PassProfessor’s Alaska program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The 19,988-question Alaska practice bank is built and audited, 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 Alaska salesperson exam, in one paragraph
The Alaska real estate salesperson exam is a computer-based licensing exam administered by Pearson VUE for the Alaska Real Estate Commission. You will answer 120 scored multiple-choice questions in 4 hours: 80 on a national/general portion covering real estate principles used across the country, and 40 on an Alaska state-law portion covering AS 08.88, the Commission’s regulations, and the Alaska Landlord and Tenant Act. A small number of unscored pretest questions are mixed in and cannot be identified. You pass with a scaled score of 75 on a 0–100 scale. To be licensed, you must also be at least 19, complete 40 hours of approved pre-licensing education, work for a licensed broker, carry errors and omissions insurance, and apply for licensure within six months of passing.
Who can take the Alaska salesperson exam?
Alaska’s requirements come from AS 08.88.171 and the Commission’s published salesperson licensing requirements. To acquire a salesperson license, an applicant must:
- Pass the appropriate exam — the salesperson exam described in this guide.
- Be at least 19 years of age.
- Complete 40 classroom hours of approved pre-licensing education. Under 12 AAC 64.063, the 40 hours are distributed as: 6 hours on licensee relationships, 4 on forms of ownership, 4 on property law, 4 on conveyances and recording, 8 on contracts, 6 on financing, 6 on Alaska license law and landlord-tenant law, and 2 on fair housing and RESPA. The coursework must be completed within the 18 months before your license application.
- Work for a licensed broker. A salesperson practices under a broker; you will need that affiliation in place for your license.
- Carry errors and omissions insurance. Under AS 08.88.172, brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons must carry E&O insurance as a condition of licensing, through the Commission’s master policy or an independent policy.
- Apply for licensure within six months after passing the exam, and pay the appropriate fees (12 AAC 64.073 and 12 AAC 02.360).
- Meet the criminal-history eligibility rules. You must not be under indictment for a felony, forgery, theft, extortion, conspiracy to defraud creditors, fraud, or another crime that, in the Commission’s judgment, affects your ability to practice as a real estate salesperson competently and safely. If you have been convicted of such an offense, a license will not be granted, and before an application will be considered, seven years must have lapsed since you completed the sentence imposed on conviction.
Two things Alaska candidates often get wrong before they start:
- The education clock and the exam clock are different clocks. Your 40 hours must fall within the 18 months before you apply for your license, and your license application must be filed within six months after you pass. Plan the sequence — education, exam, application — so neither window closes on you.
- Passing is not the finish line. After licensure, a new licensee must complete 30 hours of post-licensing education within one year of initial license issuance (12 AAC 64.064) — 10 hours on contracts, 4 on property management, 6 on licensee law, 6 on paperwork and risk management, 2 on evaluation and pricing, and 2 on financing to closing.
PassProfessor note: our program is exam preparation only. It does not provide any of the 40 hours of pre-licensing education credit — you take those hours from a Commission-approved school.
The exam, piece by piece
The exam is a single 4-hour sitting with two content portions, built from Pearson VUE’s published content outlines: the national/general outline (effective April 1, 2025) and the Alaska Real Estate Law outline (publication #092202, effective September 14, 2023). These outlines are the same documents our practice bank is organized around.
The national/general portion (80 scored questions)
| Area | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Real property characteristics, legal descriptions, and property use | 11 | Real vs. personal property, fixtures, land characteristics, legal descriptions, zoning, easements, and other land-use controls |
| Forms of ownership, transfer, and recording of title | 9 | Ownership forms, deeds, title transfer, and recording |
| Property value and appraisal | 11 | Value concepts, appraisal approaches, and market analysis |
| Real estate contracts and agency | 16 | Contract law, listing and buyer agreements, sales contracts, and agency relationships — the largest single area on the exam |
| Real estate practice | 10 | Broker responsibilities, property management, fair housing, and risk management |
| Property disclosures and environmental issues | 9 | Disclosure duties and environmental hazards and regulation |
| Financing and settlement | 7 | Mortgage financing, lending practice, and closing/settlement |
| Real estate math calculations | 7 | Commissions, prorations, area, loan and value calculations |
| Total | 80 |
The Alaska state-law portion (40 scored questions)
| Area | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Powers of the Alaska Real Estate Commission | 4 | Investigations, hearings and appeals; the recovery fund; sanctions, disciplinary actions and penalties; examination of records |
| II. Licensing | 4 | Activities requiring a license; changes in license status; licensed and unlicensed assistants; errors and omissions insurance |
| III. Licensee duties and disclosures to the public | 10–12 | Licensee relationships (designated and neutral licensees); conflict of interest; compensation; property disclosure — the Residential Real Property Transfer Disclosure and the Common Interest Ownership Act, including resale certificates and public offering statements |
| IV. Requirements governing the activities of licensees | 10 | Advertising; the broker/salesperson relationship; handling of documents; handling of monies (trust accounts); prohibited conduct |
| V. Personal services agreements | 4–6 | Listing agreements, property management agreements, and buyer representation agreements |
| VI. Property management | 6 | Property management practice and the Alaska Landlord and Tenant Act (AS 34.03) |
| Total | 40 | (Areas III and V are published as ranges; together the six areas total 40) |
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- State law is a third of the exam. Forty of 120 scored questions test material that exists only in Alaska — AS 08.88’s licensee-relationship system, Commission regulations in 12 AAC 64, and AS 34.03 landlord-tenant rules. A national textbook cannot prepare you for it.
- Contracts and agency is the general portion’s center of gravity at 16 of 80 questions, and the Alaska portion returns to relationships and agreements again (areas III and V). How licensees represent people, and the paper that creates those relationships, is the exam’s recurring theme.
- The duties-and-disclosures area is the state portion’s heavyweight. At 10–12 of the 40 state questions, licensee duties and disclosures to the public — including the consumer disclosure, the transfer disclosure statement, and conflict-of-interest rules — carry more weight than any other Alaska area.
Pretest questions. Both portions also contain unscored pretest items — the Alaska state outline states that the examinations contain 5 to 10 pretest items; outline summaries describe 5 on the general portion and 5 to 10 on the state portion. They are tryout questions Pearson VUE is evaluating for future exams. They are indistinguishable from scored questions, they do not affect your result, and there is no way to game them — the only correct strategy is to treat every question as scored, and to pace for more than 120 questions on screen.
Broker candidates sit a different state portion. This guide covers the salesperson exam. For comparison, the broker examination keeps the same 80-question general portion but expands the state-law portion to 60 scored questions, adding broker-only material on trust accounts, supervision, place of business, and recordkeeping.
The passing standard, explained
You pass with a scaled score of 75.
A scaled score is not a percentage of questions answered correctly, and it is not a count of questions. Pearson VUE administers multiple forms of the exam; forms differ slightly in difficulty, so raw results are converted onto a common 0–100 scale so that every form demands the same level of knowledge. The handbook’s score explanation makes the point directly: the scaled score you receive is neither the number nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly. Two consequences:
- “75%” study targets are misleading. You cannot convert a practice percentage into a predicted scaled score precisely. The safe approach is to practice until full-simulation performance sits comfortably above the passing zone on both portions, with no outline area left weak.
- A miss is expensive in Alaska. Under Pearson VUE’s Alaska retake policy, a candidate who does not pass must retake the entire exam — both portions, whatever the score report shows. There is no banking a strong general portion while you repair the state portion. Your readiness check before test day is therefore a two-portion check, taken in one sitting, every time.
You receive your official score report when you test; candidates who pass use that report in the license application that must follow within six months.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate in your mind — the exam fee goes to Pearson VUE; license fees go to the State of Alaska.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exam fee | $100 per the Commission’s exam information page — but see the fee note below | Pearson VUE | When you reserve your appointment |
| Testing at another location arranged on individual request | Additional $50 | Pearson VUE | When arranged |
| License application and related fees | Set by 12 AAC 02.360 / 12 AAC 64.073 — confirm the current amount on the Commission’s application | State of Alaska | When you apply, within six months of passing |
Fee note. The official sources currently disagree about the exam fee. The Alaska Real Estate Commission’s exam information page lists $100. The current Pearson VUE candidate handbook (July 2026) lists $115 in its main exam-reservation section, while its own quick-reference page says $100. Confirm the exact amount Pearson VUE charges when you reserve — and do not rely on any single figure, including ours, over what the reservation screen shows.
The sequence, in order:
- Complete your 40 hours of approved pre-licensing education, inside the 18-month window before your license application.
- Reserve the exam with Pearson VUE. Register and schedule through Pearson VUE’s Alaska real estate page (pearsonvue.com/ak/realestate) or the call center at 1-800-274-5992. Registration is not available through test centers. Your reservation name should match your identification exactly.
- Choose your sitting. The Commission lists the exam as offered weekly in Anchorage, semi-monthly in Fairbanks, and quarterly in Juneau, administered electronically at test centers; other locations may be arranged on individual request for the additional $50 fee. No walk-in testing — you need a reservation.
- Take the exam. Arrive early, bring the identification the candidate handbook requires, and expect to receive your score report when you finish.
- Apply for your license — within six months of passing. File the salesperson application with the Commission with the applicable fees, your exam score report, proof of your education, your employing broker’s information, and proof of errors and omissions coverage. Miss the six-month window and the exam must be dealt with again — do not let a passed exam expire on a paperwork delay.
Retakes and score validity
- You retake the entire exam. Pearson VUE’s Alaska policy is explicit: candidates must retake the entire exam if they do not pass. A strong portion does not carry over.
- Waiting period. You may retake after 24 hours, if seats are available. The exam fee applies to each attempt, so each retake costs the full fee again.
- Rescheduling. Appointments must be rescheduled or canceled at least two full business days (48 hours) before the appointment, through the Pearson VUE website or call center; appointments with accommodations are rescheduled or canceled through the call center.
- Score validity. Your passing result is usable for six months — the same window AS 08.88.171 gives you to apply for licensure after passing. After that window, the score no longer supports an application.
- Endorsement candidates are different. If you hold an active license in another state, Alaska’s license-by-endorsement path (AS 08.88.263) generally requires passing the Alaska (state-law) portion of the exam rather than the whole exam, and the Commission’s endorsement application states that exam scores are valid only for six months there as well. This guide’s retake rules describe the standard salesperson path.
Test day
- Arrive early and bring proper identification. Your registration name must match your government-issued ID; a mismatch is the most preventable way to lose an exam day. Registration and scheduling are handled by Pearson VUE in advance — test centers do not register walk-ins.
- Pace for more than 120. You have 4 hours for everything on screen, including pretest items you cannot identify — an average of about two minutes per scored question. Flag-and-return discipline matters: a hard question costs the same time whether you wrestle with it now or after the ones you know.
- Expect Alaska geography to matter. With regular sittings concentrated in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau, many candidates travel to test. Book the sitting that lets you arrive rested, not the one that merely exists — and remember the 48-hour reschedule deadline if plans change.
- Results are immediate. You leave with your score report. If you passed, start the license application promptly: the six-month clock in AS 08.88.171 is already running, and your broker affiliation and E&O coverage need to be in place.
How to study for this exam
The outlines are the syllabus — Pearson VUE publishes exactly what the exam covers, area by area, and the weights above are question counts, not suggestions. A plan built on that structure:
- Give Alaska law its own study block — a third of your time, minimum. The 40 state-law questions reward direct knowledge of concrete Alaska material: what the Commission can do and how the recovery fund works (claims capped at $15,000 per transaction under AS 08.88.465), how designated and neutral licensee relationships work under AS 08.88.600–695, when the consumer disclosure and the transfer disclosure statement must be delivered, trust-account deposit deadlines, and Landlord and Tenant Act notice periods and security-deposit rules. None of it appears on any other state’s exam, and generic materials underweight all of it.
- Treat contracts and agency as the general portion’s main event. Sixteen of 80 general questions — plus the state portion’s relationship and personal-services-agreement areas — turn on how agreements are formed, what agency duties attach, and how they end. Learn the national rules and the Alaska overlays together, and keep the differences straight; the exam will test the seam between them.
- Learn the disclosure choreography, not just the disclosure forms. Alaska’s duties area (10–12 state questions) tests when and to whom things are disclosed: the consumer disclosure before specific assistance, the signed relationship disclosure, the transfer disclosure statement before the buyer makes a written offer, and the conflict-of-interest disclosure that must begin with its prescribed heading. Sequence questions are where prepared candidates separate themselves.
- Practice math as a skill, not a topic. Seven dedicated math questions, plus calculations hiding inside appraisal, financing, and contracts items. Prorations, commissions, area, and loan calculations should be automatic before test day, so the minutes they would have cost can go to the scenario questions.
- Simulate the real sitting — both portions, one clock. Because Alaska requires retaking the entire exam after any miss, a blended readiness check is the honest one: sit a full 80-question general set and a full 40-question Alaska set back to back inside 4 hours, and require a comfortable margin on each before you book.
- Use your attempts wisely. A retake is available after 24 hours, but it is a retake of everything, at the full fee. The cheapest second attempt is the first attempt you were actually ready for.
This program’s Alaska practice bank (19,988 questions — 13,309 on the general portion and 6,679 on Alaska law) is built area-by-area on these same outlines. The Alaska 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 Alaska real estate exam? The salesperson exam has 120 scored questions — 80 on the national/general portion and 40 on Alaska state law — in a single 4-hour sitting. Both portions also contain unscored pretest questions (5 to 10, per the official outlines) that are not identified and do not affect your score.
What is the passing score for the Alaska real estate exam? A scaled score of 75 on Pearson VUE’s 0–100 scale. A scaled score is adjusted across exam forms so every version demands the same knowledge, so 75 is not the same as answering 75% of the questions correctly.
Does Alaska require pre-licensing education for a salesperson license? Yes — 40 classroom hours of approved pre-licensing education, distributed by topic under 12 AAC 64.063 (including 6 hours of Alaska license law and landlord-tenant law), completed within the 18 months before your license application. This is separate from exam preparation; PassProfessor provides no education credit.
How old do I have to be to get an Alaska real estate license? At least 19 years old, under AS 08.88.171 and the Commission’s salesperson requirements. You must also work for a licensed broker and carry errors and omissions insurance.
How much does the Alaska real estate exam cost? The official sources disagree: the Alaska Real Estate Commission’s exam information page lists $100, while the current Pearson VUE candidate handbook lists $115 in its main reservation section (and $100 on its quick-reference page). Confirm the amount Pearson VUE charges when you reserve. Testing at a location arranged on individual request adds $50, per the Commission.
How do I register for the Alaska real estate exam? Reserve through Pearson VUE’s Alaska real estate page (pearsonvue.com/ak/realestate) or by calling 1-800-274-5992. Registration is not available through test centers, and walk-in testing is not offered. The Commission lists regular sittings weekly in Anchorage, semi-monthly in Fairbanks, and quarterly in Juneau.
Can I take the Alaska real estate exam online? The Commission describes the exam as administered electronically at test centers, on the schedule above. No official source we reviewed for this guide lists an at-home option for the Alaska real estate exam — check Pearson VUE’s Alaska page for the current delivery options before you plan around one.
What happens after I pass the Alaska real estate exam? Apply for licensure with the Alaska Real Estate Commission within six months of passing, with the applicable fees, your score report, proof of education, your employing broker’s information, and proof of errors and omissions insurance. After licensure, complete 30 hours of post-licensing education within your first year.
How long is my Alaska exam score valid? Six months. AS 08.88.171 requires your license application within six months after passing; the Commission’s endorsement application states the same six-month validity for exam scores.
If I fail, how soon can I retake the Alaska exam — and what do I retake? You may retake after 24 hours if seats are available, and you retake the entire exam — Pearson VUE’s Alaska policy does not carry over a passed portion. The full exam fee applies to each attempt.
What Alaska-specific topics does the exam cover? The 40-question state portion covers the powers of the Alaska Real Estate Commission (including the recovery fund and discipline), licensing, licensee duties and disclosures to the public (designated and neutral licensee relationships, conflict of interest, the Residential Real Property Transfer Disclosure, and Common Interest Ownership Act resale certificates and public offering statements), requirements governing licensee activities (advertising, documents, trust monies, prohibited conduct), personal services agreements, and property management under the Alaska Landlord and Tenant Act.
What is a scaled score, in plain terms? A way of making different versions of the exam equally hard to pass. Your raw result is converted to a standard 0–100 scale where 75 always means the same level of knowledge, even if one form’s questions ran slightly harder than another’s.
I already hold a license in another state. Is my path different? Yes. Alaska licenses by endorsement under AS 08.88.263: with a valid active out-of-state license you generally take the Alaska state-law portion of the exam rather than the whole exam, and further education under AS 08.88.095(a) applies if you have held the other license for less than one year. See the Commission’s endorsement application for the current requirements.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Alaska Real Estate Commission, Pearson VUE, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Alaska licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Alaska Real Estate Commission and Pearson VUE publications govern if anything here differs from them.