SQE1 guide
An SQE1 study plan built on spaced repetition
How to plan SQE1 preparation with spaced repetition: work back from your sitting, size the syllabus with the SRA blueprint, plan three phases and keep a short daily review routine.
Key facts
- Practice testing and spaced (distributed) practice are among the best-supported study techniques in learning research.
- FSRS is an open-source algorithm that schedules each review for when your predicted recall drops to a target, often about 90%.
- Plan with the SRA blueprint: most subjects carry 14–20% of their paper, and ethics with money laundering up to 20% of questions.
- Practise in mixed sets: from January 2027 each session mixes its subjects in random order.
Why use spaced repetition for SQE1?
SQE1 rewards knowledge you can recall and apply months after you first learned it, across fourteen subject areas at once. Two of the best-supported findings in learning research fit that problem: testing yourself strengthens long-term memory more than restudying (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006), and spreading study over time beats massing it together (Cepeda et al., 2006). A large review of study techniques rated both practice testing and distributed practice as the most useful of the ten techniques it examined, and rated rereading and highlighting as low utility. (Dunlosky et al., 2013)
Spaced repetition combines the two: you answer questions, and each topic comes back after a growing interval, timed for the point where you are starting to forget it.
What is FSRS?
FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) is an open-source scheduling algorithm. (FSRS project) It keeps a model of how stable each memory is and how likely you are to recall it today, and schedules the next review for when that probability falls to a target you choose – commonly around 90%. Getting an item right lengthens its next interval; getting it wrong shortens it.
The practical benefit for SQE1 is that you do not have to decide what to revise. With thousands of questions and hundreds of rules, that decision is where most self-made revision plans break down.
Step 1: Work backwards from your sitting
Check the dates of your sitting on the SRA’s SQE website, then count the weeks you have. Also note the law cut-off date: you are examined on the law as it stands four calendar months before the first assessment in the window. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)
Step 2: Size the syllabus with the blueprint
FLK1 has six subject areas and FLK2 seven; Ethics and Professional Conduct runs through both and, with money laundering, can make up to 20% of the questions. Most subjects carry 14–20% of their paper and Legal Services 12–16%. (SRA, SQE1 Annex 4) In practice that means no subject is small enough to skip, and ethics should be part of every week rather than a topic for the end.
Step 3: Plan three phases
The phases below are an illustration for a preparation period of about six months – stretch or compress them to fit your own time.
| Phase | Example length | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Introduce | Weeks 1–14 | New topics every day, question first, then the explanation. Reviews from earlier days come before new material. Rotate subjects so that both FLKs and ethics progress in parallel. |
| 2. Consolidate | Weeks 15–20 | Every subject has been introduced. Daily mixed reviews, the error log, and short timed sets of 20–30 questions from the subjects of one exam session. |
| 3. Exam practice | Weeks 21–24 | Full sessions under exam conditions – 85 questions in 2 hours 33 minutes – followed by a careful review of every mistake. Daily spaced reviews continue. |
Step 4: Keep the daily routine small and fixed
- Due reviews first. They are the cheapest way to keep what you already know.
- Then your error log. Questions you got wrong a few days ago come back as a test, not as reading.
- Then new material, a block of one topic at a time, starting each concept with a question.
- Read every explanation – including for correct answers – and look at the source when a rule surprises you.
A short session every day is more useful than a long one at the weekend, because spaced repetition depends on the reviews happening when they are due.
Step 5: Practise the way the exam mixes subjects
From January 2027, each SQE1 session covers a fixed group of subjects, and the questions from those subjects are mixed in random order. (SRA announcement, 10 September 2026) Once a subject has been introduced, practise it mixed with the other subjects of the same session rather than in long single-subject blocks.
Step 6: Measure by subject, then adjust
Track your accuracy per subject, not just overall. A good overall score can hide one weak subject, and every subject carries a significant share of its paper. Move time towards the weakest subjects, and keep the rest on spaced reviews.
Common mistakes in SQE1 study plans
- Rereading notes instead of answering questions.
- Finishing one subject completely before starting the next – and forgetting the first by the exam.
- Leaving ethics and professional conduct until the last weeks.
- Doing timed mock exams too early, before the reasoning is secure, or too late to learn from them.
- Skipping reviews on busy days, so that the backlog grows.
If you want a tool that does the scheduling for you, our SQE1 course applies this plan: FSRS reviews, an error log, progress per subject and timed mock exams.
Sources
- Roediger, H. L. & Karpicke, J. D., Psychological Science 17(3), 249–255: Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention (2006).
- Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T. & Rohrer, D., Psychological Bulletin 132(3), 354–380: Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis (2006).
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. & Willingham, D. T., Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1), 4–58: Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques (2013).
- Open Spaced Repetition: FSRS – Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler (open-source project). Accessed 23 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Assessment Specification (applicable for assessments from 1 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: SQE1 Annex 4 – Functioning Legal Knowledge blueprint. Accessed 21 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority: Important changes to SQE1 for January 2027 onwards (10 September 2026). Accessed 21 October 2026.
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