PassProfessor’s Connecticut program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The 19,980-question Connecticut practice bank is built, 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 Connecticut salesperson exam, in one paragraph
The Connecticut real estate salesperson exam is a two-portion, computer-based test administered by PSI Services LLC for the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP). The general (national) portion has 80 questions in 120 minutes; the Connecticut state portion has 35 questions in 45 minutes — 115 questions and 165 minutes in total, closed book. Per the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, you pass the salesperson examinations with a score of at least 70%, and both portions must be passed within one year of your eligibility date. You become eligible by completing a Connecticut-approved 60-hour Real Estate Principles and Practices course and being approved by DCP before you schedule with PSI; after passing both portions, you activate your license under a Connecticut licensed broker.
Who can take the Connecticut salesperson exam?
Connecticut runs the process state-first, and the order matters. To sit for the salesperson exam you must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Complete a Connecticut-approved 60-hour Real Estate Principles and Practices course. This is the pre-licensing education requirement, and your course completion certificate goes in with your application. (PassProfessor is exam preparation only — it provides none of these 60 hours; see the note at the end of this section.)
- File the examination application with DCP — a completed application plus your 60-hour course completion certificate — and pay the $80 application fee.
- Be approved before you schedule. DCP reviews and approves your application first. Once approved, your name is forwarded to PSI, and PSI sends you the instructions to register and schedule your examination. Candidates who try to schedule with PSI before DCP approval are not seated.
Two things candidates often get wrong:
- Broker supervision is not required to take the examination. DCP states this explicitly. You need a supervising Connecticut licensed broker later — to activate the license after you pass — not before you test.
- Two clocks govern everything after approval. Your eligibility lasts one year: you may test on an unlimited basis inside that year, but both portions must be passed within it, or you reapply to DCP for an additional year of eligibility. After you pass both portions, a second clock starts: you have two years from the date of the most recently passed portion to activate your license.
PassProfessor note: our program is exam preparation only. It does not provide any of the 60 hours of pre-licensing education credit — you take that course from a Connecticut-approved school.
A terminology note for 2027: Connecticut law (Public Act 26-23, the 2026 act revising the licensure statutes) renames the “real estate salesperson” license to “real estate agent” effective January 1, 2027. This guide uses “salesperson,” the term in the current PSI bulletin and DCP application pages.
The exam, piece by piece
The exam is two separately timed portions in one testing relationship, built from PSI’s published content outlines — the national portion outline and the Connecticut state portion outline, both approved in conjunction with the Connecticut Real Estate Commission. These outlines are the same documents our practice bank is organized around.
| Portion | Questions | Points | Time allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| General (national) | 80 | 80 | 120 minutes |
| Connecticut state | 35 | 35 | 45 minutes |
| Combined | 115 | 115 | 165 minutes |
The examinations are closed book. One question appears on screen at a time, and you may return to questions and change your answers while time remains in that portion.
The general (national) portion — 80 questions, weighted by percentage
PSI’s national outline publishes each area’s weight as a percentage of the general portion (salesperson weights):
| National outline area | Share of the general portion |
|---|---|
| I. Property Ownership | 10% |
| II. Land Use Controls | 5% |
| III. Valuation | 8% |
| IV. Financing | 10% |
| V. Contracts | 19% |
| VI. Agency | 13% |
| VII. Property Disclosures | 7% |
| VIII. Property Management | 3% |
| IX. Transfer of Title | 6% |
| X. Practice of Real Estate | 12% |
| XI. Real Estate Calculations | 7% |
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- Contracts is the center of gravity. At 19% of the general portion, contract law and purchase/lease contracts outweigh any other single area — roughly one general question in five.
- Agency and Practice together carry another quarter. Agency (13%) and Practice of Real Estate (12%) — fair housing, antidiscrimination, legislation, and licensee conduct — bring the contracts/agency/practice block to 44% of the portion.
- Calculations are a defined 7%, not a surprise. Real Estate Calculations (7%) is its own outline area: seller’s net proceeds, buyer funds at closing, prorations, transfer fees, PITI estimates, equity, capitalization rate, loan-to-value, and discount points. The math is bounded and practicable.
The Connecticut state portion — 35 questions, counted by item
PSI’s state outline publishes an item count for each area (salesperson):
| Connecticut state outline area | Items |
|---|---|
| I. Connecticut Real Estate Licensing Requirements | 7 |
| II. Connecticut Laws Governing the Activities of Licensees | 11 |
| III. Connecticut Real Estate Agency | 9 |
| IV. Connecticut-Specific Real Estate Laws | 8 |
| Total | 35 |
What those areas actually contain:
- Licensing Requirements (7 items): the Real Estate Commission’s purpose, powers, and duties; activities requiring a license; exemptions from licensure; license types and qualifications; renewal, continuing education, and transfer; the Real Estate Guaranty Fund; license suspension and revocation; and registrations, including teams.
- Laws Governing the Activities of Licensees (11 items) — the largest state area: the broker/salesperson relationship, duties to parties, handling of deposits and other monies, misrepresentation, disclosure of material and nonmaterial facts, advertising, commissions and compensation, and unlicensed personal assistants.
- Connecticut Real Estate Agency (9 items): representing a client versus working with an unrepresented person, agency agreements, agency disclosure, dual agency, designated agency, confidential information, and interference with an agency relationship.
- Connecticut-Specific Real Estate Laws (8 items): Connecticut ownership topics (adverse possession and prescriptive easement timing, land records and recording, real property taxes and assessments, the conveyance tax, the residential property condition disclosure), the Connecticut Landlord-Tenant Act, the Connecticut Common Interest Ownership Act, Connecticut fair housing law, property-specific disclosures (lead paint, crumbling foundations, carbon monoxide), interpreters, and the Connecticut Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. A separate broker-only block in the outline (record keeping, escrow accounts, broker’s lien, and related topics) is tested on the broker exam, not the salesperson exam.
Experimental questions. In addition to the questions in the summary table, PSI may administer a small number of five to ten experimental questions. Per the bulletin, these questions will not be scored, and the time taken to answer them will not count against your examination time. PSI uses them to develop future licensing examinations. You cannot identify them, so the only correct strategy is to answer every question as if it counts.
The passing standard, explained
The bulletin states the standard directly: in order to pass the salesperson examinations, you must receive a score of at least 70%. (The broker examinations carry a higher standard — at least 75% — which does not apply to salesperson candidates.)
Read that together with the structure of the test:
- Both portions must be passed. Passing is not a single blended result across 115 questions; the bulletin and DCP both require both portions of the examination to be passed, within the one-year eligibility window. A strong general portion does not carry a weak state portion across the line — prepare to clear 70% on Connecticut law as its own target.
- Your score is immediate. Your score is displayed on screen at the end of the examination, and a score report is emailed to you. You do not wait weeks for a result.
- A failing report is a study plan. If you fail, the emailed score report includes a diagnostic report indicating your strengths and weaknesses by examination type. That breakdown — not a general feeling about the exam — is where a retake plan should start. Duplicate score reports are available from PSI by email if you misplace yours.
Because the standard is a published percentage of the questions rather than a scaled score, your practice discipline is straightforward to calibrate: you should be scoring comfortably above 70% on each portion separately in full simulations before you sit the real exam, with no outline area left chronically weak — an average can hide the one area that sinks a portion.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate in your mind — they go to two different places at three different times.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examination application fee | $80 | Department of Consumer Protection | With your examination application |
| Exam fee, first sitting | $59 | PSI | When you schedule — covers both portions, whether you take one or both |
| Exam fee, retake | $51 | PSI | When you schedule a retake — the same $51 whether you retake one portion or both |
| License fee (activation) | $590 | Department of Consumer Protection | After you pass both portions, when you activate |
DCP states that all of its fees are non-refundable, and PSI’s registration fees are not refundable or transferable.
The sequence, in order:
- Finish your 60 hours with a Connecticut-approved provider and keep your completion certificate — it goes in with your application.
- Apply to DCP. File the Real Estate Salesperson Examination Application (online through eLicense or by the application form) with the $80 application fee and your course certificate.
- Wait for approval. DCP reviews the application; once you are approved, your name is forwarded to PSI and PSI sends you registration and scheduling instructions. Do not try to schedule before this step.
- Register and pay with PSI. Schedule online through PSI’s Connecticut real estate portal (test-takers.psiexams.com/ctre — internet registration is available 24 hours a day) or by phone at (855) 746-8171 with a credit card. The first-sitting fee is $59 for both portions. When scheduling, choose your modality: test center or, since May 14, 2025, remote proctored.
- Take the exam. Arrive at the test center at least 15 minutes early with the identification described in the test day section — or check in to your remote session under the remote protocols — and test both portions within your one-year eligibility window.
- Activate your license after passing both portions. Submit the licensing fee indicated on your passing score report ($590) with all of your passing score reports to DCP’s License Services Division. Activation requires supervision by a Connecticut licensed broker, and it must happen within two years of the date you passed your most recent portion. All Connecticut salesperson licenses expire on May 31 of every even-numbered year, whenever they were issued.
Retakes and score validity
- Unlimited attempts, one-year window. You may take the examination on an unlimited basis for up to one year from the date of eligibility. Both portions must be passed within that year; if they are not, you must reapply with the Department of Consumer Protection for an additional year of eligibility.
- No same-day rebooking. It is not possible to make a new examination appointment on the same day you have taken an examination, because scores must be processed and reported. PSI’s own example: a candidate who tests unsuccessfully on a Wednesday can call the next day, Thursday, and retest as soon as Friday, depending on space availability.
- The retake fee is $51 — for both portions or for one portion; the price is the same.
- Cancelling or rescheduling. You may cancel and reschedule without forfeiting your fee if your cancellation notice is received 2 days before the scheduled examination date (for a Monday appointment, notice must arrive the previous Saturday). A voice mail message is not an acceptable form of cancellation — use the PSI website or speak directly to a representative. If you do not cancel in time, do not appear, arrive after the start time, or arrive without proper identification, your registration is invalid and the fee is forfeited.
- Score validity for activation is two years. Your passing score reports support license activation for two years from the date of the most recently passed portion; the bulletin puts the same point as a fee deadline — the license fee must be paid within two years of passing the last portion, or a new application is required to be eligible to retest.
Test day
- Arrive at least 15 minutes early for sign-in, identification, and familiarization with the process. If you arrive late, you may not be admitted, and your registration fee is forfeited.
- Bring one form of identification. It must be valid (non-expired), bear your photo and signature, and match your legal first and last name exactly as registered — examples in the bulletin include a state-issued driver’s license or identification card, a U.S. passport, or a U.S. military identification card. A name mismatch is the most preventable way to lose an exam day.
- The tutorial does not cost you time. Before the exam, an introductory tutorial (up to 15 minutes) with sample questions lets you practice answering and reviewing; that time does not count as part of your examination time.
- One question at a time, with review. Minutes remaining display at the top of the screen. You can return to questions and change answers while time remains — build flag-and-return into your pacing: 80 questions in 120 minutes is 90 seconds per question on the general portion; 35 in 45 minutes is a similar pace on the state portion.
- Closed book, strict room rules. Reference materials, scratch paper and writing devices of your own, and electronic devices of any type — phones, cameras, smart watches, handheld calculators — are prohibited items at the test center, along with hats and bulky outerwear not worn as religious apparel. During check-in you will be asked whether you possess prohibited items and may be asked to empty and turn out your pockets. Restroom breaks at a test center require proctor permission and earn no extra time.
- Remote proctoring is a real alternative, with its own rules. Effective May 14, 2025, you may choose the remote-proctored modality when scheduling. Remote candidates may not use scratch paper, may not change computers or spaces during the exam, must stay in the camera’s view with adequate lighting and a sufficient internet connection — and breaks are not allowed during remote proctored examinations. If you cannot complete the exam without a break, PSI advises you not to register for the remote option.
- Test centers. PSI administers the Connecticut real estate exams in West Hartford and Milford, Connecticut, and at Massachusetts sites (Auburn, Boston/Charlestown, Fall River, and West Springfield); PSI also has centers in many other regions, and out-of-state testing can be arranged with the request form at the end of the bulletin.
- Results are immediate. Your score displays on screen when you finish and your score report is emailed to you — the starting point for either license activation or a retake plan.
How to study for this exam
The outlines are the syllabus — PSI publishes exactly what the exam covers, area by area, with weights and item counts. A plan built on that structure:
- Weight your time the way the general portion is weighted. Contracts (19%), Agency (13%), and Practice of Real Estate (12%) together are 44% of the general portion. Own those three areas first, then Property Ownership and Financing (10% each), and treat Calculations (7%) as a skills block to drill until the setups are automatic — proceeds, prorations, PITI, LTV, cap rate, points.
- Give the state portion its own study block, early. All 35 state questions are Connecticut law, and the largest areas reward direct knowledge: deposit handling and escrow duties, advertising and commission rules, agency disclosure timing, dual and designated agency, the Guaranty Fund, the conveyance tax, and the property condition disclosure. This is the material national prep products do not carry, and it must independently clear the passing standard.
- Learn the Connecticut numbers as a set. The facts the state portion returns to are concrete: a 60-hour course, an $80 application fee, a $59 first-sitting exam fee, deposits handled under the escrow rules, a $500 closing credit when the property condition report is not furnished, tiered conveyance-tax rates, and property assessed at 70% of value. Concrete facts are the fastest points on the exam — and the easiest to lose by studying another state’s rules by mistake.
- Practice at full length, per portion, against the clock. Sit the general portion as 80 questions in 120 minutes and the state portion as 35 in 45, separately timed, more than once. Pacing is a separate skill from knowledge, and the portions do not share a clock.
- Read your results by area, not in aggregate. Because both portions must be passed, track your practice performance area by area on each portion. A blended score that looks safe can conceal a state-portion area — agency, say, at 9 of 35 items — that is quietly below the line.
- Schedule inside your eligibility year, not at its end. DCP’s own process warns against waiting: approval, scheduling lead time, and a possible retake all have to fit inside the same one-year window. Book when your simulations say you are ready on both portions, with margin left for a retake if you need one.
This program’s Connecticut practice bank (19,980 questions, including 5,093 on Connecticut law and practice) is built area-by-area on this same outline. The Connecticut 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 Connecticut real estate exam? The salesperson exam has 115 questions across two portions: 80 on the general (national) portion and 35 on the Connecticut state portion. PSI may add 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions on top of that; per the bulletin, they do not affect your score and their time does not count against your examination time.
What is the passing score for the Connecticut real estate exam? Per the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, salesperson candidates must receive a score of at least 70%. The broker standard is higher, at 75%. Both portions of the salesperson exam must be passed within one year of your eligibility date.
How long is the Connecticut real estate exam? 120 minutes for the general portion and 45 minutes for the state portion — 165 minutes of testing in total. The introductory tutorial (up to 15 minutes) before the exam does not count against that time.
Does Connecticut require pre-licensing education for a salesperson license? Yes. You must complete a Connecticut-approved 60-hour Real Estate Principles and Practices course before applying to take the examination, and your completion certificate is filed with your DCP application. Exam-preparation programs like PassProfessor do not provide that credit.
How much does the Connecticut real estate exam cost? The DCP examination application fee is $80. The PSI exam fee is $59 for a first sitting, covering both portions whether you take one or both, and $51 for a retake. After you pass both portions, the license activation fee is $590. DCP’s fees are non-refundable, and PSI’s registration fees are neither refundable nor transferable.
How do I register for the Connecticut real estate exam? State first, then PSI. Complete the 60-hour course, file the examination application with DCP ($80, with your course certificate), and wait for approval. DCP forwards your name to PSI, PSI sends scheduling instructions, and you register online through PSI’s Connecticut portal or by phone at (855) 746-8171.
Do I need a broker to take the Connecticut exam? No. DCP states that broker supervision is not required to take the examination. You need to be supervised by a Connecticut licensed broker to activate your license after passing both portions.
Can I take the Connecticut real estate exam online? Yes. Since May 14, 2025, PSI offers a remote-proctored modality alongside test centers; you select test center or remote proctored when scheduling. Remote sessions prohibit breaks and scratch paper, so read the bulletin’s remote protocols before choosing.
What happens after I pass both portions? You activate your license: submit the $590 licensing fee with all of your passing score reports to DCP’s License Services Division, under the supervision of a Connecticut licensed broker. You have two years from the date of your most recently passed portion to do it. All salesperson licenses then expire on May 31 of every even-numbered year.
If I fail, how soon can I retake the Connecticut exam? Not the same day — PSI cannot book a new appointment until scores are processed. You can call the next day and retest as soon as the following day, space permitting, and attempts are unlimited inside your one-year eligibility window. The retake fee is $51 whether you retake one portion or both.
How long is my Connecticut exam eligibility? One year from the date of eligibility. Both portions must be passed within that year; if they are not, you must reapply to the Department of Consumer Protection for an additional year of eligibility.
What Connecticut-specific topics does the state portion cover? Four areas: licensing requirements (the Commission, the Guaranty Fund, exemptions, renewal and discipline — 7 items); laws governing licensees’ activities (deposits and escrow, advertising, commissions, disclosure duties — 11 items); Connecticut agency (disclosure, dual agency, designated agency — 9 items); and Connecticut-specific laws (the conveyance tax, property condition disclosure, landlord-tenant law, the Common Interest Ownership Act, Connecticut fair housing — 8 items).
What ID do I need at the test center? One form of valid, unexpired identification bearing your photo and signature, in the legal first and last name you registered under — for example, a state driver’s license or ID card, a U.S. passport, or a U.S. military ID. Arrive at least 15 minutes before your appointment.
Is the Connecticut exam changing its name in 2027? The license title is: Connecticut Public Act 26-23 renames “real estate salesperson” to “real estate agent” effective January 1, 2027. The exam itself is still the salesperson licensing exam in the current PSI bulletin; watch DCP and PSI for updated terminology as the change takes effect.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, the Connecticut Real Estate Commission, PSI Services LLC, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Connecticut licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Department of Consumer Protection and PSI publications govern if anything here differs from them.