- Each SQE1 paper is 180 questions delivered as two sessions of 90 questions, and each session runs 153 minutes.
- That is 306 minutes, or about 5 hours 6 minutes, of assessment per paper, plus a scheduled break between the two sessions.
- FLK1 and FLK2 are separate papers sat on separate days within the same assessment window, so the whole exam is roughly 10 hours 12 minutes of assessment across two days.
- 153 minutes for 90 questions is 102 seconds per question, including the time it takes to read the scenario.
- Add registration, identity checks and the break, so plan for a considerably longer day at the test centre than the assessment time alone. Checked 9 September 2026.
The short answer
Each SQE1 paper takes about 5 hours 6 minutes of assessment time. It is 180 questions delivered as two sessions of 90 questions, and each session is 153 minutes, which comes to 306 minutes in total, plus a scheduled break in the middle.
There are two papers, FLK1 and FLK2, and they are sat on separate days within the same assessment window. So the exam as a whole is around 10 hours 12 minutes of assessment spread across two days, not one long sitting. Checked 9 September 2026.
The full picture of what sits on each paper is in our guide to the SQE1 exam format.
The timetable, session by session
The structure is identical on both papers, which makes it easy to plan practice around.
One paper, on one day, is two sessions. Session one is 90 questions in 153 minutes. Then a break. Then session two is another 90 questions in another 153 minutes. Nothing carries over between the sessions: the clock on the second one starts fresh, and questions from the first are gone.
The second paper repeats exactly that on a different day. Which paper comes first, and how many days sit between them, depends on the window and the centre, so treat the gap as something to confirm when you book rather than something to plan a final revision push around.
- Session one: 90 questions, 153 minutes
- Scheduled break between sessions
- Session two: 90 questions, 153 minutes
- Paper total: 180 questions, 306 minutes, about 5 hours 6 minutes
- Repeated for the second paper on a separate day, so 360 questions in total
What 153 minutes for 90 questions actually means
Divide it out and the number that matters appears. 153 minutes is 9,180 seconds. Across 90 questions that is 102 seconds each, and that allowance includes reading.
That is the figure to build your practice around, because it is not generous. A typical SQE1 stem runs to four or five sentences of client facts, and the five options are full statements rather than single words. A meaningful share of your 102 seconds is spent reading before you have applied any law at all.
In practice most candidates settle into a rhythm where straightforward questions come in well under the average and the difficult ones borrow the surplus. That works, and it is the intended shape. What does not work is spending four minutes agonising between two defensible options, because the cost is not that question. It is the two easy questions at the end of the session that you never reach.
The habit worth building early is flagging and moving on, and the way to build it is to practise at 102 seconds routinely rather than only in full mocks. Our guide on how long to study for SQE1 sets out where timed practice fits in a realistic schedule.
How long you are actually at the test centre
The assessment time is not the day. Add arrival ahead of your start time, registration, identity and security checks, storing your belongings, and the break between sessions, and a single paper occupies most of a working day rather than five hours of it.
Plan the practical side around that length rather than around the assessment clock. Eating properly before a 153 minute session matters more than it sounds, and the break between sessions is short enough that it is a reset rather than a meal.
Exact reporting times and centre rules are set by the assessment provider and are confirmed in your own booking confirmation, so use that rather than anything you read here or on a forum. Checked 9 September 2026.
- Arrive early: reporting times are set by the centre, not by you
- Registration and identity checks happen before the clock starts
- The break sits between the two 153 minute sessions on the same day
- Two papers means two of these days within the same window
- Your booking confirmation is the authority on timings for your own sitting
Practise at the real length, not only the real pace
Pace and stamina are separate problems, and candidates usually only train one of them.
Most preparation happens in blocks of twenty or thirty questions, which trains the 102 seconds well enough. It does not train the thing that decides the back half of a session, which is what your accuracy does after 70 questions when the scenarios start to blur. The only way to find that out before the day is to sit at least one full length mock in the real shape: 90 questions, 153 minutes, then a break, then 90 more.
If you do that once and your second session score falls off a cliff, you have learned something useful and fixable. If you discover it at the real sitting, you have not.
For how the two papers divide the thirteen subjects, and why the sessions are built the way they are, read the SQE1 exam format guide. For an honest answer on the difficulty rather than the duration, see is SQE1 hard.
