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National Real Estate Broker Supplemental Exam — Practice Test & Study Guide

What This Practice Exam Covers

The National Real Estate Broker Supplemental Exam is 80 questions completed in 150 minutes, with a passing score of 75% (60 correct answers). It covers 11 topic areas weighted by item count, from Contracts (the heaviest at 15 items) down to Property Management (2 items).

This site offers two ways to practice:

• Free practice exam: 10 questions per attempt, drawn from a limited pool. You can retake it as many times as you want to get comfortable with the question format and pacing — no purchase required.
• Full practice exam (paid): Mirrors the real exam exactly — 80 questions, 150-minute timer, and drawn from a pool of 518+ questions so every attempt generates a unique exam. No two attempts will look the same, which means repeated practice sessions continue to build knowledge rather than test memorization of repeated questions.

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

What You'll Be Tested On

Contracts — 15 items
The single heaviest topic. You must understand what makes a contract valid (offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, legality), how the Statute of Frauds applies to real estate agreements, and the difference between void, voidable, and unenforceable contracts. Questions regularly test bilateral vs. unilateral contracts and option contracts. Know every type of breach remedy — specific performance, liquidated damages, rescission — and be ready to choose the correct one given a scenario. Purchase agreement contingencies (financing, inspection, appraisal) and the effect of addenda vs. amendments are also tested.

Agency — 10 items
Expect scenario-based questions about fiduciary duties using the OLD CAR framework (Obedience, Loyalty, Disclosure, Confidentiality, Accounting, Reasonable Care). Know the differences among listing contract types: exclusive right-to-sell, exclusive agency, open listing, and net listing. Buyer representation agreements and transaction broker/facilitator roles are tested here, as is power of attorney — who can grant it, when it terminates, and what a durable power of attorney does differently.

Practice of Real Estate — 10 items
Federal Fair Housing Act questions require you to know all seven protected classes, which transactions qualify for exemptions (such as the owner-occupied exemption for small buildings), and what conduct is prohibited, including steering and redlining. Antitrust violations — price fixing, group boycotts, market allocation, and tie-in agreements — are tested by scenario. Advertising rules, including social media posts that omit brokerage names, appear frequently. Know Do-Not-Call Registry requirements and the trust fund handling rules.

Property Ownership — 8 items
Real vs. personal property questions often hinge on fixtures. Legal description questions use metes and bounds, lot and block, and the government survey system — know the hierarchy of townships, ranges, and sections. Encumbrances include liens (voluntary vs. involuntary), easements (appurtenant vs. in gross), and encroachments. Types of ownership — joint tenancy, tenants in common, life estate, community property, and common-interest ownership — are tested by distinguishing characteristics like right of survivorship.

Financing — 8 items
Calculation-heavy and terminology-heavy. Know LTV ratios, how points work, PMI triggers, and PITI components. Understand the difference between a mortgage and a deed of trust, and what acceleration, alienation, and due-on-sale clauses do. Loan types are tested by eligibility criteria: FHA (credit flexibility, MIP), VA (entitlement, no down payment), USDA (rural eligibility), conventional, ARMs, reverse mortgages, and bridge loans. Lending legislation — RESPA, Truth in Lending (Reg Z), TRID, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act — generates scenario questions about required disclosures and timelines.

Valuation and Market Analysis — 6 items
Know when a licensed or certified appraiser is legally required versus when a CMA or BPO is appropriate. The three approaches to value are all tested: sales comparison (adjustments to comparables), cost approach (replacement cost minus depreciation plus land value), and income approach (GRM and cap rate calculations). Economic principles — substitution, contribution, conformity, highest and best use — appear in scenario form.

Real Estate Calculations — 6 items
Pure math. Expect seller net proceeds, buyer closing costs, prorations (taxes, rent, HOA dues calculated to the day of closing), transfer taxes, and commission splits. PITI calculations require working from loan amount, rate, and term. Errors here are usually unit mistakes or missed steps in multi-step problems.

Property Disclosures — 6 items
Seller disclosure requirements, material defects, and the duty to disclose known conditions. Environmental disclosures are specifically tested: lead-based paint (required for pre-1978 homes), asbestos, radon, mold, and underground storage tanks. Government disclosure triggers — flood zones, wetlands, endangered species habitat — are their own subtopic.

Transfer of Title — 5 items
Know each deed type by the warranties it provides: general warranty (broadest protection), special warranty (limited to grantor's period of ownership), quitclaim (no warranties), and bargain and sale. Title insurance questions distinguish owner's vs. lender's policies. Foreclosure, short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure, and probate sales each have distinct procedural characteristics that appear in scenario questions.

Land Use Controls — 4 items
Government rights — taxation, special assessments, eminent domain (just compensation), and escheat — are tested alongside private controls like deed conditions, CC&Rs, and HOA bylaws. Know how zoning variances, nonconforming uses, and conditional use permits work, and the basics of environmental regulations that restrict land development.

Property Management — 2 items
Limited weight but tested on Fair Housing compliance in tenant screening and ADA requirements in commercial and multi-unit properties. Know landlord obligations regarding habitability and the basics of establishing market rents.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1 — Contracts

When a court orders "specific performance" as a remedy for breach of a real estate contract, what is the court requiring?

• A. The breaching party to pay punitive damages equal to triple the contract price
• B. The breaching party to fulfill their obligations under the contract as originally agreed
• C. Both parties to renegotiate new contract terms under court supervision
• D. The non-breaching party to accept monetary compensation instead of the property

Correct Answer: B

Specific performance is an equitable remedy — meaning it is ordered by a court of equity rather than a court of law — that compels the breaching party to do exactly what the contract required. It is available in real estate precisely because land is considered legally unique; no substitute parcel perfectly replaces the one bargained for, which makes money damages potentially inadequate. Punitive damages, forced renegotiation, and mandatory acceptance of cash are all different remedies and do not describe specific performance.

Question 2 — Agency

A general power of attorney granted by a property owner to a broker is automatically terminated by which of the following events?

• A. The broker relocating to a different office within the same state
• B. The death or legal incapacity of the principal who granted it
• C. The listing of the property on the MLS
• D. A change in market value of the property

Correct Answer: B

A power of attorney — the document that authorizes an agent to act on behalf of the principal — terminates by operation of law the moment the principal dies or is declared legally incapacitated. The agent's authority ends immediately, regardless of any pending transactions. A durable power of attorney is drafted specifically to survive incapacity, but even that terminates upon the principal's death. None of the other options — office relocation, MLS entry, or value changes — have any legal effect on a power of attorney.

Question 3 — Practice of Real Estate

A real estate agent posts a virtual tour of a listing on their personal social media page, including the address, price, and photos, but omits the name of their supervising brokerage. Which statement is correct?

• A. This is acceptable because personal social media pages are not considered advertising
• B. This is acceptable as long as the agent's license number is displayed
• C. This violates advertising regulations because all real estate advertising must include the name of the licensed brokerage under which the agent operates
• D. This is only a violation if the post is a paid advertisement

Correct Answer: C

Advertising rules require brokerage identification on all real estate advertising — the personal vs. business nature of the social media account does not create an exemption, and the paid vs. organic distinction is irrelevant. A post that promotes a specific listing for sale is advertising. A license number alone does not satisfy the brokerage-name requirement. This is a consistent area of enforcement and a frequent question on the exam.

How to Read Your Score

The passing threshold is 75%, meaning you need 60 out of 80 questions correct on the real exam.

On a first practice attempt, treat your score as a diagnostic, not a verdict. Most candidates score below passing on their first full attempt — this is expected, because the exam covers 11 distinct topic areas and many candidates have uneven preparation across them. A score of 60–70% tells you which topics need focused work; a score above 80% suggests your foundational knowledge is solid but you should still review the specific questions you missed.

Use the topic-by-topic breakdown after each practice attempt. If you scored well on Property Management (2 items) but poorly on Contracts (15 items), your study time is not equally valuable across both. Prioritize the heavy topics — Contracts, Agency, Practice of Real Estate, and Financing together account for 43 of the 80 exam items.

Scoring 75–77% on practice consistently does not mean you are ready. The real exam will present phrasing and scenarios you have not seen before. Aim for 82%+ on practice before you schedule.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Contracts scenario misreads. With 15 items, this is where exams are won or lost. Candidates frequently choose the right remedy for the wrong scenario — confusing liquidated damages with specific performance, or misidentifying whether a contract is void vs. voidable.

Calculation unit errors. In Real Estate Calculations, proration questions require knowing whether to use a 360-day or 365-day year, and which party owns the day of closing. A single wrong assumption cascades through the entire calculation. Commission splits involving multiple parties — listing broker, selling broker, individual agents — require tracking each step.

Agency fiduciary duty confusion. Candidates mix up which duty applies in a given scenario, particularly Disclosure (material facts) vs. Confidentiality (client information). These are regularly tested together in opposing-fact scenarios designed to trigger that confusion.

Financing legislation timelines. TRID, RESPA, and Reg Z each impose specific delivery windows for disclosures. Mixing up the Loan Estimate timeline with the Closing Disclosure timeline is a common error.

Fair Housing exemptions overstated. Candidates assume the private club or owner-occupied exemptions apply more broadly than they do. The Federal Fair Housing Act exemptions are narrow — the exam tests the limits, not just the existence, of those exemptions.

Running out of time. At 150 minutes for 80 questions, you have under 2 minutes per question. Calculation questions and long agency scenarios can run over 3 minutes easily, leaving insufficient time for later questions.

Exam Quick Facts