Every SQE1 & SQE2 date for 2027

If you're planning a 2027 sitting, you need four things on one page: the assessment dates, when booking closes, when the examinable law cut-off falls, and roughly when results land. Here's the full 2027 SQE calendar as currently confirmed, with a flag on the one change worth knowing about early.

This article is a companion to our 2026-27 dates piece, which covers the sittings that straddle both years. Think of this one as the 2027-only version: cleaner to scan if you're only looking that far ahead. As always, the SRA's own assessment dates and booking windows page is the source of record, and it's worth checking again closer to your target sitting, since dates that are still provisional can shift.

The pattern, in short

SQE1 runs twice a year: January and July. Each sitting is really two assessment weeks back to back, FLK1 first and FLK2 the following week.

SQE2 runs four times a year: January, April, July and October. Each window combines a written assessment with oral station sittings spread across several weeks, though any one candidate only attends a single oral sitting within that window.

For both parts, booking typically closes around five weeks before the assessment window opens, and the SRA tends to publish exact dates roughly twelve months ahead. That means some 2027 sittings already have confirmed assessment dates while their booking and results dates are still marked "to be confirmed." Treat anything not yet confirmed as provisional until the SRA updates the page.

SQE1 January 2027

• Assessment dates: FLK1 11 to 15 January, FLK2 18 to 22 January
• Examinable law cut-off: up to and including 11 September 2026
• Booking: check the SRA's booking windows page for the current closing date
• Results: typically five to six weeks after the assessment, so expect them in late February or early March

This is the first 2027 sitting on the calendar, and because the assessment dates are already confirmed, it's the one to plan backwards from if you're aiming for early in the year.

SQE1 July 2027

• Assessment dates: FLK1 12 to 16 July, FLK2 19 to 23 July
• Examinable law cut-off: up to and including 12 March 2027
• Booking: check the SRA's booking windows page for the current closing date
• Results: typically five to six weeks after the assessment, so expect them in late August or early September

Same pattern as January, shifted six months later. If you're weighing January against July, the real question is usually how much preparation time each gives you, not which one is "sooner."

SQE2 January 2027

A January SQE2 window, sitting between the October 2026 and April 2027 windows. As with the other 2027 SQE2 sittings, check the SRA's page directly for the exact written and oral dates, since these are being finalised on a rolling basis roughly a year out.

• Booking: closes roughly five weeks before the window opens, per the SRA's standard pattern
• Results: SQE2 results take considerably longer than SQE1, typically fourteen to eighteen weeks after the assessment

SQE2 April 2027: the one to flag

This is the sitting worth reading twice. From April 2027 onward, the SRA is shifting the April SQE2 window to start a week earlier than in previous years, and extending it to around four weeks rather than the shorter window used previously. The stated reason is rising candidate numbers: a longer window gives Pearson VUE more capacity to run the oral station sittings without bottlenecking everyone into the same fortnight.

If you were mentally anchoring April SQE2 to the same week it fell in during 2025 or 2026, adjust that assumption. Check the confirmed April 2027 dates on the SRA's page rather than assuming last year's calendar repeats, and if your QWE, notice period, or travel plans depend on a specific week, build in a buffer either side.

SQE2 July 2027

Following the same four-times-a-year pattern, with a written assessment and oral sittings across several weeks in July. Confirm exact dates on the SRA's page closer to the time, and don't assume the booking deadline is a fixed number of weeks before the sitting until it's published, since it can vary slightly between windows.

SQE2 October 2027

The final 2027 SQE2 window. Results from an October sitting tend to land the following February or March given the fourteen to eighteen week wait, which is worth knowing if you're weighing October against holding out for January of the next year instead.

How the booking and cut-off dates actually work

Two dates matter more than the headline assessment week, and both are easy to miss if you're only looking at the exam dates themselves.

1. Booking closes roughly five weeks before the assessment window. This is when you need to have registered, not when the exam starts. Miss it and you're waiting for the next sitting.
2. The examinable law cut-off fixes what you're tested on. Each sitting has a cut-off date, the point up to which the law and practice you're assessed on is fixed. It sits months before the exam itself, so a later sitting means a later cut-off, not necessarily more study time on the same content.

Some sittings, particularly SQE2 windows, also involve a seat reservation form sent out ahead of the general booking window, with its own separate deadline. That quiet early deadline is a more common way to lose a place than missing the exam date itself, so once you've picked a sitting, check the SRA's page for every deadline attached to it, not just the headline one.

Results timing, and why it changes your next move

SQE1 results land roughly five to six weeks after the assessment. SQE2 takes much longer: fourteen to eighteen weeks. That gap matters if you're hoping to move straight from an SQE1 pass into booking SQE2, or from one SQE2 attempt into a resit, because the results date effectively sets the earliest point you can plan your next step with certainty.

If you're mapping a full SQE1-then-SQE2 timeline across 2027, work backwards from your intended SQE2 sitting, check when its booking window closes, then check when your SQE1 results would need to land to comfortably decide and book in time. Building slack into that chain is usually more useful than optimising for the fastest theoretical path.

Building your own 2027 timeline

The dates above are useful as a reference, but the plan that actually matters is the one built around your own sitting, your own study hours, and your own QWE timeline. A free SQE study planner can turn a target sitting date into a week-by-week schedule, so you can see whether the runway between now and your chosen 2027 window is realistic before you commit to it.

If cost is part of what's shaping your decision between an earlier or later sitting, our piece on what the SQE costs breaks down assessment fees and prep spending separately, which is worth reading alongside the dates here since booking earlier can sometimes matter for budget reasons too.

The takeaway

SQE1 sits in January and July 2027, with FLK1 and FLK2 each running as a separate assessment week. SQE2 sits four times across the year: January, April, July and October, with the April window starting a week earlier and running longer than previous years. Booking for both parts closes around five weeks out, and SQE2 results take considerably longer to arrive than SQE1's. None of that changes year to year in its broad shape, but the exact dates do, so bookmark the SRA's official dates page and check it again before you commit to a 2027 sitting.

Frequently asked questions

When is SQE1 in 2027? SQE1 sits twice in 2027: January (FLK1 from 11 to 15 January, FLK2 from 18 to 22 January) and July (FLK1 from 12 to 16 July, FLK2 from 19 to 23 July).

When is SQE2 in 2027? SQE2 runs four times in 2027: January, April, July and October. Check the SRA's booking windows page for the exact written and oral dates for each, since these are confirmed on a rolling basis.

Why is the April 2027 SQE2 window different? From April 2027, the SRA is starting the April SQE2 window about a week earlier than in previous years and extending it to roughly four weeks, to handle rising candidate numbers. If you're used to the old April timing, check the confirmed dates rather than assuming they repeat.

How far before the exam does SQE booking close? Booking for both SQE1 and SQE2 typically closes around five weeks before the assessment window opens, though some sittings also have an earlier seat reservation deadline. Always confirm the exact date for your specific sitting on the SRA's page.

How long after SQE2 do results take, compared with SQE1? SQE1 results usually arrive five to six weeks after the assessment. SQE2 results take much longer, typically fourteen to eighteen weeks, which is worth factoring in if you're planning your next sitting around them.