PassProfessor’s Vermont program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The 19,993-question Vermont practice bank is built on PSI’s current national outline and Vermont’s own statutes and Commission rules, and enrollment opens soon. Join the notify list and we will email you when enrollment opens — then use this guide to plan your path to the exam.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The Vermont salesperson examinations, in one paragraph
Vermont licenses real estate salespersons through two separate examinations, run by two different administrators. The national portion, administered by PSI Services LLC for the Vermont Real Estate Commission, has 100 scored questions (100 points) in 150 minutes, and you pass with a score of 70; another 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions are mixed in and count against your time. The state portion is a Vermont jurisprudence exam administered by the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) as part of the online license application itself — you receive its link inside your application. You become eligible by completing a 40-hour Commission-approved pre-licensing course, applying online through OPR, and affiliating with a Vermont-licensed principal broker; both examinations must be passed within the two years preceding your application.
Who can take the Vermont salesperson examinations?
The qualifications are set in 26 V.S.A. § 2292(b) and the Commission’s Administrative Rules (§ 2.4). To be licensed as a salesperson, an applicant must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Complete the 40-hour salesperson pre-licensing course, approved by the Commission. OPR publishes a search of approved courses on its site; the course must be finished before it can support your application.
- Pass the national and state examinations required by the Commission within the two years immediately preceding application. That two-year window is the validity period for your passing results (see Retakes and score validity, below).
- Be employed by or associated with a brokerage firm and that firm’s principal broker. A Vermont salesperson does not practice independently; affiliation with a principal broker and a registered office is a licensing requirement, not a job-hunting step to leave until after the exams.
- Not be precluded under 3 V.S.A. § 129a, the general professional-regulation provision covering grounds such as unprofessional conduct. OPR’s FAQs add the practical corollary: convictions and prior discipline must be documented — a written explanation in your own words plus the court or disciplinary records — when you apply.
Two routes deserve a note for applicants already licensed elsewhere:
- Equivalent-state waivers. The Commission may waive all or part of the national examination — and, for the course, holders of an active license in a state Vermont treats as equivalent may be excused from the 40-hour pre-licensing course. OPR names the exceptions: Indiana and Rhode Island are not equivalent for the course, and California, New York, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia are not equivalent for the national exam.
- Fast-track endorsement. Under 3 V.S.A. § 136a, a licensee in good standing in continuous practice for three or more years in another U.S. jurisdiction may qualify for fast-track endorsement.
- Neither route waives the state exam. OPR states it without qualification: all applicants must take the state exam. There are no exceptions.
PassProfessor note: our program is exam preparation only. It does not provide any of the 40 hours of pre-licensing education credit — that course must be taken with a Commission-approved provider.
The examinations, piece by piece
The two examinations differ in administrator, setting, and published detail. Treat them as two separate hurdles with two separate preparations.
The national portion (PSI) — 100 scored questions, 150 minutes
PSI’s content outline for the national portion is published with salesperson weights for each of its eleven areas. Because the portion carries exactly 100 scored questions, each percentage point corresponds to roughly one scored question — the weights below are the outline’s own.
| Area (PSI national outline) | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Property Ownership | 10% | Real and personal property; land characteristics and legal descriptions; encumbrances, liens, easements, and encroachments; types of ownership, from ownership in severalty to common-interest communities and life estates |
| II. Land Use Controls | 5% | Government rights in land — taxation, eminent domain, escheat; government and private controls on land use, including deed restrictions and CC&Rs |
| III. Valuation | 8% | Appraisals and when a licensed or certified appraiser is required; the sales comparison, cost, and income approaches; comparative market analysis |
| IV. Financing | 10% | Loan concepts and terminology (points, LTV, PMI, PITI); types of loans — conventional, government, adjustable-rate, construction; RESPA, Truth-in-Lending / TRID, and ECOA |
| V. Contracts | 19% | Contract elements, validity, enforceability, and termination; purchase and lease contracts, contingencies, counteroffers, and multiple offers; option agreements and electronic signatures |
| VI. Agency | 13% | Agency relationships and how they are created and terminated; listing and buyer brokerage contracts; fiduciary duties, duties to customers, and agency disclosures |
| VII. Property Disclosures | 7% | Seller’s property condition disclosure; conditions warranting inspection or survey; environmental issues and federal, state, and local disclosure requirements |
| VIII. Property Management | 3% | Property manager duties; tenant procurement and fair-housing compliance in management; landlord and tenant rights and obligations |
| IX. Transfer of Title | 6% | Types of deeds; title insurance and searches; the closing process, recordation, and settlement procedures; foreclosure, short-sale, and probate transfers |
| X. Practice of Real Estate | 12% | Fair housing law and prohibited conduct; antitrust; advertising and Do-Not-Call compliance; handling funds, confidentiality, and licensee responsibilities |
| XI. Real Estate Calculations | 7% | Seller’s net, buyer funds at closing, prorations and transfer fees, PITI estimates; equity, rate of return, loan-to-value, and discount-point calculations |
| Total | 100% | 100 scored questions |
Experimental questions. In addition to the 100 scored questions, PSI administers a small number (5 to 10) of unscored experimental questions. They are not identified, they do not affect your score, and they do count against your 150 minutes. PSI describes their administration as an essential step in developing future examinations. The only workable strategy is to pace for up to 110 questions and answer every one as if it counts.
The state portion (OPR) — the Vermont jurisprudence exam, inside your application
The state portion tests Vermont law: the licensing statutes in 26 V.S.A. chapter 41, the Real Estate Commission’s Administrative Rules, and the Vermont law those sources govern — agency, brokerage agreements, trust money, advertising, compensation, discipline, and the state tax and closing rules that touch a Vermont transaction.
Its administration is unlike a test-center exam:
- OPR, not PSI, administers it. PSI’s bulletin states this directly: the state portion of the broker and salesperson examination is administered by the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation as part of the initial application process.
- It arrives inside your application. Per OPR’s FAQs, the state exam is now part of the application process and you receive a link within your online application. Before taking it, OPR directs applicants to review the Statutes, Rules & Resources materials on its site.
- Everyone takes it. Licensed-elsewhere applicants, equivalent-state applicants, and fast-track endorsement applicants included — no exceptions.
What official sources do not publish about the state portion. PSI’s current bulletin publishes no question count, no time limit, and no passing score for the state portion — its examination summary table lists the national portion only. We checked the Commission’s and OPR’s published pages for an official figure and found none stated there either. Secondary prep sites fill the gap with conflicting numbers — 36 questions in some, 50 in others, with passing claims to match — none of them traceable to a current official publication. This guide does not adopt any of them. If OPR publishes the state exam’s specifications, this section will be updated from that publication, and not before. What you can rely on is the preparation target, which is not in dispute: the Vermont statutes and Commission rules listed above, in full.
The Vermont-law topics, as the law organizes them
Because there is no published per-topic weighting for the state exam, the honest way to organize Vermont-law study is by the structure of the law itself. These are the topics the statutes and rules create — and the topics our practice bank is organized around:
- License law — the Commission’s composition and powers; who needs a license and who is exempt; salesperson and broker qualifications, endorsement, and the temporary license; renewal, continuing education, post-licensure education, and reinstatement.
- Agency law — Vermont’s designated and non-designated agency structures, written consent to designated-agent appointments, protection of client confidences, and the prohibition on dual agency.
- Brokerage service agreements — required written agreements, their one-year maximum term, the ban on automatic renewal and on net listings, and the narrow conditions for post-expiration compensation.
- Trust and escrow accounts — deposit deadlines, the pooled interest-bearing trust account, the $100 threshold for individual accounts, and where pooled interest goes.
- Offices, supervision, and records — principal-broker responsibility, branch registration, record retention, and responding to Commission inquiries.
- Enforcement, discipline, and appeals — unprofessional conduct, complaints, and the appeal route.
- Advertising, signage, and office rules — the firm’s registered name as the most prominent identifier in every advertisement, and Vermont’s sign rules.
- Compensation and referral rules — who may be paid, written referral agreements, and permitted rebating.
- Transfer tax, closings, and related state law — Vermont’s property transfer tax tiers and clean-water surcharge, nonresident withholding, and the landlord-tenant and fair-housing provisions Vermont adds to federal law.
The passing standard, explained
National portion: a score of 70. PSI’s examination summary table states the salesperson national portion as 100 questions (100 points) with a passing score of 70. Read it as PSI prints it — points on a 100-point examination, stated in the vendor’s own table — rather than as a percentage borrowed from another state’s program. Your score is displayed on screen at the end of the examination, a score report is provided at the test site, and if you test online you can view the report through your PSI account. A failing report includes diagnostic information indicating your strengths and weaknesses by examination type — that breakdown is the starting point for a retake plan.
State portion: no published numeric standard. For the reasons set out above, neither PSI’s bulletin nor the Commission’s published pages state a passing figure for the OPR-administered state exam. OPR communicates the exam within the application process itself. Any guide that prints a Vermont state-portion passing score without naming a current official publication is asking you to trust a number its author could not verify either.
The two examinations do not combine. There is no averaged Vermont score. The national portion is passed at PSI’s standard, and the state exam is passed inside your OPR application — each on its own, each required.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate in your mind — they go to different places at different times, and mixing them up is how outdated “total cost” figures get published.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| License application (salesperson) | $100 | Vermont Real Estate Commission / OPR | With your online application (fee set in 26 V.S.A. § 2255) |
| National examination fee | $113 | PSI | When you reserve your examination appointment |
| 40-hour pre-licensing course | Set by the provider | Your Commission-approved school | Before you apply |
Exam fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. PSI is explicit about the national fee’s clock: your examination fee will be forfeited if you do not test within one year of the date PSI receives it.
The sequence, in order:
- Complete the 40-hour pre-licensing course with a Commission-approved provider. OPR’s online course search lists approved courses.
- Apply online with OPR. Applications are submitted through OPR’s Online Licensing platform only — OPR no longer accepts paper applications. Create your account, apply, and upload your documents through the platform. Processing time for applications, and for each additional piece submitted, is three to five business days.
- Take the state exam inside the application. You will receive its link within your online application. Review OPR’s Statutes, Rules & Resources materials first — every applicant takes this exam, and it tests the Vermont law summarized in this guide.
- Wait for your eligibility notification, then schedule the national portion with PSI. PSI’s bulletin directs you to apply with the Commission first; after you have received notification of your eligibility from the Commission, you register for the examination with PSI — online through PSI’s Vermont page for the fastest scheduling, or by telephone at 855-746-8173. Choose a test center or, since December 3, 2025, an online remote-proctored appointment. The first and last name on your PSI account must match your government-issued ID exactly.
- Test, then complete the application. Your national score appears on screen at the end of the examination. With both examinations passed — within the two years preceding your application — and your affiliation with a principal broker and registered office in place, OPR completes the licensing process. Note the post-licensure step that follows: a new salesperson must complete post-licensure education within 90 days of obtaining the initial license.
- Plan renewal from the start. Vermont licenses renew on a two-year cycle. Salespersons complete 16 hours of continuing education per renewal period, including 4 hours addressing legislation and other topics the Commission specifies; first-time renewers are not required to complete the CE hours but must still upload proof of the post-licensure education.
Retakes and score validity
- National portion retakes. PSI does not allow a new appointment on the same day you tested — processing and reporting prevent it. Its bulletin gives the practical example: a candidate who tests unsuccessfully on a Wednesday can call on Thursday and retest as soon as Friday, depending on space availability. The $113 fee applies to each attempt, scheduling is online or by phone, and a missed appointment — or a late cancellation inside two days, or failure to present proper identification — forfeits the fee. You may cancel and reschedule without forfeiting the fee if your notice is received two days before the scheduled date; a voicemail or email is not an acceptable cancellation.
- Retaking one part. The Commission’s Administrative Rules (§ 2.7) provide that a candidate who fails one part of the examination may retake that part within the next six months. After six months, or after two failures, the candidate must retake the full examination. Read that rule alongside PSI’s scheduling rules above: the rule governs which examination you must sit; PSI governs when you can book it.
- Score validity. Both examinations must have been passed within the two years immediately preceding your application (Rules § 2.4; 26 V.S.A. § 2292(b)). Let the two-year window lapse before your application is complete and the passing results no longer support it.
- The fee clock is separate. Independently of score validity, a PSI examination fee is forfeited if you do not test within one year of PSI receiving it — schedule promptly once you are eligible, rather than paying early and letting the year run.
Test day
- Arrive 15 minutes early for sign-in, identification, and familiarization with the process. If you arrive late, you may not be admitted and you will forfeit your registration fee. Companions may not wait in the examination center or on the building’s property.
- Bring one qualifying form of identification. It must match the name you scheduled with and must contain your signature and photograph and be valid and unexpired — a state-issued driver’s license or ID card, a U.S. passport, U.S. military ID, a U.S. alien registration card, or Canadian government-issued ID.
- Nothing goes in with you. PSI’s prohibited-items list covers reference materials, scratch paper, pens and pencils, electronic devices of any type (phones, cameras, smart watches, handheld calculators included), hats and headgear not worn for religious reasons, bulky outerwear, bags, wallets, food, and drinks. Proctors may ask you to empty and turn out your pockets and inspect eyeglass frames and similar items. Items found at check-in go into secure storage or back to your vehicle; PSI is not responsible for their security.
- During a test-center examination, you may leave the room only for the restroom, only with the proctor’s permission, and without extra time. Giving or receiving assistance, copying or communicating examination content, or using any outside resource terminates the examination and is reported to the Commission.
- Online, with a remote proctor, the discipline is stricter in two respects: you must launch within 30 minutes of your booked time and start within 15 minutes of it or forfeit your fee and eligibility, and breaks are not allowed at all during remote-proctored examinations. Run PSI’s compatibility check — audio, video, webcam, and system — before your appointment, and keep your hands on the desktop and your eyes on the screen, as the proctor will instruct.
- Results are immediate for the national portion. Your score is displayed on screen at the end, and a score report is provided at the test site. Read a failing report’s diagnostic breakdown before you rebook — it is organized by examination type precisely so a retake plan can be built from it.
How to study for these examinations
The two examinations reward two different kinds of preparation, and the candidates who struggle are usually the ones who prepared for only the first.
- Build the national preparation on PSI’s outline. The weights are the syllabus: Contracts at 19% and Agency at 13% together are nearly a third of the portion before Practice of Real Estate adds another 12%. Study those three areas comparatively and in scenarios — how a contract is formed, performed, breached, and terminated, and what an agent owes each party at each step — because the outline tests them through fact patterns, not definitions alone.
- Give calculations their own block. Real Estate Calculations is 7% of the national portion, and calculation questions also hide inside Financing, Valuation, and Transfer of Title. Practice prorations, buyer funds at closing, seller’s net, PITI estimates, and loan-to-value and capitalization computations until the setup — identifying which formula the facts call for — is automatic.
- Study Vermont law from the law. The state exam’s sources are short enough to read directly: 26 V.S.A. chapter 41 and the Commission’s Administrative Rules. Read them for their numbers and their structures — the one-year cap and no-automatic-renewal rule for brokerage service agreements, the trust-account deposit deadlines and $100 individual-account threshold, the prohibition on dual agency inside both agency structures, the transfer-tax tiers. Vermont-law questions reward exact knowledge of concrete rules.
- Do not let the application surprise you. Because the state exam arrives as a link inside the online application, sequence your study so the Vermont-law block is finished before you submit — not started after. Processing takes three to five business days per submission; your preparation should be ahead of the paperwork, not behind it.
- Practice the national portion at full length, against the clock. 100 scored questions plus up to 10 experimental ones in 150 minutes is about a minute and a half per question. Full generated practice exams at the real outline weights build pacing and knowledge together; short quizzes build only one of them.
- Schedule when your practice says so — full national simulations comfortably above a score of 70, with no outline area left weak, and a completed Vermont-law review behind you. Then use the one-year fee window and the two-year score window as what they are: deadlines that reward promptness, not pressure.
PassProfessor’s Vermont practice bank (19,993 questions — 16,800 on PSI’s national outline areas and 3,193 on Vermont law) is built on this same structure. The Vermont Real Estate Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table — and the notify list there will email you when enrollment opens.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Vermont real estate exam? The national portion has 100 scored questions (100 points) in 150 minutes, plus 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions that count against your time. The state portion is administered by OPR inside your online application; PSI’s current bulletin publishes no question count for it, and no figure is stated in this guide rather than repeating a secondary source’s number.
What is the passing score for the Vermont real estate exam? For the national portion, a score of 70, per PSI’s examination summary table. For the state portion, PSI’s bulletin publishes no numeric standard — OPR administers that exam within the application process. The two examinations are passed separately; there is no combined Vermont score.
Does Vermont require pre-licensing education for a salesperson license? Yes — a 40-hour pre-licensing course approved by the Vermont Real Estate Commission, completed before it can support your application. OPR publishes a search of approved courses. PassProfessor’s program is exam preparation only and provides none of those 40 hours.
How much does the Vermont real estate exam cost? The national examination fee is $113, paid to PSI when you reserve, and it applies per attempt; it is not refundable or transferable. The license application fee is $100 under 26 V.S.A. § 2255. Course tuition is set by your education provider and is separate from both.
How do I register for the Vermont national exam? Apply for a license with the Vermont Real Estate Commission through OPR’s online platform first. After you receive notification of your eligibility, register with PSI online through its Vermont page or by calling 855-746-8173. Your PSI account name must match your government-issued ID exactly.
Where do I take the Vermont state exam? Inside your online license application. OPR’s FAQs state that the state exam is now part of the application process and that you receive a link within your application. OPR directs applicants to review its Statutes, Rules & Resources materials before taking it.
Can I take the Vermont national exam online? Yes. Since December 3, 2025, PSI offers the Vermont examinations online with a remote proctor, as well as at test centers. Remote candidates must launch within 30 minutes of the booked time, start within 15 minutes of it, and take no breaks during the examination.
I am licensed in another state. Do I still need both exams? The state exam, yes — OPR requires it of all applicants, with no exceptions, including fast-track endorsement applicants. The national exam and the 40-hour course may be waived if you hold an active license in a state Vermont treats as equivalent; OPR names Indiana and Rhode Island as not equivalent for the course, and California, New York, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia as not equivalent for the national exam.
What happens after I pass both examinations? With both examinations passed within the two years preceding your application, your $100 application completed through OPR, and your affiliation with a principal broker and registered office in place, OPR completes licensure. After your initial license issues, complete the required post-licensure education within 90 days.
How long are my Vermont exam scores valid? Two years. The Commission’s rules require both examinations to have been passed within the two years immediately preceding your application. Separately, a PSI exam fee is forfeited if you do not test within one year of PSI receiving it.
If I fail, how soon can I retake the exam? For the national portion, not on the same day: PSI’s example is a Wednesday failure, a Thursday call, and a retest as soon as Friday, subject to availability, with the $113 fee per attempt. Under the Commission’s rules, a candidate who fails one part may retake that part within six months; after six months, or after two failures, the full examination must be retaken.
What ID do I need at the test center? One form of identification that matches your scheduled name and contains your signature and photograph, valid and unexpired: a state driver’s license or ID card, a U.S. passport, U.S. military ID, a U.S. alien registration card, or Canadian government-issued ID. Arrive 15 minutes early; late arrival can mean no admission and a forfeited fee.
Are calculators allowed on the national portion? No handheld calculators appear on PSI’s list of items candidates may bring — electronic devices of any type, handheld calculators expressly included, are prohibited items. Plan to do the examination’s calculations with the tools the test center provides under PSI’s procedures, and verify the current procedure in PSI’s bulletin before test day.
Does PassProfessor’s program satisfy the 40-hour education requirement? No. PassProfessor is exam preparation only and provides no pre-licensing education credit. The 40 hours must be completed with a Commission-approved education provider found through OPR’s course search.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Vermont Real Estate Commission, the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, PSI, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Vermont licensing examinations, current as of October 2026; Commission, OPR, and PSI publications govern if anything here differs from them.