How hard is the New York Real Estate Broker exam?

The New York Department of State (DOS), Division of Licensing Services, licenses real estate brokers and salespersons under Real Property Law article 12-A and the rules at 19 NYCRR parts 175 to 179. New York writes and administers its licensing exam itself, at DOS exam sites scheduled through eAccessNY, rather than through PSI, Pearson VUE or any other outside vendor.

Real Property Law § 441(1)(b) requires either two years of active participation as a licensed real estate salesperson under a broker's supervision, or the equivalent experience in the general real estate business for at least three years. The experience is documented on the point schedule at 19 NYCRR § 179.3, where 3,500 points equal two years of full-time experience, a residential sale is worth 250 points and an exclusive listing 10. On top of that comes 152 hours of approved qualifying education — the 77-hour salesperson course plus the 75-hour broker course — and Real Property Law § 440-a sets the minimum age for a broker at 20.

DOS publishes four facts about the paper and no more: it is multiple choice, it is "based on the 152-hour pre-licensing curriculum", applicants "will be allowed 2 1/2 hours to complete the test", and "all exam results are reported as either passed or failed; you will not receive a numerical score". There is no published item count, no published passing percentage and no content outline anywhere on dos.ny.gov — so treat any source that quotes a New York broker question count or topic breakdown as quoting something the Department has never published. There is also no separate national portion; the single state-written exam covers the whole 152-hour curriculum.

It is fixed in regulation, not just in the syllabus PDFs. 19 NYCRR § 176.3 prints the 77-hour salesperson course as 19 subjects, led by Law of Agency (11 hours), Legal Issues (10), Commercial and Investment Properties (10) and Human Rights and Fair Housing (6). 19 NYCRR § 176.4 prints the 75-hour broker course as 11 chapters, led by Agency Law, License Law and Operating a Real Estate Office (26 hours) and Advanced Fair Housing and Fair Lending (13), and requires completion of both courses. Because DOS names the full 152 hours as the exam's basis, material built on the 75-hour broker course alone misses whole subjects — Commercial and Investment Properties, Condominiums and Cooperatives, Municipal Agencies and Property Insurance among them.

Focus your time on the heaviest content areas, then drill practice questions by topic until you consistently clear the standard you need. PrepPass has 492+ free New York Real Estate Broker practice questions with full explanations and a timed mock exam.