Texas Broker Exam Study Plan: 80 + 50 Scored Questions, 75% on Each Portion, and What to Study by Outline Weight

Short answer: The Texas broker exam has two portions. The National portion has eighty (80) scored items plus five (5) pretest items; the Texas Broker State portion has fifty (50) scored items plus 5-10 pretest items, and it includes 10 case-study items. A broker applicant must score at least 75% on each portion, which means 60 correct on the National portion and 38 on the State portion. Spend your time where the outline puts the items: Agency & Brokerage and Case Studies (10 each) and Standards of Conduct (9) on the State side, and Contracts and Agency (15) and Real Estate Practice (12) on the National side.

The State portion by outline section

The State outline took effect April 15, 2020. It predates the recent law changes, so study the current law for every section.

The National portion for brokers

Every item is classified as knowledge, application or analysis. An application item asks you to apply knowledge to a situation; an analysis item asks you to examine a fact pattern and reach a conclusion. The broker outline's real estate practice area includes responsibilities of the broker and risk management (supervision and vicarious liability among them), and the math area includes gross rent and gross income multipliers.

A study plan that follows the weights

1. Agency and broker responsibility first. Learn the IABS timing and exceptions, intermediary consent and appointments, the written buyer agreement, and the broker's supervision duties: written scope of authority, delegated supervisors, written policies, records and response deadlines.
2. Standards of Conduct next. Trust money deadlines, commingling, fee splitting, rebates and advertising rules are high-detail and easy to confuse.
3. Contracts and the case studies together. Contract cases are built on TREC-promulgated contracts, so practice reading a filled-in form and answering several items about it.
4. Licensing and the Commission. Small sections, but point math and the education rules are easy items to win.
5. Special Topics last on the State side. Six items across many subjects.
6. National: weight contracts and agency, then practice, valuation and real property. Drill multi-step math, because broker math leans toward analysis.

Test-day and retake rules

• Pretest items are not identified and look like scored items, so answer every item.
• Certain hand-held calculators are allowed; no other electronic devices are permitted. Memorize 43,560 square feet per acre and 5,280 feet per mile, which are not provided. A proration question will tell you whether to use 360 or 365 days and/or whether the day of closing belongs to the buyer or seller.
• If you fail, you retake only the failed portion, within one year from the date your application was filed, and you must wait twenty-four (24) hours before scheduling.
• You have three attempts to pass both portions before the application expires. After three failures, you need 30 more hours of qualifying education if you failed one part, or 60 hours if you failed both.
• Each passed portion is valid for one year from the date you pass it.

Traps that cost broker candidates points

• Applying the sales agent pass mark (70%) to the broker exam (75%).
• Using the old 360-point experience rule instead of 720 points.
• Confusing the two-calendar-day response deadline with the three-calendar-day deadline for delivering TREC mail.
• Letting an agent advise a party in an intermediary transaction without an appointment.
• Choosing "subagent" or "dual agent", which are not current Texas relationships.

Work through the Texas broker lessons, starting with broker supervision, and read how the case studies work.

Independent exam-prep guide. Not affiliated with the Texas Real Estate Commission or Pearson VUE. Always confirm current requirements with TREC.