South Carolina Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

To sit for the South Carolina salesperson examination, an applicant must first complete:

• a.The 60-hour Unit I pre-license course✓
• b.A 30-hour ethics course
• c.A four-year college degree
• d.The 30-hour Unit II advanced course only

South Carolina requires completion of the 60-hour Unit I pre-license course before a candidate may take the salesperson licensing examination. The 30-hour Unit II (Advanced Real Estate Principles) course must also be completed before the license is issued; the two courses together total 90 hours of pre-license education. Licensees later complete continuing education to renew.

South Carolina's minimum ages for licensure are:

• a.18 for both an associate and a broker
• b.21 for both an associate and a broker
• c.21 for an associate and 21 for a broker-in-charge
• d.18 for an associate, 21 for a broker✓

An applicant must be at least eighteen for an associate license and at least twenty-one for a broker or broker-in-charge license. The same split applies on the property management side: eighteen for a property manager, twenty-one for a property manager-in-charge. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-310(1)-(2) and 40-57-510(A)(1)-(2).

The classroom hours that qualify a South Carolina associate applicant must have been completed:

• a.within five years before the application✓
• b.within two years before the application
• c.within ten years before the license application
• d.at any time, with no expiration

The sixty hours of fundamentals and thirty hours of advanced principles must be completed within five years before the application for licensure. A candidate whose qualifying courses are older than that has to take them again. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-320(A)(1)(a).

A South Carolina associate applicant who has finished the sixty-hour fundamentals course but not the thirty-hour advanced course may:

• a.not register for the examination until the advanced course is finished
• b.be licensed at once and take the advanced course during the first renewal cycle
• c.sit for the license examination before completing the advanced hours✓
• d.apply for a temporary permit to practice under a broker-in-charge

The statute lets an applicant take the license examination before completing the required thirty hours of advanced instruction, but both courses must be finished before the license itself is issued. South Carolina has no temporary or provisional practice permit. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-320(A)(1)(a).

After passing both the state and national portions of the South Carolina examination, a candidate who does not apply for a license within one year must:

• a.pay only a late application fee
• b.repeat the thirty-hour advanced course
• c.request a waiver from the Commission
• d.reapply and retake all portions of the examination✓

An applicant who passes both portions has one year to apply for the license; miss it and the applicant must reapply and retake every portion of the examination. A separate rule gives an applicant a twelve-month eligibility window to finish all portions once he applies to test. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-320(B)(3)-(4).

An applicant who holds an active real estate license in another state when applying in South Carolina:

• a.must pass the state portion of the examination but not the national portion✓
• b.is licensed by reciprocity without any examination
• c.must pass both portions like any other applicant
• d.is exempt from South Carolina's education requirements as well as the examination

An applicant holding an active license in another jurisdiction, or one that expired no more than six months before application, only has to pass the state portion. That concession does not excuse the education requirements of the chapter. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-320(B)(6).

South Carolina's continuing education requirement for an active associate is:

• a.eight hours every year, all electives
• b.ten hours biennially, including at least four hours of mandated topics✓
• c.twenty hours biennially, including eight hours of mandated topics
• d.no continuing education until the fifth renewal

Licenses renew biennially, and an active broker or associate must show ten hours of continuing education each cycle, of which at least four must be in mandated topics. A broker-in-charge owes four more hours in advanced broker-in-charge topics. Up to four elective hours may be carried forward. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-340(A)(1)-(2) and (C).

A South Carolina license that lapses is canceled if it is not reinstated by:

• a.the last day of the twenty-fourth month after expiration✓
• b.the end of the biennial renewal cycle in which it expired
• c.the last day of the sixth month after expiration
• d.the licensee's sixty-fifth birthday

A license not renewed by its expiration date lapses, and practising on it may be punished as unlicensed practice. If it is still not reinstated by the last day of the twenty-fourth month after expiration it is canceled, and the person must reapply and meet the requirements in force at that time. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-110(D)-(E).

A person in South Carolina who, for a fee, negotiates rentals of other people's residential property but never lists property for sale must hold:

• a.a broker-in-charge license issued by the Commission
• b.no license at all
• c.a property manager license✓
• d.an auctioneer license

South Carolina licenses property managers separately from associates and brokers. A property manager negotiates or lists rentals and leases; the license does not authorize brokerage of sales. An active property manager must work under a property manager-in-charge or a broker-in-charge. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-30(29) and 40-57-510(E).

South Carolina's pre-license education requirement for a property manager license is:

• a.sixty hours of property management instruction
• b.thirty hours of property management principles and practices✓
• c.the same ninety hours of instruction required for an associate license
• d.no classroom instruction, only the examination

A property manager applicant completes thirty hours of classroom instruction in property management principles and practices, or qualifies through a listed degree. A property manager-in-charge needs an active property manager license plus seven approved hours in property management accounting and record-keeping. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-510(C).

Under South Carolina law, an active broker or associate must submit to a fingerprint-based criminal records check:

• a.before every renewal
• b.only once, at initial application
• c.at initial application and upon every third renewal✓
• d.once every ten years for as long as the license stays active

Initial applicants submit to a SLED fingerprint-based check, an FBI national check, and a social-security-number-based check. Renewing brokers and associates repeat the background check on every third renewal; missing it means the license renews but goes immediately inactive. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-115 and 40-57-340(A)(1) and (D).

Before a South Carolina associate may be issued a license, the applicant must show:

• a.five years of work history in any field
• b.residency in South Carolina for one year
• c.membership in a real estate trade association
• d.graduation from high school or an equivalency certificate✓

Eligibility requires high school graduation or a certificate of equivalency recognized by the State Department of Education, a physical address for investigative contact, proof of the required education, a criminal background check, and passing both portions of the examination. There is no residency or trade-association requirement. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-310.