SQE1 changes from January 2027: the short version

SQE1 changes from January 2027: the short version

From the January 2027 sitting, the SRA's SQE1 changes cut each Functioning Legal Knowledge assessment (FLK1 and FLK2) from 180 questions to 170: 85 questions per session instead of 90, 340 across SQE1 instead of 360. Subject areas are grouped by session rather than spread across both sessions of a paper, while the time allowed stays at 2 hours 33 minutes per session. The new structure applies to every candidate, first sitters and re-sitters alike.

Source: SRA news, "Important changes to SQE1 for January 2027 onwards", 10 September 2026.

What exactly has changed in SQE1?

Fewer questions: 180 to 170 per FLK, 85 questions per session

Until the July 2026 sitting, each FLK had 180 questions, sat in one day as two sessions of 90. From January 2027 it has 170, as two sessions of 85: 10 fewer per paper, 5 fewer per session, 20 fewer across SQE1.

SQE1 subjects per session: the new FLK1 and FLK2 table

This is the change that matters most for revision. Until now every session could draw on every subject area of its FLK; from January 2027 each session stays inside a fixed list:

Ethics is not listed: it can appear in any session.

Solicitors Accounts sits in both FLK2 sessions, in different contexts: wills in Session 1, property in Session 2. Our view: it cannot be revised once and filed under one session.

Ethics and Professional Conduct still appears in every session

Ethics is not a grouped subject. The SRA still tests it across all subject areas, so it can appear in every session: a wills or dispute resolution question can still carry an ethics dimension. Grouping narrows the substantive law, not ethics.

Questions within a session are still mixed, not blocked by subject

Grouping by session is not grouping by subject. Within a session, questions still arrive in a mixed, random order, so you will not get all the Contract questions together. In FLK1 Session 2 you still switch between tort, contract and legal systems, but within three groupings rather than all seven of the paper's subject areas.

The SRA has amended the SQE website and the SQE1 assessment specification accordingly; treat the specification as the final word on what you will sit.

What has not changed

Time allowed, format and the two-day structure

Each session is still 2 hours 33 minutes. Every question is still single best answer: five options, one correct. The assessment is still closed book, computer-based at Pearson VUE test centres, FLK1 and FLK2 on separate days with a 60-minute break between a day's two sessions.

The blueprint and its subject weightings

The blueprint, the proportion of questions per subject area, is unaffected. Note that it lists six areas per paper, not the seven of the specification's subject-area list. In FLK1 it puts the Legal System of England and Wales, sources of law, and constitutional and administrative law on one line, so five areas each carry 14-20% of the paper and Legal Services 12-16%. In FLK2 it folds Solicitors Accounts into Property and into Wills, and all six areas carry 14-20%. Ethics pervades both papers.

Scoring, the pass mark and attempts

Scoring is not among the changes the SRA listed, so its current published position applies: scores are scaled from 0 to 500 with a pass mark of 300 on each FLK, and both must be passed. The standard is set by a Modified Angoff panel of solicitors. Attempts are capped at three per part within six years of your first sitting.

Why has the SRA made these SQE1 changes?

Three connected reasons, paraphrased from the SRA's announcement.

Feedback that SQE1 felt rushed for the time per question

Candidates and stakeholders told the SRA that SQE1 can feel rushed and pressurised for the time allowed per question, and that the lack of grouping made this worse.

A data review across every previous SQE1 sitting

The original 180 questions per FLK were set to sample every subject area in each FLK and keep the assessment reliable, producing consistently fair, accurate and reproducible scores. The reduction follows a data review across all previous SQE1 windows, done now rather than after only a few deliveries so there was enough data to be confident it improves candidate experience while keeping accuracy.

Focus by session without losing assessment security

Splitting subjects between sessions lets you focus on fewer per session; keeping randomisation within a session preserves assessment security. Fewer subjects, still no predictable order.

What the changes mean in practice: the arithmetic and your pacing

The inputs are the SRA's (2 hours 33 minutes, 90 and 85 questions); the arithmetic and advice are ours, working shown.

Six more seconds per question: 102 to 108

Our analysis: six seconds is modest on its own; an FLK day is still 5 hours 6 minutes of assessment time plus the 60-minute break, now for 170 questions rather than 180. Grouping is the larger change in how the day feels: it narrows what you must hold ready.

Three or four subjects per session instead of seven

Every session could draw on all seven subject areas of its paper (the specification's list, which counts the two legal-systems areas separately in FLK1 and the two criminal areas separately in FLK2). From January 2027 an FLK1 session draws on three groupings and an FLK2 session on four.

What the blueprint does and does not tell you

The ranges are per paper: at 14-20% of a 170-question paper, a subject area is roughly 24-34 questions (170 × 0.14 = 23.8; 170 × 0.20 = 34); Legal Services, at 12-16%, is roughly 20-27 (170 × 0.12 = 20.4; 170 × 0.16 = 27.2). Each session now carries only its own subjects, and the SRA has not published per-session percentages, so we will not invent them.

Pacing checkpoints for an 85-question session

FQPS guidance from the 108-second average:

1. Question 20 by 36 minutes (20 × 108 s = 2,160 s).
2. Question 40 by 72 minutes (40 × 108 s = 4,320 s).
3. Question 60 by 108 minutes (60 × 108 s = 6,480 s).
4. Question 85 at 153 minutes (85 × 108 s = 9,180 s).

Treat 108 seconds as a budget, not a target: most questions should take less, banking seconds for long stems and Solicitors Accounts calculations. Past budget, pick the better option, flag it and move on, and use the 60-minute break as a reset between two differently themed sessions. The pressure is eased, not removed; for technique, see our guide to how to approach multiple-choice questions in SQE1.

Rehearse the checkpoints before the day. The free FLK1 and FLK2 mocks you get on registration are timed like the real assessment day, so log your position at 36, 72, 108 and 153 minutes. In our experience the pattern matters more than the score. A candidate who is on time at question 60 and then slows is losing time to long stems late in the session; the fix is to bank seconds earlier, not read faster. One who finishes 20 minutes early with a low score is answering too quickly and can afford a second reading of each stem.

Is the new SQE1 format easier?

What follows is FQPS analysis.

Fewer questions is not a lower standard

The pass mark is not among the changes the SRA listed; its published position is 300 on the 0-500 scale for each FLK. The standard is set by a Modified Angoff panel of solicitors, and scaled scores make sittings of different difficulty comparable, so a gentler-feeling paper does not produce a gentler pass mark. The blueprint is unchanged, and the SRA's stated aim is a better candidate experience with accuracy preserved: a less rushed day, the same standard.

What the pass rates tell you, and what they do not

The most recent published results are for the January 2026 sitting (SRA statistical report, 31 March 2026). First-attempt pass rates were 65% for FLK1, 61% for FLK2 and 58% overall; the pass rate for all candidates taking both parts was 53%. Those figures describe the 180-question format and say nothing about the new one; we will not predict it.

First sitters and re-sitters: who the changes affect and how

The new structure applies to every candidate from January 2027, with no legacy option: a re-sitter who sat a 180-question paper in 2026 sits the new 170-question, subject-grouped format.

If January 2027 is your first attempt

You only ever learn one format, so there is nothing to unlearn. Build every timed practice around the new shape from day one: 85 questions in 153 minutes from one session's subjects, mixed randomly, never 90-question papers out of habit.

If you are re-sitting after a 180-question sitting

You carry muscle memory for 90-question sessions drawing on every subject of the paper at 102-second pacing. Adjust deliberately, in this order:

1. Re-tune your pacing to 108 seconds, against the checkpoints above.
2. Re-cut your notes and question logs by session, not by paper. A log headed "FLK2" hides which side of the break a weakness belongs to.
3. Treat old 90-question mock scores as a guide to knowledge, not to pacing.

What decides the result is unchanged: same time per session, same blueprint, Ethics still everywhere, and a pass mark of 300 on each FLK that is not among the listed changes. With three attempts per part within six years of your first sitting, get the format right this time. Our SQE1 preparation page sets out the plan.

How to prepare for SQE1's subject-grouped sessions

FQPS analysis throughout, built on the SRA's session table and the unchanged blueprint. The SRA has told you which subjects sit together, so revise them together.

Sequence revision by session, not only by paper

The revision unit used to be the paper; from January 2027 there are four, one per session. Work subject by subject early on, then treat each session as a block in the final weeks:

1. Map every topic to one of the four sessions; Solicitors Accounts maps to two.
2. Revise a session's subjects together, rotating through the four blocks.
3. Sit each block as a full timed session at least once: 85 questions in 153 minutes, that session's subjects only, mixed order.
4. Log every wrong answer under its session first, then its subject.

The test of a plan built for January 2027 is simple: for any week on it, you can say which of the four sessions that week serves. A plan whose only units are FLK1 and FLK2 is a plan for the old format. If you use a planner, set the exam date first and let the session blocks fall out of it. Cleo, our adaptive study planner, builds the schedule around your exam date and re-plans automatically; a free revision plan comes with registration, and the daily flashcards run on the Leitner spaced-repetition system, so a session's subjects keep resurfacing between the timed sittings of that block.

FLK1 Session 1: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Legal Services

The procedural and commercial session. Business Law and Practice and Dispute Resolution each carry 14-20% of the paper; Legal Services carries the smaller 12-16% range. Taxation appears here only in the context of Business Law and Practice.

FLK1 Session 2: Tort, Contract Law, Legal Systems

The doctrinal session. Legal Systems is one grouping spanning the Legal System of England and Wales and Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law, so do not treat it as one small subject. Practise switching between negligence, contract and public law problems.

FLK2 Session 1: Wills, Solicitors Accounts (wills), Trusts, Land Law

The succession and equity cluster. Wills, Trusts and Land Law share vocabulary (beneficiaries, trustees, legal and equitable interests), so practise distinguishing them under time. Accounts and taxation appear here in the context of wills, so revise estate accounts alongside the substantive law.

In blueprint terms, three of FLK2's six areas sit here: wills and intestacy, probate and administration practice (including taxation and Solicitors Accounts in the context of wills and probate); Trusts; and Land Law, each 14-20% of the paper. That is a guide to weight across the paper; the SRA has not published per-session counts.

FLK2 Session 2: Property Law and Practice, Solicitors Accounts (property), Criminal Liability, Criminal Law and Practice

The mixed session: transactional property alongside two criminal areas, a conveyancing timeline one moment and a police station scenario the next. Accounts and taxation appear again, now in the property context, so revise accounts twice: wills fact patterns, then conveyancing ones.

The other three of FLK2's six blueprint areas sit here: Property, Criminal practice and Criminal liability. In our experience Property is the broadest of the three, since the blueprint places freehold and leasehold real estate law and practice, planning, property taxation and Solicitors Accounts (conveyancing) under that one heading. We also find that the switch between the two halves is where candidates lose seconds, so revise the property side as one transaction, the criminal side as one case timeline, then practise mixed sets that jump between them.

Ethics cannot be scheduled away

Ethics and Professional Conduct can appear in every session, so it belongs inside every revision block, not in a folder you open once.

Do not over-fit: the blueprint still governs

Grouping is a sequencing tool, not permission to compartmentalise. Single best classification means a question filed under one area can still need another, so keep cross-area knowledge in every block: a land law question can still turn on trusts.

For practice, start with the SRA's 220 official sample questions (110 per paper, answer keys only), then widen out with our 1,000+ free SQE1 sample questions.

How FQPS mocks mirror the January 2027 format

FQPS Academy's full-length SQE1 mocks follow the January 2027 structure: two 85-question sessions per paper, each drawing only on that session's SRA subject areas, mixed in random order. Each session is 2 hours 33 minutes, with a 60-minute break between them.

One full-length FLK1 mock and one full-length FLK2 mock are free on registration, no card required, timed like the real assessment day, with detailed feedback on every question; credits never expire. Our question bank holds 5,900+ SRA-style single best answer MCQs, written and peer-reviewed by qualified solicitors of England and Wales, none AI-generated.

Key dates, fees and booking for January 2027

January 2027 and July 2027 assessment windows

FLK1 runs 11-15 January 2027 and FLK2 18-22 January 2027, at Pearson VUE test centres on separate days. The following window, July 2027 (FLK1 12-16 July, FLK2 19-23 July), also uses the new format.

Fees from September 2026

SQE1 costs £2,006 for bookings from September 2026, up from £1,934 (SQE2: £3,086, from £2,974); both are VAT exempt. Our view: with a cap of three attempts at each part within six years of your first sitting, and £2,006 a sitting, the cost of booking before you have rehearsed the new shape is counted in fees as well as months. Our guide to the SQE covers the whole qualification, and our SQE1 pricing page what preparation with us costs.

Before you book: three things to do this week

Our view of the next steps, in order:

1. Read the amended SQE1 assessment specification, the current version on the SRA's site, not a copy saved earlier this year.
2. Redraw your revision plan into four session blocks, with Ethics in all four.
3. Sit one timed 85-question session in the new shape, logging your position at the 36, 72, 108 and 153-minute checkpoints.

Then book, knowing the shape of the day you are preparing for.

SQE1 January 2027 changes: frequently asked questions