When SQE1 runs
SQE1 is sat twice a year, in January and July, at Pearson VUE test centres. Each sitting runs across an assessment window of about two weeks, with FLK1 and FLK2 on separate days inside it. The January 2027 window, for example, ran from 11 to 22 January 2027.
Two sittings a year is the single most important planning fact about the SQE: a sitting you are not ready for is not a small delay to correct, and a sitting you miss costs six months.
The booking window
Booking opens several months ahead and closes well before the assessment — for January 2027, it opened on 8 September 2026 and closed on 20 November 2026. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis, so the useful deadline is not the closing date but the point at which your preferred centre fills.
Put both dates in your calendar as soon as the SRA publishes them for your sitting, along with a reminder a fortnight before the window closes.
What it costs
| Assessment | Fee from September 2026 |
|---|---|
| SQE1 (both FLK papers) | £2,006 |
| SQE2 | £3,086 |
| Both stages | £5,092 |
Fees are reviewed annually and have risen each year, so treat any figure you read — including this one — as a snapshot and check the SRA’s cost page before you budget. Preparation is a separate cost entirely, and one you control: the route comparison covers what that looks like against the old LPC path.
A resit of one paper costs less than a full SQE1 booking, because you pay only for the assessment you are retaking — but it is still a four-figure reason to book the sitting you are ready for, as the resit guide sets out.
Test centres and choosing one
SQE1 is sat at Pearson VUE centres in the UK and internationally. Three practical points:
- Book early for the centre you want. Popular city centres fill first, and the alternative may be an unplanned journey.
- Count the journey, not the distance. Two sessions with an hour between them make for a long day; a two-hour commute at each end makes it longer.
- Consider staying nearby if the trip is awkward. It is a small cost against a four-figure fee and six months of preparation.
Adjustments and deferral
Reasonable adjustments — extra time, rest breaks, assistive software and other arrangements — are applied for as part of booking and need supporting evidence, so start gathering it well before the window opens rather than in the final fortnight.
Deferral and refund policies have deadlines of their own, and they tighten as the assessment approaches. If something changes — illness, bereavement, a work crisis — look the policy up immediately rather than after the sitting.
Deciding which sitting to book
Work backwards. Count the weeks from today to the assessment date, subtract the weeks you already know are gone — holidays, a house move, a quarter-end — and compare what remains against the runway in the revision plan guide. If you are preparing alongside a job, do the same exercise with the working candidate’s week.
Everything on this page was checked in September 2026 and will drift: the SRA’s assessment dates and booking windows page is the version that governs.