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Pennsylvania Real Estate Broker Licensing Examination — Practice Test

What This Practice Exam Covers

The Pennsylvania Real Estate Broker Licensing Examination is a 40-question, 60-minute test with a passing score of 75% — meaning you need at least 30 correct answers. The exam covers six topic areas drawn from Pennsylvania's real estate licensing law, the Commission's regulations, and related statutes.

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 want to get comfortable with the question format and the level of specificity Pennsylvania expects. It costs nothing and requires no account.

Full practice exam (paid): 40 questions with a 60-minute timer — the same structure as the real exam. Questions are pulled from a pool of 71+ items, so each attempt produces a different set. You won't see the same 40-question combination twice. Every question maps to the official topic and subtopic breakdown provided by the test developer.

What You'll Be Tested On

The exam distributes its 40 questions unevenly across six topics. Knowing where the weight falls tells you where to spend your study time.

Real Estate Commission — 4 items

These questions test your knowledge of how the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission operates. Expect questions on the Commission's duties and powers — what it can and cannot do by statute. You also need to know the complaints, investigations, hearings, and appeals process: who files complaints, how investigations are initiated, what procedural rights a licensee has at a hearing, and how to appeal a Commission decision. Finally, this area covers the Real Estate Recovery Fund — its purpose, who may make a claim, the maximum payable per transaction and per licensee, and the effect of a Recovery Fund payment on the licensee's license.

Licensure — 6 items

This topic is dense with specific rules. Questions test activities requiring a license, meaning you must distinguish compensated activity that triggers the licensing requirement from activity that does not. The types of licenses subtopic is broker-specific here — understand the different broker license categories Pennsylvania issues. Eligibility questions test experience requirements, education hours, and application conditions that apply to broker candidates specifically. License renewal and reactivation questions focus on renewal periods, continuing education requirements, and the specific steps to bring an inactive or lapsed license back into active status. Change of employment covers what a broker and salesperson must do procedurally when affiliation changes. Exemptions from licensure tests specific statutory categories — attorneys, trustees, court-appointed officers — that are carved out of the licensing requirement.

Agency and Disclosure — 10 items

This is one of the two heaviest sections on the exam, tied at 10 items each. Duties of licensees questions require you to know the specific obligations owed to clients versus customers and how those duties differ. Agency disclosures questions test when the Consumer Notice must be provided, what it must contain, and the consequences of failing to provide it. Agency relationships questions address single agency, dual agency, and designated agency — how each is created, disclosed, and consented to. Compensation questions test who may pay a broker, when a fee is earned, and whether compensation alone creates or implies an agency relationship.

Regulations Governing the Activities of Licensees — 10 items

The second 10-item section. Advertising questions cover what a broker's advertisement must include, what constitutes a misleading ad, and internet advertising requirements. Broker/salesperson relations questions test the supervision obligations a broker owes to affiliated licensees and what conduct a broker must prevent or correct. Prohibited conduct is often where candidates struggle — Pennsylvania's list of prohibited acts under RELRA is long and specific. Know the precise definitions: commingling, conversion, misrepresentation, and the various acts that constitute improper dealing.

Miscellaneous — 5 items

This section spans five distinct subtopics, each of which can appear on the exam. Property disclosures questions test the Seller's Disclosure Law — what must be disclosed, the timeline, and buyer remedies. Documents, contracts, and forms questions cover required content and handling of agreements of sale and related documents. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act subtopic tests protected classes, prohibited acts in housing transactions, and enforcement. Time-shares, planned communities, and condominiums tests the disclosure and registration requirements specific to those property types. Rentals, leasing, and property management covers the broker's obligations when managing property on behalf of an owner.

Brokerage Management — 5 items

These questions apply exclusively to broker candidates. Office requirements and inspections tests what constitutes a proper place of business, signage requirements, branch office rules, and what Commission inspectors may examine. Funds and accounts questions are highly specific — escrow account requirements, deposit timing, permissible and impermissible uses of escrow funds, and record-keeping obligations.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1 — Licensure

After a Pennsylvania real estate license has been revoked, what is the earliest an individual may petition the Commission for relicensure, and what must the individual do if relicensure is permitted?
- A. The individual may petition immediately after revocation; if permitted, only the examination must be retaken
- B. The individual may petition after 3 years; if permitted, relicensure is automatic without further requirements
- C. The individual may petition after 5 years; if permitted, the individual must comply with current licensure requirements before the license is issued
- D. The individual may petition after 7 years; if permitted, a special remedial course must be completed

Correct Answer: C

The Commission will not authorize relicensure for at least five years from the date revocation takes effect. After that waiting period, the individual may petition — but relicensure is not automatic. The individual must still satisfy current licensure requirements before the license is actually issued. Distractors B and D use invented time frames. Distractor A is wrong because the waiting period is mandatory, not waivable.
Source: 49 Pa. Code §35.251; RELRA §501(c)

Question 2 — Brokerage Management

Under what circumstance may a broker deposit personal or business funds into an escrow account?
- A. When escrow funds are insufficient to cover a closing
- B. To cover service charges assessed by the bank or to maintain a minimum balance required by the bank
- C. To temporarily hold personal funds overnight before transferring them
- D. When instructed by one of the parties to the transaction

Correct Answer: B

Commingling — mixing personal or business funds with client escrow funds — is prohibited. The regulation carves out one narrow exception: a broker may deposit personal or business funds into the escrow account specifically to cover bank service charges or to satisfy a minimum balance requirement the bank imposes. No other reason justifies the deposit. Options A, C, and D describe situations the regulation does not permit.
Source: Pa Chapter 35, §35.326(b)

Question 3 — Real Estate Commission

As a broker, your license has just been suspended by the Commission. In addition to returning your license, what else must you do regarding your offices?
- A. Close all offices immediately and terminate all salesperson affiliations
- B. Post a Commission-provided notice of suspension prominently at the main office and all branch offices
- C. Remove all signage from all office locations within 48 hours
- D. Notify all current clients by certified mail within 10 days

Correct Answer: B

A suspended broker must return the license and post a notice of the Commission's action prominently at or near the public entrance of both the main office and every branch office. Failure to post constitutes a separate basis for disciplinary action. Options A, C, and D describe obligations that do not appear in the regulation.
Source: Pa Chapter 35, §35.291

How to Read Your Score

The passing threshold is 75%, which means 30 out of 40 correct on the real exam. On your practice exam, treat your first score as diagnostic information — not a verdict.

A score in the 50s or 60s on your first attempt is common, particularly if you haven't reviewed the actual statutory and regulatory language yet. What matters more than the raw number is the topic breakdown. If you score 40% on Agency and Disclosure — the 10-item section — that gap costs you far more than a weak result on a 4-item section like Real Estate Commission.

A score close to 75% on practice does not mean you are ready. It means you are approaching the threshold on questions you've already been exposed to. Because the full practice exam draws from a pool of 71+ questions, retaking it will expose you to fresh items and reveal blind spots that your first attempt masked.

Use each attempt to identify one or two specific subtopics to review before the next attempt. Targeted study between attempts — not just repeated test-taking — is what moves scores past the passing line with margin to spare.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Confusing customer duties with client duties in the Agency and Disclosure section is one of the most consistent point-losers. Pennsylvania draws a clear legal line between the two, and exam questions exploit it.

Misreading the prohibited conduct list in Regulations Governing the Activities of Licensees catches candidates who know the general concept but miss the specific statutory language. The exam does not reward paraphrase — it rewards precision.

Escrow account rules in Brokerage Management trip up candidates who know that commingling is wrong but cannot identify the one permitted exception. The bank-service-charge rule is narrow and specific; anything broader is wrong.

Relicensure and renewal timing in the Licensure section produces errors when candidates confuse the five-year post-revocation petition window with continuing education renewal deadlines or reactivation procedures for inactive licenses.

The Recovery Fund's payment limits and automatic consequences in the Real Estate Commission section are frequently answered incorrectly because candidates memorize one number but not the full rule — particularly the mandatory suspension that follows a Fund payment on behalf of a licensee.

Finally, time pressure is real. Sixty minutes for 40 questions leaves 90 seconds per item. Candidates who slow down on multi-step Miscellaneous questions — especially those involving the Human Relations Act or condominium disclosure requirements — often rush through the Brokerage Management questions they actually know, introducing careless errors at the end.

Exam Quick Facts