Pennsylvania real estate exam
Pennsylvania splits its exam into a national portion and a Pennsylvania portion, scored and passed separately, and moved the salesperson examination to Pearson VUE — which matters when you are searching, because the PSI bulletin still circulating for this state was last revised in 2018.
The two portions
Both portions are passed at 75, and both are booked through Clarus after the Commission authorises you. The two useful consequences of the split: you retake only the portion you failed, and the national portion can be waived outright if you hold an active licence elsewhere and produce a Certification of Licensure dated within 90 days.
| Exam | Items | Time | To pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salesperson — national portion | 80 | 150 min | 75 (scaled) |
| Salesperson — Pennsylvania portion | 40 | 60 min | 75 (scaled) |
| Broker — national portion | 80 | 150 min | 75 (scaled) |
| Broker — Pennsylvania portion | 40 | 60 min | 75 (scaled) |
Delivered by Pearson VUE, under contract to the Commission. 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 for a salesperson, 21 for a broker
- General education
- High school graduate or equivalent
- Qualifying education
- 5 credits or 75 hours of basic real estate courses
- From a Commission-approved Pennsylvania provider, or an out-of-state provider approved by its own jurisdiction, or an accredited college. A bachelor’s degree with a real estate major, or a juris doctor, is accepted in place of the courses.
- Broker experience and education
- Three years licensed, and 16 credits or 240 hours within the preceding ten years
- Examination fee
- $52 national, $49 Pennsylvania portion
- A combination discount applies only when both portions are scheduled on the same order. Book them separately and you pay for each; it cannot be applied afterwards.
- Application fee
- $25 for a salesperson
- 49 Pa. Code § 35.203. A broker application is $75, and a broker exam eligibility review is a further $40.
- Initial licence fee
- $72 for a salesperson
- Biennial renewal
- $96 for a salesperson
- Pretest items
- 5 to 10 on each portion, unmarked
- They are not scored and cannot be identified, so leaving anything blank is strictly worse than guessing.
- Authorisation window
- Five years from passing your first education course
- Brokers get ten. A portion already passed cannot be retaken inside that window, and passing scores are valid for three years from the date of the pass.
- National portion waiver
- Available with an out-of-state Certification of Licensure
- The letter of good standing must show active licensure inside the past five years and be dated within 90 days of registration.
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 Pennsylvania statute and commission rule, which no national bank does; for that, the state’s own published material is the source.
A building produces $84,000 of net operating income and comparable properties sell at an 8% capitalization rate. Its indicated value is:
Seventy-five here is not seventy-five percent of the questions
Pennsylvania reports a scaled score on a 0–100 range, not a percentage correct. Raw scores are converted after the forms are statistically equated, so that no candidate is advantaged by drawing an easier version. A 75 is the converted line, and how many of the 80 national items that represents is not something the Commission publishes — nor is it constant between forms.
The practical difference from a percentage state is small but real: you cannot arrive at a target number of correct answers by arithmetic, and a numeric score is reported only to candidates who fail.
What is actually in the 40-item Pennsylvania portion
The state outline effective 16 March 2026 gives item counts rather than percentages, which makes it unusually easy to study to: the Real Estate Commission itself 5 items, licensure 8, agency and disclosure 10, regulations governing the activities of licensees 11, and a miscellaneous group of 6 covering property disclosures, forms, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, time-shares and planned communities, and rentals and property management.
Agency and disclosure plus the conduct regulations are 21 of the 40 between them. If a week of state-portion study has to be spent unevenly, that is where it goes.
Frequently asked
- How many questions are on the Pennsylvania real estate exam?
- A salesperson sits 120 scored items: 80 on the national portion in 150 minutes and 40 on the Pennsylvania portion in 60. Each portion also carries 5 to 10 unmarked pretest items.
- What score do you need to pass the Pennsylvania real estate exam?
- 75 on each portion — a scaled score on a 0–100 range, not a percentage of questions answered correctly. Numeric scores are reported only to failing candidates.
- How much does the Pennsylvania real estate exam cost?
- $52 for the national portion and $49 for the Pennsylvania portion, with a combination discount if both are scheduled on the same order. The salesperson application is $25 and the initial licence $72.
- Can I skip the national portion if I am licensed in another state?
- Yes, if you have been actively licensed elsewhere within the past five years and submit a Certification of Licensure from that jurisdiction dated within 90 days of registration.
- Does PSI still give the Pennsylvania real estate exam?
- No. The Commission directs salesperson candidates to Pearson VUE, and applications go through the Clarus portal. The PSI bulletin still findable for Pennsylvania was last revised on 1 November 2018 and its $49 combined fee no longer matches the current schedule.
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.
- Pearson VUE — Pennsylvania Real Estate Candidate Handbook (#093900, March 2026) Read September 2, 2026
- Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission — Examination Information Read September 2, 2026
- 49 Pa. Code § 35.203 — Fees Read September 2, 2026
Page facts last verified September 2, 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.