How This Guide Maps to the New Hampshire Salesperson Exam
Key Takeaways
- The exam has two separately scored portions: 80 National questions (150 minutes) and 40 New Hampshire questions (90 minutes), each requiring 70% to pass.
- A strong National score cannot offset a failing State score; you must independently clear 56 of 80 National and 28 of 40 State.
- National content (ownership, contracts, financing, valuation, fair housing) is identical nationwide; the State portion tests RSA 331-A, the Rea rules, and NH-specific thresholds.
- Each tested blueprint area maps to one dedicated chapter; use the routing table to jump from a topic to the chapter that builds it.
- Front-load the eight National chapters, then study the five New Hampshire chapters, finishing review on state-specific numbers and deadlines.
How This Guide Maps to the New Hampshire Salesperson Exam
The New Hampshire real estate salesperson licensing examination is administered for the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission by the testing vendor PSI. Like most state licensing tests, it splits into two distinct, separately scored parts: a National portion covering principles that apply in every U.S. jurisdiction, and a State portion covering New Hampshire statutes, Commission rules, and local practice. You must pass both portions; a strong National score cannot rescue a failing State score. Treating the two as one undifferentiated body of material is the single most common preparation mistake.
The National portion is the larger of the two. It carries 80 scored questions (150 minutes) and tests the universal language of real estate: property characteristics and legal descriptions, ownership and transfer of title, valuation and appraisal, contracts and agency, brokerage and federal fair housing, disclosures and environmental hazards, financing and settlement (RESPA/TILA/TRID), and real estate math. None of this content changes when you cross a state line, which is why the same National concepts appear on exams from Maine to California.
The State portion is smaller but decisive. It carries 40 scored questions (90 minutes) drawn almost entirely from RSA 331-A (the New Hampshire Real Estate Practice Act), the administrative Rea rules, license categories and renewal mechanics, agency-disclosure timing under New Hampshire law, trust-account handling, the property-disclosure statutes (RSA 477:4-d and 477:4-a), and the conduct the Commission enforces. This is where generic national prep books let candidates down, because they rarely cover New Hampshire's specific thresholds, deadlines, and prohibited acts.
Each portion must independently clear 70% — at least 56 of 80 National and 28 of 40 State.
Blueprint-to-Chapter Routing Table
This guide is organized so that each tested blueprint area maps to a dedicated chapter. Use the table below as your routing layer: find the blueprint topic, see whether it is National or State, and jump to the chapter that builds it.
| Blueprint topic area | Portion | Guide chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Exam structure, fees, education path | Orientation | Introduction: NH Exam Overview |
| Real vs. personal property, characteristics of land, legal descriptions, land-use controls and encumbrances | National | Ch. 1 Real Property Characteristics |
| Estates and ownership forms, deeds, transfer, title insurance, recording | National | Ch. 2 Ownership, Transfer & Recording of Title |
| Concept of value, economic principles, appraisal process, USPAP, the three approaches, BPOs | National | Ch. 3 Property Value & Appraisal |
| Contract types and elements, performance/breach, listings and sales contracts, agency and fiduciary duties | National | Ch. 4 Contracts & Agency |
| Broker responsibilities and compensation, federal fair housing, advertising, antitrust, risk management | National | Ch. 5 Real Estate Practice |
| Property conditions, environmental hazards, disclosure obligations, stigmatized property, CERCLA | National | Ch. 6 Disclosures & Environmental Issues |
| Notes/mortgages/deeds of trust, loan types and PMI/MI, RESPA/TILA/ECOA/TRID, settlement and prorations | National | Ch. 7 Financing & Settlement |
| Area/volume, commission, interest, proration, transfer tax, investment math | National | Ch. 8 Real Estate Math |
| NH Real Estate Commission, OPLC, RSA 331-A, license requirements, renewal and CE | State | NH Ch. 1 Commission & Licensing |
| New Hampshire agency relationships, brokerage disclosure timing, property disclosures, state fair housing | State | NH Ch. 2 Agency & Disclosure |
| New Hampshire contract law, property law, condominium law (RSA 356-B), current use (RSA 79-A) | State | NH Ch. 3 Contracts & Property Law |
| Trust/escrow account handling, prohibited conduct, discipline and sanctions (RSA 310) | State | NH Ch. 4 Escrow Accounts & Violations |
| Property management, landlord-tenant security deposits, advertising and brokerage operations | State | NH Ch. 5 Property Management & Operations |
Recommended Study Sequence
Front-load the National foundations (Chapters 1-8): they are the larger share of the test and they make the state material easier to understand, because New Hampshire law is layered on top of national concepts. Study the National chapters first, in order, then move to the five New Hampshire chapters.
Finish your final review on the state-specific numbers — the 32-hour classroom rule, the 28-of-40 state cut score, the RSA 477:4-d versus 477:4-a disclosure split, the three-business-day escrow deposit rule, and the $3,000-per-offense fine ceiling under RSA 310:12 — because state thresholds are the most forgettable and the most heavily weighted per question on the smaller portion. This chapter contains no quiz; it is an orientation map only.
How to use the question banks alongside this map
Treat this guide as the conceptual spine and the practice questions as the diagnostic. Read a chapter, then drill its matching question set; when you miss an item, return to the chapter section that owns that blueprint topic rather than re-reading everything. Because the State portion is only 40 questions, every state-law concept carries roughly 2.5 percentage points, so a two-question slip on New Hampshire material is the difference between passing and retaking.
Reserve your final two study sessions for the state-specific figures that national prep never covers: the 40-hour education rule with its 32-hour classroom minimum and 8-hour distance cap within six months of the exam, the two-statute property-disclosure split (RSA 477:4-d for water/sewage/insulation systems versus RSA 477:4-a for radon/arsenic/lead/PFAS notification), the principal-broker $25,000 surety bond, the three-business-day earnest-money deposit rule, the RSA 78-B transfer tax of $0.75 per $100 on each side, and the $3,000-per-offense administrative fine under RSA 310:12.
These numbers are the most forgettable yet the most heavily tested per question, so they belong in your last review, not your first.