Simulating real SQE exam conditions at home

Most people who fail SQE1 don't fail because they didn't know the law. They fail because the exam itself caught them off guard: the pace, the length, the total absence of anything to lean on except your own memory. You can fix most of that before results day, and it costs nothing but a quiet room and a timer.

This is a guide to running your own SQE mock exam under conditions that actually match the real thing, not a watered-down version you can pause halfway through.

Why exam conditions matter more than the questions

A question bank tells you what you know. A timed, no-notes mock tells you what you can do under pressure, which is the thing the SRA is actually testing.

SQE1 is not a knowledge test you sit at your own pace. Each session is 90 questions in 2 hours and 33 minutes, under a minute and forty seconds per question on average. On each SQE1 assessment day you sit two of these sessions back to back, separated by a 60-minute break, and FLK1 and FLK2 are then assessed on two separate days. That structure, questions, time, break, questions again, is unusual, and your brain needs to have felt it before the real thing.

If you only ever practise in short bursts with your notes open, you're training a skill you won't be allowed to use on the day. A proper mock closes that gap.

The three things a real mock needs

Set these up before you start, not halfway through when you realise you've broken the rules.

1. Match the timing exactly

Give yourself 2 hours 33 minutes for 90 questions, and stop when the clock runs out, even if you haven't finished. That's the whole point: on the real day, unanswered questions just don't get marked, so practising running out of time is as useful as practising finishing early.

If you want the full two-session experience, do a second 90-question block after a 60-minute break, exactly as it runs on exam day. It's a long stretch of concentration and that's deliberate; you're training stamina as much as recall.

2. No notes, no phone, no second monitor

This is the rule people bend without meaning to. You check "just one thing" on your phone, or you leave a tab of notes open "for emergencies." Don't. The real exam gives you nothing but a basic on-screen calculator and the question in front of you.

Put your phone in another room. Close every tab except the mock itself. If you'd feel embarrassed explaining your setup to an invigilator, change it.

3. A single, uninterrupted sitting

Pick a time when nobody will knock on the door, the dog won't need walking, and you're not squeezing it in before a shift. A 2h33m block deserves the same respect you'd give an actual exam slot. If you can only manage 45 minutes here and there, that's fine for question practice, but it isn't a mock, and you shouldn't treat the score as if it were.

A simple at-home setup

You don't need special software to approximate this. A basic version:

1. Pick a 90-question set from whatever question bank or past-paper resource you're using, ideally ones you haven't seen the answers to recently.
2. Set a countdown timer for 2 hours 33 minutes, visible but not distracting.
3. Clear the room of notes, phone, and anything with the answers in it.
4. Sit the full block. Don't check your score partway through; that's a habit the real exam won't allow either.
5. Mark it only after the timer ends, not question by question as you go.

If you're using an AI-graded mock or a platform built for SQE1, most of this is handled for you (timer, question count, no-peek scoring), which removes the temptation to bend your own rules. A free SQE study planner can also help you slot full mock sessions into your week without them colliding with everything else you're trying to fit in.

How often to run a full mock

Full 2h33m mocks are demanding, so you don't need one every week. A reasonable rhythm for most people:

• Early in your prep: shorter, untimed topic tests to build knowledge.
• Once you've covered the ground: one full single-session (90-question) mock every couple of weeks.
• In the final month: at least one or two full two-session days, back to back with the 60-minute break, to rehearse a full assessment day rather than just one session of it.

Spacing them out matters more than cramming them in. A mock is only useful if you have time afterward to review your mistakes properly rather than just noting your score and moving on, which is really a separate skill worth practising on its own.

What to do with a bad result

A mock under real conditions will usually feel harder than casual question practice, and that's normal, not a sign you're behind. The score matters less than the pattern: were you running out of time on certain question types, freezing on anything from a specific FLK area, or losing focus in the second half of the session?

Write that down straight after, while it's fresh, rather than relying on memory a few days later.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Giving yourself extra time "just this once." It defeats the purpose and tells you nothing about your real pace.
• Stopping the clock to look something up. If you wouldn't be allowed to on the day, don't allow it in the mock.
• Only ever doing single sessions. The second session, after a break, is a different mental state. Test it.
• Treating every mock as a full one. Short practice sessions are valuable too, just label them honestly.
• Ignoring the review step. The mock itself teaches you less than working through what went wrong afterward.

Where this fits in your wider prep

Timed mocks are one part of a study plan, not the whole thing. They work best layered on top of steady topic coverage and spaced review, not as a replacement for either. If you're still mapping out fee timelines or your overall SQE1 schedule, it's worth reading up on what the SQE costs and checking the current SQE sitting dates before you commit to a mock calendar, so your practice exams line up with your actual booking rather than an arbitrary date.

And if you're weighing up how much a single mock score should worry you, it's worth reading how cohort pass rates break down so you can put your own result in context instead of judging it in isolation.

Frequently asked questions

How long is an SQE1 mock exam? To match the real exam, a full single session should be 90 questions in 2 hours and 33 minutes. Each real SQE1 assessment day has two such sessions with a 60-minute break between them, so a full "whole day" mock is roughly 5 hours and 26 minutes of testing time plus the break. Note that FLK1 and FLK2 are sat on two separate assessment days, each with this same two-session structure, so a single mock day rehearses one of those days, not the whole of SQE1.

Can I use notes during an SQE mock? Not if you want it to reflect exam conditions. The real SQE1 assessment is closed-book aside from an on-screen calculator, so a mock with notes open is really just question practice, which is still useful, just not the same thing.

How many mock exams should I do before SQE1? There's no official number. A common approach is untimed topic practice early on, then a handful of full, timed 90-question mocks in the weeks before the exam, with at least one or two full two-session days close to your sitting to rehearse a full assessment day's format.

Do I need special software to simulate SQE exam conditions? No. A basic timer and a distraction-free room will get you most of the way there. Purpose-built SQE mock tools remove some of the friction, like enforcing the timer and hiding answers until you finish, but the core discipline (timing, no notes, one sitting) works with nothing more than a phone timer left in another room.

What's the difference between a timed mock and normal question practice? Question practice, done untimed with notes nearby, is about learning and reinforcing knowledge. A timed mock under exam conditions tests whether you can retrieve and apply that knowledge at exam pace, without support. Both matter, but they measure different things, so it helps to know which one you're doing on any given day.