SQE1 July 2026 Results: When They Come Out and What to Expect

SQE1 July 2026 results are expected on 8 September 2026, approximately seven weeks after the close of the July exam window. This post covers what arrives in your inbox, how to read your scores, what history suggests about the likely pass rate, and what your next steps look like either way.

The official pass rate data will be published by the SRA several months after results day. This post will be updated with confirmed figures when that statistical report is released.

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Results Day: What Happens on 8 September

Results are sent by email from Kaplan, the organisation that administers SQE1 on behalf of the SRA. The email arrives directly to the address you registered with.

The email contains your results for both assessments separately: FLK1 (Functioning Legal Knowledge 1) and FLK2 (Functioning Legal Knowledge 2). You will see a pass or fail outcome for each paper, along with a numerical score.

You do not receive a breakdown by topic or subject area. The result is pass or fail at the paper level, plus your overall score for each paper. If you passed one paper and failed the other, that is confirmed in the same email. A pass on one paper carries over indefinitely under current SRA rules, so you only need to resit the paper you failed.

If you do not receive an email by the end of 8 September, check your spam folder before contacting Kaplan. Results are not published on any public portal; they are sent individually by email only.

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Understanding Your FLK1 and FLK2 Scores

Each paper is marked out of 180 questions (the standard FLK1 and FLK2 format). Your score is expressed as a percentage of questions answered correctly.

The pass mark is not fixed in advance. The SRA uses a standard-setting process to set the pass mark for each sitting, based on the difficulty of that particular paper. Historically, the pass mark has sat in the range of 56 to 57 percent. This means roughly 100 to 103 correct answers out of 180 is typically required to pass each paper.

This matters for how you interpret your score. A score of 54 percent in a sitting where the pass mark was set at 56 percent is a narrow fail. A score of 60 percent in an unusually difficult sitting might be closer to the median pass. The SRA does not publish the exact pass mark for each sitting in the results email, so candidates who narrowly fail often find it difficult to contextualise their score.

If you are close to the boundary on either paper, the difference between pass and fail can come down to two or three questions. That is not a reflection of your competence in the round. It is a feature of any standardised assessment with a binary outcome.

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Historical SQE1 Pass Rates: July Sittings vs January

The gap between January and July sittings is one of the most consistent patterns in SQE1 data. July sittings have come in 10 to 15 percentage points below January sittings in every year since the exam launched.

Full historical data is available on the pass rates page.

July 2025 at 41% was the lowest pass rate recorded since SQE1 launched. The factors cited most consistently were a larger cohort than any previous July sitting, a high proportion of first-time takers, and the pattern of summer study disruption that affects July cohorts across every year. January 2026 recovered to 53%, in line with what prior January sittings have shown.

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What July 2026 Might Look Like

Based on the data available, a July 2026 pass rate somewhere in the range of 42 to 48 percent is a reasonable expectation. The lower end of that range would approach July 2025 territory. The upper end would align more closely with July 2024.

Several factors are relevant.

Cohort size. July sittings tend to draw larger cohorts than January. More first-time takers in the mix generally pulls the overall rate down, not because first-timers are less capable, but because the pool includes more candidates who are testing the waters or sitting without full preparation.

January 2026 retakers. A portion of the July 2026 cohort will be candidates who sat January 2026 and failed one or both papers. Retakers historically pass at higher rates than first-timers. If the retaker proportion is significant, it creates some upward pressure on the July 2026 rate.

No structural change to the exam. The SRA has not announced any change to the SQE1 format, question count, or syllabus for 2026. The standard-setting process remains the same.

The honest answer is that predicting any individual sitting's pass rate with confidence is not possible. The range of 42 to 48 percent reflects the July baseline, adjusted for the factors above. If you sat in July 2026 and are waiting on results, the number that matters is yours, not the cohort average.

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If You Passed

Passing SQE1 clears the first of the two SQE assessments. The next step is SQE2, which tests practical legal skills across written and oral exercises.

SQE2 timeline. The earliest sitting you can book for SQE2 after a July 2026 SQE1 pass is January 2027. Registration for that sitting opens in September 2026. If January 2027 does not fit your timeline, the next sitting after that is typically April or May 2027.

Qualifying work experience. If you have not already started your two years of Qualifying Work Experience (QWE), passing SQE1 is a natural point to begin. QWE can run concurrently with SQE2 preparation. You do not need to complete QWE before sitting SQE2.

For a full guide to what comes after SQE1, see SQE1 results day: what happens next.

Check upcoming SQE exam dates to plan your SQE2 registration.

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If You Failed

A fail on SQE1 is more common than a pass. That is not a comfortable framing, but it is accurate: across every July sitting since the exam launched, more than half of candidates have not passed. Failing does not tell you that you cannot become a solicitor. It tells you that you need a different preparation approach for the resit.

Resit options. The next SQE1 sitting after July 2026 is January 2027. Registration typically opens in September 2026.

Fees for January 2027 resit:

• Both papers (FLK1 and FLK2): £2,006
• Single paper (if you passed one): £1,003

If you passed one paper and failed the other, you only need to resit the paper you failed. Your passing result carries over with no expiry under the current SRA rules.

Planning the resit. The gap between results day (8 September) and the January 2027 sitting is roughly four months. That is enough time to prepare properly if you start immediately, but not enough time to leave it until October and expect a different result.

The most useful first step is working out what cost you marks in this sitting. Without topic-level data in your results, that means going back through your revision notes and mock performance to identify where you were weakest. Did you run out of time? Were there specific topic areas you consistently dropped marks on? Was Solicitors Accounts a particular weak point? Accounts has been the highest-failure topic across every sitting and deserves dedicated time in any resit plan.

Use the SQE revision timetable tool to build a structured four-month resit plan from results day.

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Update Note

This post was published before the July 2026 SQE1 results were released. The pass rate prediction above is based on historical patterns, not confirmed data.

The SRA publishes an official statistical report for each sitting several months after results day. This report includes the overall pass rate, first-attempt rates, FLK1 and FLK2 breakdown, candidate numbers, and demographic breakdowns. This post will be updated with confirmed figures and analysis when the SRA statistical report for July 2026 is published.

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Related:

• Full SQE1 pass rate history and analysis
• SQE1 results day: what happens next
• Upcoming SQE exam dates
• SQE revision timetable tool