The SQE1 exam tests you on the application of your Functioning Legal Knowledge (FLK) through 360 single-best-answer multiple-choice questions. The questions are split over four sessions: two sessions per day over two days. Each session contains 90 questions and lasts around 2.5 hours, with a total of 10 hours of examtime. The exam is computer-based and can be sat worldwide at Pearson VUE test centres.

The following subject areas are tested: 

Day 1, FLK1:

Business Law and Practice; Dispute Resolution; Contract; Tort; Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law and Legal Services. 

Day 2, FLK2:

Property Practice; Wills and the Administration of Estates; Solicitors Accounts; Land Law; Trusts; Criminal Law and Practice. 

Ethics and professional conduct are examined pervasively across both FLK exams, and principles of taxation are assessed in the context of Business Law and Practice, Property Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates. 

The BARBRI SQE1 Prep course is fully inclusive of all course materials. You’ll need to book and pay for the assessment separately, through the SRA website.

They cost £1,888  in total from September 2024: 

• FLK: £944 
• FLK2: £944 

All fees are VAT exempt. 

You must book FLK1 and FLK2 separately but pay for them both in a single payment at time of booking – for payment the SRA website will direct you to the PearsonVue website. FLK1 and FLK2 must be taken in the same assessment window (unless an exemption applies). 

Candidates must pass both SQE1 and SQE2 within a six-year period and you have three attempts for each of the two stages. If you fail the SQE1 exam’s FLK1 and/or FLK2 three times during the six-year period, you must wait until that six-year period expires before re-applying. (Previous passes will not be carried forward.)  

For more on this, please see the SRA website here. 

All three SQE1 Prep course options contain the exact same materials and support, they just differ in the amount of time you have available to get through all the modules. 

Flexible 40-Week Course:

• The Flexible course starts 40 weeks before the exam and gives you enough time to prepare if don’t have a law degree from an English or Welsh university, work full time, or are an international lawyer dual-qualifying. It requires 10-12 hours per week of study – we recommend 1 hour of study a day with 1 full day of study on the weekends.

Focused 20-Week Course:

• The Focused 20-week course is suitable if you graduated with a UK degree in the last three years or you’re familiar with the common law through legal experience. It requires 20 study hours per week and we recommend 3 hours of study per day over the 7-day week period, and we recommend a part-time job, but if you work full time, you may want to consider the Flexible option instead. 

Accelerated 10-Week Course:

• The Accelerated course is the fastest way to qualify and is only suitable for recent UK law graduates with the ability and opportunity to study intensively and full-time. It requires 40 hours of study per week. 

The SQE exam questions are similar to the US Bar exam ones, but completely different to the MCQs you may have encountered at university. A more apt way of describing them is as single-best-answer questions (SBAQs), where all the answer options are plausible or partially correct, but only one is 100% correct based on the context of the question.  

You need to learn how SBAQs work, learn to spot the nuances, and understand the principles behind each law – and we at BARBRI are experts in these, having helped 1.45 million US bar students prepare for the bar exams. We turn every SBAQ practice question into a mini-lesson, and don’t just give the correct answer, but we also explain why it’s the correct answer, and why each of the other options weren’t the best answer in the given situation.