Can You Skip All Solicitors Accounts Topics and Still Pass SQE1?

For many aspiring solicitors, the thought of tackling Solicitors Accounts topics in SQE1 can feel overwhelming. If you are one of those who feel hopeless about accounting or dealing with numbers, it is not the end of the world. Take a look at our analysis below.

Solicitors Accounts in FLK2
Question about Solicitors Accounts appear exclusively in FLK2, under Property Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates. According to the SQE Blueprint, you will have 25–36 questions (14–20%) on Property Practice and another 25–36 questions (14–20%) on Wills and Administration of Estates.

In total, we estimate there will be around 10 questions on Solicitors Accounts. However, it is important to note that not all Solicitors Accounts questions are accounting questions that require calculation, some of them on certain topics, such as client money, SRA Accounts Rules, accountants' reports, and accounting records, are conceptual or ethical questions that require no calculation. We therefore expect that you will have around 5 questions that deal with actual accounting operations.

According to past statistics, you need to answer 99–103 questions correctly out of 180 to pass FLK2. This means you need to answer approximately 55–57% of the questions correctly. Even if you skip all Solicitors Accounts questions, you will still only need to answer around 99–103 of the remaining 170 questions correctly to pass. This means that, in theory, it is possible to skip all Solicitors Accounts questions and still pass FLK2, provided you perform well across the other subjects in FLK2.

Alternatively, you may choose to answer all Solicitors Accounts questions that require no calculation but skip all those that require calculation. If you can deal with conceptual or ethical questions, you only need to forgo 5 questions, which will give you a higher chance of success

Should You Actually Skip It?
Although it is possible to give up on all Solicitors Accounts topics and still pass FLK2, mastering this subject can significantly boost your chances of success. For this reason, we have prepared our SQE Solicitors Accounts Study Guide to help you overcome this hurdle.

Solicitors Accounts questions are often highly rule-based and predictable. Once you understand the SRA Accounts Rules and other relevant topics, many questions become straightforward to answer correctly. A solid understanding of these topics could provide you with relatively reliable marks that are harder to drop than in more discursive areas of law.

SQE1 is challenging, but strategic preparation can make a real difference. If Solicitors Accounts feels like an insurmountable hurdle, you can deprioritise it and still have a reasonable chance of passing FLK2. However, investing time to master this subject, particularly the high-frequency topics, such as client money, client account, disbursements, interest, operation of joint account, withdrawals from client account, VAT, third-party managed accounts, billing, and mixed payments, can be a genuine game-changer for your overall score.

If you want to find out whether you can skip all taxation topics and still pass SQE1, you should take a look at this article as well.