little over half its share, and areas in between keep their share. Solicitors Accounts is examined within Wills and Property Practice, so it takes the lower of those two bands, and Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice together set the criminal subject. Ethics runs through every subject, so it is practised inside each of them rather than given hours of its own.

What the report cannot tell you

The SRA advises reading practice-area scores cautiously, because each rests on relatively few questions. The chart records performance on the day of the exam, and knowledge moves in the months after it, so a plan built from the chart is a starting point. The FLK1 and FLK2 practice question pages are a quick way to check an area before committing weeks to it.