Why you should practise SQE1 by subject, not at random
The SQE1 assessment is 360 single-best-answer multiple-choice questions — FLK1 (180) and FLK2 (180) — set by the SRA and delivered by Kaplan. There is no negative marking, so every question is a clean opportunity to score. Across the two papers you are tested on 13 subjects spanning 144 topics (59 in FLK1, 83 in FLK2).
That breadth is exactly why scattergun practice fails. If you blend every subject into one giant random pool from day one, you never see whether your trusts answers are letting you down while your contract answers are solid. You just see one undifferentiated percentage that barely moves.
Practising by subject fixes that. It lets you:
- Target your weakest subjects instead of over-revising what you already know.
- Build topic-level accuracy — the SRA samples broadly, so a 5% blind spot in a 17-topic subject like Business Law and Practice quietly costs you marks.
- Internalise how a subject asks its questions — Solicitors Accounts MCQs feel nothing like Tort MCQs, and your brain needs the reps in each style.
The pass-rate trend rewards this discipline. The January 2026 sitting reached 53% overall (58% first-time), up sharply from 41% in July 2025. Candidates who pass tend to be the ones who drilled deliberately, reviewed every explanation, and closed gaps one subject at a time. If you want the bigger strategic picture, pair this guide with how to pass SQE1 in 2026.
This is a hub for subject-level practice. For what's on the syllabus — every subject broken into its 144 topics — see the companion SQE1 syllabus and 144 topics guide. This page is about practising the questions.
How many questions per subject? The volume that actually works
Volume matters, but only when it's deliberate. As a working target, aim for roughly 50–100 questions per subject, then review every explanation — including the ones you got right.
Here's the rhythm that produces the steepest improvement curve:
- Diagnostic pass (20–30 Qs). Do a focused set in one subject cold. Don't revise first. The point is to find your weak topics, not to feel good.
- Targeted study. Go back to the study notes for the topics you missed and read the underlying rule properly.
- Reinforcement pass (30–70 Qs). Re-drill the same subject. You should see your accuracy climb topic by topic.
- Mixed review later. Once individual subjects are solid, blend them in a full mock exam so you rehearse switching between areas under time pressure.
The non-negotiable step is review. With no negative marking, the real exam rewards eliminating wrong options — and the only way to get fast at elimination is to read why each distractor was wrong. Skipping explanations is the single most common reason a candidate grinds through thousands of questions and barely improves.
A simple weekly cadence:
| Day type | Activity | Approx. questions |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic | One subject, cold, untimed | 20–30 |
| Targeted | Re-drill weak topics in that subject | 30–50 |
| Review | Read every explanation, log errors | (revisit all) |
| Mixed | Cross-subject set or mini-mock | 30–50 |
To put your subject practice on a structured timetable, the free study plan maps this rhythm across the weeks before your sitting.
The 13 SQE1 subjects: where to practise each one
Below is the full subject map. Practise takes you straight to that subject's question and study area; Revision guide opens the deep-dive blog post for the rules behind the questions. Each subject also has a dedicated ebook — linked in the notes underneath — if you prefer to read the law cover to cover before you drill.
| Subject | Exam | Topics | Practise | Revision guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Law and Practice | FLK1 | 17 | Practise | Guide |
| Dispute Resolution | FLK1 | 14 | Practise | Guide |
| Contract Law | FLK1 | 10 | Practise | Guide |
| Tort Law | FLK1 | 10 | Practise | Guide |
| Legal System | FLK1 | 4 | Practise | Guide |
| Legal Services | FLK1 | 4 | Practise | Guide |
| Property Law and Practice | FLK2 | 16 | Practise | Guide |
| Criminal Law and Practice | FLK2 | 17 | Practise | Guide |
| Wills and Administration of Estates | FLK2 | 8 | Practise | Guide |
| Solicitors Accounts | FLK2 | 8 | Practise | Guide |
| Land Law | FLK2 | 12 | Practise | Guide |
| Trusts Law | FLK2 | 11 | Practise | Guide |
| Criminal Liability | FLK2 | 11 | Practise | Guide |
A note on weighting. The heavier subjects — Business Law and Practice (17 topics), Criminal Law and Practice (17), Property Law and Practice (16), Dispute Resolution (14) and Land Law (12) — carry more of your potential marks simply because they span more ground. They deserve a larger share of your question count. The four-topic subjects, Legal System and Legal Services, are smaller but punch above their weight: ethics threads through almost everything, so don't treat it as an afterthought. For a data-led view of which topics yield the most questions, see high-yield SQE1 topics, and to plan your effort against difficulty, the hardest SQE1 subjects ranked.
High-yield subjects: what the MCQs look like and where students slip
Business Law and Practice (FLK1, 16 topics)
Expect heavily applied, scenario-driven MCQs: a company or partnership does something, and you must pick the correct legal consequence or the right next step. Common stems involve directors' duties, shareholder decision-making, partnership liability, and the tax treatment of a transaction.
Where students slip: confusing the thresholds and procedures for ordinary versus special resolutions, and mixing up partnership rules with company rules under pressure. Drill these as separate topic sets, then read the explanation on every question to lock the distinctions in. The Business Law and Practice ebook is a useful companion for the procedural detail. Start drilling at /study/business-law.
Criminal Law and Practice (FLK2, 17 topics)
This subject splits into substantive offences and criminal litigation/procedure. Questions test offence elements, available defences, and procedural milestones such as bail, mode of trial, and disclosure.
Where students slip: treating procedure as memorisation and under-practising it. The litigation MCQs reward knowing sequence — what happens, in what order, at which court. Practise the procedure topics until the timeline is automatic, and use the criminal law revision guide to shore up the rules. Begin at /study/criminal-law; the Criminal Law and Practice ebook covers both halves.
Property Law and Practice (FLK2, 16 topics)
Property MCQs follow a transaction: pre-contract enquiries, exchange, completion, post-completion registration, and the SDLT/stamp duty position. The questions are practical and step-based.
Where students slip: losing track of which stage a problem sits at, and confusing freehold with leasehold obligations. Anchor every practice question to the conveyancing timeline before you answer. Reinforce with the Property Law and Practice ebook and drill at /study/property-law.
Contract Law (FLK1, 10 topics)
Fewer topics, but examined in depth. Stems test formation (offer, acceptance, consideration), terms, misrepresentation, breach and remedies.
Where students slip: rushing formation questions and missing a subtle issue on the facts — a counter-offer that destroys an original offer, or consideration that's past. Slow down on the facts, then apply the single rule each question is really testing. The contract law revision guide and the Contract Law ebook pair well with practice at /study/contract-law.
Land Law (FLK2, 12 topics)
Conceptually demanding. Expect MCQs on legal versus equitable interests, co-ownership, easements, mortgages, and the rules on registered and unregistered title.
Where students slip: the registration and priority rules — deciding whether a third party is bound by an interest. This is pure pattern-recognition that only practice builds. Use the Land Law ebook for the framework and drill the priority questions hard at /study/land-law.
Illustrative sample questions
These are illustrative examples to show the format and the single-best-answer technique. They are not past papers, and the law shown is deliberately uncontroversial.
Illustrative — Contract Law
A seller emails an offer to sell goods for £5,000. The buyer replies, "I accept, but only if you reduce the price to £4,500." The seller does not respond. The buyer then emails again, "Fine, I'll take it at £5,000." The seller has since sold to someone else.
Which is the single best answer?
A. A binding contract formed when the buyer first replied. B. The buyer's first reply was a counter-offer that rejected the original offer, so no contract exists on these facts. C. The seller's silence amounted to acceptance of £4,500. D. The buyer's second email revived the original offer and bound the seller.
Best answer: B. A reply that introduces new terms is a counter-offer, which rejects and extinguishes the original offer. There is nothing left for the buyer to accept later, and silence is not acceptance. Technique tip: eliminate first — C falls away because silence rarely binds, and A/D both assume an offer that no longer exists.
Illustrative — Criminal Liability
A defendant is charged with an offence requiring intention. The prosecution proves the defendant foresaw the result as a virtually certain consequence of their actions.
Which is the single best answer about whether intention can be established?
A. Intention is automatically established by any degree of foresight. B. Foresight of a virtually certain consequence is evidence from which intention may be found. C. Foresight is irrelevant to intention in all cases. D. The offence must be treated as one of recklessness instead.
Best answer: B. Foresight of virtual certainty is evidence from which a court may find intention — it is not automatic (ruling out A) and certainly not irrelevant (ruling out C). Technique tip: the absolute words — "automatically," "all cases" — are usually traps in single-best-answer items. The measured option is frequently correct.
Notice the shared discipline across both: read the facts carefully, eliminate the extremes, and pick the option that states the rule precisely. That habit is exactly what a strong MCQ technique and exam strategy is built on, and it transfers across all 13 subjects.
How SQE1 Prep lets you drill exactly where you're weak
Subject-level practice only works if your questions are tagged by subject and topic — otherwise you can't isolate the area that's costing you marks. That's the core of what SQE1 Prep is built around:
- 4,400+ practice questions tagged by subject and topic, so you can drill, for example, only Land Law priority rules until they click.
- Detailed explanations on every question — the review step that turns raw volume into real accuracy.
- 5,500+ flashcards for the high-frequency rules you need to recall instantly. Run a set at /flashcards.
- Study notes for all 144 topics at /study, so when a practice question exposes a gap you can read the rule immediately.
- Full mock exams at /practice/mock-exam that rehearse the FLK1/FLK2 format end to end — students completing 25+ mock tests achieve a 94% pass rate.
- A quick quiz for short, focused bursts when you only have ten minutes.
- 13 individual subject ebooks if you'd rather read a subject fully before you start answering questions.
It's one payment for lifetime access, backed by a 14-day money-back guarantee — so you can drill the same weak subject as many times as it takes, without a subscription clock running. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.
A simple subject-by-subject practice plan
- List the 13 subjects and rank them by how confident you feel. Be honest — the uncomfortable ones are where the marks are.
- Diagnose the bottom five with a 20–30 question set each, starting with the heavyweights: Business Law, Criminal Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, Land Law, Dispute Resolution.
- Read the explanations and the study notes for every topic you miss.
- Re-drill to 50–100 questions per weak subject until your accuracy is consistently strong.
- Switch to mixed mock exams once individual subjects hold up, to build stamina and rehearse moving between FLK1 and FLK2.
- Track your topic-level accuracy and keep returning to whatever's lowest.
Need free reps to get going? Try a free SQE1 mock exam and a set of free FLK1 and FLK2 practice questions before you commit to a full plan.
Start practising by subject today
Passing SQE1 comes down to one habit repeated across 13 subjects: drill, review, fix the gap, repeat. SQE1 Prep gives you 4,400+ questions tagged by subject and topic, explanations on every one, study notes for all 144 topics, 5,500+ flashcards and full mocks — all for one payment with lifetime access and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Pick your weakest subject and start drilling at /practice, and when you're ready to unlock the full bank, see what's included on the pricing page.
