Illinois real estate exam
Illinois does not issue a real estate salesperson licence and has not for years. The entry-level licence is called Broker; the supervisory one is Managing Broker. That single naming difference is the most common way people end up studying the wrong document for this state, because the managing broker examination is a different paper with a different outline.
The two portions
The broker examination is a 100-item national portion and a 40-item Illinois portion, scored and passed separately. The passing standards differ between them — 70 percent on the national portion, 75 on the state portion — and PSI’s footnote explains why: the national 70 percent is the same standard as the scaled 75 Illinois used to report before it switched to raw scores.
| Exam | Items | Time | To pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broker — national portion | 100 | 150 min | 70% |
| Broker — Illinois portion | 40 | 90 min | 75% |
| Managing broker — Illinois portion | 50 | 90 min | 75% |
| Residential leasing agent | 50 | 120 min | 74% |
Delivered by PSI, under contract to IDFPR. Every figure here comes from the documents listed at the foot of this page, with the date each was read.
Requirements and fees
- Minimum age
- 18
- General education
- A high school diploma or GED
- Qualifying education
- 75 class hours — 60 Broker Pre-License Topics plus 15 Applied Real Estate Principles
- The 15-hour applied course is interactive and is a separate course, not a section of the 60. The whole thing is valid for two years after satisfactory completion.
- Examination fee
- $58 broker, $58 managing broker, $37 residential leasing agent
- Non-refundable and non-transferable, and forfeited if you do not test within a year of PSI receiving it.
- Attempts
- Four, inside a two-year eligibility period
- Run out and the 75 hours are taken again from the start. Candidates testing by endorsement are not capped.
- Attorney route
- No pre-licence education at all
- An applicant admitted to practise law by the Illinois Supreme Court qualifies under Category C, uploads nothing in advance, and can pay and schedule directly.
- Endorsement
- A 30-hour Broker Pre-License Endorsement Course
- For an active licensee in good standing elsewhere. Proof of licensure is required from every jurisdiction where an equivalent licence is held.
- Deadline after passing
- One year to apply to IDFPR
- Miss it and the passing score is lost, whatever else is in order.
- Initial broker licence
- $150
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.130(b)(1). Renewal is $200; the late fee for a licence expired two years or less is $75. A managing broker licence is $175 and a residential leasing agent licence $100.
- Experimental questions
- 5 to 10 per examination, unscored
- They count against your time and are not identified.
- Sponsorship
- A sponsoring broker is required to practise
- Termination of sponsorship moves the licence to inactive automatically, and the licensee may not act until a new sponsorship is established.
Practice the material this exam is built on
These questions cover the general real estate principles every state tests — the eight content areas of the national outline. They do not cover Illinois statute and commission rule, which no national bank does; for that, the state’s own published material is the source.
Which listing advertisement most clearly risks a fair housing violation?
There is no Illinois real estate salesperson
Illinois issues three licences to individuals: broker, managing broker and residential leasing agent. The broker licence is the entry-level one — 75 hours, a 100-item national portion and a 40-item state portion. The managing broker licence is the one a supervising broker holds, and it requires an active broker licence plus 45 further class hours.
The practical consequence is that searching for a salesperson bulletin, a salesperson outline or a salesperson practice test for this state returns either another state’s material or the managing broker paper. The managing broker state portion is 50 items rather than 40, and 40 percent of it is material — trust accounting, supervision of newly licensed brokers, record retention, branch offices — that is not on the broker examination at all.
Seventy percent on the national portion, seventy-five on the state one
The two figures look like an inconsistency and are not. PSI’s summary table carries a footnote: “The passing score of 70% for National Broker Exam is equivalent to a scaled score of 75 as previously reported and required to pass. The passing standard has remained identical when the reported scores change from previous scaled scores to raw scores.”
So Illinois moved what it reports, not what it demands. On the state portion the reported number and the requirement coincide — 30 of 40. On the national portion the requirement is 70 of 100, and any older material quoting 75 for it is quoting the scale rather than the count.
What is in the 40-item Illinois portion
The outline gives item counts: licensing requirements 4, the Real Estate License Act 16, additional Illinois laws and regulations 10, and disclosures 10. Sixteen of forty on the Licence Act alone — advertising and team names, the sponsored-licensee relationship, exclusive and non-exclusive brokerage agreements, compensation through the sponsoring broker only, handling of monies, CMA and broker price opinion limits.
The additional-laws ten is where Illinois gets specific: the Human Rights Act and its fair housing advertising rules, the Assistance Animal Integrity Act, the Landlord Tenant Act, the Commercial Broker Lien Act, the Radon Resistant Construction Act, the Plat Act, and transfer taxes. Disclosures adds the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act, radon, mine subsidence, underground storage tanks and flooding. None of it is in a national bank.
Frequently asked
- How many questions are on the Illinois real estate broker exam?
- 140 scored questions: 100 on the national portion in 150 minutes and 40 on the Illinois portion in 90. Each portion also carries 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions that do count against your time.
- What score do you need to pass the Illinois real estate exam?
- 70 percent on the national portion and 75 percent on the Illinois portion. The 70 is not a lower standard — PSI states it is the same standard as the scaled 75 Illinois reported before moving to raw scores.
- Does Illinois have a real estate salesperson licence?
- No. The entry-level licence is called broker, and the supervisory licence is managing broker. Material aimed at an “Illinois real estate salesperson” is either from another state or is the managing broker examination, which is a 50-item state portion with a different outline.
- How much does the Illinois real estate exam cost?
- $58 for the broker examination and the same for managing broker; $37 for residential leasing agent. The initial broker licence is a separate $150 to IDFPR under 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.130.
- How many times can I retake the Illinois broker exam?
- Four attempts inside a two-year eligibility period. After that you retake the full 75 hours of pre-licence education before you can test again. Candidates qualifying by endorsement are not capped.
Other states
Sources
Key factual claims on this page are grounded in the documents below, with the day each was read. Rules and requirements change — open the source if you need today's wording.
- PSI — Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Real Estate Candidate Information Booklet (© 2026) Read September 3, 2026
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.130 — Fees Read September 3, 2026
- IDFPR — Real Estate Brokerage Read September 3, 2026
Page facts last verified September 3, 2026.
Independent exam preparation. Real Estate Exam Bank is not a state-approved pre-licensing course and completing anything here does not satisfy any state education requirement. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by any state real estate commission, Pearson VUE, or PSI. Practice questions here are original study material, not the official exam.