The SRA does not publish the papers candidates actually sat, but it does publish official sample questions for FLK1 and FLK2, and those should be your first stop. What follows is additional practice. The twelve questions below are drawn from the Myndaq practice bank and are not reproductions of any official item. They are written to the SQE1 single-best-answer format, six for FLK1 and six for FLK2, each with the answer and the rule that decides it, alongside the Myndaq SQE1 course.
The law is stated as a newly qualified solicitor would apply it; the SQE tests the law as it stands four calendar months before the first assessment in your window, so check any rule that may have changed since.
The pattern you are practising for
- Two assessments, FLK1 and FLK2, each of 180 single-best-answer questions.
- Each assessment in two sessions of 90 questions, 2 hours 33 minutes each, with a 60-minute break between them (as described in the SRA's 2023/24 annual report).
- Five options per question, one correct. Closed book.
- Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively across both assessments; tax only within Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, and Wills.
- You must reach the pass mark in each of FLK1 and FLK2; the mark is set per sitting.
At 2 hours 33 minutes for 90 questions you have about 1 minute 42 seconds per question. The scenario is long; the decision has to be quick.
FLK1
Question 1 — Constitutional and Administrative Law. A local authority publishes a policy stating that all licence applications will be considered on their individual merits. When a new business applies, an officer refuses it outright, saying the authority has an internal rule never to grant licences to new businesses and declining to look at the applicant's circumstances. The business seeks judicial review. Which ground of challenge is most likely to succeed?
- A. Breach of Article 6
- B. Proportionality
- C. Bias
- D. Fettering of discretion
- E. Legitimate expectation of a particular outcome
Answer: D. A decision-maker with a discretion may adopt a policy but must still consider whether to depart from it in the individual case. Applying a rigid "never" rule without looking at the applicant's circumstances fetters the discretion — a form of illegality. E is the near miss: the published policy created an expectation of individual consideration, not of a particular result, so the stronger ground is the fettering itself.
Question 2 — Tort. A cyclist is injured when a delivery driver negligently opens a van door into her path. She was riding without lights after dusk, which contributed to the collision, and was not wearing a helmet, which increased the severity of her head injury. The driver's insurer wishes to reduce the damages payable. Which best describes the correct approach?
- A. Contributory negligence is a complete defence, so she recovers nothing.
- B. Damages should be reduced under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 to the extent the court considers just and equitable having regard to her share in the responsibility for the damage.
- C. The defence of consent applies because by cycling at dusk she accepted the risk of injury.
- D. The failure to wear a helmet is irrelevant because it did not cause the collision.
- E. The illegality defence applies because riding without lights is an offence.
Answer: B. Contributory negligence is a partial defence under the 1945 Act, and the reduction is by reference to her share in the responsibility for the damage — so conduct that made the injury worse can count even if it did not cause the accident, which disposes of D. A states the pre-1945 position.
Question 3 — Contract remedies. An employer seeks an order compelling a highly skilled software engineer, who has resigned to join a competitor, to continue working for the remaining two years of his contract. What is the court's most likely approach?
- A. It will grant specific performance subject to the engineer's consent.
- B. It will grant a mandatory injunction requiring him to return to work.
- C. It will grant specific performance because damages cannot replace unique skills.
- D. It will refuse specific performance of the personal service contract but may grant an injunction restraining him from working for the competitor, if that does not amount to compelling performance.
- E. It will order restitution of the employer's training costs instead.
Answer: D. The court will not compel one person to work for another, so specific performance of a contract of personal service is refused — and a mandatory injunction to return (B) is the same thing by another name. A negative injunction enforcing a valid restraint may be available, but not if its practical effect is to force the employee back or leave him unable to earn a living.
Question 4 — Dispute Resolution (evidence). A party in a civil claim wishes to rely at trial on the written statement of an eyewitness who has emigrated and cannot attend. The opponent objects that it is hearsay. Which statement best reflects the position?
- A. It is admissible only if the witness swears an affidavit abroad.
- B. It can only be admitted if both parties consent.
- C. It is admissible as hearsay, but a hearsay notice should be served and its weight may be reduced.
- D. Hearsay is never admissible in civil claims unless the witness has died.
- E. It is automatically inadmissible because it is hearsay.
Answer: C. Under the Civil Evidence Act 1995 hearsay is admissible in civil proceedings; the party relying on it gives notice under the Civil Procedure Rules, and the court decides what weight to give it, taking into account matters such as why the witness is not being called. The trap is importing the criminal-evidence mindset into a civil question.
Question 5 — Ethics (SRA Principles). A client's instructions would, if followed, keep the client's confidence but undermine public trust in the solicitors' profession. The solicitor cannot satisfy both. How are the SRA Principles applied where they conflict?
- A. The duty to act in the client's best interests always takes precedence because the client is paying.
- B. The Principle safeguarding the wider public interest, including public trust and confidence in the profession, takes precedence over the duty to the individual client.
- C. Each Principle is given equal weight and a balanced compromise reached.
- D. The solicitor must cease to act in every case where two Principles appear to conflict.
- E. The solicitor follows whichever Principle the client prefers.
Answer: B. The SRA Principles state that where they come into conflict, those which safeguard the wider public interest take precedence over an individual client's interests. Ethics questions are often about which duty wins; the answer is rarely "the client's".
Question 6 — Ethics (regulator). A firm's compliance officer receives a formal SRA request for documents in an investigation into the firm. A partner suggests providing only the documents that show the firm favourably and delaying the rest. Which best reflects the firm's obligations?
- A. Cooperate with the SRA and provide full and accurate information and documents promptly, not a favourable selection.
- B. Withhold unhelpful documents as confidential.
- C. Delay production while taking advice on limiting reputational harm.
- D. Provide a selective set, provided nothing supplied is false.
- E. Respond only if the SRA obtains a court order.
Answer: A. Firms and solicitors must cooperate with the SRA and respond promptly with full and accurate information. D is the tempting one: selective disclosure that is technically true is still a failure to cooperate, and can itself mislead.
FLK2
Question 7 — Criminal Liability (duress). A gang tells a woman that unless she carries a package of drugs across the city they will seriously injure her child that evening. She agrees and is stopped by police. She raises duress by threats. Which requirement must she satisfy?
- A. The threat was of death or serious injury, and a sober person of reasonable firmness sharing her characteristics would have acted as she did.
- B. No reasonable alternative existed, judged purely from her own viewpoint.
- C. The threat was carried out before she offended.
- D. The threat was directed only at her, not a family member.
- E. The threat was of any harm, however minor, provided she believed it.
Answer: A. Duress requires a threat of death or serious injury — which may be to a person for whom she is responsible, such as her child — and the objective limb from Graham: would a sober person of reasonable firmness sharing her characteristics have done the same? B removes the objective limb; D and E misstate who and what the threat can concern.
Question 8 — Criminal Liability (attempts). Intending to kill his rival, a man puts what he believes is a lethal dose of poison into the rival's coffee. It is in fact harmless sugar. He is charged with attempted murder. What is his liability?
- A. Guilty: judged on the facts as he believed them, he did an act more than merely preparatory with intent to kill.
- B. Not liable: attempted murder requires only an intention to cause grievous bodily harm.
- C. Not liable, because on the true facts the substance could not cause death.
- D. Guilty only of attempting to administer a noxious substance.
- E. Not liable, because putting sugar in a drink is merely preparatory.
Answer: A. Under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981, impossibility is no defence: a person can be guilty of attempting an offence even though the facts make its commission impossible, and his intention is judged on the facts as he believed them (R v Shivpuri). Note B is wrong in two ways: attempted murder requires an intention to kill, not merely to cause serious harm.
Question 9 — Criminal Liability (theft). A defendant borrows a friend's expensive bicycle for the weekend with permission. On Sunday he decides to sell it and keep the proceeds, and does so, never intending to return it. When, if at all, did actus reus and mens rea of theft coincide?
- A. When he decided to sell it and dealt with it as owner, appropriating it with intention permanently to deprive.
- B. Never, because he had permission to take it.
- C. Never, because appropriation cannot follow lawful possession.
- D. Only when the buyer paid.
- E. When he first borrowed it.
Answer: A. Section 3(1) of the Theft Act 1968 makes a later assumption of the rights of an owner an appropriation, even by someone who came by the property innocently. Selling it as his own, with intent permanently to deprive, completes theft. When he borrowed it he had neither dishonesty nor that intent, which rules out E.
Question 10 — Trusts (certainty of objects). A settlor transfers £250,000 to trustees "on trust for such of my employees and former employees, and their relatives and dependants, as the trustees shall in their absolute discretion select". There are thousands of potential beneficiaries, but any individual's status can be proved. Is the trust valid?
- A. No, because a complete list of beneficiaries cannot be compiled.
- B. Yes: it satisfies the "any given postulant" test and is not administratively unworkable.
- C. Only if the trustees distribute equally.
- D. No, because "relatives" is conceptually uncertain.
- E. No, because the class is too large to administer.
Answer: B. For a discretionary trust the test is whether it can be said of any given person that they are or are not a member of the class (McPhail v Doulton); the complete-list test in A applies to fixed trusts. "Relatives" was held sufficiently certain in Re Baden (No 2), and a large class defined by connection to an employer is not administratively unworkable.
Question 11 — Land Law (trusts of land). Two co-owners hold their home on a trust of land as beneficial joint tenants. Their relationship has broken down: one wants to sell, the other wants to stay. Under which provision can the co-owner wishing to sell apply for an order for sale?
- A. Section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
- B. Section 30 of the Law of Property Act 1925
- C. Section 36 of the Law of Property Act 1925
- D. Section 52 of the Law of Property Act 1925
- E. Section 1 of the Trustee Act 2000
Answer: A. Section 14 of TOLATA lets any trustee or person with an interest in property subject to a trust of land apply to court, and section 15 lists the factors the court considers. B is the repealed predecessor; C concerns joint tenancies and severance; D the requirement of a deed; E the trustee's duty of care.
Question 12 — Solicitors Accounts. A firm holds £5,000 of client money for a client on a probate matter. It delivers a bill for professional charges of £1,000 plus VAT of £200 and, with the client's authority, moves £1,200 from client account to business account. Which entries record the movement between the two bank accounts?
- A. Credit client cash account £1,200; debit business cash account £1,000.
- B. Credit business cash account £1,200; debit client cash account £1,200.
- C. Credit client cash account £1,200; debit business cash account £1,200.
- D. Debit client cash account £1,200; credit business cash account £1,200.
- E. Credit client cash account £1,000; debit business cash account £1,000.
Answer: C. Money leaving a bank account is a credit to that cash account; money arriving is a debit. So client cash is credited and business cash debited — each with the full £1,200, because the VAT is part of what is transferred. B and D reverse the direction; A and E drop the VAT from one or both sides.
How to use practice like this
Work in blocks of 90 against 2 hours 33 minutes, because the SQE1 is as much a stamina test as a knowledge test. Mark every miss by subject and by why — a rule you did not know, a rule you misapplied, or an option you misread — and keep an ethics tally across all subjects, since ethics can appear anywhere. Use the SRA's official sample questions to calibrate. For the full subject list, see the SQE1 syllabus and FLK subjects; for a study method, see the SQE1 preparation guide.
Quick answers
Are there SQE1 past papers?
No live papers are published, but the SRA publishes official FLK1 and FLK2 sample questions. Use those first, then further practice like this.
How many options does an SQE1 question have?
Five, with only one correct answer.
How much time is there per SQE1 question?
About 1 minute 42 seconds: 90 questions in each 2-hour-33-minute session.
Is ethics tested in every subject?
It can be. Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively across both FLK assessments.
Do I need to pass FLK1 and FLK2 separately?
Yes. You must reach the pass mark in each of them.
