Last updated: February 19, 2026. Data aligned to Tennessee PSI/TREC candidate materials effective in 2025-2026.
Tennessee Passing Score and Question Count: Quick Answer
For the Tennessee Affiliate Broker exam in 2026:
- National section: 80 questions, pass at 56 correct (70%)
- State section: 40 questions, pass at 28 correct (70%)
- Time limits: 160 minutes national, 80 minutes state
You must pass both sections. Passing one section does not override a failed section.
Official Exam Structure Table
| Section | Questions | Time | Passing Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | 80 | 160 minutes | 56 correct |
| State | 40 | 80 minutes | 28 correct |
| Total session | 120 | 240 minutes | Pass both sections |
Scored vs Experimental Questions
The Tennessee PSI candidate bulletin notes that portions may include small sets of unscored experimental items used for exam development. Your required passing threshold still follows the 70% section standards above.
Section Weights: Where the Points Are
PSI outlines weighted domains for both national and state portions. The highest-impact national areas include contracts, agency, and practice of real estate. State weighting emphasizes Tennessee law, TREC rules, and licensing conduct.
National Portion Highlights (PSI percentages)
| National Topic Area | Approximate Weight |
|---|---|
| Contracts | ~17% |
| Agency | ~13% |
| Practice of real estate | ~13% |
| Financing | ~10% |
| Real estate calculations | ~10% |
State Portion Highlights (PSI percentages)
| State Topic Area | Approximate Weight |
|---|---|
| Tennessee statutes and rules | ~23% |
| Property ownership and transfer | ~13% |
| Tennessee disclosures | ~13% |
| Agency and obligations | ~10% |
| Financing and contracts | ~10% each |
These weightings are why many candidates underperform if they only memorize definitions and skip application-heavy items.
How Score Reporting Works
After your exam, PSI provides a score outcome by section. Practical implications:
- If you pass one section and fail the other, you retest only the failed section
- Use the section feedback immediately to target weaknesses
- Avoid broad restudy; focus on your low-weighted domains that caused misses
Retake Policy You Must Plan Around
Tennessee PSI retake rules include:
- Fast retest eligibility after a first failed attempt
- 30-day wait after failing the same section twice
- A passed section remains valid for two retakes of the failed section or one year, whichever occurs first
This policy means your retake plan should be structured and time-boxed, not open-ended.
Common Failure Patterns
- Missing easy state-law questions due to weak statute review
- Rushing national calculation items and losing 6-10 points
- Spending too long on one scenario question and running out of time
- Taking practice exams untimed, then underperforming under real PSI pacing
- Testing before reaching stable benchmark scores
Benchmark Scores Before Test Day
Use this target ladder:
| Readiness Level | Practice Score Target |
|---|---|
| Not ready | Below 70% |
| Borderline | 70-77% |
| Recommended scheduling range | 78-84% |
| Strong buffer | 85%+ |
A higher practice threshold helps offset exam-day variance and pressure.
14-Day Timed Plan Before Your Exam
Days 14-10
- One full national timed set
- One full state timed set
- Detailed review log of misses by topic
Days 9-5
- Focus on your two weakest national domains
- Focus on your weakest state-law domain
- Two mixed timed sets at full pace
Days 4-2
- Two full simulations under real time limits
- Final formula and legal-rule review sheet
Day 1
- Light review only
- Confirm PSI logistics and IDs
Exam-Day Checklist
- Confirm appointment details and arrival window.
- Bring required IDs exactly as PSI/TREC policy specifies.
- Manage pace: roughly 2 minutes per item.
- Mark and move if a question stalls you.
- Finish with a short flagged-question pass.
Free Practice Path
If you want a real pass buffer, use timed sets now:
Official Sources (2026)
- TREC: PSI and Examination Information
- PSI Candidate Information Bulletin (TN Real Estate, effective July 1, 2025)
- TREC: How to Get a License
How to Study the Tennessee Affiliate Broker Details That Actually Move Your Score
The Tennessee affiliate broker exam rewards targeted preparation. The question count and passing score tell you the minimum, but the domain split tells you where to invest your time. Treat the national and state sections as two related but separate tests. National questions ask whether you understand real estate principles used across the country. Tennessee questions ask whether you can apply TREC rules, Tennessee statutes, licensing duties, disclosures, and disciplinary standards to a licensee's conduct.
Build two score trackers. In the national tracker, list agency, contracts, practice, finance, property ownership, valuation, transfer, land use, and math. In the Tennessee tracker, list licensing law, TREC authority, advertising, agency duties, disclosures, trust money, complaints, discipline, and license status changes. After every timed set, enter your missed questions by topic. Do not write only the percentage. A 74% score with all misses in two domains is easier to fix than an 82% score with random misses from careless reading.
For the Tennessee state section, read every question from the regulator's point of view. Ask what TREC would expect a competent affiliate broker to do next: disclose, document, deliver, deposit, affiliate with a broker, avoid unauthorized practice, or stop and ask the principal broker. Many wrong answers sound business-friendly but ignore supervision, timing, or disclosure duties. On the exam, the best answer is usually the one that keeps the licensee inside the authority of the license and protects the consumer record.
Retake Avoidance Plan for Borderline Scores
If your practice score is hovering near 70%, do not schedule just because you technically touched the passing line. Tennessee requires separate passing performance, so a strong total score cannot rescue a weak section. Before test day, aim for a cushion on both portions and make sure your state score is not being carried by memorized numbers alone. State-law questions often use short scenarios, and the tempting answer may be a national rule that does not match Tennessee procedure.
Use a three-day repair cycle for each weak domain. Day one is rule review: reread the exact section in your course or candidate materials and make a short rule sheet. Day two is application: answer only questions from that domain and explain each answer aloud. Day three is mixed practice: return the domain to a timed set with unrelated topics. If the score improves only during isolated practice and falls again in mixed practice, you have recognition memory, not test readiness.
Final Tennessee Practice Routing
In the final week, rotate between full timed work and short state-law bursts. A useful pattern is national simulation, review log, Tennessee state set, review log, math and contracts drill, Tennessee disclosure and discipline drill, then one final mixed simulation. Keep the last day light: review formulas, TREC vocabulary, score thresholds, ID logistics, and the steps after passing.
Tennessee Topic Triage for the Last 72 Hours
In the last 72 hours, stop trying to improve every topic equally. Use your score log to identify the two national domains and two Tennessee domains costing the most points. For each weak domain, write a one-page repair sheet with three parts: the governing rule, the most common exam trap, and one example question pattern. Keep the sheet short enough to review before a timed set. If the sheet becomes several pages long, you are copying the course instead of building a decision tool.
For Tennessee state law, give extra attention to questions about what an affiliate broker may do independently and what must flow through the principal broker. If an answer choice makes the affiliate broker look like the final authority for trust money, advertising, brokerage policy, or license supervision, slow down and test it against TREC's supervision framework. For national law, give extra attention to agency, contracts, financing, and calculations because those topics can appear as both direct definition questions and longer transaction scenarios.
On the morning before the exam, review only high-yield notes: passing score, section timing, ID logistics, formulas, Tennessee licensing vocabulary, disclosure triggers, and your personal miss list. Do not start a new topic unless your candidate materials show it is heavily weighted and you have ignored it. Your goal is a calm, repeatable process: read the stem, identify the domain, eliminate answers that violate the rule, calculate carefully when needed, and move on before one hard item steals time from easier points.
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