Every assessment window since November 2021, the SRA has published pass
rate data for SQE1. Every assessment window since November 2021, FLK2 has
trailed FLK1 by between six and eleven percentage points. The gap is consistent
enough to be structural — not statistical noise.
Most candidates don’t notice this until they sit. Their preparation treats FLK1
and FLK2 as equivalent, sequential, interchangeable. The result: they go into the
second day undercooked on the topics that hurt them most.
Here’s why FLK2 is harder, and how to prepare for it specifically.
The FLK2 difficulty problem
FLK1 covers seven areas: Business Law & Practice, Dispute Resolution, Contract,
Tort, English Legal System, Constitutional & Administrative Law, and Legal
Services Regulation. Most candidates have prior exposure to these subjects
either through an LLB or through general legal study. The doctrine is well-
established, the cases are famous, and the marking patterns are widely known.
FLK2 covers a different beast: Property Practice, Wills and Estate Administration,
Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts, Criminal Law, and Criminal Practice. The
first four — Property, Wills, Accounts, Land — are dense, procedural, and rarely
taught with the depth SQE1 requires.
“Land Law in an undergraduate LLB is taught as a doctrinal subject.
In SQE1 it’s tested as a transactional one. Candidates who don’t make
that translation get punished.”
The three traps
From marking thousands of mock papers across our cohorts since 2022, three
failure patterns recur:
Trap one: Solicitors Accounts ambush. The Accounts component is only 6% of
FLK2 by weighting. Candidates skip it. Then they sit the exam and realise it’s an
absolute scoring opportunity — every question is mechanical, every answer is
verifiable, and the marks are basically free if you’ve practised the entries.
Skipping it is leaving 18 marks on the table.
Trap two: Conflating Trusts and Equity. The SRA tests Trusts as a discrete area focused on validity, classification, and trustee duties. Candidates who studied a comprehensive Equity course at university over-prepare on remedies (specific performance, injunctions, rescission) and under-prepare on the practical Trusts content the SRA actually tests.
Trap three: Criminal Practice undercoverage. Criminal Practice (bail, mode of
trial, sentencing, appeals) is 10% of FLK2. It is also the most procedural area in
the entire SQE1. There is no shortcut — you either know the procedure or you
don’t. Candidates who treat it as “criminal law plus” rather than a distinct
procedural subject get exposed.
The fix
Front-load FLK2. Spend your first six weeks on Property Practice and Land Law.
These two subjects alone account for 26% of FLK2 — and they take more time to
master than any subject in FLK1. Get them done before fatigue sets in.
Treat Solicitors Accounts as a single intensive week. Do every available practice question. Drill the entries until they’re mechanical. The 18 marks are too valuable to risk.
For Criminal Practice, build a procedural flowchart from arrest to appeal. Print it.
Look at it daily. The marks come from procedural reflex, not from understanding
criminal law theory.
What our cohorts do differently
Our SQE1 READY+ Pathway runs FLK2 alongside FLK1 from week 14, not in a
separate block. This is deliberate. By the time candidates reach mock
examination at week 22, they have spent eight weeks on FLK2 — enough to
internalise the procedural rhythm. The 2025 cohort scored an average of 73% on
FLK2 in final mocks, against a national pattern of significant FLK2
underperformance.
If you’re preparing on your own, the principle is the same: do not save FLK2 for
the back end of your study period. The subjects in FLK2 reward time and
repetition far more than the subjects in FLK1. Plan accordingly.
And if you’ve already failed FLK2 once — book a 20-minute call with one of our
faculty members. The pattern of what tripped you up is almost always
recoverable. The mistake to avoid is repeating the same preparation strategy
expecting a different result.
