What's the SQE pass mark?

If you're hunting for a single number, here it is: the SQE pass mark is a scaled score of 300 out of 500. That applies to each part of SQE1, FLK1 and FLK2 separately, and to SQE2 overall.

But that number is more useful once you understand what it actually measures, because it isn't a fixed percentage of questions answered correctly. It's the output of a standard-setting process the SRA maintains for every sitting, whether that means a fresh panel or a statistically equated benchmark. Here's how that process works, and why "what percentage do I need" doesn't have one clean answer.

There's no fixed percentage pass mark

Unlike a school exam where 60% might always mean a pass, the SQE doesn't set a fixed correct-answer percentage in advance. The raw number of questions you need to get right on a given SQE1 paper can differ from sitting to sitting, because the difficulty of the questions themselves differs.

Instead, the SRA runs a standard-setting exercise for each assessment. A panel of qualified, practising solicitors reviews the actual questions on that paper and judges how a minimally competent newly qualified solicitor, on day one of practice, would perform on them. That judgment sets where the pass line falls for that specific sitting.

This is the reason you'll sometimes see people online quote a raw SQE1 pass mark somewhere in the low-to-mid 50s percent. That figure isn't a target to aim for. It's a symptom of the method: a harder paper gets a lower raw pass mark, an easier one gets a higher one, and the panel's job is to hold the underlying standard of competence constant even as the raw numbers shift underneath it.

The standard-setting process, in plain terms

For SQE1, the SRA's approach is based on the Modified Angoff method, a long-established way of setting pass marks on professional exams, not something invented for the SQE.

In broad terms, it works like this:

1. A panel of practising solicitors familiar with what a day-one newly qualified solicitor should know reviews each question on the paper.
2. For every question, panellists estimate how many out of ten minimally competent candidates would answer it correctly.
3. Panellists discuss their judgments and can revise their scores after hearing other views.
4. Those judgments combine into a raw pass mark for that specific paper.

The SRA doesn't necessarily convene a brand-new panel for every single sitting. Where an earlier Angoff-derived standard can reasonably carry forward, or be adjusted statistically against a previous benchmark, the SRA can equate a new paper's difficulty back to that standard rather than running a fresh panel each time. Either way, the aim is the same: keep the bar for competence consistent even though the questions change every sitting.

For SQE1, there's no negative marking. Every correct answer earns one mark, and wrong or unanswered questions simply earn none. Guessing carries no direct penalty on your raw score, and panellists judging a minimally competent candidate's likely performance on each question are, by the nature of the Angoff method, already factoring in realistic guessing on harder items.

What "scaled score" actually means

Once the raw pass mark is set for a given paper, the SRA converts it onto a common scale so results are comparable across different sittings, even though the underlying papers vary in difficulty.

That scale runs from 0 to 500, and the raw pass mark for a given sitting is always mapped onto 300 on this scale. Your own raw result is then scaled relative to that anchor point and rounded to the nearest whole number.

This is why two candidates who sat different versions of SQE1 in different sittings can both look at a scaled score on their results and know exactly where they stood relative to the pass line, 300, without needing to know the raw percentage either of them actually scored. A scaled score of 300 always means "at the pass standard for that sitting," whatever the raw pass mark behind it happened to be for that particular paper. The SRA doesn't publish that raw figure under the current system, though historically, before scaled scoring, disclosed SQE1 pass marks sat in the low-to-mid 50s percent.

Scaled scoring has applied to SQE1 results since January 2024, and to SQE2 results since January 2025. Both are presented as a scaled score out of 500, anchored the same way, at a pass mark of 300.

Why this matters for how you prepare

Knowing the mechanics changes how you should think about your own readiness.

• Stop chasing a fixed percentage target. Aiming for "I need 58%" assumes a fixed bar that doesn't exist. Aim instead for a solid, consistent margin above any plausible threshold, rather than trying to scrape past a number you can't actually predict in advance.
• Treat mock scores as directional, not exact. A mock exam can't replicate the real Angoff-derived pass mark for your actual sitting, because that mark doesn't exist yet while you're revising. Use mocks to track your trend over time and find weak topics, not to calculate exactly how close you are to the line.
• FLK1 and FLK2 are scored, and passed, separately. For SQE1, you need a scaled score of at least 300 on each paper individually. A strong FLK1 result doesn't offset a weak FLK2 result, so balanced coverage across both matters more than maximising one at the expense of the other.
• SQE2's pass mark is set on the same logic, through a different process. SQE2 combines multiple skills stations into one overall scaled score, still anchored at 300, but the standard is set using the borderline regression method rather than the Modified Angoff panel used for SQE1, because it's assessing performance across oral and written skills rather than multiple-choice recall.

A free SQE study planner that tracks your coverage against the whole syllabus, rather than a single guessed percentage target, gives you a more honest read on readiness than trying to reverse-engineer a raw pass mark that isn't set until after your sitting.

Where this fits with pass rates

The pass mark and the pass rate are two different things, and it's easy to blur them. The pass mark is the bar you personally need to clear, recalculated every sitting to keep the standard constant. The pass rate is the percentage of a whole cohort that cleared it in a given sitting, and that figure moves for its own separate reasons, including the mix of first-time and resit candidates sitting on a given date.

If you want the fuller picture on why published pass rates swing so much between sittings, SQE pass rates explained goes into the 2025 figures in detail. If you're weighing up when to sit relative to cost and calendar, what the SQE costs and SQE dates for 2026-27 cover the practical planning side. For a deeper look at reading cohort-level statistics generally, cohort pass rates, decoded is a useful companion piece.

Frequently asked questions

What is the pass mark for the SQE?

The pass mark for SQE1 is a scaled score of 300 out of 500 on each paper, FLK1 and FLK2 separately. For SQE2, the pass mark is also a scaled score of 300 out of 500, based on overall performance across the assessed skills stations.

Is the SQE pass mark a fixed percentage?

No. The SRA doesn't set a fixed correct-answer percentage in advance. For SQE1, a panel of practising solicitors sets a raw pass mark for each sitting using the Modified Angoff method, judging how a minimally competent day-one solicitor would perform on that specific set of questions. SQE2 uses a related but distinct process, the borderline regression method, applied to examiners' station-by-station judgments. Either way, the resulting mark is then converted to a scaled score of 300.

What is a scaled score on the SQE?

A scaled score converts your raw result onto a common 0 to 500 scale, with the pass mark for that sitting always mapped to 300. It lets the SRA compare results fairly across sittings where the underlying questions, and therefore the raw pass mark, differ in difficulty.

Does the SQE1 pass mark change between sittings?

The scaled pass mark itself is always 300. What changes between sittings is the raw pass mark behind that scaled score, since it's set separately for each paper through the standard-setting process. That's why raw percentage figures quoted online for different sittings don't always match.

Do you need 300 on both FLK1 and FLK2 to pass SQE1?

Yes. SQE1 has two separate papers, FLK1 and FLK2, and you need a scaled score of at least 300 on each one individually. A high score on one paper does not make up for falling short on the other.