PAPennsylvania

Real estate exam prep

At a glance

The exam, in numbers.

Questions: 120 scored multiple-choice (80 national + 40 state, plus up to 10 unscored pretest items per section)
Time: 210 minutes total (150 minutes national + 60 minutes state)
Passing score: 75% on EACH section, scored independently
Pre-license education: 75 hours, Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission-approved (Real Estate Fundamentals 30 hours + Real Estate Practice 45 hours)
License type: Salesperson (entry-level; brokers take a separate longer exam)
Administered by: Pearson VUE on behalf of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission
Format: computer-based testing (CBT)
Exam fee: $49 per attempt, paid to PSI at scheduling
Retake wait: none; reschedule with PSI as soon as a slot is available
Score validity: a passed section stays valid for 12 months while you retake the other
Result: issued at the testing center; passing scores valid for three years from the exam date

Pennsylvania real estate exam: format, score, what to expect in 2026

Pennsylvania licenses real estate practice under a 1980 statute called RELRA, the Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act, and pairs it with something many states don't have: a state-administered Real Estate Recovery Fund that pays consumers who have a final judgment against a Pennsylvania licensee for fraud, misrepresentation, or misappropriation of trust funds, when the licensee can't pay it themselves. The fund is financed by license fees the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission collects from every active licensee, which means every salesperson and broker in the state contributes to a backstop their clients can claim against. The exam tests how the fund works, who can claim, the cap per transaction, the cap per licensee, and what happens to the licensee whose conduct triggers a payout.

The state administers the exam through Pearson VUE (recently transitioned from PSI; verify the current vendor on the PA Department of State website before scheduling). The format is 120 multiple-choice questions across two scored sections, totaling 210 minutes (150 minutes for 80 national items + 60 minutes for 40 state items). The passing standard is 75% on the state portion and 75% on the national portion, scored independently. Both must be cleared in the same exam attempt window for the salesperson license to issue.

This guide walks through the national and state content outlines, how to study, and what exam day looks like at a Pearson VUE center.

Written by

Chris Reese

May 8, 2026

§ 01 What's tested

Pennsylvania runs the exam in two scored sections, with the national portion (80 items) covering the standard Pearson VUE national real estate outline and the state portion (40 items) covering Pennsylvania-specific licensing law, agency, and regulations. The state portion is the focus below; the national portion follows the same outline used in roughly 30 other Pearson VUE jurisdictions, with item counts as published in the March 2026 PA Candidate Handbook.

National portion (80 scored items)

The national portion mirrors the Pearson VUE national outline (effective April 2025). Item counts:

Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use: 11 items
Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title: 9 items
Property Value and Appraisal: 11 items
Real Estate Contracts and Agency: 16 items (the largest single area)
Real Estate Practice: 10 items
Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues: 9 items
Financing and Settlement: 7 items
Real Estate Math Calculations: 7 items

Pennsylvania candidates should know that the state's lien-theory mechanics, attorney-driven closings (more common in PA than in many states), and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act layer on top of the national content in scenario questions, even on the national side.

State portion (40 scored items)

The state-specific outline (effective March 2026) breaks into five clusters:

Real Estate Commission (5 items). Duties and powers of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission, the complaint and investigation process, hearings and appeals, and the Real Estate Recovery Fund (per-transaction and per-licensee caps, claim eligibility, what triggers a recovery, what happens to the licensee).
Licensure (8 items). Qualifications for a salesperson and broker license, activities requiring a license, license renewal and reactivation, change of employment (the salesperson-broker affiliation rules), and exemptions from licensure (auctioneers, attorneys acting for clients, etc.).
Agency and Disclosure (10 items). Pennsylvania's Consumer Notice (the disclosure form licensees must present to buyers and sellers at the first substantive meeting), agency relationships permitted under RELRA (seller agency, buyer agency, dual agency, designated agency, transaction licensee), the duties of licensees, and compensation rules.
Regulations Governing the Activities of Licensees (11 items). Advertising rules under RELRA and 49 Pa. Code Chapter 35, broker/salesperson relations and supervision, escrow and trust account rules, prohibited conduct, and grounds for suspension or revocation. This is the largest single state-portion cluster.
Miscellaneous (6 items). Property disclosures (the Pennsylvania Seller Property Disclosure required under RELRA § 608), the Pennsylvania Standard Agreement for the Sale of Real Estate (commonly the PAR Standard Form ASR), the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (state fair housing with broader protected classes than federal Fair Housing), the Uniform Planned Community Act and condominium law, and rentals/leasing/property management.

Standout state-specific content

Two Pennsylvania content areas almost always confuse candidates who studied from generic national materials:

The Consumer Notice and the agency relationship sequence. RELRA § 608 requires the licensee to deliver a Consumer Notice at the first contact substantive enough to elicit a confidential disclosure from a buyer or seller. The notice explains the agency options available under Pennsylvania law and gives the consumer the choice. Failing to deliver, delivering late, or skipping the consumer's signed acknowledgment is testable misconduct.
The Real Estate Recovery Fund mechanics. The fund has statutory caps on what a single claimant can recover per transaction and what a single licensee's conduct can pay out across all claimants. Once a claim is paid against a licensee, that licensee's license is automatically suspended until the licensee repays the fund with interest. The exam tests both the consumer-facing claim mechanics and the licensee consequences.

§ 03 How to study

Pennsylvania's 75-hour pre-license requirement (30 hours Real Estate Fundamentals + 45 hours Real Estate Practice) covers the national and state content outlines, but the exam tests applied judgment in scenario questions that pull from agency, contracts, and RELRA simultaneously. The course teaches each topic in isolation; the exam wants you to integrate.

What works in Pennsylvania is volume on practice questions tied to both the national outline and the PA state outline, with extra reps on Regulations Governing the Activities of Licensees (the 11-item cluster, the largest on the state portion) and Agency and Disclosure (10 items). Most who pass have worked through somewhere in the low thousands of practice questions before sitting.

Passd's Pennsylvania question bank is organized by both national and state content areas, with per-area accuracy tracked so you know whether your weak spot is RELRA agency, the Consumer Notice timing, the Recovery Fund mechanics, or financing before booking the exam. Your Passd Score updates as you answer and gives a single read on whether the test is in reach yet. Tier details are on the pricing page.

A few specific things help in Pennsylvania:

Read the actual Consumer Notice form and the Pennsylvania Seller Property Disclosure. Both are published by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission. Reading them once with attention to the timing rules and required acknowledgments is faster than three different study guides.
Drill the dual-section pacing. 150 minutes for 80 national items is about 1.9 minutes per question; 60 minutes for 40 state items is 1.5 minutes per question. The state portion is faster-paced. Practice timed mocks at both rates separately.
Memorize the Recovery Fund caps and the auto-suspension rule. They are testable in their specifics. Knowing the rule exists isn't enough; the exam asks the dollar amounts and the procedural consequences.

§ 04 What to expect on exam day

The Pennsylvania salesperson exam is administered at Pearson VUE testing centers across Pennsylvania (Allentown, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh East and West, State College) and at additional Pearson VUE centers in nearby states. You schedule through Clarus (pare.useclarus.com) after the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission has approved your application and authorized you to test.

On exam day:

Arrive at least 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment. Late arrivals can be turned away.
Bring two forms of valid signature identification, one of them government-issued with photo (driver's license, state ID, passport, or military ID). The name on your IDs must match the application.
Personal items go in a locker. Cellular phones, hand-held computers, watches, wallets, purses, hats, bags, coats, books, notes, pens, and pencils stay outside the testing room.
The test administrator provides scratch material at the workstation. You may not write on it before the exam begins.
The exam is closed-book. Reference materials are not permitted.

Pearson VUE reports results at the test center after the exam. Pass/fail per section is shown; numeric scores are only reported to failing candidates. A passing score is good for three years; the salesperson license application has to be filed within that window. Candidates have unlimited retake attempts within the five-year course-validity window.

§ 05 Common mistakes

Pennsylvania candidates who fail the exam tend to fail in a handful of specific ways:

Treating the state portion as a sidebar. 40 items on the state portion is one third of the scored exam, but it carries 50% of the pass weight because of the dual-section rule. A 90% on national paired with a 65% on state is a fail.
Missing the Consumer Notice timing. RELRA requires the Consumer Notice at the first substantive contact, before any confidential information is exchanged. Late delivery is testable misconduct. Candidates who memorize that the form exists without studying when it must be delivered miss the scenario questions.
Forgetting the Recovery Fund auto-suspension. Once the fund pays a claim against a licensee, the license suspends automatically until the fund is repaid with interest. Candidates who learn the claim mechanics from the consumer side without learning the licensee-side consequences miss half the testable content.
Confusing dual agency with designated agency. Pennsylvania allows both, but the duties and disclosure mechanics differ. Designated agency requires the broker to designate separate licensees within the firm to represent buyer and seller; dual agency has the same licensee on both sides. The exam tests the distinctions in scenario form.
Underestimating the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. State fair housing in PA has broader protected classes than federal Fair Housing and applies to more transactions. Candidates who studied federal Fair Housing alone miss state-specific questions.
Showing up without an unexpired ID or with a name mismatch. Pearson VUE turns candidates away for ID problems. The names on the IDs must match the application exactly.

§ 02 Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the Pennsylvania real estate salesperson exam?

120 scored multiple-choice questions: 80 on the national portion and 40 on the Pennsylvania state portion. Each section also includes up to 10 unscored pretest items.

How is the exam scored?

75% required on EACH section, scored independently. You need 60 correct of 80 national items AND 30 correct of 40 state items. Failing one section means failing the exam.

How long is the exam?

210 minutes total: 150 minutes for the national portion and 60 minutes for the state portion. Time is allocated by section, not pooled.

Where do I take the exam?

At a Pearson VUE testing center. Pennsylvania has eight named centers (Allentown, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh East, Pittsburgh West, State College), plus additional Pearson VUE centers in nearby states.

What pre-license education do I need before the exam?

75 hours of Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission-approved coursework: 30 hours of Real Estate Fundamentals plus 45 hours of Real Estate Practice. Completed at a PA-approved school before submitting the salesperson application.

How long is my passing score valid?

Three years from the exam date. The salesperson license application must be filed with the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission within that window.

Can I retake the exam if I fail?

Yes, with unlimited attempts within the five-year course validity window for salesperson candidates. Each attempt requires a new exam fee.

How much is the Pennsylvania exam fee?

$49 per attempt, paid to PSI when you schedule. Each retake is the same amount.

How long must I wait between retakes?

There's no statutory waiting period in Pennsylvania. You can reschedule with PSI as soon as a slot is available.

Ready to see how prepared you are?

The Passd diagnostic is 20 questions across every major topic, and shows your Pennsylvania-specific Passd Score plus which RELRA content areas need work. Free, no credit card.

Start the Pennsylvania diagnostic