How to use these SQE practice questions
These SQE practice questions are designed to test the habit the SQE requires: identify the decisive issue, state the governing rule accurately, apply it to the facts and choose the safest practical outcome.
SQE1 is a computer-based assessment using single best answer multiple-choice questions. It tests functioning legal knowledge across core practice areas and legal services. SQE2 is a practical assessment using oral and written tasks, including interviewing, advocacy, case and matter analysis, legal research, legal writing and drafting in realistic client scenarios.
For each question below, select the best answer before reading the explanation. The correct answer is shown in the practice screen, but the explanation is where most of the learning happens. Pay particular attention to exceptions, deadlines, evidence, conflicts and the action a solicitor should take next.
Question 1 — Contract law and exclusion clauses
This tests whether you can distinguish incorporation, construction and statutory controls over a liability clause.
A business buys a photocopier from a supplier for use in its office. The written contract, signed by both parties, states that the supplier excludes liability for any loss caused by its negligence. The photocopier is damaged because the supplier's employee negligently drops it while installing it. The buyer wants to recover the repair cost. Which is the best answer?
Option 3 is best. The clause was incorporated by signature, but a business supplier's attempt to exclude or restrict liability for negligence is subject to the statutory reasonableness test. Option 1 is too broad: exclusion of negligence is not automatically void in every business contract. Option 2 ignores statutory control.
The practical lesson is to separate the questions: is the term incorporated, what does it cover, and is it controlled by statute? Do not stop after finding a signed clause.
Question 2 — Land law and registered dispositions
This tests the formalities for transferring a registered freehold and the effect of registration.
A registered freehold property is sold. The transfer deed is executed and completion takes place, with the purchase money paid. The buyer has not yet been entered on the register. The seller then grants a legal charge over the property to a lender, who acts in good faith and has no notice of the sale. Which statement is most accurate?
Option 3 is best. A registrable disposition of a registered estate does not operate at law until the registration requirements are completed; before then, the buyer has the equitable interest. Option 2 confuses completion with the passing of the legal estate. Option 5 is wrong because a delayed application is not automatically void.
In land questions, look for the point at which the legal estate passes, then consider priority and any protection needed for the buyer's interest. Do not treat completion and registration as interchangeable.
Question 3 — Tort and remoteness
This tests factual causation and whether the type of loss is too remote.
A delivery driver negligently crashes into a shop. The impact damages the shop's electrical system. The shop closes for two weeks while repairs are carried out and loses its ordinary trading profit. During the closure, the owner also loses a highly unusual contract with a celebrity customer, although the driver had no reason to know about it. Which loss is the shop most likely to recover from the driver?
Option 2 is best. Ordinary trading profit during a foreseeable closure is the type of loss that may reasonably be anticipated. The unusual contract loss is likely too remote because the driver had no reason to know of that special circumstance. Factual causation alone does not establish recoverability.
A strong answer distinguishes “but for” causation from remoteness. Ask what kind of loss was reasonably foreseeable, not simply whether the breach or tort set events in motion.
Question 4 — Company law and directors' conflicts
This tests the correct response when a director has a personal interest in a proposed transaction.
A director of a private company learns that the company is considering buying land from a company owned by the director's spouse. The director has not yet voted on the proposal. What should the director do first?
Option 3 is best. The director should disclose the nature and extent of the interest before the company decides the matter, subject to the applicable statutory and constitutional rules. A favourable price does not remove the conflict. Waiting until completion is too late.
The recurring SQE habit is early risk management. Identify the conflict before discussing whether the transaction is commercially attractive. The next step may include checking the articles, obtaining independent advice and ensuring the decision is properly recorded.
Question 5 — Professional conduct and confidentiality
This tests confidentiality, client authority and the danger of using information for another client.
A solicitor acts for a company in a proposed acquisition. The solicitor also acts for another client who is negotiating to sell a business to the target company. The solicitor knows confidentially that the target company is urgently seeking an acquisition. What is the best immediate response?
Option 3 is best. Confidential information cannot be disclosed or used for another client's advantage without proper authority. The solicitor must assess the conflict, applicable consent and whether the firm can act at all. Option 1 treats confidential information as the solicitor's to share.
Professional conduct is not a separate afterthought in an SQE question. It often determines the first action: stop, identify the risk, protect confidentiality and obtain informed authority or withdraw where required.
Question 6 — Criminal law and self-defence
This tests the relationship between an honestly held belief and the reasonableness of the force used.
A person is confronted at night by an aggressive stranger who raises a bottle and moves towards them. The person honestly believes they are about to be attacked and punches the stranger once. The stranger falls and suffers a broken nose. Which statement is most accurate?
Option 2 is best. The question is whether the defendant honestly believed force was necessary and whether the force used was reasonable in the circumstances as they believed them to be. Prior physical contact or an absolute duty to retreat is not required. Fear alone does not automatically justify any force.
For criminal law, name the elements and apply each one to the facts. Avoid absolute words such as “always” and “never” unless the rule genuinely has no exception.
Question 7 — Civil procedure and limitation
This tests the ordinary limitation period for a negligence claim involving personal injury.
A claimant suffers personal injury in a road collision on 1 March 2022. The claimant is an adult and knows immediately that the injury was caused by the collision. No special postponement applies. By what date should proceedings ordinarily be issued to avoid expiry of the primary limitation period?
Option 3 is best. The ordinary primary limitation period for a personal injury claim is three years from the date of accrual or, where relevant, the date of knowledge. On these facts that points to 1 March 2025. Exceptions and court discretion can matter, so a solicitor should confirm the facts and current procedural position rather than rely on a bare date.
A limitation answer should state the trigger, the period and the calculated deadline. It should also identify facts that could alter the result, such as the claimant's age, date of knowledge or a different cause of action.
Question 8 — Trusts and resulting trusts
This tests the presumption that can arise when one person contributes to the purchase price but legal title is held by another.
A pays 30% of the purchase price of a property. The legal title is registered solely in B's name. There is no written declaration of trust and no evidence that A intended the payment as a gift. Which is the best analysis?
Option 3 is best. A direct contribution to the purchase price, where no gift is intended or presumed, can give rise to a presumption of resulting trust in proportion to the contribution. The precise beneficial ownership depends on the evidence and any applicable presumption. The register alone does not answer the beneficial ownership question.
The key is to identify the source of the beneficial interest and then ask whether evidence rebuts the starting position. Do not replace a proportionate contribution with an automatic 50:50 outcome.
Question 9 — Employment law and discrimination
This tests the distinction between a protected characteristic and a legitimate workplace decision.
An employer refuses an employee's promotion application because the employee is pregnant. The employer says that the employee may take maternity leave soon and that selecting someone else is more convenient. Which is the best conclusion?
Option 2 is best. Unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy is likely direct discrimination. The employer's convenience and a general policy do not justify that reason. Option 4 wrongly imposes a comparator requirement where the statutory protection operates directly.
In discrimination questions, identify the protected status, the reason for the treatment and the connection between them. An apparently practical business reason may still be unlawful if it is based on pregnancy or another protected characteristic.
Question 10 — Legal services and client money
This tests the first response to a possible breach involving client money.
A solicitor discovers that money belonging to one client was accidentally paid into another client's matter ledger and has already been used to pay an invoice. What should the solicitor do first?
Option 3 is best. A possible client-money breach requires prompt containment, escalation, accurate records and appropriate remedial action under the applicable rules and firm procedures. Concealing or delaying the issue increases the risk. The exact notification and reporting steps depend on the confirmed facts.
The strongest option in a conduct question usually protects the client first, preserves an accurate record and escalates promptly. A commercial or reputational concern is not a reason to delay reporting a possible breach.
A marked written SQE2-style task
SQE2 written work is not a memory exercise alone. The answer must be usable by the client or supervising solicitor. It should identify the objective, deal with decisive issues in order, apply the law to the facts and finish with advice, deadlines, evidence, costs and risks.
Write a short advice email to a small-business client whose supplier has delivered defective stock and whose contract contains a limitation clause. Explain the immediate options and information needed.
31/40Objective: establish whether the client can reject the stock or claim damages. Issues: inspect the goods, preserve evidence, check the contract and assess the limitation clause. The client should notify the supplier promptly, avoid selling the goods and obtain photographs and an independent report. If the clause excludes negligence or limits liability, its wording and statutory reasonableness must be assessed. The client should also check the contractual notice and dispute-resolution provisions. Next steps: send a reservation-of-rights letter, quantify the direct loss and diarise the contractual and statutory deadlines.
The answer identifies the commercial objective, preserves evidence and gives sensible immediate steps. It applies the possible statutory control but does not identify the relevant sale-of-goods terms or distinguish rejection from a damages claim clearly enough.
Missed
−State the need to check whether the breach is sufficiently serious for rejection and whether acceptance has occurred.
−Identify the governing sale-of-goods terms and explain that the limitation clause must be construed and tested on the particular facts.
−Mention the client's likely need to mitigate loss and keep the defective stock available for inspection.
Model answerObjective and facts: confirm the delivery date, inspection, use or resale of the stock, the defects and the client's preferred remedy. Law and application: check the express terms and implied terms as to satisfactory quality and conformity, then assess whether the breach permits rejection or supports damages. Construe the limitation clause and consider any statutory reasonableness control. Advice: notify the supplier promptly, preserve the stock and evidence, avoid further loss and reserve the client's rights. Next steps: obtain an expert report, calculate the loss, check notice and limitation periods, and consider negotiation or proceedings if the supplier does not respond.
That is a MySummaries paper, filled with SQE material. Yours is written from your own notes. Start free
This is a good example of why a legally correct answer can still lose marks. The candidate identified the main risk but needed to connect the remedy to the facts and give more precise advice on acceptance, mitigation and evidence.
Diagnose the pattern, not just the score
After a set of questions, classify each error. Was it a rule error, an exception missed, poor application, professional conduct oversight or failure to choose the practical next step? A percentage without this diagnosis does not tell you what to study next.
For the weakest area, return to the rule source, make a short checklist of exceptions and then answer a new fact pattern. Do not simply reread the explanation you already recognised.
You lost this mark twice: after discovering a possible client-money error, what must happen before any attempt is made to correct the ledger?
The answer should include immediate containment, escalation, accurate records and protection of the client-money position. If your answer only says “transfer the money back”, the remediation has not yet worked.
How MySummaries helps
MySummaries lets you build a revision board from your own SQE notes, then turns the board into single-best-answer drills, marked written tasks and remediation cards. It can track weak areas such as professional conduct, limitation or land registration rather than treating every topic as equally important.
You can practise from your own material at portal.mysummaries.app, using each explanation to update the rule, exception and practical next step you missed.