SQE1 FLK2: what candidates need to know

FLK2 is the second functioning legal knowledge assessment within SQE1. Like FLK1, it is tested through single best answer multiple choice questions. The content is different, with a strong focus on property, wills and estates, accounts, land, trusts and criminal law and practice.

Candidates often find FLK2 demanding because small factual details can change the answer. A date, formality, title issue, account movement, capacity point or procedural stage may decide which option is best.

Who this article is for

This article is for SQE1 candidates who want a practical overview of FLK2 before building a revision plan. It is also useful if you are stronger in FLK1 subjects and need to understand why FLK2 may require a different style of practice.

Use the latest SRA assessment specification for authoritative detail. This article keeps the guidance high level and practical, without making claims about future exam windows, fees, pass rates or syllabus changes.

What you need to know

The SRA's FLK2 assessment specification covers Property Law and Practice, Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts, Land Law, Trusts Law, Criminal Liability and Criminal Law and Practice. Solicitors Accounts is examined in the context of Property Law and Practice and Wills and the Administration of Estates.

The assessment objectives are practical. In property, candidates may need to apply rules around freehold and leasehold transactions, title investigation, searches, exchange, completion, post-completion steps, leases and property taxation. In wills and estates, candidates may deal with validity of wills, interpretation, grants of representation, inheritance tax and estate administration.

FLK2 also includes land law, trusts, criminal liability and criminal practice. That means revision needs to cover both private law structures and procedural consequences. The SRA guidance states that questions may draw on combinations of subject areas that might be encountered in practice.

The SRA assessment specification defines what is examinable. Qualifico organises that FLK2 content into study topics including land ownership and title, co-ownership, easements, leases, property transactions and solicitors' accounts, wills, intestacy, estate tax, trusts, criminal liability, offences, police powers, evidence, criminal procedure, youth justice and sentencing.

That topic map shows why FLK2 needs a different rhythm from a purely doctrinal law module. You are not only learning land, trusts or criminal liability in isolation. You are learning how title, chronology, authority, money movement, capacity and procedure change the answer in a practical scenario.

Key points

• FLK2 is part of SQE1, alongside FLK1.

• It uses single best answer multiple choice questions.

• The subject mix includes property, wills, accounts, land, trusts and criminal law and practice.

• Formalities, chronology and procedure matter.

• Ethics and professional conduct can be tested across SQE1.

• Qualifico covers FLK2 practice, alongside FLK1 and SQE2.

How to prepare or use this guidance

Approach FLK2 as an application exam, not a definition test. You need to know the rules, but the question will usually ask what follows from specific facts. That is especially important in areas such as title, priorities, trusts, wills, client money treatment and criminal procedure. Solicitors accounts deserve their own routine, covered in how to practise solicitors accounts little and often.

Practise reading for controlling facts. In a property question, ask who owns what, what is registered, what has been signed and what stage the transaction has reached. In a wills or trust question, ask whether the formality, capacity or beneficial entitlement point is decisive. In a criminal procedure question, check the stage of the process before choosing the next step.

For FLK2 review, keep a trigger log rather than a vague topic log. Write registered title priority, client money movement, will execution, intestacy distribution, police station stage or sentencing factor. Those labels are more useful than simply writing property or criminal law.

Keep accounts and tax in context. The SRA specification places solicitors accounts within property and estates contexts. That does not make it optional. It means candidates should understand how account treatment or tax points arise in realistic client matters.

This overview is not the place to learn accounts in detail. Treat accounts as a repeated-practice topic: short worked questions, careful review and a separate error log for money movement, timing and calculation slips.

Use official sample questions for format and discipline. They show the style of fact pattern and the way five plausible options are used. They are not a substitute for covering the assessment specification or practising across the full range of topics.

How Qualifico helps

Qualifico helps SQE1 candidates work through FLK2 practice in manageable sessions. That can be valuable because FLK2 rewards repeated exposure to scenario patterns and careful answer review.

With question practice, flashcards and topic tracking, you can identify whether mistakes come from missing the rule, missing a fact or being pulled towards a plausible but wrong distractor. That kind of feedback is more useful than simply counting how many questions you answered.

When your FLK2 scores move, look beneath the average. A steady overall score can hide a weak accounts pattern or repeated criminal procedure timing errors. Topic-level review is where the next sensible study decision usually sits.

Qualifico covers practice across FLK1 and FLK2, and the SQE2 tasks through Written Response practice. SQE2 remains a separate assessment with a different skills format, so use the SRA specification and your training provider alongside it.

Next steps

Ethics runs through both assessments, so how ethics appears across FLK1 and FLK2 is the next read for candidates who revise FLK2 subject by subject.