In this article, we will be looking at the number of people that pass SQE1, by age. So the SQE1 is the first of two assessments you need to take to become a lawyer in England and Wales. You can see from this chart a breakdown of how people who have passed, organised by age category.
The simple answer is that there hasn’t been much difference in the pass rate, with one exception, which is the category of candidates aged 55-64, who have fared slightly worse. You can see that candidates in the 25-34 age bracket performed best, with over half of all candidates passing SQE1 in every set of assessments to date. The older candidates appear to have done slightly worse, particularly in the last set of exams, but it’s not clear why.
The story is similar if we look at the two parts of the SQE1 assessments, called FLK1 and FLK2, which are graded individually. You have to pass both parts to pass SQE1. Generally, people have done much better on the first part and worse on the second. Even though around 70% of 25-34 year pass FLK1, the overall pass rate for SQE1 for those candidates has been around 56%, so there are a number who are missing out on passing the exam by not doing as well in FLK2.