Real Estate Agent License Exams

Each state has its own real estate laws, rules and regulations and its own way of testing this knowledge for the real estate licensing exam.

The majority of states have partnered with one of four standardized testing companies (ASI, PSI, AMP, or Experior) to create state-specific tests. These companies test the same material, but do it in different ratios and formats; some of these tests are paper-based and others are taken on a computer. Contact your state real estate licensing board to find out if they use one of these companies and then use study materials geared towards that specific test.

Exams cover both national and state specific material. Some states have one comprehensive exam and others divide the exam into two parts. Key concepts covered include federal legislation, ownership and land use, brokerage, financing, contracts, taxes and commissions.

Most states currently use a multiple choice format, but others include true-or-false questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, short-answer questions or require you to fill out mock legal forms. Time limits range from two and half hours to give hours. Test-takers are usually required to get 75 percent of the questions correct in order to pass.

There are a few similarities between all real estate tests. At the time this guide is written, exams in all states grade by a "rights only" system. Under this system, one point is awarded for correct answers and no points are taken away for wrong answers. Thus if you are running out of time, it is your advantage to fill out the rest of the multiple-choice questions randomly.

All states also allow the use of a financial calculator that does not have the capacity for storing text (between 10 and 20 percent of your questions will require computations).

Here's a link to five sample questions. See how you fare: Pearsons.com

The questions aren't easy, are they? A word of encouragement: thousands of students pass the exam each year, with preparation, and you will too. However, it wouldn't hurt to find out if you state has unlimited retakes or they cap you at a certain number.

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