How Many Questions Are on the Texas Sales Agent Exam? (2026 Guide)

What I tell every new agent who asks about the test

I've sat across from a lot of nervous people at closing tables in Houston, but the most nervous person I ever met was a guy named Marcus who'd just failed the state portion by what he swore was "one question." He couldn't have known that — nobody gets a number when they pass, and the whole thing is scaled anyway. That conversation is why I write these breakdowns: half the panic around the Texas Sales Agent exam comes from not knowing how the thing is actually built.

So let's take it apart. Question counts, the two-portion structure, how scoring works, and what happens if it goes sideways.

The short answer: 135 items, 120 of them scored

According to the Texas Real Estate Candidate Handbook (January 2026, publication #094400), you'll see 135 items total across the exam. Of those, 120 are scored. The other 15 are unidentified pretest items — questions the test developers are trying out for future forms. They don't count toward your result, and you cannot tell which is which.

That last part matters more than people think. Because pretest items aren't flagged, there's no strategy in trying to spot them. Answer every single item. Guess if you have to. A blank is a guaranteed miss; a guess isn't.

How the two portions split up

The Texas exam isn't one long test. It's delivered as two separate portions — the National/General portion and the Texas State-law portion — and they're scored and passed independently.

Portion	Items presented	Scored items	Pretest items
National / General	85	80	5
Texas State law	50	40	10
Total	135	120	15

Notice the pretest load isn't even. The state portion carries a heavier share of unscored items relative to its size, which is one reason it can feel choppier than the national portion. Doesn't change your job: answer everything.

How long you get

The Sales Agent exam is a timed, computer-based test given in two portions; check the current Texas Real Estate Candidate Handbook for the exact time allowed per portion. I'm not going to hand you a number here, because the handbook is the controlling document and it's the version in effect on your test date that governs.

What I will say from watching candidates: nobody I know has run out of time on the state portion. The national portion, with its math and its long fact-pattern questions, is where people burn clock. Practice under a timer so pacing is a reflex rather than a decision you make while sweating.

Why there's no "passing percentage" to chase

This is the part that trips everyone up, Marcus included. The Texas Sales Agent exam is scaled-scored and the National and State portions must each be passed on their own; TREC and Pearson VUE do not publish a passing percentage or raw cut score. A scaled score is not a percentage, and candidates who pass receive no numeric score — so there is no official passing percentage to cite.

What scaled scoring actually does

Each candidate's raw score gets converted to a scaled score. The point is fairness across exam forms: if the version you sit happens to be a little harder than the version your study partner sat last Tuesday, the scaling keeps the passing standard constant. You're not being graded against the people in the room with you, and you're not being graded on a straight percentage of items correct.

Passing separately means exactly that

You can pass one portion and not the other. The national and state portions are scored and passed separately, so a strong day on general principles does not carry a weak day on Texas law. Plan your studying accordingly — I've seen people over-prep the national side because the material is more familiar from their coursework, then get surprised by TREC rules, agency disclosure, and promulgated forms.

What if I pass one portion and my application expires?

TREC addresses partial passes directly: if the application expires after you've passed one section, both sections may need to be retaken when you reapply. Keep an eye on your application window rather than assuming a passed portion sits on the shelf indefinitely.

What's on each portion

Pearson VUE publishes two content outlines: the National/General real estate content outline (publication #093901) and the Texas State-specific content outline (publication #094401). Download both. They are, functionally, the syllabus — and they're free.

I tell people to print the state outline and keep it next to whatever course materials they're using, because Texas-specific content is where local instruction varies most. The outline tells you what the test writers think matters. Your instructor's war stories, useful as they are, do not.

If you fail, here's the rule that bites

A candidate who fails either the state or national exam three times must complete additional qualifying or related education before being allowed to test again. That's not a suggestion, and it applies to each exam.

So treat attempt one seriously. I've watched candidates book a date the week they finish coursework, figuring they'll "see what it's like." Two of those and suddenly you're one bad morning away from more classroom hours and more delay. Sit when you're ready, not when you're curious.

Getting to the test chair in the first place

Before question counts matter at all, you have to qualify. TREC's requirements for a Sales Agent — note that Texas says "Sales Agent," a person licensed to act on behalf of a sponsoring licensed broker, not "salesperson" or "sales associate" — include:

• Being 18 years or older.
• Being a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted alien. DACA recipients do not qualify as lawfully admitted.
• Having fingerprints on file with the Texas DPS, so TREC can satisfy the honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity requirement.
• Meeting TREC's qualifications on honesty and integrity — background and criminal history get reviewed.
• Completing 180 classroom hours of qualifying real estate courses.

All license requirements must be met within one year of filing your application. And you'll need a broker to sponsor you before you can perform real estate services.

Scheduling and money

Once TREC verifies your education, you receive instructions and the Candidate Handbook for scheduling the National and State exams with Pearson VUE, who administers the computer-based test under contract with TREC. As for cost: see TREC's current fee schedule for the license application fee and Pearson VUE for the current examination fee. Those change, and I'd rather you read the live source than a number I typed months ago.

How I'd actually study for 120 scored items

People ask me for a pass rate so they can gauge the difficulty. TREC publishes exam passage rates by education provider rather than a single statewide headline rate — which is genuinely more useful when you're picking a school, and useless as a confidence gauge the night before.

Here's what works instead:

• Split your prep the way the exam splits. Two portions, two study tracks, two sets of practice sessions. Don't blend them.
• Work from the outlines. #093901 and #094401. Check off topics you can explain out loud, not topics you've merely read.
• Do timed practice. Since the handbook governs the clock, build the habit of moving steadily and flagging rather than stalling.
• Read rationales for wrong answers you got right. Lucky guesses are the ones that come back to haunt you.
• Never leave an item blank. Fifteen of them don't count anyway, and you can't tell which.

Marcus retook the state portion six weeks later with the outline taped to his fridge. Passed. Still doesn't know his score, because nobody does — and he's closed plenty of deals since without ever needing one.

For more Texas licensing walkthroughs, browse the Texas real estate blog.