Students: Call to give students more time to take the SQE1
There are to be fewer questions in the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced – giving candidates an extra six seconds per question.
Candidates will also for the first time know which areas of law each assessment will cover.
The regulator said these were the first in “a series of improvements” to the exam, which has been dogged with questions over its fairness – particularly SQE1, which tests functioning legal knowledge (FLK) and has a pass rate of around 50%.
The SRA said the changes signalled its commitment “to enhance confidence in the SQE”.
In a statement, it explained: “Developed through engagement with candidates, Kaplan, employers, training providers and the wider profession, they are informed by assessment data, candidate feedback and continued evaluation of how the assessment operates in practice”.
SQE1 is split into two days, FLK1 and FLK2 – usually in the same week – and two exams of 90 questions each per day.
From January 2027, the total number of questions across the four sessions will be cut from 360 to 340, ie five fewer per session. Candidates will still be allowed two hours and 33 minutes per session.
Further, candidates will know which specific areas of law will be covered in each session, although questions will continue to be appear in a mixed, random order.
The SRA said candidates feedback showed that the SQE1 assessment could feel rushed and pressurised in terms of the amount of time allowed to answer a question, “and this can be exacerbated by the lack of some grouping of questions in the sessions”.
Retaining randomisation of questions within each session “will help to preserve assessment security requirements”, it added.
Ethics and professional conduct questions will continue to be pervasive across any subject area.
“These changes are designed to improve the assessment experience for candidates while preserving the reliability, rigour and consistency of the examination,” the SRA said.
“The announcement reflects two of the SRA’s priorities for 2026: improving collaboration and focusing on the issues that matter most.”
SQE training provider the College of Legal Practice said the reforms represented “an improvement rather than the transformational change many aspiring solicitors need”.
It said the reduction in questions would increase the average time available from approximately 102 seconds per question to 108 seconds.
Instead, the college called on the SRA to allow candidates to choose whether to sit FLK1, FLK2 or both assessments at their first attempt.
Chief executive Dr Giles Proctor said the changes were an acknowledgement that the SQE1 placed significant pressure on aspiring solicitors.
“However, reducing 20 questions across a 360-question assessment should not be mistaken for a solution to the broader challenges students continue to face.
“Candidates are still expected to prepare for an immense syllabus, retain that knowledge and sit two demanding assessments within the same assessment window. For many students, particularly those studying alongside full-time employment, caring responsibilities or financial pressures, that remains the real challenge.
“The difference between 102 seconds and 108 seconds per question is welcome. The difference between preparing for one FLK assessment and preparing for two simultaneously would be transformational.”
Research published by the SRA at the end of last year showed that confidence in the SQE among employers had risen over the past three years but was still not particularly strong – and declined significantly among candidates, particularly in relation to SQE1.
In April, the SRA’s independent review of the SQE called for more effort to help candidates and others understand why multiple-choice questions were used in the exam.
The SRA has repeatedly insisted that all the evidence showed the assessments were functioning well and providing fair and reliable results.
Separately, recently released results from the latest SQE2 sitting in April showed an overall pass rate of 83% across 2,966 candidates, with the pass rate for first-time candidates hitting a record 85%.
SQE2 is a practical legal skills assessment, consisting of 16 stations – 12 written and four oral – taken over several sittings.
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