PassProfessor’s Arizona program. The 19,963-question Arizona practice bank is built to Pearson VUE’s current outlines for both examinations, and enrollment is open — use this guide to plan your path to the exams.
The Arizona salesperson exams, in one paragraph
Arizona salesperson candidates take two separate licensing examinations administered by Pearson VUE for the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE): the General exam — 80 scored multiple-choice questions on national real estate principles, plus 5 unscored pretest questions, in 150 minutes — and the State exam — 60 scored questions on Arizona law and practice, plus 5 unscored pretest questions, in 90 minutes. Each examination is scored as a percent score, and you need 75% on the examination to pass it. You become eligible by completing 90 hours of ADRE-approved pre-licensing education, and after passing you complete a 6-hour Contract Writing Course, present a Level 1 Non-IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card, and apply to ADRE within one year.
Who can take the Arizona salesperson exams?
Arizona’s requirements come from ADRE and are set out in the Pearson VUE candidate handbook (February 2026). To be licensed as a salesperson, an original applicant must show:
- Age 18 or older when applying for the license.
- Evidence of honesty, truthfulness, good character, and competency, and no license denied within one year, or revoked within two years, immediately preceding the application.
- 90 hours of pre-licensing education prescribed and approved by the Commissioner, completed at an ADRE-approved school, with the school’s final examination passed. The education must have been completed no more than ten years before the license application.
- Proof of legal presence in the United States (A.R.S. §41-1080).
- A valid Arizona Fingerprint Clearance Card at the time of license application — specifically the Level 1 Non-IVP card, issued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety (process at azdps.gov; A.R.S. §§32-2108, 41-1758.03). The card is an application requirement, not a test-day requirement — but DPS processing runs on its own clock, so start it early.
- The examinations passed within one year preceding the license application (A.R.S. §32-2125.01).
The sequence the handbook lays out is: (1) complete pre-licensing education — before testing, candidates must complete all of it; (2) obtain the Fingerprint Clearance Card; (3) reserve and pay for the examinations with Pearson; (4) test; (5) apply for the license within one year of passing.
Two special cases worth knowing:
- The 6-hour Contract Writing Course comes after the exams, before the license. Salesperson candidates must complete a six-hour Arizona Contract Writing Course prior to licensure, and its certificate goes into the license application package. It is not a prerequisite for sitting the examinations.
- Out-of-State License Recognition. Arizona residents who have held a salesperson or broker license in another state for at least one year, in good standing, take only the Arizona State exam (60 scored + 5 pretest, 90 minutes, $60) and apply within one year, under A.R.S. §32-4302.
PassProfessor note: our program is exam preparation only. It provides none of the 90 hours of pre-licensing education and none of the 6-hour Contract Writing Course — you take those from ADRE-approved providers.
The exams, piece by piece
Since January 1, 2026, the salesperson examinations are two examinations, built from two different Pearson VUE content outlines (publication #090301, 01/2026): the National/General outline (effective April 1, 2025) and the Arizona salesperson state outline (effective January 1, 2026). They are scheduled separately, timed separately, and scored separately. Older material describing one combined 180-question Arizona exam describes the retired pre-2026 format — including stale passages that survive inside some current documents — and does not describe the examinations you will take.
The General exam (80 scored questions, 150 minutes; plus 5 pretest)
| Area | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use | 11 | Real vs. personal property, fixtures; economic and physical characteristics; legal descriptions and surveys; public controls (police power, eminent domain, taxation, escheat, zoning) and private controls (CC&Rs, easements, encroachments) |
| II. Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title | 9 | Forms of ownership; freehold and leasehold estates and lease types; liens and lien priority; deed elements and types; voluntary and involuntary transfer; recording, notice, chain of title, title insurance |
| III. Property Value and Appraisal | 11 | Market value and the principles of value; the appraisal process and federal oversight; sales comparison, cost, and income approaches; GRM/GIM; CMA and BPO; assessed value |
| IV. Real Estate Contracts and Agency | 16 | Contract types and required elements; performance, breach, and remedies; the sales contract (offers, earnest money, contingencies, options); agency types, creation and termination; licensee obligations to the parties |
| V. Real Estate Practice | 10 | Broker responsibilities and the unauthorized practice of law; listing, buyer-representation, and property management agreements; fair housing law and the ADA; risk management, antitrust, fraud, insurance |
| VI. Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues | 9 | Hazardous substances (lead-based paint, asbestos, radon, mold), contamination, flood plains and flood insurance; CERCLA/SARA and environmental assessments; disclosure obligations and liability |
| VII. Financing and Settlement | 7 | Financing methods and loan types; lien vs. title theory; FHA/VA/USDA and conventional requirements, LTV, PMI; TILA/Reg Z, TRID, RESPA, ECOA; settlement and closing |
| VIII. Real Estate Math Calculations | 7 | Area and acreage; valuation math (NOI, cap rate, equity); commissions; loan costs, LTV, amortization, points; closing costs and prorations; investment and property management calculations |
| Total scored | 80 | Plus 5 unscored pretest questions = 85 on screen |
Every General item is also classified by cognitive level — knowledge (recall), application (use knowledge in a situation), or analysis (draw a conclusion from a fact pattern) — and Pearson builds each area to a published mix of the three. The outline is not a vocabulary test: most areas carry more application and analysis weight than pure recall.
The State exam (60 scored questions, 90 minutes; plus 5 pretest)
| Area | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Arizona Real Estate Regulatory Framework | 5 | Sources of Arizona real estate law; the scope, duties, and powers of the Arizona Department of Real Estate; the Real Estate Recovery Fund; licensing requirements; licensee activities |
| II. Arizona Consumer Protection Laws | 5 | The 1967 Arizona Consumer Fraud Protection Act; the Statute of Frauds; Arizona Fair Housing; Arizona Homestead Laws |
| III. Advertising | 5 | Advertising by a licensee; promotional activities; development advertising; advertising supervision |
| IV. Arizona Agency | 6 | Types of agency; creation of agency; Arizona agency case law on customers and clients; termination of agency |
| V. Licensee Duties and Obligations | 6 | Disclosure obligations, including seller disclosures; conflicts of interest; compensation and experience/knowledge disclosures; timing of performance; controversy between cross-sale agents |
| VI. Licensee Competencies and Duties | 6 | Professional competency requirements; property types; niche areas — new home sales and developments, property management, timeshare, vacant land, commercial |
| VII. Reasonable Skill and Care | 6 | The licensee obligation of skill and care; property taxes and special assessments; Arizona utility and environmental regulation |
| VIII. Contracts | 8 | Employment agreements; purchase contracts — valid requirements, consideration, terms and conditions, the closing process and possession, costs at closings |
| IX. Critical Business Services for a Real Estate Transaction | 5 | Escrow; title insurance; lending |
| X. Ownership and Encumbrances | 5 | Ownership; liens; deeds; homeowner’s associations (HOAs) and restrictions; easements and other encumbrances |
| XI. Foreclosure/Short Sale/Deed in Lieu Process | 3 | The Arizona Anti-Deficiency Statute; the foreclosure process |
| Total scored | 60 | Plus 5 unscored pretest questions = 65 on screen |
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- Contracts and Agency dominates the General exam — 16 of 80 questions. Add Real Property Characteristics and Property Value and Appraisal (11 each) and three areas carry nearly half the General score. Weight your General study accordingly.
- The State exam is 60 of 140 scored questions — 43% of the licensing decision — and it is entirely Arizona. Statutes, Department rules, Arizona forms and practice: the Consumer Fraud Act, homestead law, dual agency under Arizona rules, AAR purchase-contract practice, escrow and title in Arizona, the deed-of-trust foreclosure process and who the anti-deficiency statute protects. None of it can be inferred from national principles, and none of it appears on the General exam.
- There are two pass/fail decisions, not one. Each examination produces its own percent score against its own 75% standard. A candidate can pass the General exam comfortably and still be unlicensed because the State exam fell short — preparation has to hold up on both, independently.
Pretest questions. Each examination mixes in 5 pretest questions — tryout items Pearson is gathering statistics on for future examinations. They look exactly like scored questions, they are not identified, and they do not affect your score in any way. There is no way to spot them; the only correct strategy is to answer every question as if it counts, and to pace for 85 questions on the General exam and 65 on the State exam, not 80 and 60.
The math conventions are published. The handbook and the outline tell you what will not be available at the test center and must be memorized: 43,560 square feet per acre and 5,280 feet per mile. When a question requires a prorated amount, the question itself specifies whether the calculation uses a 360- or 365-day year and whether the day of closing belongs to the buyer or the seller. Calculations are rounded using standard rounding rules. Knowing the conventions in advance removes a whole category of avoidable misses.
The passing standard, explained
Each examination reports a percent score on a scale of 0% to 100% — literally, per the handbook, the percentage of questions answered correctly on that examination. You need to answer 75% of the questions correctly to pass.
Two qualifications keep that simple statement honest:
- Forms are equated. Pearson administers multiple versions (forms) of each examination, all built to the same content outline. A statistical procedure called equating adjusts for small difficulty differences between forms, so no candidate is advantaged or disadvantaged by the particular form drawn. The passing score itself was set by ADRE, in conjunction with Pearson, after a comprehensive study for each examination. In practical terms: 75% is the published standard, and you should prepare to clear it with margin on both examinations rather than aim at it exactly.
- Your score report is diagnostic. The score report shows the percentage of questions you answered correctly in each content area. Pearson cautions that the areas contain different numbers of questions, so the area percentages cannot be summed or averaged to reconstruct your overall score — but as a study guide they are exactly what a retake plan needs: they show which outline areas produced the shortfall. Pearson also advises reviewing all content areas before a retake, even the ones where your percentage ran high.
For calibration on difficulty: the State exam’s material is finite and concrete — named statutes, Department procedures, day counts, dollar figures, Arizona forms — which makes it the most directly studyable part of the whole process, and the part candidates most often under-prepare because national materials barely touch it.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate in your mind — they go to different places at different stages of the process.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| General exam | $70 | Pearson VUE | When you reserve |
| State exam | $60 | Pearson VUE | When you reserve |
| Both exams scheduled back to back | $75 total (combo discount) | Pearson VUE | When you reserve |
| License fee | Per ADRE’s current fee schedule | ADRE | Online, after your application is deemed complete |
| Fingerprint Clearance Card | Arizona DPS’s fee (separate) | Arizona Department of Public Safety | When you obtain the card |
The handbook’s fee table is explicit about the exam fees: Sales – General $70, Sales – State $60, with a combo discount of $75 when the two are scheduled back to back — booking them together costs less than either pair of separate bookings would suggest ($70 + $60 = $130 separately). The cost of each retake is the same as the initial examination. Examination fees are non-refundable and non-transferable except as the handbook’s Change/Cancel Policy provides.
The sequence, in order:
- Finish your 90 hours at an ADRE-approved school and pass the school’s final examination. Keep your Pre-licensure Education Certificate — you will present it at the test center and again in your license application.
- Apply for your Fingerprint Clearance Card through the Arizona Department of Public Safety (azdps.gov) — the Level 1 Non-IVP card. It is required at license application, and its timeline is the one part of the process you cannot accelerate by studying harder.
- Reserve the examinations with Pearson. Schedule online at Pearson VUE’s Arizona real estate page (pearsonvue.com/us/en/az/realestate.html) or by phone at (888) 405-5776. Reservations — online or by phone — must be made at least 24 hours before the desired examination date; walk-in examinations are not available. First-time users create an account. Have ready: your legal name, address, email, Social Security number, and date of birth; the examination name(s); your preferred date and test center; payment (credit card, debit card, or voucher — payment is not accepted at the test center); and your pre-licensure school’s name, approval number, and completion certificate. All examinations take place at Pearson authorized test centers in Arizona.
- Protect the appointments. To change or cancel, call Pearson at least 48 hours before the examination; with proper notice you may transfer the fee to a new reservation or request a refund. Change or cancel without proper notice and the entire examination fee is forfeited. Absence and lateness are handled under the handbook’s excused-absence rules (illness, death in the immediate family, disabling traffic accident, court appearance or jury duty, military duty, weather emergency) — call Pearson within 14 days with documentation.
- Take the examinations (Section 7 below). You leave with your official score report; a passing report includes the link to the license application.
- Complete the 6-hour Arizona Contract Writing Course if you have not already — it must be done before licensure, and its certificate goes into the application package.
- Apply for the license — within one year of passing. Follow the instructions on the application linked from your score report; online application is the quickest option. ADRE’s salesperson application package is submitted as one PDF through the Online Licensing System and contains: the Salesperson Application form (accessed through the link on your score report); the Disciplinary Actions Disclosure Form (LI-214/244); your original examination score report; your Pre-licensure Education Certificate (90 hours); proof of legal presence (both sides, if you submit a driver’s license); a copy of your valid Fingerprint Clearance Card (both sides); and your Contract Writing Course certificate (6 hours). The application fee is requested and paid online once the application is deemed complete; ADRE’s form directs applicants to its published fee schedule for the current amount. On approval, the license issues on eligible status, and you activate it by initiating an online hire action that your designated broker accepts.
- Note the fee-waiver provision. ADRE’s application form flags that certain first-time applicants may be eligible for a waiver of initial license application fees — including applicants whose family income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, spouses of active-duty military service members, and honorably discharged veterans within two years of discharge. ADRE’s website carries the eligibility detail.
Retakes and score validity
- Wait 24 hours. A candidate who does not pass an examination must wait twenty-four hours after taking it before making a reservation to retake it. Reservations cannot be made at the test center, and payment is due at reservation — the retake costs the same as the initial examination.
- One-Time Exam Playback. Arizona offers a retake tool most states do not: salesperson candidates who fail an examination for a second time (or any subsequent time) may schedule one exam review appointment — the Exam Playback — to view all questions answered incorrectly, in 30 minutes. It must be scheduled within 14 days of the failure you want to review, it must occur before you schedule or complete another examination attempt, and it can be used only once. Schedule it through the Pearson reservation team.
- Duplicate score reports. For examinations taken after August 5, 2023, a one-page score report is available from your Pearson testing profile; for earlier examinations, contact Pearson customer service.
- Score validity is one year. The examination must have been passed within one year preceding the license application (A.R.S. §32-2125.01), and salesperson applicants must apply within one year of passing. Miss the window and the examination must be retaken — ADRE’s application form states the rule in those terms.
- The education clock runs alongside it. Your 90 hours must have been completed no more than ten years before the license application. If previously licensed or pre-license-qualified candidates’ education is less than ten years old, the handbook notes they may be eligible for recertification by the school attended — but check that enough time remains to apply while the education is still inside the window.
Test day
- Arrive 30 minutes early and check in with the test center administrator. Your identification and documentation are reviewed, and you are photographed for the score report. Candidates who do not present the required items are denied admission, considered absent, and forfeit the exam fee.
- Bring two forms of identification. Both must be current signature identification, in English, with names exactly matching your registration. The primary ID must be government-issued, photo-bearing, and signed — a driver’s license, state/country ID card, passport or passport card, military ID, or alien registration card, not expired (Pearson recognizes no grace periods: an ID that expired yesterday is expired). The secondary ID must carry a valid signature — a Social Security card, a debit or credit card, or any ID from the primary list.
- Bring your Pre-licensure Education Certificate (electronic or physical copy). For salesperson and broker candidates it is a required test-day material, not just an application document.
- Calculators: yours is allowed, within limits. A calculator is a suggested material if it is battery-operated, silent, hand-held, nonprinting, and without an alphabetic keypad — the handbook names acceptable models, including the HP 10BII, HP 12C, and the Real Estate Qualifier Plus series. A calculator malfunction is not grounds for extra time or for challenging a result.
- Nothing else goes in. No phones or other electronic devices, watches, wallets, purses, hats, bags, coats, books, notes, pens, or pencils in the testing room. Personal items go to secure storage or back to your vehicle, with devices turned off; the test center is not responsible for them. The administrator provides the materials for notes and calculations; you may not write on them before the exam begins or remove them afterward.
- The tutorial does not cost you time. You get a computer tutorial before the examination, and the time spent on it does not reduce your examination time. The exam begins when you look at the first question and ends automatically when the time expires. You sign a Candidate Rules Agreement; violations — including giving or receiving help or removing examination materials — are reported to the state and can invalidate the exam.
- Breaks run on your clock. Raise your hand for an unscheduled break; the exam timer does not stop, you must leave the testing room but may not leave the floor or building, and stored personal items (phones and study materials included) stay off-limits except for necessary medication, with the administrator’s permission.
- Results are immediate. You leave the test center with your official score report in hand, showing whether you passed and carrying diagnostic information by content area. If you passed, the report carries the link to the license application — and the one-year clock is already running.
How to study for these exams
Two examinations means two syllabi, and Pearson publishes both: the content outlines are the exact documents the exams are built from, area by area, with question counts. A plan built on that structure:
- Split your preparation into two readiness tracks from day one. The General exam (80 questions) and the State exam (60 questions) are passed independently at 75% each. Track your practice results separately for each, the way your score reports will. A blended average is the one number that tells you nothing Arizona cares about.
- Give General Contracts and Agency its weight — then hold the line everywhere else. At 16 of 80, Real Estate Contracts and Agency is twice the size of the smallest General areas: contract elements and performance, the sales contract’s moving parts, agency creation and termination, licensee obligations. Behind it, Real Property Characteristics (11) and Property Value and Appraisal (11) carry the next tier. The 7-question areas (Financing and Settlement, Math) are small but unforgiving — they are pure technique, and technique is trainable.
- Start the Arizona material early, not last. Sixty questions — 43% of everything — come from the eleven State areas, and they reward direct study of concrete Arizona fact: what ADRE does and what the Recovery Fund pays, the Consumer Fraud Act, homestead law, advertising supervision, Arizona agency case law and dual-agency discipline, the AAR purchase contract’s terms and closing mechanics, escrow/title/lending practice in Arizona, HOA and easement rules, and the foreclosure process with its anti-deficiency protection. Contracts is the largest State area (8); the five 5–6-question areas behind it are where most of the score actually sits.
- Learn the published math conventions cold. 43,560 square feet per acre and 5,280 feet per mile are memorized, not provided. Proration questions state their own 360/365-day basis and closing-day rule — so the skill being tested is reading the stated assumption and executing, at speed, on an approved calculator. Practice until the setup is automatic.
- Use the diagnostic structure before you ever see a real score report. Practice results broken down by outline area mirror the score report’s per-area percentages. Study to the breakdown: an area that keeps producing misses in practice is the area the real report would have flagged.
- Simulate each examination at its real length and clock. 85 questions in 150 minutes (General) and 65 in 90 minutes (State), pretest items included and unidentified. Short quizzes build knowledge; only full simulations build the pacing and flag-and-return discipline each sitting demands.
- Schedule back to back when you are ready on both — the $75 combo price rewards it — and schedule at all only when full-simulation results on each exam sit comfortably above 75% with no outline area left as a recurring source of misses.
This program’s Arizona practice bank (19,963 questions, including 8,534 on the Arizona State outline alone) is built area-by-area on these same two outlines. The Arizona Real Estate Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table and enrollment.
Verified questions
Every question in this program is original — written for PassProfessor from the official exam blueprint, never copied from a test bank or another provider’s materials. Before enrollment opened, each answer key was independently verified: reviewers re-answered sampled questions blind, disagreements were settled against the primary sources, and every numeric answer was recomputed from first principles. Questions whose facts could not be confirmed were removed, and the bank passed a text-overlap screen. Practice exams draw a fresh, blueprint-weighted set from the full bank on every attempt, so no two practice exams are the same.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Arizona real estate exam? There are two salesperson examinations. The General exam has 80 scored questions plus 5 unscored pretest questions (85 total) in 150 minutes. The State exam has 60 scored questions plus 5 unscored pretest questions (65 total) in 90 minutes. Across both, you answer 140 scored questions.
Is the Arizona real estate exam one test or two? Two, since January 1, 2026: a General exam on national content and a State exam on Arizona-specific content, separately scheduled, timed, and scored under Pearson VUE’s current outlines (publication #090301, 01/2026). Descriptions of a single 180-question combined exam reflect the retired pre-2026 format.
What score do I need to pass the Arizona exams? Per the Pearson VUE candidate handbook, you need to answer 75% of the questions correctly to pass the examination. Your score is reported as a percent score — the percentage of questions answered correctly — and each examination carries its own result.
How long are the Arizona real estate exams? 150 minutes for the General exam (85 questions on screen) and 90 minutes for the State exam (65 questions on screen) — 240 minutes of testing across the two examinations if you take both, which the back-to-back combo price is designed for.
Does Arizona require pre-licensing education before the exam? Yes. Candidates must complete all pre-licensing education before taking an examination: 90 hours of Commissioner-approved coursework at an ADRE-approved school, with the school’s final examination passed. You present your Pre-licensure Education Certificate at the test center.
What is the 6-hour Contract Writing Course, and when do I take it? A six-hour Arizona Contract Writing Course that every salesperson candidate must complete prior to licensure. It is not required before the examinations; its certificate is part of the license application package you submit to ADRE after passing.
What is the Fingerprint Clearance Card? A valid Level 1 Non-IVP Arizona Fingerprint Clearance Card, issued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety under A.R.S. §§32-2108 and 41-1758.03. ADRE requires it at the time of license application; the application package includes a copy of both sides of the card. Apply through DPS (azdps.gov) and start early.
How much do the Arizona exams cost? Per the candidate handbook’s fee table: $70 for the General exam and $60 for the State exam, paid to Pearson at reservation by credit card, debit card, or voucher — or $75 total when the two are scheduled back to back under the combo discount. Each retake costs the same as the initial examination. The license fee after you pass is paid to ADRE per its current fee schedule, and the Fingerprint Clearance Card carries DPS’s own fee.
How do I register for the Arizona real estate exams? Reserve online at Pearson VUE’s Arizona real estate page (pearsonvue.com/us/en/az/realestate.html) or by phone at (888) 405-5776, at least 24 hours before your desired date. Walk-ins are not available, payment is not accepted at the test center, and all testing is at Pearson authorized test centers in Arizona.
Can I take the Arizona real estate exam online from home? The handbook routes all Arizona examinations to Pearson authorized test centers in Arizona and provides no at-home testing option. Plan on testing in person.
What happens after I pass both exams? Complete the 6-hour Contract Writing Course if you have not, then apply to ADRE within one year of passing: one PDF through the Online Licensing System containing the application form (linked from your score report), the Disciplinary Actions Disclosure Form, your original score report, your 90-hour education certificate, proof of legal presence, your Fingerprint Clearance Card copy, and your Contract Writing certificate. The fee is paid online once the application is deemed complete, the license issues on eligible status, and you activate it through a broker hire action.
If I fail, how soon can I retake an Arizona exam? You must wait 24 hours after the examination before reserving a retake, reservations cannot be made at the test center, and the retake fee equals the initial fee. After a second failure of an examination, you may first use the one-time Exam Playback: a 30-minute review of the questions you answered incorrectly, scheduled within 14 days of that failure and completed before your next attempt.
How long is my Arizona exam score valid? One year. A.R.S. §32-2125.01 requires the examination to have been passed within one year preceding the license application; if you do not apply inside that year, the examination must be retaken.
I am licensed in another state. Do I take both exams? Under Out-of-State License Recognition, an Arizona resident who has been licensed as a salesperson or broker in another state for at least one year, in good standing, takes only the Arizona State exam (60 scored + 5 pretest, 90 minutes, $60) and applies within one year, with license history and proof of Arizona residency in the application package.
Does PassProfessor’s program satisfy the 90-hour education requirement? No. PassProfessor is exam preparation only and provides no pre-licensing education credit and no Contract Writing Course credit. The 90 hours and the 6-hour course must be completed with ADRE-approved providers.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Arizona Department of Real Estate, Pearson VUE, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Arizona salesperson licensing examinations, current as of October 2026; ADRE and Pearson VUE publications govern if anything here differs from them.