Short answer: From the January 2027 sitting, each SQE1 paper (FLK1 and FLK2) has 170 questions instead of 180, sat as two sessions of 85 rather than 90. Session time stays at 2 hours 33 minutes, so the average time per question rises from about 102 seconds to about 108. And for the first time each session covers a fixed set of subjects: Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution and Legal Services in FLK1 Session 1, for example. The SRA announced the changes on 10 September 2026. They apply to every candidate from January 2027, first sitters and resitters alike.
Everything below is taken from the SRA's announcement and the updated SQE1 Assessment Specification, checked on 20 September 2026. The annual content refresh that also takes effect for January 2027 is a separate change to what is examined; this post is about how the paper is built.
What changed, at a glance
| Up to July 2026 | From January 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions per paper (FLK1 or FLK2) | 180 | 170 |
| Questions per session | 90 | 85 |
| Questions across SQE1 | 360 | 340 |
| Time per session | 2 hours 33 minutes | 2 hours 33 minutes (unchanged) |
| Average time per question | about 102 seconds | about 108 seconds |
| Subjects in a session | Any subject on the paper | A fixed group of subjects |
| Order of questions within a session | Random | Random (unchanged) |
| Papers, days and break | Two papers on two separate days, 60-minute break | Unchanged |
The two changes are the number of questions and the grouping. Everything else about the day is the same as it was in July 2026.
The subjects in each session
This is the table the SRA has published, reproduced in full because every revision decision below flows from it.
| Paper | Session 1 | Session 2 |
|---|---|---|
| FLK1 | Business Law and Practice · Dispute Resolution · Legal Services | Tort · Contract Law · Legal Systems (the Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law and EU Law) |
| FLK2 | Wills and the Administration of Estates · Solicitors Accounts (in the context of wills) · Trusts Law · Land Law | Property Law and Practice · Solicitors Accounts (in the context of property) · Criminal Liability · Criminal Law and Practice |
Three things the table does not say out loud:
- Ethics and Professional Conduct is still pervasive. It is examined across every subject area, so a conduct point can appear in any session. Nothing about how ethics is tested has changed.
- Questions are still randomised within the session. You will not get all the Dispute Resolution questions together and then all the Business Law questions. The 85 questions in a session are mixed across that session's subjects, in a random order, exactly as before. What is new is that the mix is drawn from three or four subjects rather than six or seven.
- Solicitors Accounts is split by context. Accounts questions set in a wills and estates context sit in FLK2 Session 1; accounts questions set in a conveyancing context sit in FLK2 Session 2. If Solicitors Accounts is a weak subject, you now meet it twice on the day rather than anywhere at all.
What has not changed
- Time. Each session is still 2 hours 33 minutes (153 minutes). There is still a 60-minute scheduled break at the end of Session 1, and the SRA still asks you to be back within 50 minutes to re-register.
- The blueprint. The proportion of the paper each subject can take up is unchanged (the ranges are below).
- The question style. Single best answer, five options, one correct answer, closed book. The SRA's published sample questions remain the right model for what a question looks like. An online calculator and an erasable whiteboard are still provided.
- Marking. Results are still reported as a scaled score with 300 to pass, with your quintile alongside. How that works is in SQE1 results explained.
- The shape of the sitting. FLK1 and FLK2 are still sat on two separate days, and you must book both papers for the same sitting unless you are resitting one paper you failed or hold an exemption. The three-attempts-per-paper rule and the six-year window are unchanged; the resit guide covers them.
How many questions per subject now
The SRA's blueprint (Annex 4 of the specification) gives each subject a range, expressed as a share of the whole paper. Because the ranges are unchanged and the paper is shorter, the question counts shift slightly. The figures below are the ranges applied to 170 questions.
| FLK1 subject | Share of the paper | Questions (of 170) | Session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Law and Practice | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 1 |
| Dispute Resolution | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 1 |
| Legal Services | 12–16% | about 20–27 | 1 |
| Contract Law | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 2 |
| Tort | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 2 |
| Legal System of England and Wales, sources of law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, EU Law | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 2 |
| Ethics and Professional Conduct (with money laundering, FLK1 only) | up to 20%, pervasive | up to 34 | either |
| FLK2 subject | Share of the paper | Questions (of 170) | Session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wills and the Administration of Estates (with Solicitors Accounts in that context) | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 1 |
| Trusts Law | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 1 |
| Land Law | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 1 |
| Property Law and Practice (with Solicitors Accounts in that context) | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 2 |
| Criminal Liability | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 2 |
| Criminal Law and Practice | 14–20% | about 24–34 | 2 |
| Ethics and Professional Conduct | pervasive | either |
Two cautions the SRA itself gives. The ranges overlap, so they add up to more than 100%; a question is counted under the subject that is its primary focus, and answering it may need knowledge from another subject. And the blueprint governs the whole paper, not each session. The high-yield topics post takes these ranges down to topic level.
The timing maths
153 minutes divided by 85 questions is 108 seconds a question. Under the old format it was 153 divided by 90, or 102 seconds. Six seconds a question does not sound like much, but it compounds: at the old pace you would finish the 85 questions with about eight and a half minutes to spare.
The sensible way to spend it is not on the questions you know. It is on the two or three scenario-heavy questions per session that used to force a guess because the clock was gone. Set your checkpoints for the new count rather than the old one:
| Checkpoint | Questions answered | Time elapsed |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | 21 | 38 minutes |
| Half | 42 | 76 minutes |
| Three-quarters | 64 | 115 minutes |
| End | 85 | 153 minutes |
The MCQ technique guide explains how to hold that pace without rushing the early questions.
What it means for your revision
Revise in session pairs, not paper halves. Until now the natural unit of revision was the paper: "FLK1 subjects" and "FLK2 subjects". The unit is now the session. FLK2 Session 1 is wills, trusts and land, with the accounts rules that attach to estates; that is the equity and succession session, and those subjects lean on each other constantly. FLK2 Session 2 is conveyancing plus both criminal subjects. FLK1 Session 1 is the practice-heavy trio of business law, litigation and legal services; Session 2 is the academic trio of contract, tort and public law.
Practise mixed sets that mirror a session. A 40-question set drawn only from Business Law, Dispute Resolution and Legal Services, in random order, is now the most realistic practice you can do for FLK1 Session 1. Pure single-subject drilling still has its place for learning; mixed session sets are for the last six weeks. Full-length FLK1 and FLK2 mocks remain the endurance test.
Give the small subjects their session, not the leftovers. Legal Services is 12–16% of FLK1 and now sits alongside two of the biggest subjects. The Legal System group is 14–20% and shares its session with contract and tort. Candidates who treat Legal Services and the Legal System as an afterthought will feel it in a session where those questions are a quarter or more of what is in front of them.
Plan the day around the break. With FLK2, Session 1 is the abstract session and Session 2 the procedural one. If you know which of those drains you more, you can plan food, caffeine and the 50-minute return around it. The exam day guide has the practical detail.
Do not read fewer questions as less syllabus. The specification is the same length. Ten fewer questions per paper means slightly fewer questions per subject, not fewer topics that can be asked. The full syllabus is unchanged in scope, and the January 2027 refresh is about wording, not cuts.
Who the changes apply to
Everyone sitting from January 2027 onwards. The July 2026 sitting was the last on the 180-question format. If you sat in July 2026 and are resitting one or both papers in January 2027, you sit the new format: 85 questions a session, with the session subject groups above. The SRA's announcement says this explicitly for resitters. The January 2027 resit plan already runs on these dates.
January 2027 dates, booking and fees
| Item | Date or figure |
|---|---|
| FLK1 assessment window | 11 to 15 January 2027 |
| FLK2 assessment window | 18 to 22 January 2027 |
| Examinable law cut-off | 11 September 2026 (four calendar months before the first assessment) |
| Seat reservation forms emailed | 22 September 2026, from 6pm UK time |
| Seat reservation form deadline | 24 September 2026, 5pm |
| Payment requests emailed | 19 October (10am) to 18 November 2026 (5pm); pay within 48 hours or the seat is cancelled |
| Direct online booking (only if you did not return a form) | 19 November (10am) to 23 November 2026 (5pm), limited seats |
| Booking closing | 23 November 2026 |
| Rescheduling window | 19 November (10am) to 23 November 2026 (5pm) |
| Results date | 9 March 2027 |
| Fee | £2,006 for both papers (£1,003 each), VAT exempt |
Checked against sqe.sra.org.uk on 20 September 2026. The SRA moved the form date from 21 to 22 September on 15 September, and has since published the booking closing and results dates that were TBC over the summer. The seat reservation form is the SRA's recommended route and seats are allocated in the order forms arrive, so return it early. You must have completed the pre-booking steps in your SQE account, including the diversity survey and the reasonable adjustments question, or you will not be sent a form. The step-by-step booking guide and the exam dates page have the rest. The fee is the September 2026 rate because it is set by the assessment date, not the booking date; the cost breakdown explains what else you will pay.
The other January 2027 change: the specification refresh
Separately from the format, the SRA's annual review of the Functioning Legal Knowledge took effect on 1 September 2026, so January 2027 is the first SQE1 sitting on the updated specification. It is a set of refinements to wording and coverage rather than a new syllabus, and it is covered line by line in SQE1 specification changes for January 2027. One line from it is worth repeating here because it changes how you revise the numerical subjects: for tax questions, the specification now says that where you are required to apply the monetary value of any exemptions and reliefs, or particular rates or thresholds, these will be provided in the question. You still need the method and the conditions for each relief. You no longer need to memorise the figures.
Why the SRA changed the format
The SRA's announcement is unusually direct about the reason. Some candidates had told it that "the SQE1 assessment can 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". It says the original question count was set to sample every subject reliably, and that it has reduced it now "following a data review from all previous SQE1 assessment windows", having waited for enough sittings to be confident the shorter paper would still measure candidates accurately. Grouping subjects by session is meant to let candidates "focus on fewer subjects in each session", while keeping randomisation within the session for assessment security.
Read that as the SRA describing a paper that is marginally less punishing on time, not a lower standard. The scaled score, the standard-setting process and the blueprint are all untouched.
What to do this week
- If you are sitting in January 2027, complete your pre-booking steps before 6pm on 22 September so the seat reservation form reaches you, and return it before 5pm on 24 September.
- Redraw your revision plan by session rather than by paper. The 12-week plan and the revision timetable template both work with the session groups as the unit.
- Reset your timing checkpoints to 85 questions and 108 seconds.
- Keep every practice source that says 180 questions. The questions are the same style; only the count and the grouping on the day have moved.
