Florida Real Estate Exam: What to Expect

The Florida real estate sales associate exam is a closed-book, computer-based test of 100 multiple-choice questions. You get three and a half hours, and you pass with a score of 75 or higher. Pearson VUE gives the exam for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). Before you can sit for it, you need to be at least 18, have a high school diploma or its equivalent, finish a 63-hour prelicensing course, and get your application and fingerprints approved (DBPR candidate booklet, effective January 2025; s. 475.17, F.S.).

The exam at a glance

Questions	100, multiple choice (A to D)
Time	3.5 hours
Passing score	75 out of 100
Format	Closed book, at a Pearson VUE test center
Results	Score report right after you finish

Every question carries the same weight. There may be a few unscored pilot questions mixed in, and they aren’t marked. DBPR adds time for them, so they don’t come out of your 3.5 hours. A tutorial of up to 15 minutes comes first and doesn’t count against your time. You can mark questions and go back to them, and the summary screen shows how many you’ve answered and how much time is left (DBPR candidate booklet).

Florida gives one combined exam, with no separate national and state portions. Massachusetts and Texas split theirs in two (see the Massachusetts exam guide and the Texas state portion guide).

What the exam covers

The questions test real estate principles and practices, real estate law and real estate math. They’re drawn from Chapter 475, Part I, Florida Statutes, and the Commission’s rules in Chapter 61J2 of the Florida Administrative Code, and they’re spread across 19 content areas (DBPR candidate booklet):

Content area	Share of exam
Real estate brokerage activities and procedures	12%
Real estate contracts	12%
Residential mortgages	9%
Property rights: estates, tenancies, condominiums, HOAs and time-sharing	8%
Real estate appraisal	8%
Authorized relationships, duties and disclosures	7%
Titles, deeds and ownership restrictions	7%
License law and qualifications for licensure	6%
Real estate computations and closing of transactions	6%
Legal descriptions	5%
Types of mortgages and sources of financing	4%
Violations of license law, penalties and procedures	3%
Federal and state laws pertaining to real estate	3%
Taxes affecting real estate	3%
Real estate license law and Commission rules	2%
Real estate investments and business opportunity brokerage	2%
The real estate business	1%
Real estate markets and analysis	1%
Planning and zoning	1%

Math isn’t confined to the computations area. The outline also lists math under commissions, legal descriptions, finance and property taxes. Florida-specific topics show up throughout: transaction broker and single agent relationships, escrow and commingling rules, homestead protection and tax exemption, the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and mandatory disclosures such as radon gas and community development districts (same source).

DBPR also publishes a printable law book with Chapter 475, Part I and Chapter 61J2, useful for checking the exact wording of the license law.

Who can take it

Florida law requires sales associate applicants to be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, and be honest, truthful, trustworthy and of good character (s. 475.17, F.S.). You also need to complete the Commission’s prelicensing course, called Course I. It runs 63 hours of 50 minutes each, including its end-of-course exam, which you pass with 70% or higher. If you fail that course exam, you wait at least 30 days to retest, and you get one retest within a year. After that, you repeat the course (Rule 61J2-3.008).

There are two exemptions from the course. One is a 4-year degree or higher in real estate from an accredited institution (s. 475.17, F.S.). The other is active membership in good standing in The Florida Bar (DBPR licensure information).

Your course completion is good for two years. If you haven’t passed the state exam within two years of finishing the course, the course no longer counts, and an application expires two years after DBPR receives it if you haven’t passed by then (s. 475.181, F.S.).

Applying, fingerprints and scheduling

1. Apply to DBPR. You submit a completed application, electronic fingerprints and the fee (Commission requirements sheet). Your fingerprints are run through state and federal criminal history checks (s. 475.175, F.S.).
2. Get fingerprinted right after you apply. Use any Livescan provider approved by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and give it ORI number FL920010Z, the code for real estate sales associates and brokers. If the ORI is wrong or missing, DBPR won’t receive your results. The provider charges you directly, and DBPR keeps the results for 12 months (DBPR fingerprinting page).
3. Book with Pearson VUE. You can schedule within 72 hours after DBPR approves your application, and you pay when you book (DBPR examination information). Book online or call 1-888-204-6289. DBPR recommends booking at least five business days ahead, since seats go first-come, first-served (DBPR candidate booklet). There’s no online option. Pearson VUE’s Florida page says you have to test at a physical test center (Pearson VUE).

Test day

The booklet’s rules (DBPR candidate booklet):

• Arrive 30 minutes early.
• Bring two forms of signature ID, one of them government-issued: a driver’s license, state ID card, passport or military ID. Student and employee IDs don’t count, and neither do credit cards with photos. Your name and address must match your application.
• Bring your Certificate of Pre-Licensing Education Completion every time you test. A photocopy is fine if you mailed the original to DBPR. Without it, you won’t be admitted and you’ll still owe the fee.
• A silent, hand-held, battery-operated, nonprinting calculator is allowed. Phones, notes and bags aren’t.
• To cancel, contact Pearson VUE at least 2 days before your appointment. Cancel later than that or miss the exam and you may forfeit the fee.

Fees

Item	Amount	Paid to
Application fee	$11.00	DBPR
Initial sales associate license	$46.75	DBPR
Fingerprint scan	Set by the provider	Livescan provider
Exam	See note below	Pearson VUE

The two DBPR fees come from the Commission’s fee rule (Rule 61J2-1.011).

Official sources don’t give one current exam fee. Pearson VUE’s Florida fact sheet, dated January 2017, lists the salesperson exam at $36.75 (Pearson VUE fact sheet). DBPR’s January 2025 booklet, the newer document, says exam fees have since gone up, with DBPR’s own application and license fees cut to offset the increase, but it doesn’t state the new amount (DBPR candidate booklet). Go by the price Pearson VUE shows when you book. Schools set their own course tuition.

If you don’t pass

If you fail, you can review the questions you got wrong at a Pearson VUE center. You have to request the review within 21 days of the exam, and you can challenge questions in writing during it (DBPR candidate booklet). Pearson VUE’s fact sheet says you wait 24 hours before scheduling a retake (Pearson VUE fact sheet). If you want to retake within 21 days of a review, you have to call Pearson VUE customer service for an override (Pearson VUE). Neither source caps the number of attempts, but you have to pass within two years of finishing your course (s. 475.181, F.S.).

After you pass

DBPR issues your license as inactive unless you activate it. You can activate it yourself with form DBPR RE 11, or your broker can do it through their online account once you have a license number (Commission requirements sheet).

Whether your license is active or inactive, you have to finish a 45-hour post-licensing course, including its exam, before your first renewal, and you pass that exam with 75% or higher (Rule 61J2-3.020). Skip it and your license is null and void (s. 475.17, F.S.). After that, you need 14 hours of continuing education every two years (DBPR licensure information).

Sales associate vs. broker

The broker license is a separate step with its own exam. You need an active sales associate license and 24 months of experience in the 5 years before you apply. You also need the 72-hour broker course (Course II), a score of at least 75 on the broker exam, and, after licensure, a 60-hour post-licensing course. Florida sales associates must finish their own 45-hour post-licensing course before they’re eligible for a broker license (Commission broker requirements). New Hampshire handles its broker exam differently (see the NH broker exam guide).