PassProfessor’s Texas program. The 19,996-question Texas practice bank is built to the current Pearson VUE outlines, and enrollment is open — use this guide to plan your path to the exam.
The Texas sales agent exam, in one paragraph
The Texas sales agent licensing exam is a two-portion, computer-based test administered by Pearson VUE for the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). The national portion has 80 scored questions (plus 5 unscored pretest questions) in 150 minutes; the Texas state-law portion has 40 scored questions (plus 10 unscored pretest questions) in 90 minutes — 240 minutes of testing in total. Each portion is scored separately as a raw count of correct answers, and you pass by answering at least 56 of 80 correctly on the national portion and at least 28 of 40 correctly on the state portion. You become eligible by completing 180 hours of qualifying education, filing a sales agent application with TREC, and clearing a fingerprint background check.
Who can take the Texas sales agent exam?
Texas sets the qualifications in TREC’s own sales agent guidance. To be licensed, an applicant must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Be a citizen of the United States or a lawfully admitted alien.
- Meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity. If you have a background history and are unsure whether it could affect your eligibility, TREC offers a Fitness Determination you can request before applying — it tells you where you stand, but it does not replace the required background check.
- Complete 180 hours of qualifying education (detailed below) with a TREC-approved qualifying education provider.
- File a sales agent application with TREC and complete every remaining requirement within one year of the filing date — the application expires at the one-year mark.
- Have fingerprints on file with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) specifically for TREC, and pass the background check. Fingerprints taken for another agency will not be accepted, and a license will not issue until TREC receives and clears the criminal history report.
The 180 hours, course by course
The qualifying education requirement is six 30-hour courses, 180 classroom hours in total:
| Course | Hours |
|---|---|
| Principles of Real Estate I | 30 |
| Principles of Real Estate II | 30 |
| Law of Agency | 30 |
| Law of Contracts | 30 |
| Promulgated Contract Forms | 30 |
| Real Estate Finance | 30 |
| Total | 180 |
TREC’s current instruction is explicit about sequencing: do not submit your license application until you have completed all required education. You upload your course completion documents when you apply. Before the courses, register for a REALM Portal account so TREC can issue you a pre-license education application number — give that number to your education provider so your completions are matched to you. Creating the REALM account is not itself the license application; the application comes after the education is done.
One more structural fact: passing everything earns you an inactive license. A sales agent works under a sponsoring broker, so you — or your sponsoring broker — file a sponsorship request through the REALM Portal, and your license moves to active status when the broker accepts. You cannot perform brokerage activity until then.
PassProfessor note: our program is exam preparation only. It provides none of the 180 hours of qualifying education credit — those courses must be taken with a TREC-approved provider.
The exam, piece by piece
Both portions are built from Pearson VUE’s published content outlines — the same documents our practice bank is organized around. The national/general outline is effective March 1, 2025; the Texas Sales Agent State Law outline is effective January 1, 2026. Area names and scored-item counts below are the outlines’ own.
The national portion (80 scored questions, 150 minutes; 5 pretest questions mixed in)
| Area | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use | 11 | Real vs. personal property, characteristics of real property, legal descriptions, public and private land-use controls and encumbrances |
| II. Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title | 9 | Ownership, estates, rights and interests; deeds, title transfer, and recording |
| III. Property Value and Appraisal | 11 | The concept of value, the appraisal process, methods of estimating value, and broker price opinions |
| IV. Real Estate Contracts and Agency | 16 | Types of contracts and their required elements, contract performance, the sales contract, types of agency, creation and termination of agency, licensee obligations |
| V. Real Estate Practice | 10 | Broker responsibilities, brokerage agreements, fair housing, and risk management |
| VI. Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues | 9 | Property conditions and environmental issues; disclosure obligations and liability |
| VII. Financing and Settlement | 7 | Financing concepts, lender requirements, federal financing regulations, settlement and closing |
| VIII. Real Estate Math Calculations | 7 | Area, valuation, commission, loan-cost, settlement-cost, investment, and property-management calculations |
| Total scored | 80 |
The Texas state-law portion (40 scored questions, 90 minutes; 10 pretest questions mixed in)
| Area | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| I. Commission Duties and Powers | 3 | TREC’s composition, duties, and powers; advisory committees; complaint handling, investigations, hearings and appeals; penalties, unlicensed activity, disciplinary authority, and the Recovery Trust Account |
| II. Licensing | 3 | Activities requiring a license and exemptions; the licensing process (fitness, education, examination, grounds to deny, appeals); license maintenance and renewal, continuing education, sponsorship changes, inactive status, assumed names |
| III. Standards of Conduct | 9 | Professional ethics and conduct, grounds for discipline, unauthorized practice of law, trust accounts, splitting fees, rebates, and advertising |
| IV. Agency/Brokerage | 11 | Disclosure, intermediary practice, duties to the client including minimum services, broker–sales agent relationships, the broker’s responsibility for a sales agent’s acts, and the appropriate use of unlicensed assistants |
| V. Contracts | 9 | TREC-promulgated contracts, forms, and addenda; the Statute of Frauds; seller disclosure requirements |
| VI. Special Topics | 5 | Community property, homestead protections and tax exemptions, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, wills and estates, landlord-tenant issues, foreclosure and short sales, recording statutes, mechanic’s and materialman’s liens, the Veterans Land Board, homeowners associations, and equitable interest |
| Total scored | 40 |
On the state portion, the outline tells you how to read two recurring terms: “The Act” means the Texas Real Estate License Act (Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1101), and “TREC Rules” means the rules promulgated by the Texas Real Estate Commission. Questions that cite either are testing Texas law, not general principles.
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- Contracts and Agency is the national portion’s center of gravity. At 16 of 80 scored questions, Area IV is one question in five — contract elements, performance, agency creation and termination, and what a licensee owes each party.
- The state portion is concentrated, not spread. Agency/Brokerage (11) and Contracts (9) together are half of the state portion. Intermediary practice — Texas’s structure in place of dual agency — and the promulgated contract forms are where the state score is largely decided.
- The small areas are pure Texas. Commission Duties and Powers and Licensing carry 3 questions each, but they test TREC itself: who sits on it, what it can do, how complaints and discipline work, and how a license is obtained and kept. None of it can be learned from a national textbook.
Pretest questions. The 15 pretest items (5 national, 10 state) are tryout questions Pearson VUE is evaluating for future exams. They are indistinguishable from scored questions, they do not affect your result, and there is no way to game them — the only correct strategy is to answer every question as if it counts, and to pace for 85 and 50 questions, not 80 and 40.
The math conventions are published. The candidate handbook lists what is not provided at the test center and should be memorized: 43,560 square feet per acre and 5,280 feet per mile, with standard rounding rules. When a question requires a prorated amount, the question itself states whether the calculation uses a 360- or 365-day year and whether the day of closing belongs to the buyer or the seller. Knowing that in advance turns a category of guesswork into a reading task.
The passing standard, explained
Each portion is passed on its own raw count:
- National portion: at least 56 of 80 scored questions correct (70%).
- State-law portion: at least 28 of 40 scored questions correct (70%).
Texas does not report this exam as a scaled score. The handbook is direct on this point: your score is the number of questions you answered correctly, and the passing counts for salespersons are 56 and 28. Pearson VUE uses a statistical procedure called equating so that different forms of the exam are comparably difficult, but the number you are judged against is the raw count above. Two practical consequences:
- Budget your effort per portion. There is no combined score to hide in. A candidate who answers 65 national questions correctly and 25 state questions correctly has failed the exam, because the state portion missed its count by three. Prepare to clear each line separately, with margin.
- Use your score report if you fail. You leave the test center with an official score report marked pass or fail. A failing report includes a numeric score and diagnostic information for the failed portion — the number of questions you answered correctly in each content area. That breakdown is a study plan: it shows which areas, not just which portion, cost you the attempt.
For calibration, one honest note: the passing counts look modest next to some states’ scaled thresholds, but they are counts on an exam where a third of the scored questions test one state’s statutes, rules, and contract forms. Candidates who prepare only from national materials routinely clear the national line and miss the state line.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate in your mind — they go to different places at different times, and mixing them up is how outdated “total cost” figures get published.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| License application (original, sales agent) | $185 total per TREC’s fee schedule | TREC | When you file, after completing your 180 hours |
| Exam fee (sales agent examination) | $58 | Pearson VUE | When you reserve your appointment |
| Fingerprinting | $38.25 per TREC’s fee schedule | IDEMIA (IdentoGO) | When you attend your fingerprint appointment, if you have not previously been fingerprinted for TREC |
Application and exam fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. Qualifying-education tuition is set by the school you choose and is separate from every figure above.
The sequence, in order:
- Register for a REALM Portal account (if you do not already hold a TREC license number) to receive your pre-license education application number, and give that number to your education provider.
- Complete the 180 hours — the six 30-hour qualifying courses listed above — with a TREC-approved provider, and keep your course completion documents.
- File the sales agent application through the REALM Portal, uploading your education documents and paying the application fee. Do not file before your education is complete and uploaded; you cannot make changes while the application sits in “Submitted” status. Your one-year clock starts on the filing date.
- Get fingerprinted. Once your application status changes from “Submitted” to “In Review,” TREC emails you to schedule fingerprints. Electronic fingerprinting for TREC is handled by IdentoGO by IDEMIA; appointments are required, your fingerprints are transmitted to DPS and the FBI, and you should keep the receipt the enrollment agent gives you. Your license cannot issue until the background check clears.
- Watch for TREC’s exam instructions. After TREC reviews your education, it emails you instructions for scheduling the state and national exams, including the TREC ID number Pearson VUE will ask for.
- Reserve with Pearson VUE — online through Pearson VUE’s Texas real estate page or by phone at (800) 997-1248 — at least 24 hours before your chosen date. Walk-ins are not available. Pay the $58 exam fee by credit card, debit card, or voucher at reservation; payment is not accepted at the test center.
- Take the exam at the test center, arriving at least 30 minutes early with the identification described in the test-day section below. You leave with your official score report in hand.
- Find your sponsor. After every requirement is met, TREC issues your license in inactive status. File the sponsorship request in the REALM Portal (you or your sponsoring broker can do it); when the broker accepts, your license becomes active and you may practice.
Retakes and score validity
- Retake only what you failed. If you pass one portion and fail the other, you retake only the failed portion — as long as you do so within one year from the date your application was filed with TREC.
- Wait 24 hours before scheduling. Re-examination reservations cannot be made at the test center; wait at least 24 hours after a failed attempt, then rebook through the normal Pearson VUE channels. The $58 fee applies to each attempt.
- Three attempts, then more education. Candidates have three attempts to pass both portions before the application expiration date. If a portion is failed three times, you cannot retest or submit a new application until you complete additional qualifying real estate education: 30 hours if you failed either the national or the state portion, and 60 hours if you failed both. After completing it, submit the course completion documents and a copy of the third failed score report to TREC (the handbook directs these to documents@trec.texas.gov) and allow 5–7 business days for processing and reauthorization before you can reschedule.
- The one-year window governs everything. Your passing results only do you good inside a live application. If the application expires before all requirements are complete, you may reapply for licensure and meet the current requirements — plan your attempts so the third-attempt education rule and the one-year deadline never collide.
- A passed portion is banked inside the window. You do not retake a portion you have passed while your application remains live; the failed portion is the only one you sit again.
Test day
- Arrive at least 30 minutes early and check in with the test center administrator. Your identification and documentation will be reviewed, you will be photographed for the score report, and Pearson VUE will capture a digital signature and photograph at check-in for security.
- Bring two forms of identification. Both must be current signature identification, and the name must exactly match your registration. The primary ID must be government-issued, photo-bearing, and signed (a driver’s license, passport, state or national ID card, or military ID, for example); the secondary ID must carry a valid signature. Expired identification is not accepted — Pearson VUE recognizes no grace period, even where the issuing state allows one for other purposes.
- Complete the tutorial first. The on-computer tutorial does not reduce your examination time, and the administrators can help with the computer — but not with the exam’s content or with licensing requirements, which they are not expected to know.
- Know the clock. You receive 240 minutes in total for the two portions — 150 minutes for the national portion and 90 for the state portion. The exam ends automatically when time expires. Breaks are unscheduled and the clock does not stop: raise your hand, leave the testing room if you must, but you may not leave the floor or building, and you may not access phones, notes, or study materials during a break.
- Leave personal items out of the testing room. Phones, watches, wallets, bags, hats, books, notes, and writing materials are stored in a secure area with devices turned off. The administrator provides the materials permitted for notes and calculations; you may not write on them before the exam begins or remove them afterward. On calculators, the handbook’s rule is specific: calculators are not provided by the test center, but a hand-held, battery- or solar-powered financial calculator is acceptable provided it has no alpha characters — bring one that fits that description if you want one.
- Results are immediate. You leave the test center with an official score report marked pass or fail. If you passed both portions and your background check has cleared, the handbook states that TREC emails your license document within 5–10 business days; your license is issued inactive until sponsorship is arranged.
How to study for this exam
The outlines are the syllabus — Pearson VUE publishes exactly what the exam covers, area by area, and the weights above are question counts, not suggestions. A plan built on that structure:
- Respect the two-pass rule from day one. Split your preparation into two readiness checks, one per portion, and never let a blended practice score reassure you. You need 56 of 80 and 28 of 40; track both lines separately until each is cleared with margin on full-length work.
- Give Contracts and Agency its weight. Sixteen national questions — plus, on the state side, promulgated Contracts (9) and Agency/Brokerage (11) — mean contract and agency material in its general and Texas forms accounts for well over a quarter of everything scored. Learn the general principles and the Texas structures (intermediary practice, the IABS disclosure, promulgated forms) side by side, and keep the two systems distinct.
- Drill the Texas-specific institutions directly. The Recovery Trust Account, TREC’s complaint and discipline process, trust-account rules, fee splitting and rebates, advertising rules, homestead and community property, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act — these are concrete, rule-bound topics that reward direct study and punish inference from other states’ law.
- Practice math the handbook’s way. Memorize 43,560 square feet per acre and 5,280 feet per mile, learn the standard rounding rule, and practice reading each proration question for its stated day-count basis and closing-day instruction instead of assuming a convention.
- Practice at full length, against the real clocks. 85 questions in 150 minutes and 50 in 90 minutes, pretest items included and unidentifiable. If a question feels odd or unsolvable, it may be a pretest item — answer it, flag it, and move on rather than spending scored-question time on it.
- Read your diagnostics after every full simulation. The real failing score report breaks your result down by content area; your practice results should do the same. Rebuild the next study block around the areas the data names, not the areas you enjoy.
This program’s Texas practice bank (19,996 questions — more than 13,000 on the national outline areas and more than 6,000 on the Texas state-law areas) is built area-by-area on this same pair of outlines. The Texas Real Estate Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table and enrollment.
Verified questions
Every question in this program is original — written for PassProfessor from the official exam blueprint, never copied from a test bank or another provider’s materials. Before enrollment opened, each answer key was independently verified: reviewers re-answered sampled questions blind, disagreements were settled against the primary sources, and every numeric answer was recomputed from first principles. Questions whose facts could not be confirmed were removed, and the bank passed a text-overlap screen. Practice exams draw a fresh, blueprint-weighted set from the full bank on every attempt, so no two practice exams are the same.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Texas real estate exam? 120 questions are scored: 80 on the national portion and 40 on the Texas state-law portion. You will actually see 135 questions, because each portion mixes in unscored pretest questions — 5 on the national portion and 10 on the state portion — that are not identified and do not affect your result.
How long is the Texas real estate exam? 240 minutes in total: 150 minutes for the national portion and 90 minutes for the state-law portion. That time covers everything on screen, including the pretest questions.
What score do I need to pass the Texas sales agent exam? At least 56 of 80 scored questions correct on the national portion and at least 28 of 40 scored questions correct on the state portion — 70% on each portion, separately. Per the Pearson VUE candidate handbook, your score is reported as the number of questions answered correctly, and both portions must reach their own count.
Do I have to pass both portions at the same sitting? No. The portions are scored separately, and a portion you pass stays passed while your TREC application is live. If you fail one portion, you retake only that portion within one year of the date your application was filed.
How many times can I take the Texas real estate exam? You have three attempts to pass both portions before your application expires. After a third failure of a portion, TREC requires additional qualifying education before you can test again — 30 hours if you failed one portion, 60 hours if you failed both — and the completion documents plus a copy of the third failed score report must be submitted to TREC for reauthorization.
How much does it cost to get a Texas real estate license? The state-set pieces are: a $185 original sales agent application fee paid to TREC, a $58 exam fee paid to Pearson VUE for each attempt, and a $38.25 fingerprint fee paid to IDEMIA if you have not previously been fingerprinted for TREC. Qualifying-education tuition is set by the school you choose and is separate. Application and exam fees are non-refundable and non-transferable.
Does Texas require education before the exam? Yes — 180 hours of qualifying education: Principles of Real Estate I and II, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, Promulgated Contract Forms, and Real Estate Finance, 30 hours each, with a TREC-approved provider. TREC instructs you not to submit your license application until the education is complete and uploaded with the application.
How do I register for the Texas real estate exam? First complete your 180 hours and file your application with TREC through the REALM Portal. TREC reviews your education and emails scheduling instructions, including your TREC ID. You then reserve with Pearson VUE online or by phone at (800) 997-1248, at least 24 hours ahead; walk-in testing is not available.
Why does my fingerprint record from another job not count? TREC requires fingerprints taken specifically for TREC and held by the Texas Department of Public Safety for its background check; the candidate handbook states the requirement under §1101.3521 of the Real Estate License Act, and TREC’s sales agent page is explicit that fingerprints on file for other agencies will not be accepted. Your license cannot issue until the check clears.
What happens after I pass both portions? If your background check has cleared, TREC issues your license — in inactive status. To practice, you need a sponsoring broker: file the sponsorship request through the REALM Portal, and when the broker accepts, your license becomes active.
Can I take the Texas real estate exam online from home? The candidate handbook directs Texas candidates to Pearson VUE test centers and provides no at-home testing route; reservations are made online or by phone, but the exam itself is taken at a test center. Pearson VUE also notes that Texas exams are available at select test centers on military installations for candidates with authorized base access.
What is the difference between the national and state portions? The national portion tests general real estate principles and federal regulation that apply across states, built from a national job analysis. The state portion tests Texas law and practice only — the Real Estate License Act, TREC Rules, Texas agency and intermediary practice, promulgated contract forms, and Texas topics such as homestead and community property — and is reviewed and approved by Texas real estate professionals.
Does PassProfessor’s program satisfy the 180-hour education requirement? No. PassProfessor is exam preparation only and provides no qualifying-education credit. The 180 hours must be completed with a TREC-approved qualifying education provider before you apply.
Where do I find the official exam information? On TREC’s website (trec.texas.gov), starting with its “Become a Real Estate Sales Agent” page, and in Pearson VUE’s Texas Real Estate Candidate Handbook and Texas Real Estate Content Outlines, both published on pearsonvue.com. Every fact in this guide comes from those sources, listed in full below.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Texas Real Estate Commission, Pearson VUE, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Texas sales agent licensing exam, current as of October 2026; TREC and Pearson VUE publications govern if anything here differs from them.
Sources
- Texas Real Estate Commission, “Become a Real Estate Sales Agent” — https://www.trec.texas.gov/become-licensed/sales-agent/ (qualifications, 180 hours by course, REALM Portal flow, application one-year expiry, fingerprint scheduling, three-failure education note, inactive license and sponsorship). Accessed October 30, 2026.
- Pearson VUE, Texas Real Estate Candidate Handbook, September 2026, publication #094400 — https://www.pearsonvue.com/content/dam/VUE/vue/en/documents/publications/094400.pdf (exam fees, portion table and time limits, reservations, fingerprint requirements, the passing-score section with the 56/28 passing counts, retake and three-attempt rules, exam-day procedures, math conventions, national-only practice tests). Accessed October 30, 2026.
- Pearson VUE, Texas Real Estate Content Outlines, publication #094401 (01/2026) — https://www.pearsonvue.com/content/dam/VUE/vue/en/documents/publications/094401.pdf (national outline effective March 1, 2025: 80 scored + 5 pretest, area counts 11/9/11/16/10/9/7/7; Texas Sales Agent State Law outline effective January 1, 2026: 40 scored + 10 pretest, area counts 3/3/9/11/9/5). Accessed October 30, 2026.
- Texas Real Estate Commission, Fee Schedule (posted PDF) — https://www.trec.texas.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-forms/TREC%20Fee%20schedule%20for%20website.pdf (sales agent original application total $185; fingerprint fee $38.25 paid to IDEMIA). Accessed October 30, 2026.