Important Updates to SQE1 from January 2027
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The SRA is making several important changes to SQE1 from the January 2027 assessment onwards. The changes have been introduced following feedback from candidates and other stakeholders and will apply to all candidates, including both first-time sitters and those resitting the assessment. The main changes concern the number of questions you will need to answer and the way the subject areas are distributed between the two sessions of each FLK assessment.
From January 2027, the number of questions in each FLK assessment will be reduced from 180 to 170. As each FLK is divided into two sessions, you will answer 85 questions in each session rather than 90. This means that you will answer a total of 340 questions across SQE1, rather than 360. Despite the reduction in the number of questions, the time allowed will remain unchanged at 2 hours and 33 minutes per session.
Another significant change is the way questions will be distributed between the two sessions of each FLK. At present, you can be tested on all the subject areas within both sessions of an FLK. From January 2027, the subject areas will instead be divided between the two sessions. For FLK1, the first session will cover Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution and Legal Services, while the second session will cover Tort, Contract Law and Legal Systems, including the Legal System of England and Wales, Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law. For FLK2, the first session will cover Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts in the context of Wills, Trusts Law and Land Law. The second session will cover Property Law and Practice, Solicitors Accounts in the context of Property, Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice.
| FLK | Session | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| FLK1 | 1 |
|
| 2 |
|
|
| FLK2 | 1 |
|
| 2 |
|
However, you should not expect questions to be presented in blocks according to subject. Questions within each session will continue to be fully randomised across the relevant subject areas. In other words, you will not receive all the Business Law and Practice questions together, followed by all the Dispute Resolution questions, for example. Instead, questions from the different subject areas covered in that session will continue to appear in a mixed and random order.
Ethics and Professional Conduct will also remain a pervasive part of SQE1. Questions on ethics and professional conduct can continue to arise in any subject area and, as a result, may appear in either session of an FLK assessment. You should therefore continue to prepare for ethics and professional conduct across the full range of subjects rather than treating it as a separate topic that is confined to one particular session.
The SRA has also updated the relevant sections of its SQE website, including the SQE1 assessment specification, to reflect these changes. Candidates planning to sit SQE1 from January 2027 onwards should make sure they are working from the updated specification and understand which subjects will be assessed in each session before finalising their revision plans.
