Unlike most admissions tests, SQE1 does have a syllabus — the Solicitors Regulation Authority calls it the Functioning Legal Knowledge (FLK), and sets it out subject by subject in its SQE1 Assessment Specification. The specification applicable to assessments from 1 September 2026 was updated in April 2026 after the SRA's annual review. This page summarises what it covers and how it is examined, alongside the Myndaq SQE1 course. The full specification, with each subject's assessment objectives and topic lists, is the document to revise from.
Where SQE1 sits
To qualify as a solicitor of England and Wales through the SQE route you need four things: a degree in any subject or an equivalent level 6 qualification; passes in both SQE1 and SQE2; two years' full-time, or equivalent, qualifying work experience; and to meet the SRA's character and suitability requirements. This page is about SQE1, the Functioning Legal Knowledge assessments.
The two assessments
SQE1 is two separate assessments, FLK1 and FLK2, each of 180 single-best-answer questions — 360 in all. The SRA's annual report for 2023/24 describes each assessment as two sessions of 2 hours 33 minutes, with 90 questions in each session and a 60-minute break between them, taken electronically under invigilated conditions at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and internationally.
Each question is followed by five possible answers, with only one correct. The assessments are closed book: the questions test fundamental principles a newly qualified solicitor would be expected to know without looking them up, not matters of detail they would check.
FLK1 subjects
- Business Law and Practice
- Dispute Resolution
- Contract Law
- Tort
- Legal System of England and Wales, Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law (together, "Legal System")
- Legal Services
FLK2 subjects
- Property Law and Practice
- Wills and the Administration of Estates
- Solicitors Accounts — examined in the context of Property Law and Practice and Wills and the Administration of Estates
- Land Law
- Trusts Law
- Criminal Liability
- Criminal Law and Practice
Within each assessment, a question may draw on any combination of its subjects, the way a real client matter would. Expect a property question that also tests Solicitors Accounts, or a business question that turns on contract.
How the subjects are split across the two sessions
Each FLK assessment is sat in two sessions, and the specification's own table says which subjects appear in which:
- FLK1, Session 1: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Legal Services
- FLK1, Session 2: Tort, Contract Law, Legal System (Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law)
- FLK2, Session 1: Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts in the context of Wills, Trusts Law, Land Law
- FLK2, Session 2: Property Law and Practice, Solicitors Accounts in the context of Property, Criminal Liability, Criminal Law and Practice
Within a session the questions are fully randomised — you will not get them grouped by subject — and Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively across every session.
The published weighting
The specification's Annex 4 blueprint states each subject's share of its paper, classifying every question by its primary focus:
- FLK1: Business Law and Practice 14–20% · Dispute Resolution 14–20% · Contract Law 14–20% · Tort 14–20% · Legal System (including Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law) 14–20% · Legal Services 12–16% · Ethics and Professional Conduct pervades
- FLK2: Property Law and Practice including Solicitors Accounts in conveyancing 14–20% · Land Law 14–20% · Wills and the Administration of Estates including Solicitors Accounts 14–20% · Trusts Law 14–20% · Criminal Liability 14–20% · Criminal Law and Practice 14–20% · Ethics and Professional Conduct pervades
- Ethics, Professional Conduct and money laundering questions can make up to 20% of the questions in any SQE1 sitting; money laundering is assessed in FLK1 only.
The SRA's own caveat: because a question is classified by its primary focus, applying a subject's knowledge will be needed for more questions than its percentage suggests — a dispute-resolution question may need contract law to answer.
Ethics runs through everything
Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively across both assessments and can appear in any subject. It covers the SRA Principles and the Codes of Conduct, and the specification says questions can be based on realistic client problems, including situations set out in SRA warning notices such as those on non-disclosure agreements and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). There is no separate ethics paper to revise for at the end; it has to be learned alongside each subject.
Where tax is tested
Principles of taxation are examined only in the context of Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates. Questions can require a calculation. The specification's rule on figures is worth knowing exactly: candidates are expected to remember certain long-standing thresholds and rates and to know which reliefs and exemptions exist, but for rates, thresholds and reliefs that successive Budgets adjust, the figures needed to work out an answer will normally be provided.
The law you are tested on
The law cut-off date is four calendar months before the first assessment in an assessment window. You are tested on the law as it stood on that date, not on later developments. Changes that take effect on the cut-off date itself may be examined.
The specification also expects you to know where the law of England differs from the law of Wales on particular topics, and to use case names or statutory provisions where they are the usual way of referring to a principle — Rylands v Fletcher, CPR Part 36, a section 25 notice.
The standard
Questions test the application of fundamental legal rules and principles at the level of a competent newly qualified solicitor — Level 3 of the SRA's Threshold Standard. They are not meant to test specialist practice a new solicitor is unlikely to meet. The specification lists the kinds of task a question can set: identify and apply a principle; apply a principle the question names; advise whether a client can lawfully achieve an outcome; or explain why a stated legal result follows.
How the result works
To pass SQE1 you must reach the overall pass mark for each of FLK1 and FLK2. There is no single fixed pass mark: it is set for each sitting by the SQE Assessment Board under the SRA's Marking and Standard Setting Policy, and there are no quotas. Pass rates are therefore a better guide to difficulty than any mark — the SRA reports first-time SQE1 pass rates between 46% and 60% across sittings to date.
What the specification does not tell you
- The exact number of questions per subject in your sitting. Annex 4 gives percentage ranges, not counts, and classifies by primary focus.
- Which subjects a given question will combine. Any combination within the assessment is possible.
- The pass mark in advance. It is set per sitting.
For a study method, see the SQE1 preparation guide. For fees and resit rules, see SQE1 fees, registration and resits. For worked questions across both assessments, see SQE1 practice questions.
Quick answers
What subjects are in SQE1?
FLK1: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract, Tort, the Legal System and Legal Services. FLK2: Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts, Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice.
How many questions are in SQE1?
360: 180 in FLK1 and 180 in FLK2, each split into two sessions of 90.
Is ethics a separate SQE1 paper?
No. Ethics and Professional Conduct is examined pervasively across both FLK assessments.
Are SQE1 exams open book?
No. Both FLK assessments are closed book.
What law is tested in SQE1?
The law as it stands four calendar months before the first assessment in the window.
