Licensing Requirements

The South Dakota Real Estate Commission licenses real estate professionals in the state. SDCL 36-21A-13 makes it five members appointed by the Governor — three active brokers and two members of the public, who may not all be of one political party — and SDCL 36-21A-16 continues it within the Department of Labor and Regulation. The Commission has contracted with PSI Services LLC to deliver the examination; the bulletin lists sites in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Madison, plus Fargo, North Dakota, and you may test at any PSI center in the United States.

Yes. The Commission's license types table lists Broker Associate with no experience requirement, and there is no salesperson row: South Dakota issues no new salesperson licenses, which is why PSI's bulletin is titled the Real Estate Broker Associate Examination. The tier has not been abolished on paper — SDCL 36-21A-12 still defines a real estate salesperson and ARSD 20:69:03:14 still sets a salesperson renewal fee — but the only way in now is the broker associate license, and an existing salesperson upgrades to it under SDCL 36-21A-34.1 by taking 40 hours of prescribed education and filing a broker associate application.

None by way of experience. SDCL 36-21A-30.1 requires 116 class hours in a Commission-approved course of study, and ARSD 20:69:03:04 bars you from sitting the exam until that education is complete and you have registered. SDCL 36-21A-30 adds that you must be at least eighteen and either a United States citizen or a South Dakota resident. Experience matters only at the next tier: SDCL 36-21A-31 requires a responsible broker applicant to have served actively for two years as a licensed salesperson or broker associate and to complete 24 additional class hours beyond the broker associate level, which ARSD 20:69:04:04 makes a 24-hour responsible broker course carrying its own final examination.

The broker associate examination has a national portion of 90 items worth 100 points with 150 minutes allowed, and a South Dakota state portion of 52 items worth 52 points with 120 minutes allowed — 142 scored items and 270 minutes in total. ARSD 20:69:03:07 sets the passing score at 75, and each portion is passed separately, so a candidate who fails one retakes only that portion. The national portion includes scenario-based questions with more than four options where you pick the single BEST answer, and those options are weighted zero, one or two points; the South Dakota portion is scored one point per item.

Two things people miss. SDCL 36-21A-36.1 gives you sixty days from the date of the notice that you passed to file the license application with all required documents; miss it and your registration and all rights deriving from the passing score are canceled, so you would have to sit the exam again. SDCL 36-21A-151 also requires a state and federal criminal background investigation by fingerprint checks through the Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI, obtained before licensure and paid for by you. SDCL 36-21A-33 lists the eight grounds on which the Commission may refuse the application, including an insufficient funds check, a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, and a current unpaid judgment.