What's on the Texas Real Estate Exam's State Portion

The state portion of the Texas real estate sales agent exam has 40 scored questions on Texas law plus 10 unscored pretest questions, and you get 90 minutes for it. To pass, you need at least 28 of the 40 scored questions right, which is 70% (Pearson VUE candidate handbook, September 2026; Pearson VUE content outlines). The other half, the national portion, covers general real estate principles. You have to pass each portion on its own (TREC Rule 535.57).

The exam at a glance

Portion	Scored questions	Total with pretest	Time allowed	To pass
National	80	85	150 minutes	56 correct
State	40	50	90 minutes	28 correct
Both in one sitting	120	125	240 minutes	70% on each portion

The figures come from Pearson VUE’s handbook and content outlines. The outlines say pretest questions aren’t marked, so answer every question. New Hampshire splits its exam the same way (our NH guide).

What the state portion covers

The current sales agent state outline took effect January 1, 2026 (Pearson VUE content outlines):

Topic	Questions	What it includes
Commission duties and powers	3	TREC’s makeup and powers, advisory committees, complaints and hearings, penalties for unlicensed activity, the Recovery Trust Account
Licensing	3	Activities that need a license and the exemptions, business entities, the education and exam requirements, grounds for denial, continuing education, changing sponsors, inactive status, assumed names
Standards of conduct	9	Ethics, grounds for discipline, unauthorized practice of law, trust accounts, splitting fees, rebates, advertising
Agency/brokerage	11	Agency disclosure, intermediary practice, duties to clients (including minimum services), broker and sales agent relationships, a broker’s responsibility for a sales agent’s acts, unlicensed assistants
Contracts	9	TREC-promulgated contracts, forms and addenda, the statute of frauds, seller disclosure requirements
Special topics	5	Community property, homestead protections and tax exemptions, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, wills and estates, landlord-tenant issues, foreclosure and short sales, recording statutes, mechanic’s and materialman’s liens, the Veterans Land Board, homeowners associations, equitable interest

Agency/brokerage, standards of conduct and contracts add up to 29 of the 40 questions. On the exam, “the Act” means the Texas Real Estate License Act (TRELA), and “TREC Rules” means the Commission’s own rules (content outlines).

The national portion’s 80 scored questions cover eight areas. Real estate contracts and agency is the biggest, with 16 (content outlines).

What changed recently

• The state portion grew. Pearson VUE’s August 2024 handbook listed 30 scored state questions and a passing score of 21 (archived 2024 handbook). The January 2026 outline raised those to 40 and 28 (content outlines). Older study materials may still show the 30-question version.
• The exam fee rose from $43 in Pearson VUE’s January 2026 handbook (archived) to $58 in the September 2026 edition (handbook) and in TREC’s fee schedule effective September 1, 2026 (TREC fee schedule).
• Since January 1, 2026, TRELA has required a written agreement with a residential buyer before you show them property, and it allows showings without representation under set conditions (TREC; Tex. Occ. Code §1101.563). Pre-2026 study materials won’t cover it.
• TREC’s main contract forms, including the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), now carry a July 1, 2026 effective date (TREC contract forms).
• In October 2026, TREC’s education advisory committee asked staff to draft a rule, for review in January 2027, that would only count qualifying education from the last three years. That rule hasn’t been adopted. TREC is also running a job task analysis, due in late fall 2027, that it says will guide future changes to sales agent education and exams (TREC, October 2026; TREC, July 2026).

Before you can test

You must be at least 18, a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted alien, and meet TREC’s standards for honesty, trustworthiness and integrity (TREC; TREC Rule 535.51). If you’re unsure whether your background could affect your eligibility, you can request a $50 fitness determination before you apply. It doesn’t replace the background check (TREC; TREC Rule 535.101).

The steps (TREC unless noted):

1. If you don’t have a TREC license number, register for a REALM Portal account. You’ll get a pre-license education application number by email to give your course provider. This isn’t a license application (TREC REALM guidance).
2. Complete 180 classroom hours of qualifying education in six 30-hour courses: Principles of Real Estate I and II, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, Promulgated Contract Forms, and Real Estate Finance (TREC Rule 535.55).
3. Only then apply in the REALM Portal, upload your course completion documents and pay the fee. The application expires one year after you file it, and you have to pass the exam within that year (Tex. Occ. Code §1101.401).
4. Get fingerprinted. TREC emails scheduling instructions once your application status changes from “Submitted” to “In Review.” Prints taken for another agency don’t count (TREC fingerprint requirements).
5. Wait for TREC’s email with instructions for scheduling the exams, sent after it confirms your education. Pearson VUE calls this your eligibility letter, and you need its TREC ID number to book (handbook).

Scheduling with Pearson VUE

TREC contracts with Pearson VUE to develop and give the exam (handbook). Book on Pearson VUE’s Texas real estate page or at (800) 997-1248 at least 24 hours ahead; there are no walk-ins. Besides centers across Texas, some Pearson VUE centers on military bases offer the exam to people with base access. Arrive 30 minutes early (handbook; Pearson VUE).

What it costs

Item	Fee	Paid to
Sales exam (national, state or both)	$58	Pearson VUE
Original sales agent application	$206	TREC
Fingerprints, if you haven’t been fingerprinted for TREC before	$37	IDEMIA

The $206 is a $150 application fee plus a $6 Texas Online fee, a $40 Texas A&M Research Center fee and a $10 Real Estate Recovery fee (TREC fee schedule). Pearson VUE’s handbook lists the same $58 whether you book one portion or both, and exam fees are non-refundable except under its change and cancellation policy (handbook). TREC’s application fees aren’t refundable either (TREC).

If you fail a portion

You retake only the portion you failed, as long as you do it within a year of filing your application. You can’t book a retake at the test center, you have to wait 24 hours before scheduling one, and you pay the exam fee again each time (handbook; TREC Rule 535.57).

A pass on either portion stays valid for one year, so if your application expires and you reapply within a year of passing one portion, you don’t retake it (TREC Rule 535.57; TREC).

Fail three consecutive times and you can’t retest or file a new application until you finish more qualifying education after the third failure: 30 hours if you failed the national part, 30 if you failed the state part, and 60 if you failed both (TREC Rule 535.57; Tex. Occ. Code §1101.405). Email the course completion documents and your third failed score report to [email protected], then allow 5 to 7 business days before Pearson VUE lets you reschedule (handbook; Pearson VUE).

After you pass

You get your score report before leaving the test center. Once you’ve passed both portions and cleared the background check, TREC emails your license within 5 to 10 business days (handbook). That license is inactive. To work as a sales agent you need a sponsoring broker, and you or the broker submits the sponsorship request in the REALM Portal (TREC; TREC Rule 535.55; Tex. Occ. Code §1101.363).

By the end of your first license period, you also need 90 more classroom hours of qualifying courses, including the 30-hour real estate brokerage course (TREC Rule 535.55).

How to study for the state portion

• Budget your time by the outline. Agency/brokerage (11), standards of conduct (9) and contracts (9) carry the most questions (content outlines).
• Read the law itself. The handbook’s state reading list starts with TRELA (Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1101) and TREC’s rules in 22 Texas Administrative Code Chapters 531 to 543 (handbook). Both are online: TRELA and TREC’s rules.
• For special topics, the handbook also lists sections of the Property Code, Family Code and Tax Code, covering homesteads, seller’s disclosure, landlord-tenant law, foreclosure, recording and community property (handbook).
• Practice with the current TREC contract forms, since the contracts topic tests promulgated contracts, forms and addenda.
• Check TREC’s exam topic reports. Pearson VUE publishes quarterly success rates for exam questions grouped by topic, and TREC posts them so you can see which areas people miss most (TREC).