1.1 Exam Format: National and Texas Portions

The Two-Portion Structure

The Texas Real Estate Sales Agent Examination is administered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). The single most important structural fact is that the exam is split into two separate portions that are scored and passed independently: a National (general) portion and a Texas State Law portion. You do not receive one combined grade. You receive a pass/fail result for each portion, and you must pass both to qualify for your license.

The National portion is the larger share. It contains 85 items total — 80 scored items plus 5 unscored pretest items. The State portion contains 50 items total — 40 scored items plus 10 unscored pretest items. Pretest items are experimental questions mixed invisibly among the scored ones; they never count toward your score, but because you cannot tell which is which, you must answer every question seriously.

You are given 240 minutes (4 hours total) to complete both portions in one appointment. The clock covers the combined exam, so budgeting time across the two portions is your responsibility.

Passing Each Portion Separately

Scores are reported as raw scores — the number of scored questions you answer correctly — not percentages on your report, though the thresholds work out to roughly 70%. To pass, a salesperson candidate must answer:

• 56 of the 80 scored National items correctly, and
• 28 of the 40 scored State items correctly.

Because the portions are graded independently, four outcomes are possible: pass both (you proceed toward licensure), fail both, or pass one and fail the other. If you pass one portion and fail the other, you only retake the portion you failed — your passing portion stays valid. A passed portion remains good for one year from the date your application was filed with TREC; miss that window and you must retake everything under current requirements.

Retake Rules

Reservations for re-examination cannot be made at the test center, and you must wait 24 hours before scheduling a retake. You get three attempts to pass both portions before the application expires. After three failures, TREC requires additional qualifying education before you can register again: 30 classroom hours for each failed portion (National or State), or 60 hours if you failed both. The course-completion documents plus a copy of the third failed score report must be submitted to TREC.

Delivery, Scoring, Fees, and Logistics

The exam is computer-based and delivered at Pearson VUE test centers (including some on-base military sites). Before starting, you take a brief computer tutorial that does not count against your exam time, then sign a Candidate Rules Agreement. When you finish, the exam ends and you leave the test center with an official score report in hand marked pass or fail; if you fail, the report includes diagnostic content-area feedback to guide your retake.

The fee is $43 per attempt for the Sales examination, paid at reservation by card or voucher (not at the test center). After passing and clearing your fingerprint-based background check, TREC issues your license document by email, typically within 5–10 business days.

A few logistics worth memorizing now:

• Reserve at least 24 hours in advance — walk-ins are not available, and reservations must be made online or by phone with Pearson VUE.
• Bring two forms of current signature ID; the primary must be government-issued with a photo, and your name must exactly match the registration. Pearson VUE recognizes no grace period, so an ID that expired even one day earlier is treated as expired.
• Calculators are recommended but not provided — bring your own non-alphabetic financial or basic calculator. Devices with alphabetic keys (which resemble a phone) are not permitted.
• No personal items (phones, notes, watches, hats, bags) are allowed in the testing room; store them in a locker or leave them in your vehicle.

Before you can even reserve a seat, you must complete all pre-license education, file your salesperson application, and receive an eligibility letter from TREC containing a TREC ID number. Fingerprinting and a criminal-history background check through IDEMIA are also required, and your license will not issue until TREC clears that background check even after you pass both portions.

What Each Portion Covers

The National portion tests general, largely federal and uniform real estate principles: property characteristics and legal descriptions, ownership and transfer of title, valuation and appraisal, contracts and agency, real estate practice (listings, fair housing, risk management), property and environmental disclosures, financing and settlement, and real estate math.

The Texas State portion tests Texas-specific law: TREC's commission duties and powers, licensing requirements, standards of conduct, Texas agency and intermediary practice, promulgated (TREC) contract forms, and special topics such as community property, homestead protection, and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. On the State exam, "The Act" always means the Texas Real Estate License Act, and references to "TREC Rules" mean the rules promulgated by the Texas Real Estate Commission.

The practical takeaway is that the two portions test almost no overlapping material. The National portion is built to roughly the same content nationwide so that a candidate could, in principle, transfer the general knowledge to another state; in fact, a candidate who already holds an active license elsewhere and passed an ARELLO-approved national exam may have the National portion waived. The Texas portion, by contrast, is unique to this state and cannot be waived.

That separation is exactly why the exam is scored in two independent buckets and why your study plan must treat them as two distinct exams that happen to be taken in one sitting.