- What "Passing" Actually Means on the TXREB
- The National Portion: 60 Out of 80
- The Texas Law Portion: 38 Out of 50
- Why the 10 Case-Study Items Matter So Much
- Domain Weighting and Where Points Hide
- Scoring Mechanics: Unscored Items and Timing
- What Happens If You Miss the Score
- A Practical Plan for Hitting Both Targets
- Registration, Fee, and Eligibility Snapshot
- Frequently Asked Questions
- You must score 60 of 80 scored national items and 38 of 50 scored Texas-law items - separately.
- The state portion includes 10 case-study items tied to narratives and TREC-promulgated contracts.
- The exam totals 145 items (85 unscored included) with 150 minutes national and 90 minutes state.
- Fail one portion and you only retake that portion, but three failed attempts trigger extra qualifying education.
What "Passing" Actually Means on the TXREB
The Texas Real Estate Broker Exam is not a single pass/fail number the way many licensing exams are. Because the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) splits the combined broker exam into a national section and a Texas-law section, delivered back-to-back through Pearson VUE, candidates actually need to clear two separate thresholds in one sitting. Missing either one means that portion - and only that portion - needs to be retaken.
That distinction changes how you should study. It's not enough to be "generally strong" across real estate concepts; you need to independently be strong enough on national principles and on Texas-specific law, contracts, and licensing rules. If you haven't yet mapped out what's tested where, the TXREB Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 15 Content Areas breaks down all 15 content areas that feed into these two scores.
The National Portion: 60 Out of 80
The national section of the combined broker exam delivers 85 total items, but only 80 count toward your score - the remaining 5 are unscored items used for future exam development. You won't know which 5 those are, so every question deserves full attention. You get 150 minutes to work through this portion.
To pass, you need 60 correct answers out of the 80 scored items. Worked out as a percentage, that's 75% of the scored national content. This portion draws from broad real estate fundamentals rather than Texas-specific statute, covering areas like:
- Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use
- Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title
- Property Value and Appraisal
- Real Estate Contracts and Agency
- Real Estate Practice
- Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues
- Financing and Settlement
- Real Estate Math Calculations
The current national outline took effect March 1, 2025, so make sure any prep material you're using - including practice questions on TXREB Exam Prep's practice test platform - reflects that version rather than an older outline.
Real Estate Math Calculations
This national domain trips up more broker candidates than any other because it demands speed as well as accuracy under a fixed 150-minute clock.
- Prorations, commission splits, and loan-to-value calculations should be automatic, not derived from scratch each time.
- Practice math items last, after you've built confidence elsewhere, so timing pressure doesn't compound with unfamiliarity.
The Texas Law Portion: 38 Out of 50
The state-specific portion delivers 60 total items, with 50 scored and 10 unscored, in a tighter 90-minute window. To pass, you need 38 correct out of the 50 scored items - approximately 76%, a slightly higher bar than the national side. This portion is where Texas broker-specific knowledge gets tested directly, drawing from seven domains:
- Commission Duties & Powers
- Licensing
- Standards of Conduct
- Agency & Brokerage
- Contracts
- Special Topics
- Case Studies
The Texas-law outline has been effective since April 15, 2020, so it's had time to stabilize - but that also means older exam-prep content circulating online may reference superseded contract forms or outdated commission rules. Cross-check any study source against current TREC-promulgated forms before you memorize anything.
Key Takeaway
Because the state portion requires a slightly higher percentage correct (76% vs. 75%) in less than half the time of the national portion (90 vs. 150 minutes), pacing on Texas-law questions matters as much as content knowledge.
Why the 10 Case-Study Items Matter So Much
Ten of the fifty scored Texas-law items are case-study questions built around narrative scenarios and actual TREC-promulgated contracts. These aren't simple recall questions - they ask you to apply Agency & Brokerage rules, Contracts knowledge, and Standards of Conduct to a described transaction, often requiring you to read a paragraph or two of fact pattern before the question even appears.
Because Agency & Brokerage and Case Studies are the two largest Texas domains, each weighted at 20% of the state portion, together they represent close to 40% of your scored state items. Missing this cluster disproportionately jeopardizes your 38-correct target. If you want a deeper walkthrough of how these narrative-based items are constructed and scored, the How Hard Is the TXREB Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 article covers this in detail.
Domain Weighting and Where Points Hide
Not every domain carries equal weight, and knowing where the heaviest concentrations sit lets you allocate study hours proportionally instead of evenly. On the Texas-law side, Agency & Brokerage and Case Studies are explicitly the largest domains at 20% each - a combined 40% of that portion's scored content sits in just two domains.
| Portion | Scored Items | Unscored Items | Time Allowed | Passing Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | 80 | 5 | 150 minutes | 60 correct |
| Texas Law | 50 | 10 | 90 minutes | 38 correct |
For a full breakdown of all 15 domains and how much of your study calendar each deserves, see the TXREB Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 15 Content Areas.
Scoring Mechanics: Unscored Items and Timing
A detail that catches candidates off guard: the exam mixes scored and unscored items together without labeling which is which. Of the 145 total items, 15 are unscored (5 national, 10 state) and exist purely to validate future questions for TREC and Pearson VUE. You cannot identify them during the test, so the only sound strategy is to treat every item as if it counts.
Timing works against guessing your way through. With 150 minutes for 85 national items, you have roughly 1.75 minutes per item on average - but math and case-study-adjacent questions typically eat more time than definitional ones, so budget accordingly rather than pacing evenly. The 90-minute, 60-item state portion is tighter still, at about 1.5 minutes per item.
Key Takeaway
Don't burn extra time trying to identify unscored items - it's impossible during the exam. Move through every question at a steady pace and flag genuinely uncertain ones for review instead.
What Happens If You Miss the Score
If you clear one portion but fall short on the other, you don't have to repeat the whole exam. As long as your application remains active, you can schedule a retake for just the portion you failed - national or Texas law, whichever fell short of 60 or 38 correct respectively.
There's a meaningful catch, though: three failed attempts at either portion trigger a requirement for additional qualifying education before you're allowed to sit again. That's a real cost in time and money, so it's worth treating your first attempt as the one you intend to pass outright rather than as a diagnostic run. For a realistic sense of how candidates perform and where retakes typically originate, review the TXREB Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows article.
A Practical Plan for Hitting Both Targets
Because the two portions are scored independently, a smart prep sequence treats them as two separate campaigns that converge in the final weeks. Rather than studying domains in the order they're listed, group your time around which portion is weaker in practice testing.
National Foundations
- Work through Real Property Characteristics, Forms of Ownership, and Property Value and Appraisal.
- Drill Real Estate Math Calculations daily in short, timed bursts rather than one long session.
Texas Law Core
- Study Commission Duties & Powers, Licensing, and Standards of Conduct together - they interlock heavily.
- Read several current TREC-promulgated contract forms end to end, not just summaries of them.
Agency, Brokerage & Case Studies
- Focus heavily here since these two domains represent 20% each of the state portion's scored items.
- Practice full-length narrative scenarios under a 90-minute simulated clock.
If you want a structured, week-by-week walkthrough with more granular task lists, the TXREB Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt expands on this exact sequencing. And for last-minute review the week of your test, the TXREB Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts condenses the highest-yield facts from both portions onto a single reference.
Registration, Fee, and Eligibility Snapshot
Before the passing score even becomes relevant, you need to be eligible to sit for the exam. Texas broker applicants must complete 270 qualifying education hours plus 630 related education hours - which includes the six-hour Broker Responsibility Course - and document four years of active licensed experience within the preceding five years along with at least 720 experience points. Fingerprinting and background clearance are also required.
Two substitutions can reduce that education load: a bachelor's degree may satisfy up to 300 of the related education hours, and qualifying experience beyond the 720-point minimum may substitute for up to 300 related hours as well. Once eligible, the exam itself is administered by Pearson VUE for a $39 fee. For the complete eligibility checklist, see TXREB Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify, and for a full cost breakdown including education and application expenses, check TXREB Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Once you're ready to test your readiness against realistic scored and unscored item mixes, running full-length simulations on TXREB Exam Prep's practice platform is the most direct way to see whether you're tracking toward 60 and 38 correct before exam day arrives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, both the national and Texas-law portions are delivered in the same appointment, but they are scored independently. If you pass one and fail the other, you only need to retake the failed portion while your application stays active.
It's expressed as a fixed number of correct answers: 60 out of 80 scored national items and 38 out of 50 scored Texas-law items. Converted to percentages, that works out to roughly 75% and 76% respectively.
No. The 5 unscored national items and 10 unscored Texas-law items are used only for future exam development and don't factor into your pass/fail result. However, since they're indistinguishable from scored items during the test, you should answer every question carefully.
Three failed attempts at either portion trigger a requirement for additional qualifying education before you're permitted to test again, so it's worth preparing thoroughly rather than treating early attempts as practice.
On the Texas-law side, prioritize Agency & Brokerage and Case Studies, since each represents 20% of that portion's scored items - the two largest domains combined. On the national side, Real Estate Math Calculations deserves outsized attention because of its time-pressure difficulty.