- There is no single SQE1 pass rate. Each sitting produces its own, and across recent sittings the figure has generally landed somewhere between around four in ten and around six in ten candidates.
- There is no fixed pass mark either. The SRA sets the mark for each sitting using a standard setting procedure, so the mark moves with how difficult that sitting's questions were.
- FLK1 and FLK2 are marked separately and each has its own pass mark for that sitting. You need to reach the standard on both.
- Headline pass rates hide very large differences between candidate groups, particularly by prior qualification and by preparation route.
- The rate is low for structural reasons: thirteen subject areas, 360 questions, single best answer format, and no feedback until results day.
- Figures move every sitting. Confirm the current numbers in the SRA's own published statistical report for the sitting you care about. Checked 9 September 2026.
What is the SQE1 pass rate
The SQE1 pass rate is the proportion of candidates at a given sitting who reached the required standard on both FLK1 and FLK2. There is no permanent figure, because a new one is produced for every sitting, and across recent sittings it has generally fallen somewhere between around four in ten and around six in ten candidates rather than at any single stable number.
That range is deliberately given as a range. Pass rates for individual sittings are published by the SRA in a statistical report after each one, and quoting one sitting's number as though it were the pass rate is how most of the figures floating around the internet became wrong. If you want the number for a specific sitting, the SRA's published statistical report for that sitting is the only source worth trusting.
What is stable is the shape. SQE1 is not an exam where almost everyone passes, and it is not an exam where almost everyone fails. It sits in the uncomfortable middle where preparation genuinely decides the outcome.
The SQE1 pass mark, and why it moves
The pass mark is the score you need to reach, and the SRA sets it separately for each sitting rather than publishing a fixed percentage that applies forever. It does this through a standard setting procedure, where subject experts judge how a minimally competent candidate would perform on each question, and those judgements are combined into a required standard for that paper at that sitting.
The practical consequence is the part candidates miss. If a sitting's questions were harder than usual, the mark needed can come down. If they were easier, it can go up. The standard being applied is meant to stay the same even though the number changes, which is the opposite of the intuition most people bring from school exams with a fixed sixty per cent pass line.
In published sittings so far the required mark has tended to land in the broad region of just over half to around six in ten of the available marks, varying sitting by sitting. Treat that as a pattern, not a target. The only number that applies to you is the one set for your own sitting and published afterwards. Checked 9 September 2026.
- The mark is set per sitting, not fixed in advance
- It is set by expert judgement about question difficulty, not by passing a fixed percentage of candidates
- FLK1 and FLK2 each get their own mark for that sitting
- There is no negative marking, so an unanswered question and a wrong one score the same
- The mark for your sitting is published with the results, not before you sit
How SQE1 is marked
Every one of the 360 questions is single best answer. You are given a client scenario and five options, and asked for the best one rather than the only correct one. Each question is worth one mark, there is no partial credit and nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so leaving a question blank is strictly worse than guessing.
Marking is by computer against the answer key, then the results go through the standard setting and quality assurance work described above before anything is released. That post-exam stage is why results take months rather than days.
What you get back is not a raw score. Candidates receive a pass or a fail, plus a quintile band showing roughly where in the cohort you sat on each of FLK1 and FLK2. So you learn whether you passed and roughly how comfortably, but not which questions you got wrong and not your mark out of 180.
| How it works | |
|---|---|
| Question type | Single best answer, five options, one mark each |
| Total questions | 360 across FLK1 and FLK2 |
| Negative marking | None, so never leave a question blank |
| Pass mark | Set per sitting by a standard setting procedure |
| Papers marked | FLK1 and FLK2 separately, each with its own mark |
| What you receive | Pass or fail plus a quintile band per paper, not a raw score |
Pass rates differ sharply by candidate group
The national figure is an average across a very mixed population, and the averages inside it are not close to each other. The SRA's statistical reports break results down, and the breakdowns matter more to you than the headline.
Prior qualification is the strongest visible divider. Candidates who already hold a law degree or an equivalent legal qualification tend to pass at a materially higher rate than candidates coming in without one, which is unsurprising given SQE1 tests thirteen legal subject areas. Preparation route matters too, though the published data cannot separate the effect of a course from the effect of the kind of candidate who can afford one.
The honest reading is that the headline rate tells you almost nothing about your own chances. A candidate with a law degree, six months of structured preparation and thousands of practice questions behind them is looking at a very different exam from a candidate revising notes for eight weeks around a full time job. Both appear in the same national percentage.
- Prior legal qualification is the clearest divider in the published breakdowns
- First time candidates and resitters are counted differently, so check which a quoted figure means
- Provider quoted rates describe their own cohort, not the national population
- The SRA publishes the breakdowns in its statistical reports for each sitting
- Your own risk factors are more informative than any national average
Why the SQE1 pass rate is so low
This is the question nobody in the industry wants to answer plainly, so here it is. Four things do most of the work.
The syllabus is enormous. Thirteen subject areas, from contract and tort to solicitors accounts and criminal practice, all examinable at the level of a day one solicitor. There is no optionality. You cannot drop a subject you hate, and the areas people find dull are examined as heavily as the ones they find interesting.
The format punishes shallow knowledge. Single best answer questions are built so that several options are defensible and one is best. Recognising a topic is not enough. You have to apply the rule to the facts and then rank plausible answers against each other, which is a harder skill than recall and a much harder skill to fake.
The pace is brutal. 180 questions per paper, split across sessions, with roughly a minute and a half per question and no time to sit and think. Candidates who know the law well still fail on stamina and clock management.
Many candidates sit without a law degree. That is the point of the route and it is a good thing, but it means people are learning thirteen subjects from scratch, often part time, often while working, and often with no one checking their progress until results day.
None of that is a reason not to sit it. It is a reason not to prepare for it the way you prepared for university exams.
What actually moves your odds
Nothing here is a guarantee and nobody can predict your result. But the candidates who pass tend to have done the same handful of things, and they are all things you control.
The biggest one is switching from reading to answering early. Most people spend far too long in the input phase and start doing questions in the last month, which is exactly backwards. Questions are not a test of your revision. They are the revision.
- Practise in the real format, five options and one best answer, not flashcards alone
- Practise timed from early on, so a minute and a half per question stops feeling frightening
- Track which of the thirteen subjects you are weakest in, and give them more time rather than avoiding them
- Space your revision rather than blocking it, so you are recalling material cold instead of recognising it warm
- Read the explanation for every question you get right by luck, not only for the ones you get wrong
- Sit at least one full length mock at real pace before the real thing
Where to check the current figures
Every number on this page will move. The SRA publishes a statistical report after each SQE1 sitting containing that sitting's pass rate, the pass marks applied, and the breakdowns by candidate group. That report is the primary source and it is free to read.
Use it rather than a forum post, a provider marketing page or this page for anything you are relying on. We update these guides after each sitting, but the SRA's own report will always be ahead of us.
This site is independent. Neither the SRA nor Kaplan endorses, approves or is connected to it, and nothing here is legal advice on your own qualification position. Checked 9 September 2026.
- The SRA publishes a statistical report per sitting, including pass marks and pass rates
- Check which sitting any figure you are quoted belongs to before you use it
- First attempt and resit figures are reported separately
- Provider pass rates are not national pass rates
