Picture a candidate who sat the July 2026 SQE1, missed FLK1 by a handful of marks, and is now planning a January 2027 resit. Their revision notes, their mock timings and even the order in which they planned to revise the subjects were all built around a 180-question paper. On 9 September 2026 the SRA briefed SQE training providers, CELE SQE among them, on the first structural change to SQE1 since the assessment launched, and it published the formal announcement on 10 September 2026. The change lands on exactly that sitting. The SRA has since updated the SQE1 Assessment Specification to match. This article sets out what changes, what does not, and what to do about it, checked line by line against the SRA's own wording.
What the SRA announced: 170 questions per FLK from January 2027
The headline change is the number of questions. Each Functioning Legal Knowledge assessment, FLK1 and FLK2, drops from 180 to 170 single best answer questions. Each FLK is still sat as two sessions on the same day, so candidates will answer 85 questions per session rather than 90. Across the whole of SQE1 that is 340 questions instead of 360.
The change applies from the January 2027 SQE1 sitting onwards, and it applies to all candidates: first sitters and re-sitters alike. There is no transitional arrangement under which a resitting candidate keeps the old format.
In short: 170 questions per FLK (340 across SQE1), two sessions of 85, the same 2 hours 33 minutes per session, and each session limited to a fixed group of subjects. Effective from January 2027 for all candidates.
Why the SRA made the change
The SRA says it acted on candidate and stakeholder feedback that SQE1 can feel rushed and pressurised for the time allowed per question, a feeling made worse because every subject could appear in both sessions. It reduced the number of questions only after a data review of all previous SQE1 assessment windows, which gave it confidence that 170 questions still sample every subject reliably, so a candidate's score remains an accurate and reproducible reflection of their ability.
Time allowed is unchanged: 2 hours 33 minutes per session
This is the part most people get wrong when they first hear the news. The time allowed per session does not change. Each session remains 2 hours 33 minutes (153 minutes), so each FLK is still 306 minutes of assessment time across its two sessions.
Because the same time now covers fewer questions, the pace eases. With 90 questions in 153 minutes you had 1.7 minutes (102 seconds) per question. With 85 questions in the same 153 minutes you have 1.8 minutes, or 108 seconds, per question. Six extra seconds per question does not sound like much, but across a session it is eight and a half minutes of breathing room, which is exactly what candidates who ran out of time at the end of a session asked for.
If your mock exams are set at 102 seconds per question, move them to 108 seconds. If you check the clock at fixed points, the checkpoints move too: on the new pace you should be around question 20 at 36 minutes, question 40 at 72 minutes, question 60 at 108 minutes and question 80 at 144 minutes.
Questions grouped by session: which subjects sit where
The second change is structural and, for revision planning, probably the more important one. Subject areas will no longer be presented in both sessions of an FLK. Each session draws only on a defined group of subjects, as set out by the SRA:
FLK1
- FLK1 Session 1: Business Law and Practice; Dispute Resolution; Legal Services.
- FLK1 Session 2: Tort; Contract Law; Legal Systems (the Legal System of England and Wales, and Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law).
FLK2
- 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 each session, questions are still fully randomised across that session's subjects. You will not get all the contract questions in a block; you will get a mixed, random order of Tort, Contract and Legal Systems questions. What you gain is certainty about which subjects can appear in the morning and which in the afternoon.
Three points deserve emphasis. First, Ethics and Professional Conduct remains pervasive: it can be tested in any subject area and therefore in any session. Second, Solicitors Accounts appears in both FLK2 sessions, with the context following the session, so accounts questions in Session 1 arise from wills and estates and those in Session 2 from property. Third, under the Assessment Specification taxation is examined only in the context of Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, and Wills and the Administration of Estates, so tax can surface in FLK1 Session 1 and in both FLK2 sessions, but not in FLK1 Session 2.
What does not change
The SRA lists four things that stay the same: the time allowed (2 hours 33 minutes per session); the blueprint, meaning the proportion of questions that can be asked in each subject area; randomisation of questions within each session; and the pervasive testing of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Beyond that, the single best answer format with five options is unchanged, FLK1 and FLK2 remain separate assessments, the exam is still closed book, and you are examined on the law as it stood at the law cut-off date for your sitting, four calendar months before the first assessment in the window.
How to adjust your SQE1 revision plan
Grouping by session rewards candidates who revise in session-shaped blocks. A few practical suggestions, all of which our tutors now apply with January 2027 candidates:
- Revise in the session groups. For FLK1, spend a block on Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution and Legal Services together, then a block on Tort, Contract and Legal Systems. The overlaps within each group are real: Dispute Resolution and Business Law and Practice share procedural and commercial context, and Tort and Contract share the reasoning style of the common law.
- Sit session-shaped mocks. A realistic mock is now 85 questions in 153 minutes, drawn only from one session's subjects. Two such mocks on one day reproduce the real FLK. Timing yourself on a mixed 90-question paper no longer tells you much about how the day will feel.
- Plan energy, not just knowledge. Land Law, Trusts and Wills are morning subjects for FLK2; Property and Criminal are afternoon ones. Candidates who fade later in the day should give their Session 2 subjects extra practice under tired conditions.
- Keep ethics everywhere. Do not let the grouping tempt you into revising conduct as a separate topic. Practise spotting the conduct issue inside a Dispute Resolution scenario, a Wills scenario and a Criminal Practice scenario, because that is how it is examined.
- Recalibrate your timing. 108 seconds per question. If you habitually finish with time to spare, use the margin on flagged questions rather than rushing through.
A note for resit candidates
If you sat in July 2026 or earlier and are resitting in January 2027, you will sit the new format. That is not a disadvantage. Your subject knowledge carries over, the blueprint is the same, and the slightly slower pace helps most resitting candidates, who often cite time pressure as the reason marks slipped away. What does need updating is your practice regime, which should now mirror the session groups above. Work out which session's subjects cost you marks last time and weight your revision accordingly.
How CELE SQE can help
The CELE SQE mock exam settings on the website and in the PASS SQE app already follow the new format: one tap sets up an FLK1 Session 1, FLK1 Session 2, FLK2 Session 1 or FLK2 Session 2 mock with the right subjects, 85 questions and a 153-minute clock, and the timer runs at 108 seconds per question. Our question bank of more than 10,000 SQE1 questions is organised by the same subjects, so session-shaped practice is straightforward, and the SQE1 exam dates page keeps the booking windows, law cut-off dates and results days for upcoming sittings in one place. If you would like a second opinion on how to restructure your plan for January 2027, email [email protected] or reach us on WeChat at SQE100.
Sources
- SRA, Important changes to SQE1 for January 2027 onwards (10 September 2026).
- SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification (updated to include the session grouping).
Checked against the SRA announcement and the SQE1 Assessment Specification on 28 September 2026.
