PassProfessor’s New Mexico program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The 20,000-question New Mexico practice bank is built to PSI’s current content outlines, 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 New Mexico exam, in one paragraph
New Mexico does not license a “salesperson.” Its entry-level real estate license is the associate broker, and you earn it by passing a broker-level examination administered by PSI Services LLC for the New Mexico Real Estate Commission (part of the Regulation and Licensing Department). The examination has two portions, and each is passed on its own: a national portion of 75 questions (80 points) in 120 minutes, for which PSI’s summary table lists 60 correct to pass, and a New Mexico state portion of 50 questions in 60 minutes, for which the table lists 38 correct to pass. PSI states the standard in percentage terms in its Score Reporting section: you must receive a score of at least 75%. Before you can test, you complete 90 hours of Commission-approved pre-licensing education — three 30-hour courses — and apply for eligibility with PSI. After you pass both portions, you have 90 days from passing the first portion to pass the other one, and six months from passing to apply for your license.
Who can take the New Mexico real estate exam?
The path has four gates, in this order: education, eligibility, examination, and licensure. The requirements below are the Commission’s and PSI’s, not ours.
1. Complete the three-course education sequence — 90 hours. Before you apply to take the broker’s examination, you must document completion of 90 credit hours of Commission-approved pre-licensing courses: one 30-hour course each in Real Estate Principles and Practice, Real Estate Law, and Broker Basics. Each course carries its own final examination, and the three courses must have been completed not longer than three years before you apply to take the examination. The schools issue certifications of completion, and those certifications go to PSI with your eligibility application. If a required course is still in progress when you apply, it must be finished before you sit the examination — a course in progress does not make you eligible to test early.
2. Meet the basic eligibility rules. PSI states there is no age limit to take the examination, but you must be at least 18 years old to get a license, and you must be a legal resident of the United States. If you are currently or have previously been licensed in another state, you must submit a certified license certificate or certified license history with your application.
3. Apply for eligibility with PSI, then schedule. Eligibility is not automatic on finishing your courses. You apply to PSI — online, through PSI’s New Mexico test-taker site — PSI reviews your education documentation, and on approval you schedule your sitting and pay the examination fee (see the fees and registration section below). Your eligibility expires one year from the date PSI receives your original submission, so do not start the eligibility clock long before you intend to test.
4. After passing: fingerprinting and the Commission license application. Passing the examination does not license you. Your license application to the Commission must include your passing score reports, fingerprint documentation for the background check — your fingerprints are matched against state and national arrest record databases — and an errors and omissions insurance certificate meeting 16.61.5 NMAC if you will be an active broker, together with the license application fee described below. Fingerprinting is part of the licensure step; the Commission’s published application requirements are the authority on how and when it is done.
Two provisions for candidates licensed elsewhere are worth knowing, because both change the standard path:
- Pre-licensing education waiver. Candidates currently licensed as real estate brokers in other states or jurisdictions may apply for a waiver of 60 of the 90 hours where a certified license history documents completion of Real Estate Principles and Practice and Real Estate Law or their substantial equivalent. A waivered candidate still completes the 30-hour Broker Basics course and takes the state portion of the examination — and the national portion as well, if they have only completed a salesperson examination in their home jurisdiction.
- License recognition. The examination and education requirements do not apply to licensed applicants from the states with which New Mexico has a written license recognition agreement: Massachusetts, Louisiana, and Georgia. The Commission directs those applicants to contact it directly rather than following the standard PSI route.
The exam, piece by piece
Both portions are built from PSI’s published content outlines. The national outline states percentage weights for broker candidates; the state outline states item counts that add to the 50 state questions. Study the weights — they are the exam’s own statement of where the questions are.
The national portion — 75 questions, 80 points, 120 minutes
Some national questions are scored up to two points, which is why 75 questions carry 80 points. That scoring detail matters for the passing standard, covered in the next section.
| National outline area | PSI broker weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Property Ownership | 10% | Real and personal property; land characteristics and legal descriptions; encumbrances — liens, easements, encroachments, leases, adverse possession; types of ownership, estates, trusts, and business entities |
| II. Land Use Controls | 5% | Government rights — taxation, eminent domain, escheat; zoning, variances, building codes, subdivision and environmental controls; private controls — deed restrictions, CC&Rs, HOA bylaws |
| III. Valuation | 8% | Appraisals and appraiser requirements; the sales comparison, cost, and income approaches; comparative market analysis and broker price opinions |
| IV. Financing | 9% | Points, loan-to-value, PMI, PITI, underwriting; conventional, government (FHA, VA, USDA), adjustable-rate, balloon, reverse, and other loan types; RESPA, TILA/Regulation Z, TRID, and ECOA |
| V. Contracts | 19% | Elements of a valid contract, the Statute of Frauds, void and voidable contracts, options, breach and remedies; purchase and lease contracts, addenda, contingencies, counteroffers. The heaviest area on the national outline |
| VI. Agency | 13% | Creation and termination of agency; listing and buyer-brokerage agreements; transaction brokers and facilitators; fiduciary duties and duties to customers; agency disclosures |
| VII. Property Disclosures | 7% | Seller disclosure requirements; property condition and red flags; environmental and government disclosures; material facts and defects |
| VIII. Property Management | 5% | Tenant procurement and qualification; fair housing and ADA in management; rent market analysis; maintenance and risk management; trust accounts and management agreements |
| IX. Transfer of Title | 6% | Deed types; title insurance and searches; marketable title; closing and settlement; recordation; foreclosures, short sales, and probate |
| X. Practice of Real Estate | 12% | Fair housing law and prohibited conduct — redlining, blockbusting, steering; advertising rules; antitrust; employee versus independent contractor status; supervisory responsibilities |
| XI. Real Estate Calculations | 6% | Seller net proceeds, buyer funds at closing, prorations, transfer fees, PITI estimates; equity, capitalization rate, loan-to-value, discount points and origination fees |
| Total | 100% | 75 questions / 80 points |
The New Mexico state portion — 50 questions, 60 minutes
| State outline area | Questions on the real exam | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate Commission | 6 | The Commission’s purposes, powers, and duties; license-law violations, investigations, and audits; hearings, penalties, and appeals under the Uniform Licensing Act |
| Licensing Requirements | 7 | Activities requiring a license; unlicensed assistants and exceptions; education, background checks and fingerprinting; errors and omissions insurance; renewal and affiliation transfer |
| Real Estate Commission Regulations | 15 | Qualifying and associate broker responsibilities; broker relationships and employment agreements; advertising and signage; record keeping; property management rules and trust accounts |
| Broker Duties, Disclosure, and Brokerage Relationships | 15 | Honesty, reasonable care, and ethical conduct; performance of written agreements; accounting for money and property; written disclosure of brokerage relationships, personal interest, and adverse material facts; confidentiality; the types of brokerage relationships in New Mexico |
| Additional State-Required Topics | 7 | New Mexico property taxes; mechanic’s liens; septic systems; water rights; the New Mexico Human Rights Act; PID disclosures; HOA disclosures |
| Total | 50 |
Three structural facts shape how you should prepare:
- Contracts and Agency carry 32% of the national outline between them — 19% and 13%. No other pair comes close, and a national plan that shortchanges contracts is shortchanging the exam’s center of gravity.
- The state portion is concentrated, not broad. Commission Regulations and Broker Duties, Disclosure, and Brokerage Relationships are 30 of the 50 state questions. New Mexico rules and duties are not a garnish on this exam; on the state portion they are most of it.
- The Additional State-Required Topics are purely New Mexican. Property taxes, mechanic’s liens, septic systems, water rights, the state Human Rights Act, and PID and HOA disclosures appear in no national textbook. Those 7 questions are decided entirely by whether you studied New Mexico material.
Experimental questions. PSI states that a small number of experimental questions — 5 to 10 — may be administered during the examinations. They are not scored, they cannot be identified, and PSI states the time taken to answer them will not count against your testing time. There is no strategy for them except the obvious one: answer every question as if it counts.
Passing the exam
PSI publishes the passing standard in two forms in its current bulletin, and this guide reports both exactly as published rather than choosing between them:
- In the Score Reporting section, PSI states: “In order to pass the examinations, you must receive a score of at least 75%.”
- In the Examination Summary Table, PSI lists the portion-level figures: 60 correct on the national portion and 38 correct on the state portion.
The Commission states the same threshold in its own rule and licensing guidance as a minimum score of 75 on both portions. Three practical consequences follow:
- Each portion is passed on its own. There is no combined score. A strong national result does not carry a weak state result, and the program — ours or anyone’s — that reports your readiness as one blended average is hiding the number that matters.
- Do not convert the percentage yourself. Because some national questions are worth up to two points, 75 questions carry 80 points, and a percentage-of-questions calculation does not reproduce PSI’s published figure. Plan against the published figures: 60 correct national, 38 correct state, 75% as the stated standard.
- The 90-day validity window is part of the passing standard. You must pass both portions within 90 days of passing the first portion. The Commission’s rule phrases the deadline as no later than 90 calendar days after the first time you took the examination. Either way the rule is strict, and the next section explains what happens when the window closes.
Your score is immediate. PSI reports your result when you complete the examination: a score appears on screen, a passing candidate receives a successful notification, and a score report is printed at the examination site. If you do not pass, PSI states you receive a diagnostic report indicating your strengths and weaknesses by examination type — that report is the starting point for a retake plan. No official New Mexico pass rate is published in the Commission or PSI sources for this exam, so none is quoted here; figures on prep sites are not official and should not drive your planning.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate — they go to different places, at different times, for different things.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examination fee | $95 — covers both portions, whether you take one or both; retakes are also $95 for one or both portions | PSI | When you schedule |
| License application fee | Not to exceed $270 (nonrefundable) | The New Mexico Real Estate Commission | After you pass, with your license application |
Examination fees are not refundable or transferable, and PSI states the examination fee is valid for one year from the date of payment.
The sequence, in order:
- Finish your 90 hours. Complete the three 30-hour courses — Real Estate Principles and Practice, Real Estate Law, and Broker Basics, each with its final exam — at Commission-approved schools, within the three years before you apply. Collect each school’s certification of completion.
- Apply for eligibility with PSI — online. Effective October 30, 2024, eligibility applications are made online rather than on paper, and effective March 31, 2025, PSI no longer processes applications sent by mail, fax, or email; one sent that way is returned for online resubmission. Apply through PSI’s New Mexico test-taker site (https://test-takers.psiexams.com/nmre): select VIEW AVAILABLE TESTS, select MD BROKER, then SIGN IN / REGISTER to create your account, and provide verification of your completed pre-licensing education. The first and last name on your account must match your current, valid, government-issued identification exactly.
- Wait for PSI’s approval. PSI reviews your submission and confirms eligibility by email. If your registration is incomplete, PSI contacts you about what is still required. Do not schedule before approval.
- Schedule and pay the $95 fee. Schedule online through PSI or by telephone at (855) 557-0621. You receive a confirmation naming the test center, date, and time. PSI lists New Mexico examination centers in Albuquerque, Farmington, Las Cruces, Roswell, and Santa Fe, and examinations are also offered at some sites in Colorado and Texas and in other regions — search by ZIP code on the PSI site for the closest site to you.
- Protect the appointment. You may cancel and reschedule without forfeiting your fee if notice is received two days before the scheduled date — but a voicemail message is not an acceptable cancellation; use the PSI website or speak with a customer service representative. Missing the appointment, cancelling late, arriving after the start time, or failing to present proper identification forfeits the fee.
- Take the examination and get your score before you leave. See the test day section below.
- Apply for your license — online, within six months. Since January 7, 2022, the Commission’s license application is a fully online process. You upload your passing national and state score reports (or a waiver letter covering the national examination, where applicable), your course completion certificates (or waiver letter), your certified license history if applicable, your fingerprint documentation for the background check, and your errors and omissions insurance certificate under 16.61.5 NMAC if you will be active — and you pay the nonrefundable license application fee of not to exceed $270. Miss the six-month deadline without a reasonable written explanation accepted by the Commission, and the examinations must be retaken.
Retakes and score validity
- Retake only what you failed — inside the window. PSI states that if you fail one portion, you only need to register to retake the failed portion. The retake fee is the same $95, whether you retake one portion or both.
- What happens if your 90 days run out? You start over. Both portions must be passed within 90 days of passing the first one; if the window closes with a portion still unpassed, you must retake both examinations — including the portion you already passed. A prior pass does not survive the window. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding on this exam: candidates who pass the national portion, then spend four months preparing for the state portion, discover their national pass is void and both sittings must be repeated. Plan your retake promptly, while the passed portion is still alive.
- Eligibility and fee validity run on their own one-year clocks. Your PSI eligibility expires one year from PSI’s receipt of your original submission, and the examination fee is valid one year from payment. A long, slow retake path can collide with those limits as well as the 90-day rule.
- A passing score has a six-month working life. After you pass, you have six months to apply for the license. That deadline — not the score itself — is what expires; miss it without an accepted written explanation and you retake the examinations.
- Use the diagnostic report. A failing attempt produces a diagnostic report by examination type. A retake with the same preparation usually produces the same result; a retake aimed at the areas the report names is a genuinely different attempt.
Test day
- Arrive at least 30 minutes early. That time covers sign-in, identification checks, and the examination-center procedures. Arrive after the start time and you may not be admitted — and the fee is forfeited.
- Bring one qualifying identification. Register under your legal first and last name exactly as it appears on your government-issued ID, and bring one valid, unexpired, signature-bearing primary identification with a photo — PSI’s list includes a state-issued driver’s license or identification card, a U.S. government-issued passport, military identification, or alien registration card, or a Canadian government-issued ID. A name mismatch or the wrong ID ends the day before it starts.
- Expect examination-room security. Personal belongings — phones, smart watches, and other electronic devices, purses, notebooks, reference material, backpacks, wallets, pens and pencils, food and drinks, and hats or headgear not worn for religious reasons — go into the secure storage provided before you enter the room. You may be asked to empty and turn out your pockets at check-in. Possessing a prohibited item in the examination room invalidates your results.
- Calculators: only the permitted kind. PSI allows only non-programmable calculators that are silent, battery-operated, have no paper-tape printing capability, and have no alphabet keyboard. If your calculator does not meet that specification, it does not go in.
- Companions cannot wait. Persons accompanying you may not wait in the examination center, inside the building, or on the building’s property — arrange drop-off and pick-up accordingly.
- Use the tutorial. Before the examination, an on-screen tutorial is provided, and up to 15 minutes on it does not count against your examination time. Sample questions follow it. During the examination one question appears at a time, the minutes remaining are displayed, and you may return to a question and change your response while time remains.
- Breaks cost time. Once you are seated and the examination has begun, you may leave only for the restroom and only with the proctor’s permission — and you receive no extra time for it.
- Accommodations are arranged in advance, through PSI. All PSI examination centers are equipped to provide access under the Americans with Disabilities Act; candidates who need alternative arrangements request them through PSI ahead of time, and accommodated candidates schedule by telephone with a PSI registrar.
- Results are immediate, and weather has a plan. Your score appears on screen at the end, and your score report is printed at the site. If a site closes for severe weather or another emergency, PSI attempts to contact candidates and reschedule; you can also check your schedule status by phone or on the PSI website.
How to study for this exam
PSI publishes exactly what the exam covers, area by area — the outline is the syllabus, and the weights and item counts above are question counts, not suggestions. A plan built on that structure:
- Give Contracts and Agency their combined weight. At 19% and 13% of the national outline, those two areas carry nearly a third of the national portion. Learn contracts comparatively — valid versus void versus voidable, offer versus contract, breach and its remedies — and agency by relationship type, because the state portion tests New Mexico’s brokerage relationships in depth as well.
- Start the state portion early, not last. Thirty of its 50 questions sit in two areas: Commission Regulations (15) and Broker Duties, Disclosure, and Brokerage Relationships (15). This is concrete, learnable material — responsibilities, advertising and record-keeping rules, trust accounts, the written disclosures, and the broker duty list — and it rewards direct study more reliably than any other block on the exam. Most candidates leave state law for the end; the 90-day clock punishes exactly that habit.
- Do not skip the small, purely New Mexican areas. Additional State-Required Topics is only 7 questions, but national materials do not cover New Mexico property taxes, mechanic’s liens, septic systems, water rights, the Human Rights Act, or PID and HOA disclosures at all. Every one of those questions is decided by whether you studied New Mexico sources.
- Learn the calculations as procedures. Real Estate Calculations is 6% of the national outline, and its topics — seller net, buyer funds, prorations, PITI, capitalization rate, loan-to-value, discount points — are setups, not facts. Practice identifying what a question is asking until the setup is automatic.
- Prepare for scenario questions and best-answer judgment. The bulletin’s own sample broker questions are scenario-based. Practice choosing the best answer among several defensible-looking ones, rather than hunting for the one perfectly worded answer.
- Simulate each portion on its own clock. Sit a full national-length set in 120 minutes and a full state-length set in 60 minutes, separately, and judge the results separately. The portions are passed separately, they are timed separately, and your readiness is two facts, not one average.
- Schedule around the 90-day rule. Book your first sitting when both portions are close to ready — not when one is polished and the other is untouched. Once you pass the first portion, the window to pass the other is already running, and it is a poor place to begin learning state law from zero.
This program’s New Mexico practice bank (20,000 questions — 11,183 on national topics and 8,817 on New Mexico topics) is built area-by-area on this same outline, and the program tracks your readiness portion by portion, the way the real exam is passed. The New Mexico Real Estate Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table. Join the notify list and we will email you the day enrollment opens.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the license called associate broker? Because New Mexico has no salesperson tier. Its entry-level licensee works under a qualifying broker’s supervision but holds a broker-level license — the associate broker — and takes the broker examination. The qualifying broker is the second tier: the license that authorizes running a brokerage and supervising associate brokers. The naming reflects that structure: every New Mexico licensee is a broker of one kind or the other.
Do I need a qualifying broker before I test? No. Nothing in the Commission’s or PSI’s published requirements makes sponsorship by a qualifying broker a condition of taking the examination. You complete your 90 hours, apply for eligibility with PSI, and test. Affiliation with a qualifying broker is part of practicing as an active associate broker after licensure — your license application asks for your errors and omissions certificate if you plan to be active — not a gate in front of the exam.
How many questions are on the New Mexico real estate exam? 125 questions across two portions: 75 on the national portion and 50 on the New Mexico state portion. PSI also states that 5 to 10 experimental questions may be administered; they are not scored, and the time taken to answer them does not count against your testing time.
What score do I need to pass? PSI states the standard as a score of at least 75% in its Score Reporting section, and its summary table lists the portion figures as 60 correct on the national portion and 38 correct on the state portion. The Commission’s rule states it as a minimum score of 75 on both portions. Each portion must be passed on its own.
Why does the national portion have 75 questions but 80 points? Because some national questions are scored up to two points, per PSI’s note to its summary table. That is why the passing figure is published as 60 correct rather than left for candidates to derive as a percentage of 75 questions.
How much does the New Mexico real estate exam cost? The examination fee is $95, paid to PSI, covering both portions whether you take one or both. Retakes are also $95 for one or both portions, and the fee is not refundable or transferable. The license application fee after passing — nonrefundable, not to exceed $270 — is separate and goes to the Commission.
What education do I need before the exam? 90 hours of Commission-approved pre-licensing education: 30 hours each in Real Estate Principles and Practice, Real Estate Law, and Broker Basics, each with a final exam, completed within the three years before you apply to take the examination, with the schools’ certifications submitted to PSI with your eligibility application.
Is there an age requirement? PSI states there is no age limit to take the examination, but you must be at least 18 years old to get a license. You must also be a legal resident of the United States.
If I fail one portion, do I retake the whole exam? Not at first. You retake only the failed portion — but both portions must be passed within 90 days of passing the first one. If the window closes first, both examinations must be retaken.
What happens if my 90 days run out? Your earlier pass expires with the window. If both portions are not passed within 90 days, you must retake both examinations, including any portion you already passed, and the process restarts from there.
How long do I have to apply for my license after I pass? Six months from passing both or the applicable portions. The application includes your passing score reports, fingerprint documentation for the background check, and your errors and omissions insurance certificate; miss the deadline without a reasonable written explanation accepted by the Commission, and the examinations must be retaken.
Can I take the New Mexico exam online from home? The PSI bulletin for this examination describes testing at PSI examination centers — it lists the New Mexico centers and out-of-state sites and describes no home-proctored route. Check PSI’s New Mexico page when you schedule for the current delivery options rather than relying on a prep site’s claim either way.
Does PassProfessor’s program count toward my 90 hours of pre-licensing education? No. PassProfessor is exam preparation only. It provides no pre-licensing education credit and is not a substitute for the three Commission-approved 30-hour courses you must complete before you test.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider. This guide is exam-preparation information only: it is not pre-licensing education, provides no education credit, and is not a substitute for the 90-hour Commission-approved pre-licensing education New Mexico requires. It is not affiliated with the New Mexico Real Estate Commission, the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, PSI, or any state agency or exam vendor. Commission and PSI publications govern if anything here differs from them; this guide is current as of October 2026.