LawShortcut
HomeModel Answers › FE-1 past-paper analysis
Free analysis · FE-1 · 2024–2026

FE-1: what the last five papers actually asked

We read every question on every FE-1 paper from March 2024 to March 2026 — all eight subjects, 312 questions — and compared them with each other. This is what came back. It is free, and there is nothing to sign up for to read it.

21questions have been set more than once in five sittings
9of the 63 questions on the March 2026 papers had appeared before
43question slots are filled by a question that has been used before
11CJEU judgments have filled 40 EU case-note slots

Where the repeats are

Repeats are not spread evenly. If you are sitting Property or EU, past papers are worth more of your revision time than they are in Tort.

SubjectQuestions set more than onceWhat that means for revision
Property8Highest repeat rate in the exam. Work the past papers.
EU5Heavy repetition, plus a fixed case-note slot at Q7 every sitting.
Company3The big essay titles come round again, word for word.
Constitutional1One essay repeated; the Q4 case-note slot is near-permanent.
Equity2Two repeats, one of them a long problem question reused almost verbatim.
Contract1Rare. One damages problem reused two years apart.
Criminal1Rare. Cover the syllabus rather than the past papers.
Tort0No repeats at all in five sittings. Breadth beats past papers here.

Three that stand out

Every repeat below was checked by reading both questions side by side, not just by a similarity score. The questions themselves are described in our own words, not reproduced.

Company — Set three times in five sittings, word for word

An essay on the protection of minority shareholders, asking candidates to trace it through both statute and the common law and to support the answer throughout with case and statutory authority. Our description, not the examiner’s wording.

Appeared as Mar 2024 Q5 · Oct 2024 Q8 · Oct 2025 Q5.

Equity — A 137-word problem reused with one name changed

A question on the three certainties, requiring certainty of objects to be treated alongside one of the other two, in the context of what must exist for a valid express trust. Our description, not the examiner’s wording.

Appeared as Mar 2025 Q2 · Oct 2025 Q4.

Property — The same scenario two years apart

A two-part question: a critical analysis of the rules governing the construction of wills under Irish succession law, together with a shorter treatment of how an intestate estate is distributed. Our description, not the examiner’s wording.

Appeared as Mar 2024 Q8 · Oct 2025 Q1.

The EU case-note slot

EU Question 7 has been a case-note question at every one of the last five sittings. It is not the same question each time — the list of judgments rotates — but the pool it rotates through is small.

Counting only the judgments given a C-number, 11 distinct cases have filled 40 slots across five sittings, and 8 of those 11 have come up more than once. A candidate who knows that pool can answer Q7 at any sitting. Constitutional Question 4 behaves the same way, as a short-note question on four of the last five papers.

How this was done, and what it is not

Every question was reduced to its overlapping three-word sequences and compared with every other question from a different sitting in the same subject. Standard examiner boilerplate was stripped out first, so matches caused by common legal phrasing do not count. A pair is reported only where the two questions share at least 40% of their sequences and at least 18 sequences outright — and every surviving pair was then read to confirm it. Of 127 candidate matches, 106 were rejected.

This is a record, not a prediction. Five sittings is a short run, examiners are under no obligation to repeat themselves, and a question set four times running can still disappear. Use it to decide what to revise first, not what to skip.

Every repeat we found

Twenty-one questions, listed by subject. Where a question has been set twice, working it once covers two papers.

SubjectTimes setWhich papers
CompanyMar 2024 Q5 · Oct 2024 Q8 · Oct 2025 Q5
CompanyOct 2024 Q1 · Mar 2026 Q8
CompanyMar 2024 Q1 · Oct 2025 Q3
ConstitutionalOct 2024 Q6 · Mar 2025 Q6
ContractMar 2024 Q6 · Mar 2026 Q4
CriminalMar 2024 Q3 · Oct 2025 Q7
EUMar 2024 Q2 · Mar 2025 Q2
EUMar 2024 Q6 · Mar 2025 Q6
EUOct 2024 Q1 · Mar 2026 Q2
EUMar 2025 Q8 · Mar 2026 Q8
EUMar 2024 Q8 · Oct 2025 Q8
EquityMar 2025 Q2 · Oct 2025 Q4
EquityMar 2025 Q3 · Mar 2026 Q2
PropertyMar 2024 Q8 · Oct 2025 Q1
PropertyMar 2024 Q6 · Oct 2025 Q5
PropertyMar 2025 Q7 · Oct 2025 Q7
PropertyMar 2025 Q6 · Oct 2025 Q2
PropertyMar 2024 Q3 · Mar 2026 Q2
PropertyMar 2024 Q7 · Mar 2026 Q6
PropertyMar 2025 Q8 · Oct 2025 Q4
PropertyMar 2025 Q4 · Mar 2026 Q3
Model answers

Full model answers to eleven of these repeats

The analysis above is free and always will be. If you want the answers — eleven of the repeat questions worked through in full, with every authority checked against primary sources — they are here.

See the model answers →

More FE-1 material on the way

The eleven answers above are the repeats. We are working through the rest of the paper for the March 2027 sitting, subject by subject. Leave your email and we will tell you as each one lands.

Where this came from

LawShortcut is an independent Irish law study aid. This analysis is our own work: we do not reproduce the Law Society’s examination questions, which the Law Society sells directly through its own website, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Law Society of Ireland.