Equal Time on Every Topic Is the Wrong Strategy
The SQE1 covers 13 subjects across 142 topics. A candidate with a six-month runway has roughly 400–500 hours of total study time. Divide naively and you get about 3 hours per topic — barely enough to read the notes once, let alone build durable recall. Divide intelligently, and the same 400 hours produces materially better results.
The principle is simple. The SQE1 question pool is not uniformly distributed. Some topics carry far more questions than others. Some subjects test reasoning that is harder to learn quickly. And the SRA's published Assessment Specification gives you the framework — although you have to read it carefully to extract the insights it actually contains.
This post translates the specification into a practical revision plan: which subjects are heaviest, which topics within those subjects appear most often, and where you should be spending the bulk of your hours if you want the highest expected score per hour. It is the companion to our hardest subjects ranked guide — different lens, complementary insight.
What the SRA Actually Publishes
The SRA's SQE1 Assessment Specification gives percentage ranges for each major subject within each paper. The specification is deliberately approximate — it gives ranges rather than fixed counts because the question mix varies between sittings. The published structure for 2026 is broadly:
FLK1 — 180 questions
| Subject | Approximate weighting | Approximate questions per paper |
|---|---|---|
| Business Law and Practice | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Contract Law | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Tort Law | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Dispute Resolution | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Legal Services / Constitutional and Administrative | 12–16% | 22–29 |
| Ethics and Professional Conduct | 10–20% (pervasive) | 18–36 |
FLK2 — 180 questions
| Subject | Approximate weighting | Approximate questions per paper |
|---|---|---|
| Property Practice | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Land Law | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Wills and Administration of Estates | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Trusts Law | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Criminal Law and Practice | 14–20% | 25–36 |
| Ethics and Professional Conduct | 10–20% (pervasive) | 18–36 |
Three observations the table understates.
Ethics is pervasive, not separate. Ethics questions are integrated into scenarios across every other subject. A "property practice" question might turn on a conduct issue; a "contract law" question might turn on a conflict of interest. The 10–20% weighting is a floor, not a ceiling, because conduct content can show up anywhere. Our Ethics and Professional Conduct revision guide covers this.
Solicitors Accounts is small but high-yield-per-hour. Solicitors Accounts shows up only in FLK2 and accounts for a smaller share of total questions, but the rules are short, the question style is mechanical, and a candidate who learns the SRA Accounts Rules thoroughly can pick up almost all the available marks.
The ranges hide topic-level variation. Within "Business Law and Practice," some topics (incorporation, share capital, directors' duties) are tested almost every sitting. Others (insolvency, certain partnership scenarios) appear less consistently. The volume tables are the starting point, not the ending point.
Volume vs Difficulty: The Distinction That Matters
A common confusion: candidates conflate "high-yield" (lots of questions) with "hardest" (low pass rate). They are not the same.
| Subject | Volume share | Typical candidate difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Property Practice | High (14–20%) | Hard — long procedural detail |
| Contract Law | High (14–20%) | Moderate — familiar from undergraduate |
| Solicitors Accounts | Lower share of FLK2 | Moderate — narrow rules, mechanical |
| Trusts Law | High (14–20%) | Hard — abstract reasoning |
| Legal Services | Lower (12–16%) | Easier — fact-recall heavy |
| Constitutional and Administrative | Lower (12–16%) | Easier — small bounded syllabus |
The right way to read the table: prioritise high-volume subjects with above-average difficulty, because those are the subjects where the marginal hour produces the most score lift.
The 80/20 of an SQE1 plan typically looks like this:
- Tier 1 — high volume, high difficulty (most hours). Property Practice, Business Law and Practice, Criminal Law and Practice, Land Law, Trusts. Plan 50–70 hours per subject across the full runway.
- Tier 2 — high volume, moderate difficulty (substantial hours). Contract Law, Tort Law, Dispute Resolution, Wills and Administration of Estates. Plan 30–50 hours per subject.
- Tier 3 — lower volume, easier (lighter hours). Solicitors Accounts, Legal Services, Constitutional and Administrative. Plan 15–25 hours per subject.
- Tier 4 — pervasive (rolled into every subject). Ethics and Professional Conduct. Allocate ongoing time across the runway, not a separate block.
For a six-month plan, this maps roughly to 400 hours of total study time, distributed unequally. The exact pacing is in our 6-month SQE1 study plan.
Within Each Subject: The Topic-Level Hierarchy
Subject-level prioritisation is the first cut. Within each subject, some topics are heavier than others. The SRA does not publish topic-level weightings, but candidate-reported question patterns and our own practice bank data give a fairly clear picture.
Business Law and Practice (~25–36 questions per FLK1 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Company formation and constitution (incorporation, articles, shareholders' agreements)
- Directors' duties and decision-making
- Share capital, classes of shares, alteration of capital
- Partnership and LLP structures
- Business taxation (corporation tax, VAT, capital allowances)
Lighter topics:
- Insolvency procedures (still tested, but less frequent than directors' duties)
- Specific funding arrangements
The full subject breakdown is in our Business Law and Practice revision guide.
Property Practice (~25–36 questions per FLK2 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Freehold conveyancing procedure (offer to completion)
- Investigation of title (registered and unregistered)
- Mortgages and charges
- Stamp Duty Land Tax / Land Transaction Tax
- Leasehold conveyancing
Lighter topics:
- Specific planning law nuances
- Particular leasehold reforms
See our full Property Practice revision guide.
Criminal Law and Practice (~25–36 questions per FLK2 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Police station procedure and detention rules
- Plea before venue / mode of trial
- Bail and remand
- Sentencing and youth justice
- Specific offences (theft, fraud, sexual offences, OAPA)
Lighter topics:
- Niche evidential rules
- Specific Court Martial procedures
The detailed breakdown is in our Criminal Law revision guide.
Land Law (~25–36 questions per FLK2 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Co-ownership (joint tenancies vs tenancies in common, severance)
- Easements (creation, characteristics, registration)
- Mortgages
- Registered and unregistered land
- Adverse possession
Lighter topics:
- Specific covenants (restrictive vs positive nuances)
Our full Land Law revision guide covers each.
Trusts Law (~25–36 questions per FLK2 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Three certainties and constitution
- Resulting and constructive trusts
- Trustees' duties and breach
- Tracing remedies
Lighter topics:
- Specific charitable trust nuances
See Trusts Law revision guide.
Contract Law (~25–36 questions per FLK1 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Formation (offer, acceptance, consideration, intention)
- Terms and exclusion clauses
- Misrepresentation and mistake
- Breach and remedies
See Contract Law revision guide.
Tort Law (~25–36 questions per FLK1 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Negligence (duty, breach, causation, remoteness)
- Occupiers' liability
- Vicarious liability
- Defences and remedies
Dispute Resolution (~25–36 questions per FLK1 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Civil procedure timeline (issue to trial)
- Costs, funding, and CFAs
- Disclosure
- Interim applications and case management
See Dispute Resolution revision guide.
Wills and Administration of Estates (~25–36 questions per FLK2 paper)
Heaviest topics:
- Validity of wills (formalities, capacity, undue influence)
- Intestacy rules
- Grants and probate procedure
- Inheritance Tax calculations and exemptions
See Wills and Administration of Estates revision guide.
The Hours-per-Question Math
Why does subject prioritisation matter so much? Because the score return on study hours varies dramatically by subject.
A simplified model: assume a candidate has 400 hours of preparation time. Suppose:
- Property Practice contains 30 questions and the candidate's baseline accuracy is 50%. With 60 hours of focused study, accuracy can rise to 70%. That is 6 additional questions correct — at roughly 1.7 scaled points per question (varies by sitting), about 10 scaled points of pass-margin improvement.
- Constitutional and Administrative contains 8 questions at a baseline accuracy of 65%. With 30 hours of focused study, accuracy can rise to 80%. That is 1.2 additional questions correct — about 2 scaled points of improvement.
The implication is not that Constitutional Law is unimportant. It is that the marginal hour spent on Property Practice produces five times the score lift of the marginal hour spent on Constitutional Law. If you only have 400 hours, allocate them where the lift is highest.
Two important caveats.
Diminishing returns. Going from 50% accuracy to 70% in Property Practice is achievable. Going from 70% to 80% is much harder per hour. Past a certain point, the next 60 hours on Property Practice yields less score lift than 30 hours on Constitutional. Use mock results to know when you have hit the ceiling on a subject and should redirect.
Subject interaction. Some questions test multiple subjects in a single scenario. A "wills and trusts" scenario draws on both subjects, and improving in one tends to lift accuracy in the other. The mathematical model above is a simplification; in practice, the cross-subject effects make the high-yield subjects even more valuable.
A Realistic 6-Month Hours Allocation
Below is a defensible distribution of 400 study hours across the SQE1 syllabus. Adjust to your own baseline accuracy — the candidates who already have undergraduate strengths in contract or tort can underweight those.
| Subject | Hours allocated | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Property Practice | 55 | High volume, high difficulty, procedural detail |
| Business Law and Practice | 55 | High volume, content-heavy |
| Criminal Law and Practice | 50 | High volume, procedural breadth |
| Land Law | 45 | High volume, abstract concepts |
| Trusts Law | 40 | High volume, abstract reasoning |
| Wills and Administration of Estates | 30 | Moderate volume, manageable scope |
| Dispute Resolution | 30 | Moderate volume, procedural |
| Contract Law | 25 | Moderate volume, often familiar |
| Tort Law | 25 | Moderate volume, scenario-heavy |
| Solicitors Accounts | 20 | Small volume, high yield-per-hour |
| Constitutional and Administrative | 15 | Small volume, foundational |
| Legal Services | 10 | Small volume, fact recall |
| Total | 400 | — |
Plus rolling time on Ethics (covered as part of every subject, not as a separate block).
This allocation is heavier than equal-split on Tier 1 subjects and lighter on Tier 4. It reflects the volume-and-difficulty matrix above, and it broadly matches what high-scoring candidates report doing in practice.
How to Use the Volume Information During Practice
Beyond the planning phase, the volume hierarchy should also shape how you do practice questions.
Prioritise high-volume subjects in your daily mix. A 30-question daily practice block should include 6–8 questions on Tier 1 subjects, not 3 questions on each of 10 subjects. The exam is over-weighted toward Tier 1, so your practice should be too.
Track accuracy per subject. Most candidates obsess over their overall percentage. The diagnostic that matters is your accuracy on the high-volume subjects. If you are at 75% on Contract Law but 55% on Property Practice, you are losing far more potential marks on Property Practice — and that is where the next 20 hours should go.
Run subject-specific mocks before topic-specific mocks. A 30-question Property Practice mock is more valuable than a 30-question mixed mock when you are trying to lift a single weak subject. Once you are scoring above 65% on each Tier 1 subject, mixed mocks become more useful.
The full practice protocol is covered in our SQE1 MCQ technique guide and the flashcard strategy.
What "Overstudying" Looks Like
A subtle pattern: candidates who allocate hours correctly across subjects but spend too much time on the easy topics within a high-volume subject. They have read the contract formation rules five times because contract formation is comfortable, and not yet started consideration. Their Contract Law accuracy is 80% because they have over-prepared the formation third of the syllabus.
The fix is to track topic-level accuracy, not just subject-level accuracy. Our progress dashboard shows topic-level breakdown for every question you attempt. The goal is not to score 90% on the topics you find easy; it is to lift the topics where you score 50% to 70%.
Another way to see the same point: the high-volume subjects all have internal hierarchies. Property Practice's freehold conveyancing is far more frequently tested than its leasehold reform nuances. If you spend 50 hours mastering leasehold reform and skip the basics of investigation of title, you have over-allocated even within a correctly-prioritised subject.
Use the topic lists in the SRA assessment specification and the high-frequency topics flagged in our subject revision guides as the second-level filter.
Where to Go From Here
Volume-driven prioritisation is the single biggest unlock in SQE1 preparation. Forty percent of the marks live in roughly five subjects. The candidates who spend roughly 50% of their hours on those five subjects walk into the exam with a structural advantage that is hard for an evenly-prepared candidate to close.
- Diagnostic mock to baseline accuracy by subject: SQE1 quick quiz
- 3,500+ practice questions tagged by subject and topic: pricing
- Subject-level revision guides: Property · BLP · Criminal · Land Law · Trusts
- Where the difficulty (not just volume) actually lives: SQE1 hardest subjects ranked
- The matching study plan: 6-month SQE1 study plan
- Last-minute prioritisation: 4-week last-minute revision plan
- The MCQ practice protocol: SQE1 MCQ technique guide
- Read the latest results in this context: SQE1 January 2026 results analysis
Plan against volume. Mock against accuracy. Move hours toward the subjects with the highest score-per-hour return. The SQE1 rewards candidates who do this and quietly punishes the ones who don't.