Real estate exam study guide, weighted by the outline

Items per topic, and where PSI differs

Pearson VUE counts items; PSI gives percentages for the same topics. The two disagree most on contracts and real estate practice, which weigh more with PSI (19% and 15% of its national portion), and on property ownership and valuation, which weigh more with Pearson VUE (13 and 11 of 80 items, about 16% and 14%). If your state uses PSI, move contracts and practice up your list.

A study order

1. Take a baseline. Run the practice exam once with a timer (150 minutes for the national part with Pearson VUE) and note your score per topic. If your state uses PSI, take the PSI set instead; the vendor map shows which applies.
2. Ownership and title (13 + 6 items). Fixtures, estates and forms of ownership, legal descriptions, liens and easements, then deeds, recording, chain of title and title insurance. Ownership · Title
3. Contracts and agency (9 + 10). Valid elements, void against voidable, the Statute of Frauds, earnest money and contingencies; how agency is created and ended, fiduciary duties, listing types. Contracts · Agency
4. Valuation (11). The three approaches to value, depreciation, gross rent multipliers, CMA against BPO. Valuation
5. Disclosures and environmental issues (9). Lead paint, radon, mold, underground tanks, flood zones, CERCLA and site assessments. Disclosures
6. Practice, financing, land use (7, 5, 3). Fair housing and the ADA, antitrust, Do Not Contact; loan types, TRID and RESPA; zoning and government powers. Practice · Financing · Land use
7. Math (7) in small daily sets. Formulas also turn up inside valuation and financing questions. Real estate math
8. Retest and close the gap. Run the practice exam again and give the last days to the weakest topic.

Outline lines that are easy to overlook

Each of these is named in the current Pearson VUE salesperson outline (in force: Apr 1, 2025). Check that your course or book covers them:

• Broker price opinions (BPO) next to the CMA, in the valuation area (III.C).
• Electronic contracts and digital signatures, under contract performance (IV.C).
• Privacy and Do Not Contact rules, under risk management (V.D).
• Net listings as a conflict of interest, among listing agreement types (V.B).
• Wetlands protection and Phase I and II site assessments, in the environmental area (VI.A).
• USDA rural loans beside FHA and VA requirements (VII.B).
• CFPB, the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure under federal financing rules (VII.C).

Reading the two outlines

Pearson VUE: counts and thinking level

Every area lists its item count and a split by thinking level. Across the 80 items that is 38 knowledge, 26 application, 16 analysis, so more than half of the scored items ask you to apply a rule to a situation or reason through a fact pattern. Flashcards cover the knowledge items; for the rest, practice with scenarios. Math has no knowledge items at all (7 items: 4 application, 3 analysis).

PSI: percentages in your state’s bulletin

PSI prints the national outline inside the state’s candidate information bulletin (Georgia and Tennessee here), followed by the state portion’s outline, and the national part reads the same in both. It gives property management an area of its own (3% for salespersons); here it sits under real estate practice. Full table: PSI outline.

Recent litigation

Pearson VUE: exam content “reflects the real estate industry as a whole and may not reflect any ongoing litigation or settlements”. So study commissions and buyer agreements the way the outline frames them, and learn your state’s current rules for the state portion.

The ten national topics

• Property ownership →13 items on the exam
• Land use controls →3 items on the exam
• Transfer of title →6 items on the exam
• Valuation and appraisal →11 items on the exam
• Contracts →9 items on the exam
• Agency →10 items on the exam
• Real estate practice →7 items on the exam
• Disclosures and environmental issues →9 items on the exam
• Financing →5 items on the exam
• Real estate math →7 items on the exam