SQE1 Examination Trends and Predictions for July 2025 & January 2026: In-depth Analysis of FLK1 Focus Areas and FLK2 Trends
- PASS SQE
- May 30
- 17 min read
Introduction: The Significance of the 2025/2026 SQE1 Examinations
The SQE1 examinations scheduled for July 2025 and January 2026 are attracting considerable attention. As the SQE examination system becomes the established norm for solicitor qualification in England and Wales, the trends in each examination session can significantly influence the preparation strategies of numerous candidates. These two examination sessions, occurring in mid-2024 and early 2025 respectively, are particularly noteworthy as they coincide with syllabus update periods whilst benefiting from accumulated data and feedback from previous examination sessions, thereby providing a solid foundation for examination point predictions.
This article will combine the latest official syllabus guidance, historical examination trends, and candidate experiences to provide an in-depth analysis of the likely focus areas for these two examinations, assisting legal learners in planning their revision strategies in advance.
Overview of the SQE1 Examination Framework (FLK1 & FLK2)
The SQE1 examination is designed to assess candidates' ability to apply functioning legal knowledge (FLK). SQE1 comprises two papers: FLK1 and FLK2, each containing 180 single best answer questions. The examination is conducted under closed-book conditions over two separate days. Candidates must pass both FLK1 and FLK2 to achieve an overall pass in SQE1; failure in either component results in an overall failure.
FLK1 covers the following subjects: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract Law, Tort Law, Legal System of England and Wales, Constitutional and Administrative Law (including Retained EU Law), and Legal Services. These areas primarily encompass commercial and civil law, as well as legal system knowledge.
FLK2 covers the following subjects: Property Practice and Land Law, Wills and Administration of Estates, Solicitors' Accounts, Criminal Law and Practice, and Trust Law. These subjects focus on property law, equity, and criminal law.
It is important to note that Ethics and Professional Conduct permeates all subjects within both FLK1 and FLK2, with questions potentially arising in any area. Additionally, taxation is not assessed as a standalone subject but is incorporated within Business Law and Practice, Property Practice, and Wills and Administration of Estates (covering areas such as corporation tax and stamp duty land tax).
This framework determines that SQE1 has broad coverage and high comprehensiveness, requiring candidates to master fundamental principles and rules across various legal domains whilst being able to apply them correctly in practical scenarios.
Analysis of the Latest SRA Syllabus Requirements
According to the latest SQE1 syllabus annual review results published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in April 2025, this update introduced no new assessment subjects, providing only additional guidance and clarification in terms of expression. The SRA has explicitly stated that the question allocation across major subjects remains broadly balanced. In FLK1, core areas including Business Law, Civil Litigation (Dispute Resolution), Contract Law, Tort Law, and Public Law (encompassing Legal System, Constitutional/Administrative Law, and EU Law) each account for approximately 14%-20% of the paper, with Legal Services accounting for slightly less at approximately 12%-16%, whilst Ethics permeates throughout. Similarly, in FLK2, each module (Property Practice and Land Law, Wills and Estates, Trusts, Criminal Law and Practice) accounts for approximately 14%-20% of the paper. This indicates that the examination will not deliberately favour any particular area, requiring candidates to revise comprehensively across all subject areas.
The key focus of this syllabus update concerns the clarification of Ethics and Anti-Money Laundering examination points. For the first time, the SRA has stipulated in the syllabus that Ethics and Professional Conduct, together with anti-money laundering questions, may account for up to 20% of each SQE1 examination (with anti-money laundering questions appearing only in FLK1). This reflects the high priority placed on legal professional ethics, practice standards, and money laundering prevention, and candidates should prepare for an increase in questions in these areas.
Furthermore, the syllabus has added guidance regarding ethical question scenarios: professional conduct issues may appear within various subject contexts, with questions based on real client scenarios, including situations mentioned in SRA warning notices. For example, ethical dilemmas related to the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) may form the background for questions. This responds to recent developments in the legal profession (such as prohibiting the use of NDAs to conceal misconduct and curbing abusive litigation that suppresses public participation), indicating an increased likelihood of related scenario-based questions appearing in examinations.
Beyond proportion adjustments, the SRA has also clarified the depth of assessment: SQE1 focuses on core principles and rules that newly qualified solicitors should master and apply in real-world situations. The syllabus emphasises that it does not test highly technical specialist skills (details that junior solicitors could look up), but requires candidates to be able to resolve fundamental legal problems without reference materials. This means candidates must both understand principles and memorise certain rule details (such as common limitation periods and numerical standards) to address specific questions in the examination.
Notably, the syllabus stipulates that the law tested in each examination is current as of four months before the examination window—in other words, candidates need only master law that was in effect four months before the examination window opens. For example, the July 2024 session tested legal changes up to mid-March of that year, whilst the January 2025 session tested changes up to mid-September 2024. This provision ensures that new legislation has a reasonable transition period before being incorporated into examination content, whilst reminding us to pay attention to significant legal amendments implemented within the past year (detailed predictions follow below).
Overall, the latest syllabus information provides the basis for our examination point assessment: broad coverage, emphasis on fundamentals, focus on ethics, and incorporation of new law.
It is worth noting that CELE updates approximately 150 questions each year, about one month before each examination, based entirely on precise syllabus predictions. Our expert team conducts in-depth analysis of each examination's trends, ensuring high alignment between our question bank and actual examinations, helping students achieve excellent results.
Analysis of Recent Examination Trends and Changes
Reviewing recent SQE1 examinations reveals the following trends in examination content:
Enhanced Cross-Disciplinary Integration: SQE1 frequently combines multiple subject scenarios within a single question. For example, a civil litigation question might embed contract or tort law points, whilst property transaction questions might involve taxation or accounts handling. This integrated approach to question setting requires candidates to move beyond single-subject thinking and analyse problems using holistic legal reasoning. Therefore, revision should emphasise connections between subjects rather than isolated study.
Equal Emphasis on Detail and Application: Although the SRA states that it does not test details beyond what newly qualified solicitors need to know, actual examinations still contain numerous detailed knowledge points. Candidates have reported that the July 2024 SQE1 paper included some quite specific questions, such as obscure constitutional law knowledge and examination points requiring precise numerical recall. Candidates mentioned that questions involved limitation period calculations in dispute resolution procedures, shareholding percentages required for company law voting, and even specific rates for capital gains tax (CGT), corporation tax, and stamp duty. One question even asked about company filing deadlines, catching many candidates off guard.
Clearly, examinations test not only understanding of legal concepts but also recall of key regulatory figures and time limits. This trend reminds candidates not to neglect details: commonly used limitation periods (such as limitation periods for claims, appeal deadlines, document service and filing deadlines) and various percentage/amount standards should all be memorised (according to candidate feedback, CELE SQE successfully predicted multiple similar questions in this examination, achieving an extremely high hit rate).
Increasing Proportion of Professional Conduct and Regulatory Questions: Historical papers show that professional conduct-related questions have always been an important component of SQE1, with an increasing trend in recent years. Beyond traditional solicitors' code of conduct assessments, anti-money laundering compliance and client money monitoring content appear frequently. This is particularly evident in FLK1 (involving business matters), where anti-money laundering and financial compliance questions carry significant weight. For example, statistics suggest that professional conduct and anti-money laundering questions may account for nearly one-fifth of the entire paper.
With the 2025 syllabus clarifying this upper limit, ethical and compliance questions are expected to continue maintaining a high proportion in future examinations, potentially reaching the 20% peak. Candidates must familiarise themselves with SRA standards of conduct, anti-money laundering regulations (such as the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and updates), and related content.
Examination Difficulty and Pass Rates: Since its introduction in 2021, SQE1 has maintained pass rates hovering around 50%, reflecting considerable difficulty. Data shows that the overall SQE1 pass rate for July 2024 was only approximately 44%, whilst January 2025 saw an improvement to 56%, with first-time candidate pass rates around 60%. FLK2 is often slightly more challenging, with pass rates frequently lower than FLK1. For example, the January 2025 FLK2 pass rate was 61%, lower than FLK1's 64%.
Some candidates report that FLK2 questions tend to be more difficult, particularly property, trusts, and accounts questions. Others feel there is a gap between practice question difficulty and actual examinations, with real examination scenarios being more complex and variable, requiring more flexible application skills.
These trends indicate that SQE1 difficulty remains consistently high, requiring candidates to invest sufficient study time with no significant weaknesses across subjects, particularly strengthening practice in relatively difficult subjects (such as trusts, accounts, and comprehensive case analysis).
Candidate Backgrounds and Common Weak Areas: As SQE is open to global candidates, those without UK law backgrounds may have weaknesses in specific areas. For example, UK constitutional and administrative law, due to its unique system and scattered examination points, is often overlooked but sometimes appears in examinations as "distinguishing" questions. UK legal system and legal services aspects, involving solicitor regulation and court structures, also require additional attention.
On the other hand, Chinese candidates often excel at memorisation but need to focus on application technique training; native English-speaking candidates report that extensive multiple-choice question practice helps train rule application. Overall, recent trends show that both solid memorisation (statutory provisions, numerical details) and skilled application (familiarity with examination option traps through extensive practice) are essential and cannot be neglected.
SQE1 Examination Predictions for July 2025 and January 2026
Based on the syllabus changes and historical trends discussed above, we make the following predictions for the FLK1 and FLK2 focus areas in the July 2025 and January 2026 SQE1 examinations:
FLK1 Section: Key Areas and Examination Point Predictions
Professional Conduct and Compliance: In the July 2025 examination, professional conduct questions are expected to maintain a substantial proportion and may be combined with business scenarios, such as solicitor professional standards in company mergers and acquisitions or fund handling. By January 2026, with the new syllabus taking full effect, professional conduct (including anti-money laundering) questions may approach the 20% upper limit.
Candidates should pay particular attention to current provisions in SRA standards of conduct and recent SRA warnings (such as notices regarding NDAs and SLAPP litigation). Possible question scenarios include: whether solicitors may use NDAs in commercial contracts to conceal misconduct, compliance obligations when facing clients suspected of money laundering, or professional conduct choices involving SLAPP litigation. Ethics questions often contain scenario details with subtly embedded details, requiring practice in quickly identifying key points of compliance or non-compliance. The CELE SQE team will also provide additional questions on these themes based on these trends prior to examinations.
Company Law and Business Practice: Business law occupies an important position in FLK1 and covers extensive content, making it an expected continued focus for questions. The next two examinations may continue testing specific rules in company operations and transactions. For example, shareholder resolution knowledge (voting right percentages required for ordinary and special resolutions) is a high-frequency examination point. Company governance fundamentals such as directors' duties and articles of association provisions should also be mastered.
Simultaneously, recent UK reforms such as the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act may introduce new regulations, such as enhanced company registration scrutiny and increased violation penalties. If these take effect before the syllabus cut-off date, they may form question backgrounds. Tax knowledge is inevitable in business contexts; candidates should familiarise themselves with basic rates and calculation methods for corporation tax, VAT, and stamp duty involved in transactions, as previous questions have involved these specific figures.
The January 2026 session, being close to the financial year transition, may update questions accordingly if tax rates are adjusted (such as corporation tax changes in the 2024/2025 period).
Dispute Resolution (Civil Litigation Procedure): Civil litigation procedure has always been a major component of FLK1, with various time limits and procedural points being popular examination topics. Particularly, limitation periods (limitation periods for different case types), time limits for litigation document filing and service, and court procedures (such as Small Claims and multi-track) are expected to continue appearing frequently.
Candidates should systematically master key time limit requirements from pre-action procedures (such as Pre-action protocols) through to judgment enforcement. UK reforms such as the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2024 have adjusted certain procedural details (such as streamlined procedures and online hearings), and July 2025 or January 2026 questions may reflect these changes.
Another possible examination point is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and litigation costs. As courts encourage ADR, related regulations and the impact of parties choosing ADR may be incorporated into question stems.
Contract Law and Tort Law: As foundations of private law, contract and tort principle assessments are expected to remain stable and classic. In contract law, common examination points include contract formation requirements and breach remedies (types of damages, penalties, and equitable remedies). The 2025/2026 sessions may combine actual business scenarios, such as testing whether certain contract terms are established or whether specific losses can be claimed.
Notably, if recent UK consumer contract protection measures or the newly enacted Digital Markets Act fall within the syllabus scope, they may also form question backgrounds, such as special rules for digital content contracts. In tort law, basic points such as negligence elements (duty, breach, causation, damage) remain key areas, whilst more advanced topics such as employer liability, occupier's liability, and product liability also appear regularly.
With technological development, scenarios related to new forms of tort may emerge, such as data breach liability or liability for damage caused by drones, though principles remain based on traditional rule extensions. We predict that both examinations will continue emphasising tort principle assessment, such as determining whether given cases constitute specific torts or which defences apply.
Legal System and Public Law: The England and Wales legal system, constitutional and administrative law, and retained EU law typically have relatively fewer questions but cannot be ignored. UK constitutional examination points such as parliamentary sovereignty, judicial independence, and judicial review principles in administrative law are possible assessment content.
If constitutional events occur by the end of 2024 (such as new Supreme Court rulings on Scottish legislative powers) within the syllabus scope, related questions may also arise. EU law primarily concerns retained EU law handling post-Brexit; candidates need to understand which EU regulations remain effective in the UK and UK courts' attitudes towards previous European Court of Justice judgments.
This area may maintain basic principle questions in July 2025, whilst January 2026, due to the gradual implementation of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act, may increase assessment of changes in "EU law status", such as whether certain EU regulations still apply at the end of 2025.
Legal services examination points involve solicitor industry rules, client complaint mechanisms, and legal profession divisions. New SRA regulations on law firm management, such as requirements for solicitor fee transparency, may also be incorporated into questions. Overall, public law and legal services questions may not be numerous, but occasional questions may be quite obscure, requiring "gap-filling" during revision to avoid losing marks in unfamiliar areas.
The CELE SQE team has already compiled related key questions for these modules historically for students and will similarly add more examination point questions before examinations to help everyone better prepare for the assessment.
FLK2 Section: Key Areas and Examination Point Predictions
Property Law and Conveyancing Practice: Property and land law carry significant weight in FLK2, with substantial involvement in almost every examination session. Questions in July 2025 and January 2026 are expected to continue exploring the intersection of property transaction processes and land law principles.
Candidates must familiarise themselves with conveyancing steps, including contract exchange, completion, registration, and the division of responsibilities between buyer and seller solicitors. Land law fundamentals such as estate types (freehold/leasehold), land registration systems, and third-party interests (easements, restrictive covenants, adverse possession) are high-frequency examination points.
If UK leasehold reforms contemplated in recent years are legislated by 2025 and take effect, they may be reflected in 2026 examinations, such as 99-year lease reforms. However, even without major new legislation, classic examination points such as registered land priority rules, leasehold rights and obligations, and squatter rights will still be assessed.
Planning law and environmental law have limited involvement in SQE1 but may appear as background in one question, such as whether certain development projects require planning permission. Candidates should also master Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) applications, as property purchase taxation may also be questioned. Both examinations are expected to present property purchase transaction scenarios requiring judgment of legal consequences or next steps.
Wills, Inheritance and Estate Administration: This module assesses legal arrangements for personal wealth transfer. In July 2025 and January 2026, valid will requirements (signature witnessing, testator mental capacity), intestacy succession rules, and will execution and estate administration procedures remain key areas.
Questions may require candidates to judge the validity of will provisions or intestacy distribution in certain situations. Notably, UK estate administration practice has seen some changes in recent years, such as 2022's simplified inheritance tax online filing procedures and paperless filing from 2020, which may not directly test operational details but reflect trends.
Basic concepts of inheritance tax and gift tax should also be understood, though SQE1 has limited involvement, with focus remaining on legal property transfer. Candidates especially need to understand intestacy statutory succession (spousal, children, parental priority and shares) and executor/trustee responsibilities.
Reports suggest the UK may adjust statutory inheritance spousal retention amounts or inheritance tax exemption limits in 2025; if within examination scope, such amount changes may also become multiple-choice option traps. The January 2026 examination should note such 2025 adjustments. Overall, this module is expected to have moderate question allocation, with difficulty lying in memorising and applying inheritance rules, and scenarios may involve family relationship changes (remarriage, stepchildren) affecting estate distribution.
Trust Law: Trusts, as a unique common law institution, have consistently been one of the examination difficulties. In the next two examinations, basic trust principles remain the assessment core, such as trust establishment requirements (three certainties), trustee duties and beneficiary rights, and determination of charitable trusts and resulting trusts.
Questions may present trust schemes requiring validity judgment or whether trustees breach duties in certain situations. Distinctions between testamentary and inter vivos trusts, and applications of constructive trusts and resulting trusts, are also worth mastering. Although trust law content is abstract, previous examinations have not relaxed this section, with some researchers noting that trust-related questions in certain examinations (possibly referring to specific FLK2 sessions) accounted for a significant proportion, exceeding some training material coverage.
Therefore, candidates should not abandon this area due to high difficulty; instead, strengthen understanding through cases, such as mastering principles behind leading cases (such as Pennington v Waine, Westdeutsche Landesbank). However, the SRA clarifies that only cases listed in the syllabus need memorisation; others need not be memorised. Therefore, we recommend targeted study referring to important trust law cases and principles listed in the syllabus appendix.
We predict that possible examination points in July 2025 or January 2026 include: secret trust requirements, whether trustees may benefit themselves, and remedies when trust property is mixed. Preparation emphasising logical understanding and rule application can effectively address trust questions.
Solicitors' Accounts and Financial Regulations: The Solicitors' Accounts section, whilst having relatively few questions, involves several questions in almost every examination and is a common "pitfall" for many candidates. These two examinations are expected to continue having approximately 5 accounts questions, focusing on applications of law firm client account rules.
For example: when client funds must be transferred to client accounts, account transfers in different transaction scenarios, and how to handle account overdrafts or excess receipts. Core provisions of the SRA Solicitors' Accounts Rules require accurate memorisation and understanding. Previous examinations favoured testing details such as "how to handle small excess funds" and basic double-entry bookkeeping principles.
For Chinese candidates, English financial terminology in this section requires advance familiarisation, whilst practice is needed to master question calculation and judgment techniques. The January 2026 examination may also incorporate new anti-money laundering guidance or financial regulatory requirements from 2025 (such as client due diligence document retention periods). In summary, accounts questions are few but easily lead to mark loss, requiring precise rule understanding and careful option calculation.
Criminal Law and Criminal Practice: The criminal law module is expected to continue playing an important role in the next two examinations, closely linked to current legal developments. In criminal law, core offences (such as murder, manslaughter, assault, theft, fraud) elements and defences remain essential content.
Questions may require identifying what offence certain behaviour constitutes or whether defences exist (such as self-defence, insanity). In criminal procedure, emphasis is on process, such as police detention and bail time limits, defendant guilty plea sentencing discounts, and jury verdict requirements.
The Criminal Justice Reform Order 2024 (hypothetical name for illustration) passed by the UK government in 2024, if involving new bail and sentencing regulations, will also be reflected in July 2025 or January 2026 questions. For example, if the parole/early release system mentioned earlier had important adjustments in September 2024—changing ordinary sentence early release from serving half to serving 40%—then January 2026 questions may test release conditions under this new percentage.
Similarly, if 2024 legislation targeting public order offences or protest demonstrations (such as Public Order Act amendments) takes effect, related new offence provisions or penalties may also appear in examinations. Therefore, candidates should closely follow legal developments in criminal law and procedure.
Police investigation procedures (such as right to silence cautions, right to legal representation) and trial procedures (such as evidence admissibility, appeal procedures) are also high-frequency examination points that will not decrease due to updates. We predict July 2025 criminal questions will emphasise classic examination point consolidation, such as suspect rights during police station questioning scenarios; whilst January 2026 questions, beyond classics, may incorporate 2024-2025 new rules, such as the aforementioned 40% sentence release system and new sentencing guideline changes, testing candidates' understanding of latest practice.
Similarly, the CELE SQE team has already compiled related key questions for these modules historically for students and will add more examination point questions before examinations to help everyone better prepare for the assessment.
In summary, each subject in the FLK2 section has its focus areas in the next two examinations, with property and criminal law being high-scoring areas with flexible questions, whilst trusts and accounts, though having fewer questions, cannot be taken lightly. Examinations are expected to continue the "broad coverage, detailed focus" style, with core knowledge in each legal area potentially becoming examination points. Simultaneously, new regulations and cases provide new material for questions; candidates should update their understanding of UK legal developments whilst revising basic knowledge to avoid missing new examination points.
Conclusion and Revision Recommendations
Facing the upcoming July 2025 and January 2026 SQE1 examinations, candidates should adopt a "comprehensive coverage, highlighting key areas" revision strategy. On one hand, the FLK1 and FLK2 subject priorities and trends analysed in this article indicate that SQE1 has broad assessment scope with moderate depth, with any subject potentially affecting scores, requiring balanced revision; on the other hand, according to the latest syllabus and trends, professional conduct and compliance, business practice details, and procedural time limits will be high-frequency priorities, warranting additional effort for breakthrough.
To assist effective preparation, we offer the following recommendations:
Study Official Syllabus and Specimen Questions: Make full use of syllabus details and specimen questions provided on the SRA website. Use the syllabus to determine revision scope and specimen questions to understand question style. Particularly study new specimen questions and explanations (such as professional conduct scenario question guidance). The SRA added specimen questions in November 2024, totalling 170 questions (covering FLK1 and FLK2), which best reflect question-setting approaches and warrant repeated analysis. Simultaneously, focus on reviewing incorrect questions in the PASS SQE APP error log and record commonly incorrect, easily confused examination point chapters in textbooks for comprehensive improvement in knowledge application ability.
Build Knowledge Lists, Focus on Detail Memorisation: Create subject knowledge point lists according to the syllabus and systematically tackle each during revision. Make special notes summarising and repeatedly memorising important statutory figures (such as time limits, percentages, amounts). For example, civil litigation stage time limits, company law shareholder right percentages, criminal procedure time limits, inheritance shares should all be thoroughly understood. Try using flashcards or lists for daily review of these easily confused details.
Practice Scenario Multiple Choice Questions Extensively: SQE1 questions characteristically test legal application ability in complex scenarios, making extensive practice with simulation multiple choice questions necessary. Candidates have shared experiences of understanding rule application through questions, whilst others note limited simulation question accuracy but effective thinking training. Therefore, we recommend combining PASS SQE question bank practice, making good use of proficiency testing and paper compilation mock examination functions, covering different difficulties and styles to improve reading comprehension and rapid application ability. When practising, note error question summaries and analyse question traps, such as how options create confusion points.
Follow Legal Developments: Closely track 2024-2025 legal changes, ensuring revision content stays "current". For example, new criminal law parole regulations, company law and anti-money laundering new legislation mentioned earlier, if within examination scope, should be promptly incorporated into revision plans. Following legal update briefings published by the SRA and renowned training institutions can help understand which new regulations may enter questions. For major changes, try designing several related multiple choice questions yourself to test mastery level.
Plan Revision Time Reasonably: Create countdown revision plans according to examination dates. July 2025 examination registration closed on 22 May, with examinations in mid-July; candidates with tight schedules should enter intensive phase quickly, allocating fixed time weekly to each subject, balancing memorisation and practice. For candidates preparing for January 2026, having longer time allows phased progression: first building foundations then comprehensive improvement, leaving at least one month for simulation practice. Avoid last-minute cramming; each subject has substantial content requiring advance arrangement.
Seek Diverse Resources and Support: Make full use of courses, textbooks, forums and other resources. CELE SQE's SQE textbooks and online courses are very helpful for summarising key points; everyone is welcome to enrol. Enrolled students can use the APP anytime, anywhere for mock examinations, familiarising themselves with computer-based testing environment and rhythm. Additionally, maintain good mindset and routine, avoiding excessive anxiety in late preparation stages that affects memory efficiency.
In conclusion, whilst SQE1 examinations present significant challenges, they follow discernible patterns. The official syllabus indicates our revision scope, whilst recent examination trends reveal high-frequency examination points. We hope that through this article's in-depth analysis, candidates have gained clearer understanding of July 2025 and January 2026 examination priorities. In final preparation sprints, comprehensively consolidate foundations whilst strategically targeting key areas to achieve ideal SQE1 results and move closer to the dream of UK solicitor qualification.
We wish everyone smooth preparation and examination success!
Contact Us: info@celetraining.com
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