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California Real Estate Broker License Exam — Practice Test

What This Practice Exam Covers

The California Real Estate Broker License Examination is a 200-question test with a 240-minute time limit. To pass, you need a score of at least 75% — that's 150 correct answers out of 200.

This practice exam gives you two ways to prepare:

Free practice exam: 10 questions per attempt, drawn from a limited pool. You can retake it as many times as you like. It's the right place to start — get a feel for the question style, the level of detail required, and how California-specific the language gets before you commit to a full session.

Full practice exam (paid): 200 questions, 240-minute time limit — an exact structural mirror of the real exam. Questions are drawn from a pool of 62+ items, so every attempt generates a unique combination. No two attempts are identical, which means repeated full-length attempts continue to build genuine familiarity rather than answer memorization.

Both formats cover the same seven official topic areas tested by the California Department of Real Estate.

What You'll Be Tested On

The exam is divided into seven topic areas. The item counts below are the actual allocations on the real exam — use them to decide where to invest your study time.

Property Ownership and Land Use Controls and Regulations — 30 items
Expect questions on classes of property (real vs. personal, fixtures), property characteristics (bundle of rights, air rights, water rights), and types of encumbrances including liens, easements, and deed restrictions. You'll need to distinguish types of ownership — joint tenancy, tenancy in common, community property — and understand how each affects transfer at death. Legal descriptions (metes and bounds, lot and block, government survey) appear regularly. Government rights in land — eminent domain, police power, taxation, and escheat — round out this section. These are foundational concepts, but the exam tests them at a level of precision that rewards careful reading over general familiarity.

Laws of Agency and Fiduciary Duties — 34 items
This is the second-heaviest section. Questions cover the definition and nature of agency relationships, the distinction between universal, general, and special agents, and how agency is created — including express vs. implied agency and ratification. You must know the fiduciary duties owed to a principal: care, obedience, loyalty, disclosure, accounting, and confidentiality. Disclosure of agency — who must be told what, and when — is tested directly, as is disclosure when an agent is acting as a principal or has a personal interest. Termination of agency, including what events end the relationship by operation of law, also appears.

Property Valuation and Financial Analysis — 28 items
Three approaches to value — sales comparison, cost, and income — each require working knowledge, not just name recognition. For the cost approach, know depreciation types (physical, functional, economic). For the income approach, know how to calculate net operating income, capitalization rate, and gross rent multipliers. Financial analysis questions may require calculating loan-to-value ratios, debt coverage ratios, or investment returns. The definition of value itself — market value vs. market price, the conditions required for a valid market value estimate — is also tested.

Financing — 18 items
Questions cover loan types (conventional, FHA, VA, adjustable-rate), sources of financing (primary vs. secondary market, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac), and the mechanics of deeds of trust versus mortgages. You'll need to distinguish promissory note terms, understand due-on-sale clauses, prepayment penalties, and subordination. Government programs (Cal-Vet, FHA, VA) have unique qualifying criteria that appear as direct questions. Financing/credit laws — RESPA, TILA, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act — require knowing what disclosures are required and when.

Transfer of Property — 16 items
Deed requirements (granting clause, legal description, delivery and acceptance), deed types (grant, quitclaim, warranty), and the elements of valid title transfer are all tested here. Title insurance — the difference between CLTA and ALTA policies, what each covers — appears consistently. Escrow mechanics, including who can act as escrow, what escrow instructions control, and when escrow closes, are practical areas where candidates often underestimate the detail required. Tax aspects of transfer (documentary transfer tax, Proposition 13 reassessment triggers) and court-supervised transfers (probate sales, foreclosure procedures) complete the section.

Practice of Real Estate and Disclosures — 50 items
This is the single heaviest topic area — one quarter of the entire exam. Trust account management questions test when funds must be deposited, what records must be maintained, and what constitutes commingling or conversion. Fair housing laws require knowing both federal (Title VIII) and California (Unruh Act, FEHA) protected classes and the specific prohibitions that apply. Truth in advertising rules, record-keeping requirements (what must be kept and for how long), agency supervision responsibilities of brokers, and the permitted activities of unlicensed sales assistants all generate exam questions. This section rewards candidates who know the rules in operational detail, not just in concept.

Contracts — 24 items
General contract law (offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, legality), listing agreement types (exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, open), buyer-broker agreements, and the elements of a valid purchase contract are all tested. Questions on offers and counteroffers test the mechanics of contract formation. Promissory notes and when real estate instruments constitute securities under California law round out the section.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1
The commissioner discovers through investigation that an unlicensed person is engaged in activities requiring a real estate license. What is the maximum administrative fine that may be assessed per citation?

• A. $1,000
• B. $2,500
• C. $5,000
• D. $10,000

Correct Answer: B — $2,500

Per California Business and Professions Code Section 10080.9(a), the commissioner may issue a citation and assess an administrative fine not to exceed $2,500. Fines collected are deposited into the Recovery Account of the Real Estate Fund. The commissioner must consider the gravity of the violation, the good faith of the person cited, and any history of previous violations. Candidates frequently guess $5,000 or $10,000 here because those figures appear elsewhere in the code — knowing the specific ceiling for unlicensed activity citations is the only way to answer correctly.

Question 2
A person with an interest in a real estate transaction is prohibited from asking an appraiser to consider additional, appropriate property information. True or False?

Correct Answer: FALSE

Under California Commissioner's Regulation Section 2785(b)(1), a person with an interest in a real estate transaction is explicitly not prohibited from asking an appraiser to consider additional, appropriate property information. Also permissible: asking for further detail or explanation, requesting substantiation, or asking the appraiser to correct errors in the report. The question is designed to test whether candidates know what communications with appraisers are permissible — not just what is prohibited.

Question 3
A violation of the advance fee prohibition for soliciting lenders on behalf of borrowers by a corporation is punishable by a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars. True or False?

Correct Answer: FALSE

Under California Business and Professions Code Section 10085.5(c), when a corporation commits a violation of the advance fee provision, the fine ceiling is $50,000, not $25,000. The exam regularly presents a plausible-but-wrong dollar figure and asks you to confirm or reject it. If you haven't studied the corporate fine amount specifically, this is an easy point to lose.

How to Read Your Score

The passing threshold is 75% — 150 out of 200 questions. On a practice exam, treat your first score as diagnostic information, not a verdict on your readiness.

A score below 60% tells you that foundational knowledge gaps exist across multiple topic areas. A score in the 60–74% range means you understand the material but are losing points to precision — wrong code sections, off-by-one dollar figures, or misreading question stems. Scoring at 74% on practice is not close enough; the real exam has no margin for a bad day.

Use the topic-by-topic breakdown after each full practice attempt. If you're dropping points in Practice of Real Estate and Disclosures (50 items) or Laws of Agency and Fiduciary Duties (34 items), that's where you focus first — those two sections alone represent 84 of 200 questions. A 10% improvement in either one moves your overall score meaningfully.

Repeat full-length practice attempts until you're consistently scoring 80% or above. The pool of 62+ questions means each attempt surfaces new items.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Precise dollar figures and thresholds. The exam tests specific statutory amounts — fine ceilings, fee limits, dollar triggers for disclosure requirements. A question may present a number that's close but wrong, as in the corporate advance fee example above. Approximate knowledge doesn't protect you here.

Agency disclosure timing. Under Laws of Agency and Fiduciary Duties, questions about when disclosure must occur — before, during, or at the time of signing — trip up candidates who understand the disclosure requirement but haven't memorized the trigger point.

Income approach calculations. In Property Valuation and Financial Analysis, multi-step problems require you to correctly sequence the calculation: gross income → vacancy → effective gross income → operating expenses → net operating income → value. Skipping or mis-ordering one step produces a wrong answer that's not among the choices.

Unlicensed assistant rules. In Practice of Real Estate and Disclosures, the permitted activities of unlicensed sales assistants are specific and frequently tested. Candidates who rely on general logic ("this seems administrative") rather than the actual rule list lose these points reliably.

Running out of time. At 240 minutes for 200 questions, you have 72 seconds per question. The Practice of Real Estate and Disclosures section (50 items) and Laws of Agency (34 items) are reading-intensive. Candidates who don't practice under timed conditions frequently find themselves rushing the final 30 questions.

Exam Quick Facts

Start with the free 10-question exam to calibrate where you stand, then use the full 200-question exam for serious timed preparation.