Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: This program is built — 19,999 questions, written to PSI’s current Iowa content outlines — and it opens for enrollment soon. Join the notify list and we will email you when enrollment opens.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
Iowa licenses real estate salespersons through one PSI examination in two separately scored portions: 80 national questions (pass with 56) and 40 Iowa state questions (pass with 28). PassProfessor’s Iowa program will give you 19,999 original practice questions organized around those same outlines — including 4,141 questions tagged to Iowa-specific topics and thousands more under the Contracts, Agency, and Property Management headings both portions share — with fresh blueprint-weighted practice exams, topic drills, and per-question analytics that show exactly where your misses concentrate. A free sample exam will be available at launch.
What’s included
A bank built on Iowa’s outlines, in Iowa’s proportions. The real exam is two-thirds national content and one-third Iowa law, and the Iowa third is where national products run thin: Iowa Code Chapter 543B, the Commission’s rules in Iowa Administrative Code 193E, trust accounts, Iowa disclosure duties, and the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965. Our bank holds 19,999 questions. Of those, 4,141 carry Iowa-specific topic tags — Licensing Requirements, Disciplinary Actions, Trust Accounts, Property Disclosure Requirements, the Iowa Civil Rights Act, and Iowa financing and transfer-tax topics — and 6,239 more sit under Contracts, Agency, and Property Management, the three headings that appear in both portions’ outlines. You can drill the Iowa material on its own, at depth, instead of hoping a national bank mentions it.
Practice exams generated fresh, at the real blueprint’s weights. Each full practice exam is drawn new for that attempt in the real exam’s shape — the national portion weighted the way PSI weights it (Contracts alone is 19% of the national portion; Agency 13%; Practice of Real Estate 12%) and the state portion built to its published item counts — with questions you have not seen served first. You never sit the same practice exam twice, so a good score means you know the material, not the answer key.
Topic drills that match how the exam is built. Drill a single outline area — Trust Accounts, Valuation, Real Estate Calculations, Iowa licensing rules — or sit a full timed simulation of one portion or both. Because the portions are scored separately on the real exam, the program keeps them separate in practice too: you always know which portion is ready and which one is not.
Per-question analytics that find the leak. Your results break down by outline area, and every question in the program is monitored from real student responses once the program opens. Questions students answer correctly at suspicious rates, or miss at suspicious rates, are pulled for review, and anything found wrong is fixed or retired. Your weak areas surface in your practice data weeks before they could surface on a PSI score report.
The real exam at a glance
Current as of October 2026, per the Iowa Real Estate Commission (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing) and PSI’s Licensing Information Bulletin for the Iowa Real Estate Commission, effective December 8, 2025. Full detail — eligibility, education, registration, retakes, test day — is in our Iowa real estate exam guide.
| National portion | Iowa state portion | |
|---|---|---|
| Administered by | PSI Services LLC, for the Iowa Real Estate Commission | PSI Services LLC, for the Iowa Real Estate Commission |
| Questions | 80 (80 points) | 40 (40 points) |
| Time allowed | 120 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Passing score | 56 | 28 |
| Exam fee | $95 for the examination, paid to PSI when you register (non-refundable, non-transferable) | — |
- Both portions, 120 questions and 180 minutes in total. A combined score of 84 is the passing total — but PSI’s bulletin is explicit that you must achieve the minimum score on each part. A strong national score cannot carry a state score below 28.
- Iowa publishes raw passing scores, not a scaled score. Each salesperson question is worth one point, and the passing scores — 56 of 80 and 28 of 40 — are each exactly 70% of their portion. Your practice percentages translate directly: if you are not clearing 70% on a portion in practice, you are not ready for that portion.
- Five to ten unscored experimental questions may be mixed into your exam. They do not count toward your score, but they do count against your time, and you cannot tell which ones they are.
- You must finish the 60-hour pre-license course before you may test. The course must be completed during the 12 months before you take the examination. Three further 12-hour courses — Buying Practices, Listing Practices, and Developing Professionalism and Ethical Practices, all live instruction — are not required to sit the exam, but must be complete by the time you apply for the license. This program is exam preparation only; it provides none of those hours.
- Your registration expires in 90 days. You must actually take the exam within 90 days of registering with PSI, or the fee is forfeited and you register and pay again.
- You may test at a PSI test center or by remote proctoring. Iowa test centers listed in the current bulletin include West Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, and Waterloo. Remote proctored exams carry stricter rules — no breaks are allowed — set out in the exam guide.
How the practice maps to the real exam
Every question in the Iowa bank is tagged to a topic area drawn from PSI’s published content outlines — the national outline (Real Estate Principles and Practices) and the Iowa state outline (State Real Estate Laws and Commission Rules). Counts below are the bank itself, counted question by question from the delivered workbook, grouped by which outline the tag belongs to.
| Practice topic (as tagged in the bank) | Real-exam outline | Practice questions |
|---|---|---|
| National portion areas | ||
| Property Ownership | National I (10% of the national portion) | 1,336 |
| Land Use Controls | National II (5%) | 1,067 |
| Valuation | National III (8%) | 1,069 |
| Financing | National IV (10%) | 1,342 |
| Property Disclosures | National VII (7%) | 933 |
| Transfer of Title | National IX (6%) | 804 |
| Practice of Real Estate | National X (12%) | 1,599 |
| Real Estate Calculations | National XI (7%) | 1,469 |
| Areas appearing in both portions’ outlines | ||
| Contracts | National V (19%) · State (7 of 40 items) | 3,002 |
| Agency | National VI (13%) · State (6 of 40 items) | 2,396 |
| Property Management | National VIII (3%) · State (2 of 40 items) | 841 |
| Iowa state portion areas | ||
| Licensing Requirements | State (2 of 40 items) | 1,001 |
| Disciplinary Actions — Suspension, Revocation and Voluntary Compliance | State (4 of 40 items) | 667 |
| Trust Accounts | State (3 of 40 items) | 534 |
| Property Disclosure Requirements | State (5 of 40 items) | 672 |
| Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 | State (1 of 40 items) | 333 |
| Iowa: Financing and Mortgages | Iowa-specific | 467 |
| Iowa: Transfer, Taxation, and Recording | Iowa-specific | 467 |
| Total | 19,999 |
One honest gap, stated plainly: four state-outline areas — License Maintenance, Real Estate Education, Unlicensed Assistants, and Broker Responsibilities, together 10 of the state portion’s 40 items — have no questions tagged under their own headings in the bank. Material on those subjects appears inside related tags (a continuing-education question, for example, sits under Disciplinary Actions), but we do not claim dedicated drill sets for those four headings, and the table above does not pretend otherwise.
How to use it
- Join the notify list today. When enrollment opens, start with the free sample exam — a fixed set of Iowa questions across both portions, enough to see how the program works and where you stand before you commit to a study plan.
- Drill the Iowa-specific topics early. The state portion is a third of your exam, every point of it is Iowa law, and its passing line is the same 70%. Trust accounts, disclosure requirements, and licensing rules reward direct study more reliably than any other block on the test.
- Drill by outline area, portion by portion. Work your weakest national areas — Contracts, Agency, and Practice of Real Estate together carry 44% of the national portion — until the misses stop repeating, and keep your national and state readiness scores separate, the way PSI scores them.
- Sit full generated simulations against the clock. 120 scored questions in 180 minutes is 90 seconds a question, and the experimental questions consume time too. Practice the full sitting, both portions, at real length.
- Book the real exam through PSI when your practice scores sit comfortably above 56 and 28 on full simulations of each portion — remembering that your registration must be used within 90 days, and your license application will be due by the last business day of the sixth month after you pass.
Pricing
Pricing for the Iowa program has not been announced yet — it will be published here when enrollment opens. Join the notify list and the launch email will include the price and the enrollment link together, so there is nothing to buy blind.
Whenever you do enroll, the standard PassProfessor terms apply: if the program isn’t for you, our refund policy gives you 14 days provided you have attempted less than 20% of the program (see the site Terms for the full policy).
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Iowa real estate salesperson exam? 120 scored questions across two portions: 80 on the national portion (120 minutes) and 40 on the Iowa state portion (60 minutes), per PSI’s Licensing Information Bulletin for the Iowa Real Estate Commission (effective December 8, 2025). PSI may also administer 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions, which count against your time but not your score.
What score do I need to pass the Iowa real estate exam? At least 56 of 80 on the national portion and at least 28 of 40 on the state portion — 70% of each, with a combined total of 84. PSI states that you must achieve the minimum score on each part of the examination, so the portions are effectively separate hurdles: passing one does not excuse failing the other.
Who administers the Iowa real estate exam? PSI Services LLC administers the examination under contract with the Iowa Real Estate Commission, part of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL). You register with PSI online or by phone at (855) 898-0712, and you may test at a PSI test center or by remote proctoring.
How much does the Iowa real estate exam cost? The examination fee is $95, paid to PSI when you register, and PSI states that registration fees are not refundable or transferable. That is the exam fee only: the license application after you pass carries its own $125 fee to the Commission, and your pre-licensing courses are priced by the school you choose.
What education do I need before the Iowa exam? A Commission-approved 60-hour pre-license course in real estate principles and practices, completed during the 12 months before you take the examination — you cannot register your way around this; PSI requires your completion certificate at the test center. Before you can be licensed, you must also complete three 12-hour live-instruction courses: Buying Practices, Listing Practices, and Developing Professionalism and Ethical Practices. All of the education must be less than one year old when the Commission receives your completed application.
How long do I have to take the exam after I register? 90 days. PSI’s bulletin requires you to take the examination within 90 days of registration — not merely schedule it — or forfeit the fee and register again. PSI advises scheduling soon after your confirmation arrives; if you have not scheduled by the 80th day, you risk losing the window to weekends and non-testing days.
What happens if I fail one portion of the Iowa exam? Your score is displayed on screen when you finish, and your emailed score report — if you did not pass — includes a diagnostic report showing your strengths and weaknesses. You cannot book a new appointment the same day you tested; under the bulletin’s example, a candidate who tests unsuccessfully on a Wednesday can call Thursday and retest as soon as Friday, space permitting, and the $95 fee applies to the new registration. Your passing results stay usable only while they remain valid: your license application must reach the Commission by the last business day of the sixth month after your qualifying exam date.
Can I take the Iowa real estate exam online? Yes. PSI’s scheduling offers a test-center format or a remote proctored format. Remote candidates test under a proctor’s camera view, may not use scratch paper, and are not allowed breaks during the examination — if you cannot complete the exam without a break, PSI advises registering for a test center instead.
Are these the actual exam questions? No. Every PassProfessor question is written by us, from scratch, to PSI’s published Iowa content outlines and Iowa law. We never use real exam questions, recalled questions, or another provider’s bank — and using actual exam content would violate the candidate rules you agree to when you test.
Does this program count toward my pre-licensing education? No. PassProfessor is exam preparation only. It provides no pre-licensing education credit and is not a substitute for the Commission-approved 60-hour pre-license course or the three 12-hour courses Iowa requires. You take those from an approved school; you prepare for the exam here.
When can I enroll in the Iowa program? Soon — the 19,999-question bank is complete and the program is in final preparation. Join the notify list on this page and we will email you the day enrollment opens, with the price and enrollment link in the same message.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider. This program is exam preparation only: it is not pre-licensing education, provides no education credit, and is not affiliated with the Iowa Real Estate Commission, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing, or PSI Services LLC. All practice questions are original, written to the published exam outlines; they are not actual exam questions.