- There is no fixed SQE1 pass mark. The SRA sets one for each sitting using a standard setting procedure.
- The mark moves with how difficult that sitting's questions were, so it is not knowable in advance.
- FLK1 and FLK2 are marked separately and each has its own pass mark for that sitting. You must reach the standard on both.
- Historically the mark has tended to sit in the broad region of just over half to around six in ten of the available marks. That is a pattern, not a target.
- Because the number moves, aim for a comfortable margin rather than a borderline score.
- The mark applied to your sitting is published with the results. Confirm figures in the SRA's own statistical report for that sitting. Checked 9 September 2026.
The SQE1 pass mark, and why there is not one
There is no fixed published SQE1 pass mark. The SRA sets a pass mark for each sitting using a standard setting procedure based on how difficult that sitting's questions actually were, so the score required to pass moves from one sitting to the next.
This is deliberate, and it is fairer than a fixed percentage would be. If a sitting happens to draw a harder set of questions, a fixed 60 per cent line would punish the candidates unlucky enough to sit that paper. Standard setting is an attempt to hold the standard itself steady, at day one solicitor competence, while allowing the raw score that represents that standard to move with the paper.
The practical consequence is that nobody, including us, can tell you the mark for a sitting that has not happened yet. Any page quoting a firm SQE1 pass percentage as though it were fixed is either describing one past sitting without saying so, or is simply wrong. Checked 9 September 2026.
Two papers, two pass marks
FLK1 and FLK2 are marked separately, and each has its own pass mark set for that sitting. You need to reach the standard on both.
That rules out the strategy candidates most often hope for, which is loading up on a favourite paper to carry a weak one. A strong FLK1 does not compensate for falling short on FLK2. The two results are not averaged into a single score out of 360.
It also means there are two numbers to move each sitting, not one, which is another reason a single headline percentage for SQE1 never tells the whole story. The marks applied to both papers at a given sitting are published in the SRA's statistical report for that sitting.
The historical region, and why it is not a target
People ask for a number anyway, so here is the honest version. Across recent sittings the pass mark has tended to sit in the broad region of just over half to around six in ten of the available marks on a paper.
Read that as a pattern in past data, not as a target. It carries three health warnings. It is a range and not a figure. It is drawn from sittings that have already happened, so it describes questions you will never see. And it can move outside that region, because nothing in the procedure guarantees it stays inside one.
The useful thing to take from it is scale rather than precision. It tells you that SQE1 is not a paper where you can scrape by on a third of the marks, and it tells you that you do not need to be near perfect either. Beyond that, it should not be doing any work in your revision plan.
For the pass rates that result from these marks, and an honest answer on why they are low, read the SQE1 pass rate guide.
What to aim for when the target moves
If you cannot revise towards a published number, what do you revise towards? A margin.
The logic is straightforward. If the line moves and you cannot know where it will land, the only way to be safe is to finish clearly above where it plausibly could land. A candidate consistently scoring near the bottom of the historical region in practice is not a likely pass. They are a coin flip that depends on which way the mark moves for their sitting.
- Aim well clear of the historical region, not at it. Comfortably above is the only position that survives the mark moving against you.
- Measure across both papers separately. Two separate pass marks means two separate readiness questions, and an average across FLK1 and FLK2 hides exactly the weakness that fails you.
- Measure under real conditions. A score built from untimed, open book practice at home is not comparable to a score under exam pace, and only the second one predicts anything.
- Measure across the whole syllabus. Thirteen subjects with no optionality means an average dragged up by three strong subjects is not the reassurance it looks like.
- Track the trend, not one mock. A single good mock is noise. Several full length sessions in the same region is evidence.
How SQE1 marking works underneath
The marking itself is simple, which is what makes the moving pass mark surprising to people.
Every question is single best answer, worth one mark, with five options. There is no negative marking, so a blank scores exactly what a wrong answer scores, and there is no partial credit. Every question weighs the same as every other question.
What happens after the exam is where the time goes. The pass mark for the sitting is set through the standard setting procedure, each question's statistical performance is reviewed, and questions that performed poorly can be removed before the final marks are settled. That whole process is why results follow a sitting by roughly two to three months.
When your result arrives you get a pass or a fail, plus a quintile band for each of FLK1 and FLK2. You do not get a raw score or a percentage, so you never actually see how close to the pass mark you were. For the timetable and what those bands mean, read the SQE1 results guide, and for the scale of what is being marked, see how many questions are in SQE1?.
