PassProfessor’s Massachusetts program. The 19,997-question Massachusetts practice bank is built and audited, and enrollment is open. Use this guide to plan your path to the exam.
The Massachusetts salesperson exam, in one paragraph
The Massachusetts real estate salesperson exam is a two-part, computer-based licensing exam administered by PSI Services LLC for the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, part of the Division of Occupational Licensure. You will answer 120 scored multiple-choice questions in 240 minutes: a General portion of 80 questions in 150 minutes on national real estate principles and practices, and a State portion of 40 questions in 90 minutes on Massachusetts real estate law and Board rules. A small number of unscored experimental questions — one to ten, generally about 10% of the exam — may be mixed in, indistinguishable from scored questions and counting against your time. You pass with a minimum score of 70%, and the two portions are passed separately: pass one and fail the other, and you retake only the one you failed. Massachusetts does two things differently from most states, and both shape your timeline. First, the Board must approve your application before you may schedule the exam — there is no booking first and applying later. Second, the whole process must fit inside two years from the day you finish your 40-hour pre-licensing course: apply for and pass the examination within that window, or start over with a new certificate.
Who can take the Massachusetts salesperson exam?
Massachusetts puts the application before the exam, so eligibility is checked up front, by the Board, before PSI will let you near a test date. To be approved for examination as a salesperson, the Board requires that you:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Complete 40 hours of pre-licensing salesperson education at a Board-approved real estate school, and obtain the Massachusetts Board of Real Estate Educational Certificate from that school.
- Obtain three complete candidate endorsements from individuals unrelated to you. Endorsers do not need to be Massachusetts residents — but classmates you know only from the real estate course may not sign.
- Submit a CORI authorization (the DOL CORI form) with your application, for the criminal offender record information review.
- Provide a valid Social Security number and/or Tax Identification number (mandatory), and attest — under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 62C, Section 49A — that to the best of your knowledge you have filed all required state tax returns and paid all state taxes due.
- Apply for and pass the examination within two years of completing the required education. The Board’s own advice is blunt: do not wait until your certificate is about to expire to apply and test, because a failed portion leaves you no room to retake inside the window.
A few eligibility details candidates miss:
- Good moral character is an actual gate. A “yes” answer to any of the discipline questions on the application can affect your ability to become licensed, and the Board states that it does not license applicants who are currently on probation or parole.
- Already licensed in another state? The Board has reciprocity arrangements with some jurisdictions and an education-waiver path for others: if the Board has no reciprocity with your state, you may still apply for the exam with a letter of good standing for review and possible waiver of the 40-hour Massachusetts education — but your out-of-state license must be current or no waiver will issue. Either way, the three candidate endorsements are still required.
- Incomplete applications do not wait forever. The Board holds an incomplete application open for 180 days from receipt; after that it is considered abandoned and you must submit a new application and payment.
This PassProfessor program is exam preparation only. It is not the 40-hour course, it provides no pre-licensing education credit, and nothing in it substitutes for the Board-approved education described above.
The exam, piece by piece
The exam is a single two-part examination, built from the content outlines printed in PSI’s Candidate Information Bulletin (effective October 21, 2026) and approved by the Division of Occupational Licensure. Each portion is timed and scored on its own.
| Portion | Scored questions | Time allowed | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| General (Real Estate Principles and Practices) | 80 | 150 minutes | National real estate principles: ownership, contracts, agency, financing, valuation, and the rest below |
| State (Massachusetts Real Estate Laws and Board Rules) | 40 | 90 minutes | Massachusetts license law, Board regulations, and the Massachusetts-specific topics below |
| Both | 120 | 240 minutes | Plus 1–10 unscored experimental questions, which count against your time |
The General portion outline (salesperson weights)
| # | Area | Weight on 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% |
The State portion outline (salesperson weights and item counts)
| # | Area | Weight on the state portion | Items (of 40) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Duties and Powers of the Board of Registration | 5% | 2 |
| II | Requirements for Licensing | 8% | 3 |
| III | Requirements Governing Licensees | 30–33% | 12 |
| IV | Contracts | 8% | 3 |
| V | Consumer Protection Laws | 10–12% | 5 |
| VI | Environmental Issues and Hazardous Materials | 8% | 3 |
| VII | Massachusetts Fair Housing Law | 15% | 6 |
| VIII | Landlord Tenant Law | 10% | 4 |
| IX | Additional Topics | 5% | 2 |
Four structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- Contracts is the general portion’s center of gravity. At 19% it is nearly double the next-largest general area, and Massachusetts adds its own contracts area on the state side — the Offer to Purchase, the Purchase and Sale agreement, leases, and representation agreements as Massachusetts practice actually uses them. Contract law, in both its national and Massachusetts forms, is the largest single subject you will face.
- One state area carries almost a third of the state portion. Requirements Governing Licensees — advertising rules, the broker/salesperson relationship, commissions, disclosures, handling of documents and of money, record keeping — is 12 of the state portion’s 40 items. It is also the area where the PassProfessor bank is deepest, with 2,165 practice questions under that label alone.
- Massachusetts fair housing is bigger than it used to be. The current outline weights it at 15% (6 items), the second-largest state area: Massachusetts protected classes that go beyond the federal list, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, and ADA accommodations. Candidates studying from an older outline will underweight it.
- The state portion is concrete. Lead paint notification, Title 5 septic inspection, smoke and carbon monoxide certificates, security-deposit handling under landlord-tenant law — Massachusetts tests specific statutes, deadlines, and procedures, not general principles. It rewards direct study of Massachusetts material, and it is where a purely national course leaves its students thinnest.
Experimental questions. In addition to the 120 scored questions, PSI may administer a small number of experimental items — one to ten, generally about 10% of the exam. They are tryout questions for future exams, they are not scored, and they are indistinguishable from scored questions — but they do count against your examination time. The only workable strategy is to treat every question as if it counts.
Format notes. The exam is taken on a computer, one question at a time, with the minutes remaining shown on screen. You can return to questions and change answers while time remains in that portion. A 15-minute on-screen tutorial before the exam does not count against your examination time. An on-screen calculator is provided — personal calculators are not permitted — and scratch paper and a pencil are issued at test centers.
Passing the exam
You pass with a minimum score of 70% — on each portion.
That is exactly how the authority publishes it: the Candidate Information Bulletin’s score-reporting section states, “You need to score a minimum of 70% to pass,” and the Board’s own exam page on mass.gov states the same standard, “a minimum of 70% correct to pass.” Massachusetts does not publish a scaled-score conversion for this exam in its bulletin; the published standard is the 70% minimum. Two features of the Massachusetts system matter more than the number itself:
- Each portion passes or fails on its own, and the pass is banked — for a limited time. Your result is not a single blended score across 120 questions. A strong general portion cannot carry a weak state portion. If you clear one portion and miss the other, the portion you passed stays passed, and you retake only the missed one — but the failed portion must be passed within two years of the completion date on your Educational Certificate. If that window closes, the partial pass expires with the certificate, and under a new certificate both portions must be taken again.
- Your result is immediate. Your score is displayed on screen at the end of the examination, and a score report is emailed to you (you can also print it from your PSI account). If you do not pass, the emailed report includes diagnostic information showing your strengths and weaknesses by examination type — which is the starting point for a retake plan, and the reason a first failure, used well, is information rather than just a fee.
The study implication follows directly: because the portions are separate, “averaging 75% overall” is the wrong target. The right target is clearing the line comfortably on each portion — which is why practice that reports your general and state performance separately is worth more than a single combined score, and why the PassProfessor program generates its full practice exams at the real 80/40 split.
Fees and registration, step by step
Massachusetts has more payments than most states, and they go to different places at different times. Keep them separate:
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application fee | $31 | The Board, through eLIPSE | With your application, before scheduling |
| Exam fee | $56 | PSI | When you schedule your appointment |
| License fee | Prorated (see below) | The Board, through eLIPSE | After you pass both portions |
Application and exam fees are not refundable or transferable; the exam fee is valid for one year from the date it is paid. The license fee is prorated under Massachusetts law according to your birth date, because your first license runs from your exam pass date to your birthday — no less than two years and no more than three. The bulletin instructs candidates to be prepared to pay for the license on the day of the examination, upon passing; payment itself is made through eLIPSE, and PSI does not print licenses at the test center.
The sequence, in order:
- Finish the 40-hour course at a Board-approved school and get your Educational Certificate. Your two-year clock starts on the completion date.
- Apply to the Board through eLIPSE. Create your MyMassGov account to access the eLIPSE portal, submit the application with your Educational Certificate, your three candidate endorsements, and the DOL CORI form, and pay the $31 application fee. This step is the one candidates from other states get wrong: in Massachusetts, the application comes first.
- Wait for Board approval. Candidates are eligible for the two-part examination only when their application and supporting documentation are approved. If anything is missing, your application is held open for 180 days — after that it is treated as abandoned, and you apply and pay again.
- Schedule with PSI — only after approval. Go to PSI’s Massachusetts test-taker portal (test-takers.psiexams.com/mare), create an account (your first and last name must match your government-issued ID exactly), choose a test center or remote proctoring, pick a date, and pay the $56 exam fee by card. You can also schedule by phone at (855) 340-3704. Payment is not accepted at test centers.
- Take the exam. Arrive at least 30 minutes early if you are testing in person (details in the test-day section below).
- Pay the license fee and get your license — digitally. Once you have passed both portions and paid the prorated license fee through eLIPSE, your license is issued digitally, 24 hours after passing, whether you tested at a center or virtually. PSI does not print licenses on site.
A fee discrepancy worth knowing about. As of October 2026, the Board’s exam page on mass.gov lists a salesperson candidate fee of $85, while the Board-written Candidate Information Bulletin effective October 21, 2026 lists a $56 examination fee (and a $56 retake fee). We publish the bulletin’s figures, because the bulletin is the Board’s governing exam document and the most recently dated source — but confirm the amount shown in your PSI account when you schedule, since that is the amount you will actually be charged.
Retakes
- Retake only what you failed. A candidate who passes one portion and fails the other retakes only the failed portion. The passed portion stays passed — while the window lasts.
- The window is your certificate, not your test date. The failed portion must be successfully completed within two years of the completion date on your Educational Certificate. If the certificate expires, the partial pass expires with it: obtain a new certificate (which means retaking the course) and you must retake both portions.
- Retakes are fast, but not same-day. You cannot make a new appointment on the same day you tested — PSI needs time to process and report results. A candidate who fails can call the next day and retest as soon as the day after, subject to availability.
- Each attempt costs the exam fee again — $56 per the current bulletin.
- Missed appointments are expensive. Cancel or change at least two days before your appointment (for a Monday exam, by the preceding Saturday), through PSI’s website or by speaking to a representative — a voicemail does not count. Miss the appointment, arrive late, or show up without proper ID, and the exam fee is forfeited.
- After you pass, the clock changes. Your license’s issue date is your pass date and its expiration is your birthday, two to three years out. Before your first renewal as an active licensee you must complete 12 hours of continuing education; without it, the license renews as inactive and you may not practice.
Test day
- Arrive 30 minutes early at the test center for sign-in and identification. Late arrival can mean denied admission and a forfeited fee. Massachusetts test centers are in Auburn, Boston (Charlestown), Fall River, Lawrence, and West Springfield — in-person testing must be in Massachusetts.
- Bring one valid, government-issued photo ID with your signature — driver’s license, state ID, passport, military ID, or green card. The name on your registration must match your ID exactly; a mismatch is the most preventable way to lose an exam day.
- Leave your belongings in storage. Phones, watches and other electronics, hats, bulky outerwear, bags, notes, food and drink stay in the secure storage provided. You will be given scratch paper and a pencil (returned at the end) and an on-screen calculator. Companions may not wait inside the test center.
- Remote proctoring works differently. If you test from home, run PSI’s compatibility checks (audio, video, webcam, system) well before your appointment, launch your test within 30 minutes of the booked time — and start within 15 minutes of it, or you forfeit the fee.
- Results are immediate either way. Your score appears on screen when you finish; the emailed score report follows, with diagnostics by examination type if you did not pass.
- The license step happens online, not at the center. Passing candidates pay the prorated license fee through eLIPSE — be prepared to pay it on the day of the examination — and receive a digital license 24 hours after passing. There is no printed license to collect at the test center, and no license payment is taken there.
How to study for this exam
The outlines above are the syllabus — the Board publishes exactly what the exam covers, area by area, and the weights are question counts, not suggestions. A plan built on that structure:
- Start the clock management first. Your real deadline is not exam day; it is the two-year anniversary of finishing your 40-hour course. Apply through eLIPSE as soon as your certificate is in hand — Board approval takes its own time, and you cannot schedule until it lands — and leave room inside the window for at least one retake.
- Give Contracts its weight. At 19% of the general portion plus the state portion’s own contracts area, contract law in both its national and Massachusetts forms (Offer to Purchase, then Purchase and Sale) is the largest single subject you will face. Learn it in both registers.
- Study Massachusetts law as its own subject, not a supplement. Forty of 120 questions — a third of the exam — come from the state outline, and nearly a third of those come from one area: Requirements Governing Licensees. Board rules on advertising, commissions, disclosures, agency and facilitator relationships, and handling of client money are testable in detail, as are the Massachusetts specifics with numbers attached: security deposits, lead paint, Title 5, smoke and carbon monoxide certificates.
- Do not neglect the calculations. Real Estate Calculations is 7% of the general portion — seller’s net, buyer funds at closing, prorations, transfer fees, PITI estimates, cap rate, loan-to-value, points. These are the most learnable points on the exam: the methods are few and they repeat.
- Practice at full length, in portions, against the clock. Sit 80-question general simulations in 150 minutes and 40-question state simulations in 90, and track the two scores separately — because the real exam grades them separately. A combined average hides exactly the weakness that fails people.
- Use a failure diagnostically if it happens. PSI’s emailed report breaks your performance down by examination type. Retakes can happen within days, so a targeted week on the weak areas beats a month of general review.
This program’s Massachusetts practice bank (19,997 questions, including 6,332 under the state portion’s own topic labels) is built area-by-area on these same outlines. The Massachusetts Real Estate Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table and enrollment.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Massachusetts real estate exam? 120 scored questions: 80 on the General portion and 40 on the Massachusetts State portion. PSI may add one to ten unscored experimental questions, which do not affect your result but do count against your time. You have 150 minutes for the general portion and 90 for the state portion — 240 minutes in total.
What is the passing score for the Massachusetts salesperson exam? A minimum score of 70%, per the Candidate Information Bulletin’s score-reporting section and the Board’s exam page on mass.gov. Each portion is passed separately, so you must reach the standard on the general portion and on the state portion; passing one does not excuse the other.
How does the board-approval step work? Massachusetts candidates are eligible for the examination only when the Board has approved their application and supporting documentation. You apply through the eLIPSE portal (via a MyMassGov account) with your Educational Certificate from the 40-hour course, your three candidate endorsements, and the DOL CORI form, and you pay the $31 application fee there. Only after approval do you create a PSI account and schedule. If your application is incomplete, the Board holds it open for 180 days before treating it as abandoned.
What do I pay when I pass? The prorated license fee, paid to the Board through eLIPSE — not at the test center, and not to PSI. Because your first license runs from your pass date to your birthday (no less than two and no more than three years), the amount is prorated by birth date; the current bulletin publishes no fixed dollar figure for it. The bulletin tells candidates to be prepared to pay the license fee on the day of the examination, upon passing. Once both portions are passed and the fee is paid, your license is issued digitally, 24 hours after passing. PSI does not print licenses on site.
What if I pass one part and fail the other? You retake only the portion you failed — the passed portion is banked. The catch is the clock: the failed portion must be passed within two years of the completion date on your Educational Certificate. If the certificate expires first, the partial pass expires too, and under a new certificate you must retake both portions.
How long do I have to pass the exam after my course? Two years from the date you complete the 40-hour pre-licensing education. You must apply for and pass the examination inside that window. The Board recommends not waiting until the certificate is about to expire, precisely because a failed portion then leaves no room to retake.
How much does the Massachusetts real estate exam cost? The application fee is $31, paid to the Board through eLIPSE. The exam fee is $56, paid to PSI when you schedule — the same fee applies per retake. After passing, the license fee is prorated by birth date and paid through eLIPSE. Note that the Board’s mass.gov exam page has also listed an $85 candidate fee; the current Candidate Information Bulletin (effective October 21, 2026) lists $56, and the amount in your PSI account at scheduling is the one you will pay.
What are the three candidate endorsements? Statements from three individuals who are unrelated to you, attesting to your candidacy. They do not need to live in Massachusetts, but people you know only as classmates from your real estate course may not sign them.
Can I take the Massachusetts exam online? Yes. PSI offers remote-proctored testing from your own computer alongside test centers in Auburn, Boston, Fall River, Lawrence, and West Springfield. Remote candidates must pass PSI’s system compatibility checks in advance and launch within 30 minutes of the booked time.
If I fail, how soon can I retake the Massachusetts exam? Not the same day — results must be processed first. You can call the next day and retest as soon as the day after that, subject to availability, and you retake only the portion you failed. Each attempt carries the $56 exam fee, and the retake must land within your two-year certificate window.
When do I get my license after passing? After you pass both portions and pay the prorated license fee through eLIPSE, your license is issued digitally — the bulletin says you receive it 24 hours after passing. PSI does not print licenses at test centers. Your license term runs from your pass date to your birthday, between two and three years.
What ID do I need on exam day? One valid, unexpired, government-issued identification bearing your photo and signature — for example a driver’s license, state ID card, passport, military ID, or alien registration card. The name on your exam registration must match it exactly, or you will be denied admission and forfeit the fee.
What can I bring into the testing room? Very little. Personal items — phones, electronics, hats, bulky coats, bags, study materials, food and drink — go into secure storage. PSI provides an on-screen calculator and scratch paper with a pencil; personal calculators are not allowed.
Does the exam have a math section? Real Estate Calculations is its own outline area at 7% of the general portion: seller’s net proceeds, buyer funds needed at closing, tax and other prorations, transfer fees, PITI payment estimates, equity, rate of return and capitalization rate, loan-to-value, discount points and origination fees.
I’m licensed in another state. Can I skip the course or the exam? Possibly the course, not automatically the exam. The Board reviews reciprocity by jurisdiction; where there is no reciprocity, a current out-of-state license with a letter of good standing can support a waiver of the 40-hour Massachusetts education requirement. The three candidate endorsements are required either way. Check the Board’s reciprocity policy for your state before assuming.
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 a substitute for the 40-hour Board-approved pre-licensing course Massachusetts requires. It is not affiliated with the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, the Division of Occupational Licensure, PSI Services LLC, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Massachusetts licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Board and PSI publications govern if anything here differs from them. All practice questions are original, written to the published exam outlines; they are not actual exam questions.