How many questions are on the real estate exam?

National portion facts

How many questions, state by state

On Pearson VUE salesperson exams the national part is 80 scored + 5 pretest items: the pretest items look exactly like scored ones and don’t count. Tennessee’s PSI exam has 80 questions, 160 minutes. Georgia’s PSI bulletin publishes the national outline in percent, without a question count. The Florida broker exam has no national portion at all: Florida writes all 100 questions itself.

How long the real estate exam takes

The national part takes 150 minutes (Pearson VUE); 160 minutes in Tennessee (PSI). With the state part added, the whole sitting is 240 minutes in Arizona, where General and State are two exams, 240 minutes in Tennessee and 210 minutes in Alabama. Georgia’s time is not published by PSI or the commission.

Passing score by state

There is no national passing score. Arizona 75% · Alabama one overall scaled 70 · Utah and Kansas scaled 70 per part · Tennessee 56 of 80 (70%) · Georgia not published.

Two kinds of numbers hide behind these marks. Tennessee and Arizona score in percent correct. Alabama, Utah and Kansas report a scaled score, which Pearson VUE’s Alabama handbook says is neither the number nor the percent of questions you got right: raw scores are converted to a 0–100 scale so that harder and easier versions of the exam are passed on equal terms. Alabama’s score report is marked pass or fail; a fail shows the numeric score and diagnostics for the general and state sections.

If you fail one part

• Alabama — No: failing one or both parts means retaking the entire exam.
• Tennessee — Yes: retake only the failed portion; a passed portion counts for 2 retakes or 1 year, whichever comes first.
• Arizona — General and State are booked, paid and scored as separate exams.
• Georgia — Not stated: the bulletin covers rebooking only.

How soon you can retest

• Georgia: Book again from the next day; a candidate who fails on a Wednesday can retest as soon as Friday. Full fee each time.
• Arizona: Wait 24 hours, then book with Pearson VUE (not at the test center); each retake costs the same as the first attempt.
• Tennessee: Retake from the next day; after the second attempt, wait 30 days between failed attempts.
• Alabama: you get unlimited attempts within the 6-month authorization; after that, the prelicense course must be taken again.

How long a pass counts: Alabama 90 days, Arizona and Tennessee 1 year, Georgia 3 months at the normal fee and 12 at most, each set by the state.

Already licensed in another state

Utah, Idaho, Kansas and Tennessee can waive a national portion passed elsewhere; Alabama and Arizona test licensees of other states on the state portion only; Florida residents take only the Georgia state portion. Alabama prices that state-only sitting on its own. Reciprocal candidates take only the 40-question state portion ($53, 1 hour).

The Florida broker exam has a route of its own. Mutual recognition (10 states): non-residents licensed by exam there take only the 40-question Florida law exam.

Which states recognize which licenses: real estate license reciprocity.

Calculator and math rules

The calculator rule comes from the state handbook. Arizona allows a silent, non-printing calculator without an A–Z keypad; Alabama and Georgia give an on-screen calculator only. Florida broker candidates may bring their own calculator: silent, hand-held, non-printing, no alphabetic keypad; financial calculators allowed.

Not supplied at the test center: Memorize 43,560 sq ft per acre and 5,280 ft per mile; a proration question states 360 or 365 days and who owns the closing day. Worked problems: real estate math.

Dates, booking and testing online

No fixed national test dates: once eligible, you book a seat with the state’s vendor online or by phone. Arizona: Book online at least 24 hours ahead; no walk-ins. PSI states: Cancel or reschedule free up to 2 days before the exam.

The exam is computer-based at Pearson VUE or PSI test centers; Tennessee (PSI) also offers remote online proctoring. The Florida broker exam is taken at a test center only.

Results are shown at the test center; content-area diagnostics after a fail (Pearson VUE and PSI).

What the national portion costs

Set by each state; the national part has its own price in Arizona ($70 General), Tennessee ($37 national portion alone) and Arkansas ($75 per part when booked separately), as of Oct 2026. In the other states you pay one fee for the whole exam, and the license, fingerprint and school fees come on top of it: real estate license cost by state.

More on the national portion

• National portion →What the national portion is, who builds it, how each state scores it
• National portion practice test →National portion questions in Pearson VUE proportions, every option explained
• National portion outline by PSI →PSI’s national outline in percent, its states here, test-day and retake rules
• National portion outline by Pearson VUE →Pearson VUE’s national outline with item counts, its states here, test-day rules
• National portion study guide →A study order by item count, outline lines that are easy to miss, free sources