SQE1 Changes for January 2027: What's New, What Isn't, and How to Prepare

Published 11 September 2026 · 14 min read

On 10 September 2026 the Solicitors Regulation Authority announced the first structural change to SQE1 since the exam launched in 2021. From the January 2027 sitting, each FLK paper will be shorter, subjects will be grouped by session, and you will get a little more time for every question.

Some of the press coverage has called this "watering down" the exam. That is not what the SRA has announced. The law you need to know, and the subject weightings, are unchanged. What has changed is the shape of the day, and that matters for how you practise.

This guide sets out every SQE1 change confirmed by the SRA, the syllabus updates that took effect on 1 September 2026, and what to do differently in your revision if you are sitting in January 2027 or later.

Key points

• 170 questions per FLK paper from January 2027, down from 180. That is 85 per session instead of 90.
• Same time: each session is still 2 hours 33 minutes, so you get about 108 seconds per question, up from about 102.
• Subjects are now grouped by session. You will know which subjects can appear in the morning and which in the afternoon.
• Ethics and professional conduct can still appear in any session, and questions stay randomised within each session.
• Unchanged: the assessment blueprint (the proportion of questions per subject), the single-best-answer format and the body of Functioning Legal Knowledge.
• Separately, from 1 September 2026: an updated FLK specification applies, and any tax rates, thresholds or relief values you need will now be given in the question.

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The SQE1 changes at a glance

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

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Change 1: 170 questions per paper, with more time for each

From January 2027, FLK1 and FLK2 will each contain 170 single-best-answer questions, split into two sessions of 85. The session length stays at 2 hours 33 minutes (153 minutes).

What the extra time is actually worth

The headline figure is "six extra seconds a question". Put another way:

• Old format: 153 minutes ÷ 90 questions = about 1.7 minutes (102 seconds) per question.
• New format: 153 minutes ÷ 85 questions = 1.8 minutes (108 seconds) per question.
• Across a session, removing five questions frees about 8.5 minutes that you would previously have spent answering them.

Eight and a half minutes is not transformative, but it is real. For many candidates it is the difference between flagging and returning to three or four difficult questions at the end of a session, or guessing them because the clock ran out.

A simple pacing plan for the new format

At 1.8 minutes a question, the maths becomes tidy:

If you practise to the old pace, you will finish early in January, which is fine. If you have been drilling on 180-question mocks and building your sense of "am I behind?" around 90-question sessions, recalibrate now so you do not misread your position on the day.

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Change 2: subjects grouped by session

This is the more significant change for revision. Until now, any subject could appear in either session of an FLK paper, so you might answer a contract question, then a company law question, then a tort question, all in the same morning. From January 2027 each session has a defined subject group.

The new session structure

Ethics and professional conduct continue to be tested across all subject areas, so an ethics issue can appear in any session.

Three details that are easy to miss

1. Questions are still randomised within a session. You will not answer all the Business Law questions, then all the Dispute Resolution questions. The SRA has kept randomisation to protect assessment security. Grouping narrows the field. It does not put the questions in order.
2. Solicitors Accounts is split by context. Accounts questions set in a probate or estate context sit in FLK2 Session 1. Those set in a conveyancing or property context sit in Session 2. If you have been revising Solicitors Accounts as a single, context-free block, practise it inside both kinds of transaction.
3. FLK1 now splits "practice" from "principles". Session 1 is transactional and procedural (business, litigation, regulation of legal services). Session 2 is the core common law and public law subjects. Many candidates find these call for different kinds of thinking, and you can now warm up for each.

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What has not changed

It is worth being precise here, because the "exams made easier" framing in some coverage is misleading.

• The blueprint is unchanged. The SRA states that "the proportion of questions that can be asked in each subject area (i.e. the SQE1 assessment blueprint) remains unaffected".
• The Functioning Legal Knowledge you must know is unchanged by this announcement. The syllabus was updated separately through the annual review (see below), not reduced.
• The question format is unchanged. Single best answer, one correct option, scenario-based.
• Nothing has been announced about the pass standard. At the January 2026 sitting, candidates needed a scaled score of 300 on each of FLK1 and FLK2 (SRA statistical report). The SRA's announcement does not mention any change to how the pass mark is set.

In short, SQE1 should feel less rushed. It is not a smaller body of law, and the questions themselves are not being made easier.

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The other change: an updated SQE1 specification from 1 September 2026

Separate from the January 2027 structural changes, the SRA has published updated SQE1 and SQE2 assessment specifications following its annual review of Functioning Legal Knowledge. These apply to assessments taking place after 1 September 2026. The October 2026 SQE2 is the first sitting to use them, so for SQE1 they take effect from January 2027 as well.

Tax figures will be provided

Across SQE1 and SQE2, the specification now states that "where candidates are required to apply the monetary value of any exemptions and reliefs, particular rates or thresholds, these will be provided."

That changes where your tax revision effort should go. You still need to know which relief or exemption applies, when it applies and how to apply it. You no longer need to memorise the numbers themselves. Candidates who have been drilling rate tables should redirect that time to application.

FLK1 specification changes

• Legal System: "the appeal system" has been deleted from the court hierarchy topic. "The judiciary" is now "judicial function". "Legitimacy" has been removed from the heading on separation of powers and the rule of law.
• Legal Services: the funding topic now refers to eligibility for civil legal aid. "Criminal and" has been deleted.
• Dispute Resolution: "oral examination", in enforcement of money judgments, has been replaced with "obtaining information from judgment debtor", the language of the current procedure.
• Business Law and Practice: clarifications to the scope of sole traders, partnerships, LLPs and company types.
• Contract Law: interpretation of contract terms and classification of terms are now separate items.

FLK2 specification changes

The FLK2 changes are mostly clarifications rather than new content, including:

• Property Practice: pre-contract searches guidance combined and expanded, with elements of drafting the contract added.
• Wills: "knowledge and approval" and the burden of proof are now named expressly.
• Probate: more detail on grants of representation, including order of priority and evidence requirements.
• Trusts: "recipient" and "accessory" liability are now described as knowing receipt and dishonest assistance.
• Criminal Law and Practice: requirements for a lawful police interview added, bail procedure expanded and bad character evidence clarified.

The SRA has published tracked-change PDFs showing every amendment, available until January 2027. If you are sitting in January, read them once against your notes. See the SRA's summary of the September 2026 changes.

SQE2 changes in brief

For SQE2, the updates include a third "Ethics and Professional Conduct" category within the law assessment criteria, money laundering now examinable in a property practice context, clarified guidance on correct and comprehensive application of the law, and closer alignment of the legal research station with the Statement of Solicitor Competence.

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Why the SRA made these changes

The SRA says it acted on candidate feedback that SQE1 "can feel rushed and pressurised", and that having every subject appear in both sessions made that pressure worse. Its stated aim is "to improve the assessment experience for candidates while preserving the reliability, rigour and consistency of the examination." It describes this as the first in a series of improvements (Legal Futures).

The wider context is pass rates. At the January 2026 sitting (SRA statistical report):

• 53% of the 7,863 candidates graded passed SQE1 overall, and 58% of first-attempt candidates.
• 62% passed FLK1 and 57% passed FLK2.
• Attainment varied widely by background. On FLK1, pass rates ranged from 74% for white candidates to 55% for Asian and 46% for Black candidates, and from 83% for candidates with first-class degrees to 29% for those with a 2:2.

Those gaps, and a candidate petition in 2025 describing the exam as "disproportionately challenging", have kept pressure on the regulator. Not everyone thinks the response goes far enough. The College of Legal Practice called it "an improvement rather than the transformational change many aspiring solicitors need", and argued that candidates should be able to sit FLK1 or FLK2 individually.

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Will the new format make SQE1 easier?

Easier to sit, probably. Easier to pass, not necessarily.

What should get easier:

• Time pressure. Candidates who knew the answer but ran out of time should benefit most.
• Mental switching. A session covering three or four related subjects is less tiring than one that jumps across all six or seven.
• Preparation on the day. Knowing that the afternoon is Tort, Contract and Legal System means you can focus your final review.

What will not change:

• The depth of knowledge required. The blueprint and the FLK are the same. A candidate who cannot tell a penalty clause from a genuine liquidated damages clause gains nothing from six more seconds.
• The style of question. SQE1 still rewards applying the law to a factual scenario and choosing the best answer from several plausible ones. That is where most marks are lost, and it is a knowledge-and-technique problem, not a timing problem.

Our view: treat the change as a small gift of time and a better-organised exam day. Do not treat it as a reason to revise less.

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Who is affected

• Sitting in January 2027 (FLK1 11–15 January, FLK2 18–22 January): you will be the first cohort on the new format. The examinable law cut-off for this sitting is 11 September 2026.
• Resitting in January 2027 or later: the changes apply to you too, whatever format you sat before. Adjust your pacing, because your instincts are tuned to 90-question sessions.
• Sitting in July 2027 (FLK1 12–16 July, FLK2 19–23 July): new format, with an examinable law cut-off of 12 March 2027.
• Waiting for July 2026 results: results have been released and the full statistical report is due by mid-October. Nothing about this announcement affects how the July 2026 sitting was marked.

Dates are taken from the SRA's assessment dates and booking windows page. Check there for booking window dates, which the SRA lists as still to be confirmed.

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How to adapt your SQE1 revision for the new format

1. Revise in session blocks

Organise the final phase of revision around the four session groups rather than around individual subjects in isolation:

• FLK1 Session 1: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Legal Services
• FLK1 Session 2: Tort, Contract, Legal System
• FLK2 Session 1: Wills and Estates, Trusts, Land Law, Solicitors Accounts (probate context)
• FLK2 Session 2: Property Practice, Criminal Law and Practice, Solicitors Accounts (conveyancing context)

Mix subjects within each block when you practise. The real exam will still randomise, so your practice sets should too.

2. Retrain your pacing

Practise in sets of 85 questions in 153 minutes, or proportionate chunks (for example, 20 questions in 36 minutes). If your practice papers are in the old 90-question format, either remove five questions or give yourself 144 minutes for 85 of them. Either way, get your clock sense right before January.

3. Keep ethics everywhere

Ethics is the one area that can appear in any session. Do not park it as a separate subject. When you review any question, ask what the professional conduct angle would be if the examiner had wanted one.

4. Stop memorising tax numbers and learn the application

Rates, thresholds and relief values will be provided. Spend the time you save on the conditions for each relief, the order in which they apply and the traps: which assets qualify, which disposals are exempt, and what happens on death or on a lifetime gift.

5. Check your materials against the 1 September 2026 specification

Most revision books and question banks on sale now were written before these changes were announced. That does not make them useless, but check three things:

• Format: do the mock papers use 170 questions and the new session groupings, or the old 180-question mixed format?
• Scope: do they still test topics that have been removed, such as criminal legal aid eligibility or the appeal system within FLK1 Legal System?
• Currency: do they state the law as at a date close to the examinable cut-off (11 September 2026 for January)?

6. Use your extra time deliberately

Plan now what you will do with the extra eight minutes or so. For most candidates the best use is a single, disciplined review pass of flagged questions at the end of each session. Don't use it to second-guess answers you were confident about the first time.

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A checklist for the January 2027 SQE1

• □ Read the SRA's January 2027 announcement and the updated specification.
• □ Skim the tracked-change specification PDFs against your notes (available until January 2027).
• □ Rebuild your revision timetable around the four session groups.
• □ Switch your timed practice to 85 questions per 153 minutes.
• □ Practise Solicitors Accounts in both probate and conveyancing contexts.
• □ Remove memorised tax tables from your notes and replace them with application checklists.
• □ Check that every mock paper you rely on reflects the new format and specification.
• □ Confirm your booking dates on the SRA's booking windows page.

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FAQ

How many questions are in SQE1 from January 2027?

340 in total: 170 in FLK1 and 170 in FLK2. Each paper is split into two sessions of 85 questions. Up to and including July 2026, each paper had 180 questions in two sessions of 90.

How long is each SQE1 session now?

Still 2 hours 33 minutes. Because there are five fewer questions per session, the average time per question rises from about 102 seconds to about 108 seconds.

Which subjects are in each SQE1 session?

FLK1 Session 1 covers Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution and Legal Services. FLK1 Session 2 covers Tort, Contract and Legal System. FLK2 Session 1 covers Wills and Estates, Trusts, Land Law and Solicitors Accounts in a wills context. FLK2 Session 2 covers Property Practice, Criminal Law and Practice, and Solicitors Accounts in a property context. Ethics can appear in any session.

Are questions still randomised?

Yes. Questions remain fully randomised within each session. You will not see all the questions on one subject before moving on to the next.

Has the SQE1 syllabus been reduced?

No. The subject weightings are unchanged. The Functioning Legal Knowledge was updated through the SRA's annual review from 1 September 2026, which removed a few items (for example, the appeal system within FLK1 Legal System and criminal legal aid eligibility within Legal Services) and clarified many others. That is a routine update, not a cut in content.

Do I still need to memorise tax rates for SQE1?

No. From 1 September 2026, where you need to apply the value of an exemption, relief, rate or threshold, it will be provided in the question. You still need to know when each relief applies and how to apply it.

Do the changes apply to resit candidates?

Yes. The new format applies to everyone sitting SQE1 from January 2027, including candidates resitting FLK1, FLK2 or both.

Has the SQE1 pass mark changed?

The SRA has not announced any change to how the pass mark is set. At the January 2026 sitting, the pass standard was a scaled score of 300 on each of FLK1 and FLK2.

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The bottom line

The January 2027 SQE1 changes are real but modest: five fewer questions per session, about six more seconds per question, and a more logical grouping of subjects. The exam will feel less frantic. The law it tests has not become any easier.

For your revision, the practical changes are clear: practise at the new pace, revise in session blocks, keep ethics in every block, learn how to apply tax reliefs rather than memorising figures, and make sure your practice materials match the exam you will actually sit.

Practise at the standard the real exam demands. Essential SQE1 Questions gives you 500 single-best-answer questions across FLK1 and FLK2, each with a fully worked solution that explains why the right answer is right and why every other option is wrong. See Essential SQE1 Questions →

This article reflects SRA announcements as at 11 September 2026. Always check the SQE website for the latest official guidance before your assessment.

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