In this article, we are looking at what the hardest subjects are for the SQE1 assessments. There are 12 subjects, split into two sets of exams with six subjects in each. You need to average above the pass mark for each of the two sets of six subjects. That means you can drop below the pass mark in one subject and pick up marks in another subject. Obviously, you ideally want to be above the pass mark in all the subjects.
Which subjects have candidates found the hardest in the SQE1 assessments so far? Let’s take a look at a chart that illustrates this. The SRA has not released an average mark for each subject, but we can interpret the most difficult subjects from what they have released. For the maths savvy, we have used the average midpoints of the third quintile of the marks for each subject to rank them. If you don’t understand that don’t worry, this is only supposed to be a guide in any case. The FLK1 subjects are in blue and the FLK2 subjects are in red.
You can see that on average candidates have found contract law the easiest subject to take, and property practice the hardest. Looking across all the subjects, what is quite striking is that people have tended to do better in the more academic ones and less well in those subjects that are more about processes or professional practice.
Remember you will also be assessed on Ethics, but this is not a separate subject, it is ‘pervasive’ across all the subjects and could come up at any point.
So if you are taking SQE1, remember to focus some additional study time on the practical subjects to make sure you are not dropping marks for these sections.