What is the SQE1 exam?

SQE1 (the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, Stage 1) is the SRA's first-stage assessment of legal knowledge required to qualify as a solicitor of England and Wales. It tests Functioning Legal Knowledge across two papers, FLK1 and FLK2, each made up of single best answer multiple-choice questions at the level of a competent newly qualified solicitor.

How many questions are on SQE1?

SQE1 has 360 questions in total: 180 single best answer multiple-choice questions in FLK1 and 180 in FLK2, split into two 90-question sessions per paper.

How long is the SQE1 exam?

Each FLK paper is sat on its own assessment day and split into two sessions of 2 hours 33 minutes (153 minutes) each, with a 60-minute break between sessions -- 5 hours 6 minutes of assessment time per paper, or roughly 10 hours 12 minutes across both FLK papers combined.

What is the passing score for SQE1?

Candidates need a scaled score of 300 out of 500 on each of FLK1 and FLK2, and must pass both papers to pass SQE1 overall. SQE1 is a single national assessment marked by the SRA (via Kaplan), so this pass mark applies uniformly rather than varying by state or agency; the SRA reserves the right to adjust a paper's pass mark downward only if that sitting is found to have been harder than intended, and 300/500 has held consistently since January 2024.

How much does SQE1 cost?

SQE1 costs GBP 1,934 in total (GBP 967 per FLK paper) as of mid-2026. The SRA has confirmed a fee rise to GBP 2,006 total from September 2026.

Where and how is SQE1 taken?

SQE1 is a computer-based assessment delivered in person at Pearson VUE test centres. No personal calculators or other personal equipment are permitted; an onscreen calculator is built into the assessment platform where a question requires one.

How much should I study for SQE1?

Study time varies by how much prior legal knowledge a candidate already has, but a realistic full preparation covering all 14 domains at Only Ever's 15-minute-topic pace runs to roughly 200-230 hours of focused study plus practice questions across both FLK papers.

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SQE1 · Syllabus & Exam Outline 2026

SQE1: Solicitors Qualifying Examination

In short

SQE1 is the SRA's first-stage solicitor qualification exam: 360 single best answer multiple-choice questions across two papers, FLK1 and FLK2, spanning business law, dispute resolution, contract, tort, property, wills, land law, trusts, criminal law, and ethics. Candidates need a scaled 300/500 on each paper. Free practice questions and a full study plan are below.

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Questions: 360 total across SQE1: 180 single best answer multiple-choice questions in FLK1 and 180 in FLK2 (90 per session, 2 sessions per FLK paper)
Time limit: Each FLK paper (FLK1 and FLK2) is sat on its own assessment day and split into two sessions of 2 hours 33 minutes (153 minutes) each, with a 60-minute break between sessions -- 5 hours 6 minutes of assessment time per FLK paper, roughly 10 hours 12 minutes across both FLK papers combined
Passing score: A scaled score of 300 out of 500 on each of FLK1 and FLK2 (candidates must pass both to pass SQE1 overall)
Cost: GBP 1,934 total (GBP 967 per FLK paper) as of mid-2026; the SRA has confirmed a fee rise to GBP 2,006 total from September 2026
Format: Single best answer multiple-choice questions, five answer options per question
Delivery: Computer-based, in person at Pearson VUE test centres
Calculator: No personal calculators or other personal equipment permitted; an onscreen calculator is provided as part of the assessment platform where needed
Prep time: ~220 hours

Exam overview

SQE1 is the first of two stages in the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, the route the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) uses to assess whether a candidate has the legal knowledge required to practise as a solicitor of England and Wales. It is sat as two separate Functioning Legal Knowledge papers, FLK1 and FLK2, each made up of single best answer multiple-choice questions delivered by computer at a Pearson VUE test centre. FLK1 covers six subject areas -- Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, The Legal System of England and Wales, and Legal Services -- while FLK2 covers Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts Law, Criminal Liability, and Criminal Law and Practice. Ethics and Professional Conduct sits alongside these as its own dedicated domain, even though the SRA also examines it pervasively within every other subject area. Because SQE1 spans fourteen distinct legal domains at the depth of a newly qualified solicitor, candidates who try to revise from broad textbook chapters often lose track of what they've actually covered. Only Ever maps every one of those fourteen domains to short, focused 15-minute study topics -- one testable idea at a time -- so you can track progress domain by domain and revisit exactly the gaps a practice question exposes. The guidance below combines the SRA's own assessment specification with a study plan built around that same domain structure: fast facts on format and scoring, a study-hours estimate per domain, readiness self-checks, and a quick-reference sheet of the terms, acronyms, and statutes that come up most often across FLK1 and FLK2.

Exam domains & weighting

Each domain's share of the exam — study deepest where the weight is highest. Open one for how to study it and its objectives.

How to study this domain

Build a single comparison table of sole traders, partnerships, LLPs, and companies covering formation, liability, and governance side by side, since MCQs love testing the boundary between entity types. Drill the insolvency claw-back tests (preferences vs undervalue vs wrongful trading) against fact patterns, and practice the Income Tax/CGT/Corporation Tax/VAT/IHT-BPR calculations with real numbers until the mechanics are automatic.

Key objectives

Business and Organisational Characteristics
Incorporation and Formation Procedures
Finance and Distribution
Corporate Governance and Compliance
Partnership Decision-Making and Authority
Corporate and Personal Insolvency Procedures
Insolvency Claw-back and Creditor Priority
Business Taxation: Income Tax
Business Taxation: Capital Gains Tax
Corporation Tax, VAT and Inheritance Tax

Study this domain

Readiness self-check

Tick off everything you can confidently explain. Anything left unchecked is your study list — tap “Review” to jump straight into that domain.

Readiness

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Business Law and Practice

Review

Can I explain the difference in formation, liability, and governance between a sole trader, partnership, LLP, and private company without notes?
Can I walk through the claw-back tests (preference, undervalue, wrongful/fraudulent trading) and the order of creditor priority in an insolvency?
Can I calculate a basic Income Tax, CGT, or VAT liability for a business scenario given the figures?

Dispute Resolution

Review

Can I identify the correct dispute-resolution mechanism and applicable limitation period for a given contract or tort claim?
Can I trace a claim from issue through statements of case, disclosure, and trial to enforcement without missing a step?
Can I explain how a Part 36 offer affects costs at trial?

Contract

Review

Can I identify whether a valid, enforceable contract exists and state its terms and their status?
Can I distinguish misrepresentation, mistake, duress, and undue influence and their remedies?
Can I explain how frustration and breach differ in their effect on discharge?

Tort

Review

Can I set out the full negligence test (duty, breach, causation, remoteness) and apply it to a fact pattern?
Can I distinguish the 1957 and 1984 Occupiers' Liability Acts and when each applies?
Can I explain vicarious liability and employers' primary liability as separate routes to recovery?

The Legal System of England and Wales

Review

Can I explain the doctrine of precedent and the court hierarchy that supports it?
Can I apply the literal, golden, mischief, and purposive approaches to a piece of legislation?
Can I list the grounds of judicial review and the key sections of the Human Rights Act 1998?

Legal Services

Review

Can I explain when a solicitor must file a Suspicious Activity Report under POCA 2002?
Can I match a client's funding need to the right option (retainer, CFA, DBA, legal aid, third-party funding)?
Can I explain the scope of reserved legal activities and the SRA's regulatory role?

Property Law and Practice

Review

Can I walk a freehold transaction from title investigation through exchange, completion, and post-completion?
Can I explain the difference in covenant liability for leases granted before and after 1 January 1996?
Can I calculate SDLT/LTT and apply CGT Private Residence Relief to a straightforward scenario?

Wills and the Administration of Estates

Review

Can I state the formal requirements for a valid will and the grounds on which one can be challenged?
Can I apply the section 46 AEA 1925 intestacy rules to a family scenario?
Can I explain a personal representative's duties and an Inheritance Act 1975 claimant's grounds and time limit?

Solicitors Accounts

Review

Can I identify what counts as client money and when it may be withheld or transferred?
Can I post a double-entry bill including VAT and disbursements correctly?
Can I explain how a breach of the SRA Accounts Rules should be corrected once discovered?

Land Law

Review

Can I explain what makes an interest overriding under registered title versus what protects it under unregistered title?
Can I distinguish joint tenancy from tenancy in common and explain how severance occurs?
Can I explain how the benefit and burden of an easement or freehold covenant pass to successors?

Trusts Law

Review

Can I apply the three certainties to determine whether an express trust has been validly created?
Can I explain how a common intention constructive trust of the family home is established?
Can I explain the no-conflict and no-profit fiduciary rules and a trustee's liability for breach?

Criminal Liability

Review

Can I identify the actus reus and mens rea required for the main offences against the person and property?
Can I distinguish murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter on a set of facts?
Can I explain the difference between a general defence and a partial defence?

Criminal Law and Practice

Review

Can I explain a suspect's rights at the police station under PACE Codes C and D?
Can I apply the allocation procedure and explain when a case is sent to the Crown Court?
Can I explain the admissibility tests for confessions, hearsay, and bad character evidence?

Ethics and Professional Conduct

Review

Can I identify a conflict of interest or confidentiality breach in a realistic client scenario?
Can I explain a solicitor's duties to the court that override the client's instructions?
Can I apply the SRA Principles to resolve an ethical dilemma involving an NDA or SLAPP warning notice?

Quick reference

Key Legal Maxims & Terms

Latin maxims and doctrinal terms that recur across multiple SQE1 domains.

Ratio Decidendi

The binding legal reasoning behind a court's decision -- the part that creates precedent.

Distinct from obiter dictum

Obiter Dictum

A judge's remark made in passing that is not binding but may be persuasive in later cases.

Ultra Vires

Acting beyond one's legal power or authority, e.g. a company or public body exceeding its constitution or statutory powers.

Ex Turpi Causa

The defence that a claimant cannot recover for loss connected to their own illegal act.

Tort defence

Volenti Non Fit Injuria

The consent defence -- a claimant cannot claim for a risk they knowingly and voluntarily accepted.

Tort defence

Mens Rea

The mental element of a crime (intention or recklessness) that must accompany the prohibited act.

Actus Reus

The physical or conduct element of a crime, including relevant acts, omissions, and circumstances.

Privity of Contract

The principle that only the parties to a contract can sue or be sued on it, subject to statutory exceptions.

Common Acronyms

Abbreviations and statute short-names used throughout the SQE1 specification.

PACE: Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984Codes C and D govern detention and identification
CPR: Civil Procedure Rules
SRA: Solicitors Regulation Authority
POCA: Proceeds of Crime Act 2002Money-laundering offences
AML: Anti-Money Laundering
SAR: Suspicious Activity Report
FSMA: Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
HRA: Human Rights Act 1998
SDLT: Stamp Duty Land TaxEngland
LTT: Land Transaction TaxWales
TOLATA: Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
CVA: Company Voluntary Arrangement
IVA: Individual Voluntary Arrangement
LLP: Limited Liability Partnership
CJA 2003: Criminal Justice Act 2003Bad character gateways
CJPOA 1994: Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994Adverse inferences from silence

Key Statutes by Subject

The statute most likely to be tested for a given SQE1 topic area.

Theft & Property Offences

Theft Act 1968, ss 1, 8, 9, 10

Theft, robbery, burglary, aggravated burglary

Assault & Violence Offences

Offences Against the Person Act 1861, ss 47, 20, 18

Occupiers' Liability (Visitors)

Occupiers' Liability Act 1957

Occupiers' Liability (Non-Visitors)

Occupiers' Liability Act 1984

Product Liability

Consumer Protection Act 1987

Alongside negligence

Intestacy Rules

Administration of Estates Act 1925, s 46

Family Provision Claims

Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975

Business Lease Renewal

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, Part II

Co-ownership Disputes

Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, ss 14-15

Suspect Detention & Interviews

PACE 1984, Codes C and D

Bad Character Evidence

Criminal Justice Act 2003, s 101(1) / s 100(1)

7 gateways / 3 gateways

Silence & Adverse Inferences

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, ss 34-38

Frequently asked questions

Good to know

SQE1 is a closed-book assessment set at the level of a competent newly qualified solicitor of England and Wales -- no personal notes or materials are permitted at the desk.
Every question is single best answer format: choose the single best of five options, since more than one option may look partially correct.
FLK1 and FLK2 are sat on separate assessment days and can be booked in either order and in different sittings.
Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively within every FLK1 and FLK2 subject area, in addition to its own dedicated section.
An onscreen calculator is provided as part of the assessment platform for questions that require one (e.g. tax and accounts calculations) -- personal calculators and other personal equipment are not permitted.

Reading isn’t remembering.

SQE1 is uniquely broad - two closed-book Functioning Legal Knowledge papers spanning thirteen subject areas of English and Welsh law plus pervasive ethics - and most materials either overwhelm candidates with textbook depth or leave gaps against the SRA specification.

Only Ever turns the SRA's SQE1 assessment specification into a structured sequence of 15-minute study sessions, teaching each FLK1 and FLK2 subject area at the functioning-legal-knowledge level a newly qualified solicitor must apply, with single-best-answer practice woven throughout.

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