What the SRA changed
Two changes take effect at the January 2027 sitting, and they apply to first-time candidates and resitters alike:
- Each FLK assessment carries 170 questions instead of 180 — 85 per session rather than 90, across the same two sessions.
- Subjects are split between the two sessions and published in advance, so each session draws on a defined group of subjects rather than the whole specification.
The session length is untouched at two hours and 33 minutes. Fewer questions in the same time means roughly 108 seconds per question rather than 102 — about six seconds more.
Why it changed
Both changes came out of candidate feedback. Candidates consistently reported that SQE1 felt rushed, and that the pressure was made worse by having to jump between unrelated areas of law from one question to the next. Six seconds a question is not generous, but across 85 questions it is roughly eight and a half extra minutes in a session — enough to revisit the handful of questions you flagged.
How the sessions are split
The grouping is the change that should alter how you revise. Each session now has a known cast of subjects:
| Assessment | Session 1 | Session 2 |
|---|---|---|
| FLK1 | Business Law and Practice, Dispute Resolution, Legal Services | Contract Law, Tort, Legal System |
| FLK2 | Wills and the Administration of Estates, Trusts Law, Land Law, Solicitors Accounts | Property Law and Practice, Criminal Liability, Criminal Law and Practice, Solicitors Accounts |
Solicitors Accounts appears in both FLK2 sessions, examined in the context of the surrounding subjects — the estate in Session 1, the conveyancing transaction in Session 2. Within a session the questions are still randomised, so grouping does not mean the paper walks through subjects in order.
What has not changed
- The specification. The same subjects are examinable, to the same depth.
- Single best answer format: a scenario, a question, five options, one mark, no negative marking.
- Ethics and professional conduct remain pervasive — they can appear inside a question about any subject, in either session.
- The pass standard: a scaled score of 300 out of 500 in each FLK, as set out in the pass mark guide.
- Two sittings a year, closed book, at Pearson VUE test centres.
What it means for your revision
The honest answer is: less than the headlines suggest, but not nothing.
Practise in session shapes. If FLK2 Session 1 is wills, trusts, land and accounts, then a revision block covering exactly those four subjects is now a rehearsal of a real session rather than an arbitrary grouping. Mocks assembled session by session are worth more than a mock that shuffles the whole specification, because they train the mental range you will actually need on the day.
Do not bank the six seconds. Candidates who run out of time in SQE1 usually do so by spending three minutes on four questions, not by being six seconds short on every question. Timing practice is still about leaving bad questions behind.
Ignore anything built for the old shape. Question banks and mocks assembled for 90-question sessions across the whole specification now rehearse a paper that no longer exists. Ours are built to the January 2027 structure, session by session — you can try a free warm-up set and see the shape for yourself.