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SQE1 guide

Single best answer questions in SQE1: how to approach them

Every SQE1 question is single best answer: a scenario, a question and five options with one correct answer. A six-step routine, the common traps and a worked example.

By High Performer Certs · Published · 8 min read

Key facts

  • Each SQE1 question has five possible answers and only one correct answer.
  • You have about 1.8 minutes per question on average; SQE1 questions average about 206 words.
  • Read the lead-in first, name the rule before looking at the options, then test every option against the facts.
  • Most distractors are true statements of law that do not answer this question, or right conclusions with the wrong reason.

What is a single best answer question?

A single best answer question gives you a short scenario, a question and five possible answers, of which only one is correct. Every SQE1 question uses this format, and you select one answer per question. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)

The SRA describes several kinds of task within this format. A question may ask you to identify and apply a rule, to apply a rule that the question already names, to say whether a client can legally achieve what they want, or to explain why the law produces a result the question already states. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)

The “best” in the name matters. Several options can sound plausible or even contain true statements of law; only one answers this question on these facts. Most of the work is telling the two apart.

How long should you spend on one question?

In the exam you have about 1.8 minutes per question on average, and SQE1 questions average about 206 words. (SRA, SQE1 sample questions) That is enough to read carefully once, but not to reread every scenario several times – which is why a fixed routine helps.

A six-step routine for single best answer questions

  1. Read the question line first. Before the facts, read the last sentence – the lead-in. Is it asking for an outcome, the best advice, the reason for a result, or the next procedural step? That tells you what to look for in the scenario.
  2. Read the facts once, actively. Note who your client is, what stage the matter has reached, and any dates, amounts and relationships. Facts in SQE1 scenarios are rarely decoration; ask what each one is there to trigger.
  3. Name the rule before you look at the options. Put the issue and the governing rule into a few words of your own. If you can predict the answer, you are much less likely to be pulled towards an attractive distractor.
  4. Test every option against the facts – not just against the law. Many options are two-part statements: a conclusion and a reason (“Yes, because …”). Both halves must be right, and the reason must be the one that actually decides this case.
  5. Eliminate in order. Strike out options that misstate the law, then options that are true but answer a different question (another party, another stage, another remedy). Compare what is left with your prediction.
  6. Decide and move on. If two options remain, reread only the lead-in and the facts that separate them. Then commit to an answer and keep your pace.

Which traps should you watch for?

  • Right law, wrong question. The option states a correct rule, but not the one that decides the lead-in.
  • Right conclusion, wrong reason. “No, because …” can be correct in its first word and wrong after it.
  • Wrong party or wrong stage. Advice that would suit the other side, or a step that comes earlier or later in the procedure.
  • The overlooked qualifier. Words such as “most likely”, “best describes” or “first” change which option is best.
  • Your own legal system. If you trained in another jurisdiction, a familiar rule from home can feel right. SQE1 tests the law of England and Wales only.

A worked example

FLK1 · Contract Law

A customer in a self-service shop takes a bottle of perfume from a shelf. The shelf label states the price as £8, although the shop’s normal price for the perfume is £80. At the till, the cashier notices the error and refuses to sell the perfume for less than £80. The customer insists that the shop must sell it to her for £8.

Is the shop obliged to sell the perfume to the customer for £8?

  1. Yes, because the price label on the shelf was an offer, which the customer accepted by taking the bottle from the shelf.
  2. Yes, because a shop which displays a price is bound by statute to sell at that price to any customer.
  3. No, because the display was an invitation to treat, and the customer’s offer at the till was never accepted.
  4. No, because a contract with a shop is formed only when the customer has paid and received a receipt.
  5. No, because the price label contained an obvious mistake, so the shop’s offer to sell was void.

Applying the routine:

  1. Lead-in: an outcome question – is there a binding obligation to sell at £8? That is a question of contract formation.
  2. Facts: self-service shop, price label, refusal at the till before any sale.
  3. Rule: goods displayed with a price are an invitation to treat; the customer makes the offer at the till, and the shop may accept or reject it (Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953] 1 QB 401). Prediction: no contract, so no obligation.
  4. Options: A and B say “yes” for reasons that are wrong in law. D says “no”, but places formation at payment rather than acceptance at the till. E says “no”, but for the wrong reason – the shop never made an offer that could be void for mistake.
  5. Answer: C. It is the only option with both the right conclusion and the reason that decides the case.

Notice that D and E would have been tempting if you had stopped reading at “No”. That is the typical shape of a single best answer question: the distractors are built from real misconceptions. You can try four more questions of this kind, with explanations, on our SQE1 page.

How should you practise single best answer questions?

  • Start with questions, not notes. Practising retrieval improves long-term retention more than rereading. (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006)
  • Read the explanation of every option, including after a correct answer – a lucky guess and a secure answer look the same on a score sheet.
  • Keep an error log and repeat the questions you got wrong after a few days, not straight away.
  • Mix subjects. A real session mixes the subjects of that session in random order. (SRA announcement, 10 September 2026)
  • Add timing late, not early. Learn the reasoning first; then practise sets at about 1.8 minutes per question.

Sources

  1. Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Assessment Specification (applicable for assessments from 1 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
  2. Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 sample questions. Accessed 21 October 2026.
  3. Solicitors Regulation Authority: Important changes to SQE1 for January 2027 onwards (10 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
  4. Roediger, H. L. & Karpicke, J. D., Psychological Science 17(3), 249–255: Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention (2006).

High Performer Certs is an independent study platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and it is not authorised or accredited by the SRA or the SQE assessment provider. The SQE and SOLICITORS QUALIFYING EXAMINATION trade marks are the property of and are used under licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.