Montana Real Estate Broker Exam Study Guide (2026)

What the Montana portion actually is

The Montana broker examination is delivered by Pearson VUE, and the state content outline is printed on page 10 of Pearson VUE publication #092701.

	Scored items	Pretest items	Time
National/general (broker)	80	5	150 minutes
Montana state	40	5–10	90 minutes

The vendor's own sentence reads: "The state-specific examination is made up of forty (40) scored items for salesperson and broker candidates. The examinations also contain five to ten (5–10) pretest items. The pretest items are not identified and will not affect a candidate's score in any way."

The date almost everybody gets wrong

The Montana state outline is effective January 1, 2025. Not April.

You will see April 1, 2025 quoted for Montana constantly, and 04/2025 too. Both figures are in the document; neither is the Montana date. Publication #092701 bundles three outlines. The two national/general outlines — one for salespersons, one for brokers — are each headed "Effective: April 1, 2025." The Montana page is headed "Effective: January 1, 2025." And 04/2025 is the publication stamp in the footer, printed as "#092701 | 04/2025" — a printing date, not a legal effective date.

It is worth thirty seconds to check for yourself, because it tells you something about the guide you are holding. Any Montana study material that dates the state outline to April copied a heading off the wrong page — which means it did not read the Montana page, the only page that concerns you.

Read the broker column, not the salesperson column

The Montana outline is unusual in that every area heading prints both tracks at once: "SALESPERSONS: 3 ITEMS, BROKERS: 2 ITEMS," and so on. A candidate skimming picks up whichever number the eye lands on first, and a guide writer skimming does the same. Here is how to know which column is yours. Only the broker figures sum to 40 alongside Area V, which is marked BROKERS ONLY:

#	Area	Broker items	Share	Salesperson items
I	The Real Estate Licensing Agency's Powers	2	5%	3
II	Licensing	2	5%	3
III	Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees	26	65%	28
IV	Additional Topics	4	10%	6
V	Additional Broker Topics (BROKERS ONLY)	6	15%	—
	Total	40	100%	40

2 + 2 + 26 + 4 + 6 = 40 with Area V. 3 + 3 + 28 + 6 = 40 without it. Both columns are internally consistent; they are two different exams sharing one page. Read down the second number in every heading and pick up Area V, which the salesperson never sees.

What Area III's 65 percent means for how you study

Area III is 26 of 40 items — more than the other four areas combined, doubled. Answer everything in Areas I, II, IV and V correctly and everything in Area III incorrectly and you score 35 percent.

This chapter is built to that shape: Area III gets roughly 65 percent of the teaching text and thirteen of the twenty printed practice questions, while Areas I and II get about three hundred words each because they are worth two items each. That will feel thin if you have read other state guides, which typically open with several thousand words on the composition of the licensing board. Montana's board composition is not on the Montana outline.

The vendor's reference list, and one typo in it

Montana is better than most states here: publication #092701 page 11 prints an actual reference list, headed "Montana State Exam Resources." It names ARM Title 24 chapters 101, 209 and 210; MCA Title 2 chapter 15 part 17; MCA Title 37 chapters 51, 1 and 56; MCA chapters 70-24, 70-25 and 70-26; and the board's regulations page. Every entry was checked against mca.legmt.gov (MCA 2025) during the rebuild of this chapter and every one is current. Two defects in the printed list are worth knowing so they do not confuse you:

• "Title 24, Chapter 209 - Property Management Licensure***" carries a triple-asterisk footnote marker. There is no footnote — the marker appears nowhere else in the eleven-page document. The chapter is real and new: property-manager rules moved into ARM chapter 24.209 in late 2023.
• The last statute line is printed truncated as "Chapter 70-26 - Residential and Commercial." The chapter's actual title is Landlord and Tenant — Residential and Commercial; the vendor's line is cut off mid-title in the PDF.

And Area IV subtopic F is printed as "Statue of frauds." That is a typo in the vendor's document for Statute of frauds. We print the correction because a candidate who searches the PDF for "Statute" will find nothing under Area IV and may conclude the topic is not tested. It is tested; the vendor misspelled it.

One thing the outline does not publish is a pass mark, and neither it nor our record of it carries one. We will not invent a number a candidate can be failed by: check the current Montana candidate handbook, or the board, for the passing score in force on your test date.

Finally, the vendor's list names chapters, not sections. Every specific MCA section and ARM rule number in this chapter is ours, read out of the current code and rules. Do not attribute them to Pearson VUE.

One structural fact that shapes the broker outline

Montana licenses property managers separately, under Title 37, chapter 56 MCA; the old home of property-manager licensure, Title 37, chapter 51, part 6, was repealed by Sec. 17, Ch. 482, L. 2023. But the separate credential does not fence brokers out. 37-56-104(2) says: "A broker or salesperson licensed under Title 37, chapter 51, may act as a property manager. A salesperson may not act as a property manager without a supervising broker."

That is why the broker outline assumes property-management authority rather than excluding it, and why property management surfaces inside the licensee-conduct rules rather than as its own area. 37-51-313(9) provides that while managing properties for owners a licensee "is only required to meet the requirements of 37-56-105 through 37-56-107, other than those requirements for the licensing of property managers," plus the department's property-manager rules. 37-51-314(8) requires a licensee managing properties to disclose the contractual relationship to all customers and clients, and 37-51-314(9) adds that a licensee acting only as a property manager owes no other relationship disclosure. Managing brokers disclose the contract, not the agency.

Area I — The Real Estate Licensing Agency's Powers (2 items, 5%)

Two items. Three lettered subtopics: investigations, hearings and appeals; sanctions, split into disciplinary actions and penalties; and examination of records. Most of the machinery sits in Title 37, chapter 1 MCA, which governs every licensing board in the state, not in the real estate chapter.

A. Investigations, hearings and appeals. Anyone may file a written complaint with the department (37-1-308(1)), which may investigate for reasonable cause with a screening panel member's concurrence (37-1-308(2)(a)). If reasonable cause is found, department legal staff serve a notice (37-1-309(1)), and the licensee has 21 days after receipt to request a hearing in writing; failing to do so is a default and the board may decide on the facts available (37-1-309(2)). Hearings run under Title 2, chapter 4, and a person disciplined or denied a license may appeal to district court (37-1-313(1)). A member who sat on the screening panel may not sit on the hearing (37-1-307(2)).

B. Sanctions and penalties. On a finding of unprofessional conduct the board may combine any of the sanctions in 37-1-312(1): revocation; suspension; probation not to exceed 3 years; restriction of practice; remedial education; a fine not to exceed $5,000 for each violation, deposited in the general fund; censure; refund of costs and fees collected from a consumer. Trust-account failures carry their own, much smaller, civil penalty: $50 for each cited violation under 37-51-324(3), with 5 business days from issuance to pay or dispute (37-51-324(5)).

The trap. Those two money figures get swapped. $5,000 per violation is the board's disciplinary ceiling; $50 per cited violation is the trust-account citation. They come from different sections, follow different procedures, and one is not a scaled version of the other.

C. Examination of records. Trust account records must be maintained "to facilitate auditing" (ARM 24.210.427(8)); records and transaction documents are kept eight years (ARM 24.210.414); and a supervising broker's written office policy must "be available for inspection, upon request, by any authorized representative of the board" (ARM 24.210.605(1)(a)(ii)). Stonewalling is itself an offense: failing to respond to a board request is unprofessional conduct under ARM 24.210.641(1)(hh).

Area II — Licensing (2 items, 5%)

Two items, three subtopics: activities requiring a license; license renewal; change in license status or information.

A. Activities requiring a license. It is unlawful to act as, or advertise as, a broker or salesperson without a license (37-51-301(1)), and a single act within the statutory definitions is enough to constitute engaging in the business (37-51-301(4)(b)). Montana licenses individuals only: 37-51-301(3) bars licensing corporations, partnerships and associations, though such an entity may act as a licensee if every officer or partner performing licensee functions is licensed. Supervising salespersons takes an active Montana broker's license plus a supervising broker endorsement (37-51-301(2)). Exemptions in 37-51-103 cover owners and lessors dealing in their own property, attorneys at law, court-appointed appraisers, receivers, trustees, executors, public officials, hydrocarbon and hard-mineral dealings, and property managers licensed under 37-56-105.

B. Renewal, lapse, expiration, termination. Montana draws a line most states do not. A lapsed license may be reactivated within 45 days after the renewal date, and 37-1-141(6)(a) says a licensee who practices with a lapsed license "is not considered to be practicing without a license." Past 45 days it is expired, and 37-1-141(6)(b) is blunt: "A licensee who practices after a license has expired is considered to be practicing without a license." An expired license may be reactivated within 2 years (37-1-141(4)); one not renewed within 2 years of the most recent renewal date automatically terminates (37-1-141(8)). The board keeps disciplinary jurisdiction for 2 years after the lapse (37-1-141(9)). Continuing education is 12 hours every licensing year between November 1 and October 31 (ARM 24.210.667(1)), plus four hours a year of supervising broker education to keep that endorsement (ARM 24.210.604(3)).

C. Change in status or information. A broker who moves notifies the department before removal or within 10 days after it (37-51-308(3)). A salesperson changing supervising brokers notifies the department promptly in writing, the successor broker notifies the department of acceptance, and the salesperson "may not directly or indirectly work for or with a supervising broker until the salesperson has been issued a license to work for or with that supervising broker" (37-51-309(2)). Leaving without a successor puts the license on inactive status automatically and at no fee (37-51-309(3)). Termination by the supervising broker "is not effective under this subsection until the supervising broker has notified both the salesperson and the board" (37-51-309(4)).

Area III — Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees (26 items, 65%)

This is the exam. Twenty-six of forty items. Thirteen lettered subtopics: advertising and marketing; the broker/salesperson relationship; unprofessional conduct; compensation; disclosure, itself split into conflict of interest, property disclosure and agency disclosure; agency duties and responsibilities; handling of documents; handling of monies; listings and buyer brokerage agreements; and illegal inducements and ethics. The sources are 37-51-102, -103, -105, -306, -309, -313, -314, -321 and -401 MCA, together with ARM 24.210.428 and the board's long unprofessional-conduct rule, ARM 24.210.641.

A. Advertising and marketing

The listing must exist before the advertisement does. 37-51-321(2)(a): "It is unlawful for a broker or salesperson to openly advertise property belonging to others, whether by means of printed material, radio, television, or display or by other means, unless the broker or salesperson has a signed listing agreement from the owner of the property. The listing agreement must be valid as of the date of advertisement."

Two words do the work. Signed — an owner's verbal go-ahead is not a signed listing agreement, however sincere. And valid as of the date of advertisement — a listing that expired last Tuesday will not support an advertisement running this Tuesday, which makes expired-listing marketing an enforcement risk in Montana rather than a taste question.

What has to be in the advertisement, under ARM 24.210.428(1) — the advertising rule adopted effective 23 August 2025: a truthful, accurate and detailed description of the real property or service; the licensee's name; and a statement that the advertisement is made by the licensee or a brokerage company. In an internet advertisement, "a link to this information may be used."

The trap. Candidates reach for the license number or the board's telephone number, because several states require one or the other. Montana requires neither — a name and an admission that a licensee placed the ad. Nor does the rule require a street address: subsection (1)(a) asks for a description.

Franchise branding has its own clause. Under 37-51-321(1)(a), a broker operating under a franchise agreement "engages in misleading, untruthful, or inaccurate advertising if in using the franchise name, the broker does not incorporate the broker's own name or the trade name, if any, by which the office is known in the franchise name or logotype." The same subsection bars the board from adopting advertising standards more stringent than the ones in it — a limit on the regulator that is easy to miss.

Another firm's listings. Subsection (2)(b)(i) permits including cooperating brokers' listings in materials dispensed to prospective customers, and ARM 24.210.428(3) permits internet advertising of another firm's listings where both the listing agent and the owner have consented.

B. Broker/salesperson relationship

One supervising broker at a time. 37-51-309(1): "A salesperson may not be associated with, be under contract to, or perform services for more than one supervising broker, except on a temporary basis as provided in 37-51-302." And 37-51-309(5): "Only one license issued to a salesperson is in effect at one time."

The temporary exception is procedural, not a second job. Under ARM 24.210.607(2) — the salesperson-supervision rule effective 21 February 2026 — a supervising broker may temporarily transfer supervision by written notice naming the salesperson, the effective and termination dates, and the temporary broker's acceptance of responsibility. A copy goes to the board within three business days after the transfer begins, and a temporary transfer "may not exceed 60 days in any 12-month period unless extended by the board for good cause."

The trap. Two brokers agreeing in writing that a salesperson may work for both does not create a second association; nothing in 37-51-309 makes the brokers' consent the operative act. Geography is irrelevant too — a second brokerage in a different county is still a second brokerage.

The supervising broker validates the listing. ARM 24.210.607(3): "A listing agreement negotiated by a salesperson is not valid until it is reviewed, signed, and dated by the supervising broker." Notice what that makes the supervising broker's signature — not a formality but a condition of validity. When the board adopted the new rule, commenters asked it to extend the requirement to buyer broker agreements too; the board declined for now and carried subsection (3) forward verbatim.

And the salesperson's own deals sit outside the firm. 37-51-309(6) permits for-sale-by-owner personal transactions and relieves the supervising broker and firm of responsibility — but (6)(c) requires the salesperson, before entering one, to disclose in writing to the other party that it "does not involve the salesperson's supervising broker or real estate firm."

C. Unprofessional conduct

37-51-321(1) lists twenty-four practices, lettered (a) through (x), "in addition to the provisions of 37-1-316 and as provided in board rule." Three lists apply to a Montana licensee at once: the statute's twenty-four, the general list at 37-1-316, and the board's rule ARM 24.210.641, which runs past subsection (1)(pp).

The clauses that recur on examinations:

• (b) making false promises "of a character likely to influence, persuade, or induce";
• (d) use of the term "realtor" by a person not authorized, or use of another trade name or insignia of a real estate organization the licensee does not belong to;
• (e) failing to account for or to remit money belonging to others;
• (f) an undisclosed commission, rebate or profit on expenditures made for a principal;
• (g) acting as broker and undisclosed principal, "including failing to disclose in advertisements for real property the person's dual capacity as broker and principal";
• (h) guaranteeing future resale profits;
• (m) conducting lotteries to influence purchasers;
• (o) failing voluntarily to furnish a copy of a written instrument at the time of execution;
• (r) a salesperson failing to place deposit money in the supervising broker's custody;
• (u) and (v), on property management: failing to meet 37-56-105 through -107 while managing properties, and failing to disclose the contractual relationship to owners and tenants; and (w) failing to maintain continuous professional liability coverage.

The trap on "realtor." Candidates treat it as a trademark dispute outside the board's business. Montana's statute makes it a licensing offense, sanctionable under 37-1-312 in addition to any private remedy. Disclosure does not cure it either — the prohibition is on the use of the term by an unauthorized person, not on the impression it leaves.

Board rule adds the clauses candidates find hardest, because they name conduct that feels helpful:

• ARM 24.210.641(1)(h) — falsifying documents, placing a party's signature on one, or altering one on a party's behalf "without authority of a written power of attorney from the party";
• (1)(i) — advising that an offer or counteroffer has been accepted "without the licensee having in the licensee's possession a document signed by the party evidencing the party's acceptance";
• (1)(e) — recommending an attorney, title company, appraiser, escrow agent or maintenance service without disclosing any family or financial relationship or interest;
• (1)(l) — failing to document agreements in writing and obtain the parties' signatures, including any change to terms between execution of the buy-sell and closing;
• (1)(bb) — lotteries, raffles and contests to influence purchasers;
• (1)(ll) — acting as a dual agent in a transaction in which the licensee is a principal;
• (1)(pp) — submitting a competing offer as a principal against the licensee's own client;
• (1)(uu) — "failing as a supervising broker to adequately supervise his or her salespeople."