What is the SQE1 pass mark? Pass rates, FLK scores, and quintiles explained

What is the SQE1 pass mark?

The SQE1 pass mark is a scaled score of 300 out of 500. You need to score at least 300 on both FLK1 and FLK2 to pass SQE1 overall.

But here’s the important bit: 300 out of 500 does not mean you need to get 60% of questions right. The scaled score adjusts for how difficult a particular set of questions was, so the raw number of correct answers you need changes every sitting.

In practical terms, candidates have historically needed around 53-57% correct answers (roughly 95 to 103 out of 180 questions) to reach a scaled score of 300. But the SRA does not publish the exact raw pass mark for any sitting, so there is no single number that applies every time.

If that sounds confusing, you are not alone. The SQE scoring system is one of the most common sources of anxiety among candidates. This article explains how it all works in plain English.

Do FLK1 and FLK2 have different pass marks?

Yes. The SRA sets the pass mark independently for each paper. This means FLK1 and FLK2 can (and usually do) have different raw pass marks, even though both are scaled to 300 out of 500.

This matters because:

• You can pass one paper and fail the other. If that happens, you only need to resit the paper you failed.
• FLK2 has historically been harder. In every sitting since the SQE launched, FLK2 has had a lower pass rate than FLK1.
• A passed FLK carries forward within your six-year assessment window. You do not need to resit a paper you have already passed.
• You get a maximum of three attempts per paper. If you fail the same FLK three times, you must wait until your six-year window expires before resitting the entire SQE1 (including the paper you previously passed).

The resit fee is currently £944 per sitting (covering both papers), so there is a real financial incentive to prepare thoroughly for both FLKs at once.

Looking at crowdsourced results from the January 2026 sitting, FLK1 and FLK2 scores can vary dramatically for the same candidate. One student scored 120/180 on FLK1 (scaled 355) but 152/180 on FLK2 (scaled 433). Another failed FLK2 by just 3 scaled points (297) despite passing FLK1 comfortably. The two papers genuinely test different material and feel different on the day.

How is the SQE1 pass mark calculated?

The SRA uses something called the Modified Angoff method to decide what score counts as a pass. It sounds complicated, but the basic idea is straightforward.

The panel

A group of solicitors (mostly recently qualified, with up to two years of experience) sits down with the questions from the exam. For each question, every panellist asks themselves: “Out of 10 newly qualified solicitors who are just barely competent enough, how many would get this question right?”

If the panel thinks 6 out of 10 would get a question right, that question contributes 60% to the overall pass mark. If they think only 3 out of 10 would get it, that question contributes 30%.

Adding up the estimates

These estimates are averaged across all the panellists and then added up across all 180 questions. The result is the cut score: the percentage of questions a minimally competent newly qualified solicitor should be able to answer correctly.

The safety margin

Here is where it gets more cautious. The SRA adds a standard error of measurement on top of the cut score. This is a statistical safety margin that accounts for the fact that no exam is a perfect measure of ability. By adding this buffer, the SRA can be roughly 84% confident that anyone who passes the exam is genuinely at or above the competence standard.

The size of this safety margin is not published, but it effectively pushes the pass mark a few percentage points higher than the raw Angoff estimate.

The Assessment Board

The final pass mark is confirmed by the Assessment Board, which includes members from both the SRA and Kaplan (the organisation that administers the exam). If they cannot agree, the SRA has the final say.

A recent policy change

From September 2025, the SRA announced that Angoff panels will no longer run for every single sitting. Instead, the Board uses statistical equating to maintain the same standard between sittings, with fresh Angoff panels only when the assessment changes significantly. This is how the January 2026 exam was marked.

What are the SQE1 pass rates by sitting?

Here is every SQE1 pass rate since the exam launched in November 2021:

Sitting	Candidates	FLK1 pass rate	FLK2 pass rate	Overall pass rate	First-time pass rate
November 2021	1,073	67%	54%	53%	N/A
July 2022	1,829	64%	55%	53%	55%
January 2023	3,031	59%	56%	51%	54%
July 2023	3,475	66%	58%	53%	56%
January 2024	6,061	63%	61%	56%	59%
July 2024	5,006	55%	50%	44%	48%
January 2025	6,782	64%	61%	56%	60%
July 2025	5,851	51%	48%	41%	46%

Sources: SRA published results and SRA “SQE Four Years On” report. January 2026 data not yet published (expected April 2026).

Patterns in the data

January sittings consistently outperform July. The SRA attributes this partly to the concentration of sponsored candidates (those with training contracts at larger firms) who tend to start courses in September and sit in January.

July sittings have more resitters. July 2025 had 1,160 resitters (19% of all candidates), the highest proportion to date. Resitters pass at a lower rate than first-time candidates.

Candidate numbers have grown rapidly. The exam went from 1,073 candidates in its first sitting to nearly 7,000 per sitting by 2025.

The cumulative pass rate is 66%. Across all attempts, around two-thirds of candidates who attempt the SQE1 eventually pass. By attempt: 54% pass first time, 10% on their second attempt, and 2% on their third.

How does the SQE1 scaled scoring system work?

Before January 2024, candidates simply received a raw percentage score and a pass/fail. The pass mark was visible: 57% for FLK1 in one sitting, 53% in another.

From January 2024 onwards, the SRA introduced a scaled scoring system. Here is how it works:

1. Your raw score is the number of questions you answered correctly out of 180. There is no negative marking.
2. The Assessment Board determines the raw pass mark for each paper using the Angoff method (see above). This raw pass mark is not published.
3. The raw pass mark is mapped to 300 on the 0-500 scale. This is the anchor point.
4. Your score is then scaled relative to that anchor. If you scored above the raw pass mark, your scaled score will be above 300. If below, it will be below 300.

The maximum scaled score of 500 corresponds to getting all 180 questions correct.

Why scaling matters

The whole point is to make scores comparable across different sittings. If January’s paper was harder than July’s, a candidate who got 110/180 in January might receive the same scaled score as someone who got 120/180 in July. The difficulty adjustment is baked into the scaling.

What happened in January 2024

When the SRA first introduced scaled scoring, Kaplan made an error in how they applied rounding. 175 candidates were incorrectly told they had failed when they had actually passed. An additional 303 candidates were moved up a quintile and 164 moved down. Kaplan issued apologies and offered a goodwill payment of £250 to affected candidates. The SRA published a corrective statement, and the issue has since been resolved.

Can you be “scaled down” and fail?

Yes. The scaling works in both directions. Candidates with raw scores as high as 60% have received scaled scores below 300, meaning they failed despite getting a majority of questions right. This can happen when the paper was easier overall and the raw pass mark was set higher.

This is why aiming for a comfortable margin above 55% correct is important, rather than targeting a specific number.

Does everyone sit the same SQE1 exam?

Not any more. Before January 2024, every candidate who sat in the same window received the same paper. From January 2024 onwards, the SRA uses multiple different papers within the same sitting.

The shift was driven by growth. The SQE launched with 1,073 candidates in November 2021. By January 2024, that number had grown to over 6,000. To handle this, the SRA increased the number of testing dates within each window — but spreading candidates across more dates created a security problem. If everyone sat the same paper, questions could be leaked from earlier dates to later ones.

The solution was to introduce multiple test forms. Each paper still has 180 questions, but the specific questions differ between forms. The SRA describes these as “multiple test forms” that are “randomly allocated” to candidates.

This is precisely why scaled scoring was introduced at the same time. When different candidates answer different questions, raw scores are no longer directly comparable. Scaled scoring ensures that a pass on one form represents the same standard as a pass on another. The Assessment Board sets the pass mark independently for each paper version using the same Angoff process.

The exact number of paper versions used in each sitting is not disclosed — the SRA keeps this confidential for test security. Candidates have noticed the effect, though. Forum discussions frequently reference “no consistency in the papers,” and some feel the old single-paper system was fairer. The SRA’s position is that statistical equating ensures equivalent standards regardless of which form a candidate receives.

There is also a strong likelihood that some questions within each paper are pre-tested pilot items — unscored questions being trialled for future use. This is standard practice in high-stakes assessment and would explain why the SRA refers to “operational” items separately from the total. However, the SRA has not explicitly confirmed this for SQE1.

What do SQE1 quintile scores mean?

When you receive your results, each FLK paper will show a quintile alongside your scaled score. Quintiles divide all candidates into five equal groups:

• Quintile 1 (Q1): Top 20% of candidates
• Quintile 2 (Q2): 60th to 80th percentile
• Quintile 3 (Q3): 40th to 60th percentile
• Quintile 4 (Q4): 20th to 40th percentile
• Quintile 5 (Q5): Bottom 20% of candidates

The pass mark of 300 typically falls somewhere around the boundary between Q3 and Q4. This means most people who pass are in Q1, Q2, or Q3.

Do employers care about quintiles?

The short answer: most do not. The majority of law firms, including most Magic Circle and City firms, simply require a pass. There is no published evidence that firms routinely filter by quintile.

Some Silver Circle firms have been reported to require Q1 from their sponsored candidates, but this is uncommon. For the vast majority of candidates, a pass is a pass.

Quintile boundaries are not fixed

The SRA does not publish fixed quintile boundaries because quintiles are relative to the cohort. A scaled score of 350 might place you in Q2 in one sitting but Q1 in another, depending on how everyone else performed.

From January 2024, candidates also receive subject-level performance breakdowns as percentages, showing how they did in each practice area (for example, Contract Law, Property Practice, or Criminal Liability). These are useful for identifying strengths and weaknesses if you need to resit.

What score should you aim for in practice questions?

If you are using practice questions to prepare, you might be wondering how mock scores relate to the real exam.

The most important thing to understand is that you do not need to score 80% on mocks to pass. This is one of the most common myths among SQE candidates. In crowdsourced data from the January 2026 and July 2025 results threads, candidates who scored around 60-65% on practice mocks regularly passed the exam with comfortable margins.

Here is what the data shows:

• One candidate averaged 65% across all mocks and scored 64% on the real exam, passing in Q2.
• Another passed with ~60% on final BARBRI mocks, finishing in Q2 and Q3.
• A candidate who scored just 48-52% on QLTS mocks (widely considered the hardest available) passed in Q1.

Mock difficulty varies enormously between providers — some question banks are significantly harder than the real exam, while others are closer to or easier than the actual paper. For a detailed breakdown of how different providers’ mock scores compare to real exam results, see our mock vs real comparison.

For Law Drills-specific benchmarks and what your practice scores mean, see our score guide.

What about the claimed pass rates from course providers?

Course providers like ULaw, BPP, and BARBRI typically report pass rates of 73-75%. The actual national SQE1 pass rate has never exceeded 56%.

The gap is real, but it does not mean the numbers are fabricated. There are several explanations:

• Self-reporting bias. Providers have no way to verify results independently. Candidates who pass are far more likely to share their results than those who fail.
• Pre-filtered candidates. Students at major providers disproportionately hold training contracts, which means they were already selected through competitive application processes.
• Campus variation. London campuses with high concentrations of future City trainees can see 90%+ pass rates, while regional campuses may be closer to 50%.

The SRA has been urged to publish provider-level pass rates, but has so far declined to do so. Until that changes, treat provider claims as approximate and focus on your own preparation.

For a full breakdown of pass rates by provider, see our SQE1 pass rates comparison.

How does the January 2026 pass mark compare to previous sittings?

The SRA released January 2026 results to candidates on 10 March 2026, but the official statistical report (including the overall pass rate) is expected in early April 2026.

From crowdsourced data shared by candidates after results day, we can see approximate score ranges:

• Lowest passing FLK1 scores reported: around 110/180 raw (scaled 329, Q3)
• Lowest passing FLK2 scores reported: 104/180 raw (scaled 319, Q3)
• Highest scores reported: 155/180 on FLK1 (scaled 440, Q1) and 156/180 on FLK2 (scaled 443, Q1)
• Near-miss fails: One candidate scored 96/180 on FLK1 (scaled 297, just 3 points short). Another failed FLK2 with 297.

These results suggest the raw pass mark for the January 2026 sitting was roughly in the 97-103 correct answers range, consistent with historical patterns.

We will update this article with official data once the SRA publishes its January 2026 statistical report.

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The SQE1 scoring system is intentionally technical, but the core message is simple: aim for 55%+ on practice questions, prepare thoroughly for both FLK papers, and trust that consistent work pays off. For personalised benchmarks based on your practice performance, try Law Drills’ adaptive SQE1 question bank.