Real Estate Exam National Portion: Topics and Questions
By the AgentExamHub team | Updated July 15, 2026
The national (general) portion of the real estate salesperson exam covers 8 content areas across 80 scored items, plus 5 unscored pretest items you can’t identify, for 85 items total, per Pearson VUE’s national content outline. Real Estate Contracts and Agency is the heaviest area at 16 items, 20% of the scored exam, and Real Estate Practice follows at 14 items, 18%.
Every state that licenses through Pearson VUE tests the same national outline, then adds its own state-specific portion on top. Texas adopted this version of the outline effective April 1, 2025. Your state’s exact effective date may differ slightly, so check your own candidate handbook if you’re studying close to a transition period.
What are the 8 content areas, and how many questions does each carry?
| Content area | Scored items | Share of the 80 |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate Contracts and Agency | 16 | 20% |
| Real Estate Practice | 14 | 18% |
| Property Value and Appraisal | 11 | 14% |
| Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use | 9 | 11% |
| Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title | 8 | 10% |
| Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues | 8 | 10% |
| Financing and Settlement | 7 | 9% |
| Real Estate Math Calculations | 7 | 9% |
Source: Pearson VUE National/General Exam Content Outline for Salespersons.
Contracts and agency alone accounts for a fifth of the scored exam, more than real estate math and financing combined. We’ve watched candidates spend disproportionate study time drilling amortization and loan-to-value math because it feels the most technical, then get caught flat on agency disclosure timing and listing agreement types, which carry more than double the weight.
What does each content area actually test?
Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use covers the difference between real and personal property, fixtures versus trade fixtures, legal description methods, and public versus private land use controls like zoning and easements.
Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title covers freehold and leasehold estates, deed types, voluntary versus involuntary title transfer, and the recording process, including constructive notice and chain of title.
Property Value and Appraisal covers market value versus market price, the three appraisal approaches (sales comparison, cost, income), capitalization rate, and comparative market analysis.
Real Estate Contracts and Agency covers required contract elements, executed versus executory status, types of agency relationships, and licensee obligations to both clients and third parties.
Real Estate Practice covers listing agreement types, buyer representation, property management basics, fair housing law, and risk management topics like vicarious liability and errors and omissions coverage.
Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues covers hazardous substance disclosure, including lead-based paint, asbestos, and radon, plus environmental statutes like CERCLA and wetlands protection.
Financing and Settlement covers loan types, lender requirements (FHA, VA, USDA, conventional), and closing-related federal law, including RESPA and the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.
Real Estate Math Calculations covers area, valuation, commission splits, loan costs, and settlement prorations, applied rather than theoretical.
8 original sample questions (one per content area)
1. (Property characteristics) A tenant installs custom display shelving in a rented retail space for business use. If the tenant can remove it without damaging the property before the lease ends, the shelving is best classified as a: A) Fixture B) Trade fixture C) Real property D) Encumbrance Answer: B. Trade fixtures are personal property a tenant installs for business purposes and generally retains the right to remove.
2. (Forms of ownership) An owner grants her mother the right to live in a house for the mother’s lifetime, with the property passing to the owner’s son afterward. This creates a: A) Fee simple absolute B) Freehold estate with a future interest C) Leasehold estate D) Easement in gross Answer: B. A life estate paired with a remainder interest is a freehold estate carrying a future interest for the remainderman.
3. (Value and appraisal) An appraiser values a 10-unit apartment building by dividing its net operating income by a market-derived capitalization rate. Which approach is this? A) Sales comparison approach B) Cost approach C) Income approach D) Gross rent multiplier method Answer: C. Dividing net operating income by a cap rate is the defining calculation of the income approach.
4. (Contracts and agency) A signed purchase agreement makes the buyer’s obligation contingent on securing financing within 30 days. Until that contingency is resolved, the contract is best described as: A) Void B) Voidable C) Executory D) Unenforceable Answer: C. A contract with duties still to be performed, including a pending financing contingency, is executory, not void or voidable.
5. (Real estate practice) A broker’s listing agreement entitles the broker to a commission regardless of who procures the buyer, including the seller. This is a(n): A) Open listing B) Exclusive agency listing C) Exclusive right-to-sell listing D) Net listing Answer: C. An exclusive right-to-sell listing pays the listing broker a commission no matter who finds the buyer, seller included.
6. (Disclosures and environmental) A seller of a home built in 1975 must provide a specific federal disclosure and pamphlet before the buyer is bound to the contract, addressing: A) Radon B) Lead-based paint C) Asbestos D) Mold Answer: B. Federal law requires lead-based paint disclosure for housing built before 1978.
7. (Financing and settlement) Which rule requires a lender to provide a Loan Estimate within three business days of a mortgage application? A) RESPA alone B) The TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule (TRID) C) The Equal Credit Opportunity Act D) Truth in Lending alone Answer: B. TRID combined RESPA and Truth in Lending disclosure timing into the Loan Estimate requirement.
8. (Real estate math) A home sells for $310,000. The listing brokerage charges a 6% commission, split evenly between the listing and selling brokerages. How much does the selling brokerage receive? Answer: $9,300. $310,000 x 0.06 = $18,600 total commission; split evenly, each side receives $9,300.
How should you weight your study time against this breakdown?
Match your review hours roughly to the item count, not to which topic feels hardest. Contracts and agency (16 items) and real estate practice (14 items) together make up 38% of the national portion, more than a third of your score. Math (7 items) and financing (7 items) matter, but over-indexing on them at the expense of agency and practice content is a common, avoidable mistake, since those two categories carry more than double the combined weight.
Run a full-length national-portion simulation in the AgentExamHub practice quiz tool so you can see your own category breakdown before test day, not after a fail report tells you where you were weak. The AgentExamHub free study guide walks through all 8 content areas in the same proportions as the actual outline.
FAQ
How many questions are on the national portion of the real estate exam? 80 scored items across 8 content areas, plus 5 unscored pretest items mixed in and indistinguishable from scored ones, for 85 total, per Pearson VUE’s national outline.
What’s the single largest content area on the national exam? Real Estate Contracts and Agency, at 16 of the 80 scored items, 20% of the national portion.
Is the national portion the same in every state? The content outline itself is standardized across states that use Pearson VUE, though your state adds its own state-specific portion, and adoption timing of outline revisions can vary slightly by state.
Do pretest items count toward my score? No, but you can’t tell which ones they are, so answer every item as if it’s scored.
What’s the least-weighted content area? Financing and Settlement and Real Estate Math Calculations are tied at the bottom, 7 items each, 9% of the national portion.
Bottom line: contracts and agency plus real estate practice make up 38% of the national portion’s 80 scored items, so weight your study time there first, then work down through appraisal, property characteristics, and the smaller categories.