How This Guide Maps to the North Carolina Real Estate Exam
Key Takeaways
The NC broker exam has two separately scored sections: 80 scored National items and 60 scored State items (plus 5 unscored pretest items each), and you need a score of 75 on each.
National topics are federal/general real estate principles; State topics are North Carolina License Law, Commission rules, and trust accounting.
Study national fundamentals (Ch. 1-9) before state specifics (Ch. 10-14), since state material builds on generic concepts.
Agency (16 items) and Brokerage Practice (12 items) make up almost half of the 60 scored State items and deserve the most state-focused study time.
Track practice results by portion so you redirect effort to whichever half is weaker.
How This Guide Maps to the North Carolina Real Estate Exam
Welcome to OpenExamPrep's FREE North Carolina real estate guide. This orientation chapter shows exactly how every later section connects to a scored exam objective, so no study hour is wasted. Read it first, then use the blueprint table as a running checklist.
The North Carolina broker exam is administered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission (NCREC). Since the March 1, 2024 transition from PSI, it is a single computer-based appointment split into two independently scored sections: an 80-question National section and a 60-question State section (140 scored items, plus 10 unscored pretest items, 5 per section), with up to 2.5 hours for National and 2 hours for State. You need a score of 75 on each section, computed separately. Passing one section does not offset a failing score on the other; if you fail one, you retake only that section but pay the fees again.
The Two Sections and Why You Should Not Blend Them
The National section tests principles that apply across the United States: real property characteristics and legal descriptions, forms of ownership and transfer of title, valuation and appraisal, contracts and agency, brokerage practice and fair housing, disclosures and environmental issues, financing and settlement, and real estate math. None of it references North Carolina statutes.
The State section tests rules unique to North Carolina: G.S. Chapter 93A (the Real Estate License Law), the NCREC Rules in Title 21, Chapter 58 of the Administrative Code, the Working With Real Estate Agents Disclosure, trust/escrow account handling, the Residential Property and Owners' Association Disclosure Statement, and the NC Offer to Purchase and Contract with its distinctive Due Diligence framework.
Treating the two as one undifferentiated body of knowledge is the most common reason candidates fail the State half, which has fewer questions and less margin for error. Study National fundamentals first, then layer the North Carolina specifics on top.
Blueprint-to-Chapter Map
Use the table below as a checklist. The left columns are the content areas tested on each section; the third column gives the scored-item counts from NCREC's official content outline (April 2026 booklet: 80 National, 60 State); the right column points to the chapter of this guide that covers them. State items are concentrated in agency, brokerage practice (including trust money), and other NC laws.
| Section | Blueprint Topic | Official Scored Items | Guide Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | Real property characteristics, legal descriptions, land use | 9 of 80 | National Ch. 1 |
| National | Forms of ownership, transfer & recording of title | 8 of 80 | National Ch. 2 |
| National | Property value & appraisal | 11 of 80 | National Ch. 3 |
| National | Real estate contracts & agency | 16 of 80 | National Ch. 4 |
| National | Brokerage practice, fair housing, risk | 14 of 80 | National Ch. 5 |
| National | Property disclosures & environmental issues | 8 of 80 | National Ch. 6 |
| National | Financing & settlement | 7 of 80 | National Ch. 7 |
| National | Real estate math | 7 of 80 | National Ch. 8 |
| State | NCREC, licensing, education & renewal | Licensure 3; Supervision/Compensation 4 | NC Ch. 1 |
| State | NC agency law & disclosure | Agency 16 | NC Ch. 2 |
| State | NC contracts, disclosures, trust accounts, closing | Contracts/Closing 7; Brokerage Practice 12; Taxes/Insurance 4 | NC Ch. 3 |
| State | NC property law, fair housing, violations, special topics | Other NC Laws 11; Landlord/Tenant 3 | NC Ch. 4 |
Recommended Study Sequence
Work the National chapters in order (1 through 8) before touching the State material, because the North Carolina rules assume you already understand agency, contracts, valuation, and trust money in their generic form. Trying to learn NC trust-account rules before you grasp what a trust account is wastes time. Build the national foundation, then add the state layer.
Once the National chapters feel solid, move through the four North Carolina chapters. Spend the most time on license law and rules, agency and the Working With Real Estate Agents Disclosure, and trust/escrow accounts — together these dominate the State section and are where NCREC enforcement most often originates. The Commission rewards precise recall of deadlines (the 18-month postlicensing window, 8 hours of annual CE by June 10), the Broker-in-Charge designation, and the three-banking-day trust-deposit rule.
How to Use the Quizzes and Track Progress
Each later section ends with quiz items written in the style of real exam questions, with full answer rationales. Treat a wrong answer as a pointer back to the paragraph it came from, not just a score. After finishing the chapters, run mixed practice that interleaves National and State items to mirror the live two-section appointment.
Because the sections are graded separately, track your practice results by section. If your National scores sit comfortably above 80% but your State scores hover near 70%, redirect effort to the North Carolina chapters rather than re-reviewing material you have already mastered. This coverage map exists so that every chapter has a clear place in your plan and a clear connection to a scored objective on the Pearson VUE exam.
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.