California real estate exam questions, and how to practice them
Every question on the California salesperson exam is multiple choice with four answers. What makes it hard is not the format. It is the wording, the California specific law, and the sheer spread of topics. Here is what the questions look like, seven free practice questions with explanations, and how to practice so the real exam feels familiar.
Can you get the real DRE questions?
No, and be careful with anyone who says you can. The DRE keeps its questions confidential, examinees may not copy them, and California Business and Professions Code section 123 makes it a misdemeanor to obtain, reproduce, sell or use real exam questions without authorization. The Real Estate Law adds its own rule against subverting the exam, and the Commissioner can bar a cheater from the exam and from holding a license for up to three years.
There is a practical problem too. Sets sold as real questions are usually remembered loosely by someone after their exam, so they are often wrong. The honest way to prepare is with questions written to the outline the DRE publishes, with explanations that teach you why the answer is right.
What the questions look like
Every question is multiple choice with four answers, and there are 150 of them in 3 hours. Most fall into five kinds:
- Definitions. What a term means, or which term fits a description. These are the fastest points on the exam if you know the vocabulary.
- Scenarios. A short story about an agent, a buyer or a seller, followed by what should happen next. These test whether you can apply a rule, not just recite it.
- Math. Commissions, prorations, loan to value, points, cap rates and area. No calculator is provided at the test center, and you cannot bring your own.
- California law. Disclosures, fair housing, agency rules and how the DRE regulates licensees. National prep books often miss these.
- NOT and EXCEPT questions. Three answers are true and you pick the one that is not. Slow down on these. They catch people who read too fast.
Seven free practice questions
One from each area of the exam, written by our instructors in the style of the real thing. Tap an answer to check it.
Question 1 of 7. Property Ownership and Land Use
Two people own a home together. When one of them dies, the other automatically owns the whole property, without probate. How do they hold title?
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The answer is B, Joint tenants. The right of survivorship is the mark of joint tenancy. Tenants in common can leave their shares to heirs, ownership in severalty means a single owner, and a life estate ends when the life tenant dies.
Question 2 of 7. Agency and Fiduciary Duties
Without the permission of the seller, a dual agent in California may NOT tell the buyer that:
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The answer is A, The seller will accept less than the listing price. A dual agent must protect the confidential information of each side, and California Civil Code section 2079.21 treats the willingness of a seller to take less than the listing price as confidential. Known defects and hazard zones are material facts that must be disclosed, and the dual agency itself is disclosed in writing.
Question 3 of 7. Property Valuation and Financial Analysis
A property earns $80,000 a year in net operating income, and similar properties sell at an 8% cap rate. What is its estimated value?
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The answer is B, $1,000,000. Value equals net operating income divided by the cap rate: $80,000 divided by 0.08 is $1,000,000. A lower cap rate means a higher value, and a higher cap rate means a lower one.
Question 4 of 7. Financing
A buyer pays $300,000 for a home and puts $45,000 down. What is the loan to value ratio?
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The answer is C, 85%. The loan is $300,000 minus $45,000, which is $255,000. Divide by the price: $255,000 divided by $300,000 is 85%. Above 80% on a conventional loan, the buyer will usually pay for private mortgage insurance.
Question 5 of 7. Transfer of Property
A seller wants to clear a possible cloud on title by having someone release any claim they might have. Which deed fits best?
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The answer is C, Quitclaim deed. A quitclaim deed passes whatever interest the signer has, with no warranties at all, which makes it the standard tool for clearing a cloud on title. A grant deed carries implied warranties, and a warranty deed carries express ones.
Question 6 of 7. Practice of Real Estate and Disclosures
An agent shows buyers homes in only certain neighborhoods because of their race. This is:
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The answer is B, Steering. Steering means directing buyers toward or away from areas because of a protected class. Blockbusting pushes owners to sell by stirring fear about who is moving in, redlining is refusing loans or services in an area because of who lives there, and commingling is mixing client money with your own.
Question 7 of 7. Contracts
Which of these is NOT one of the elements of a valid contract?
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The answer is C, Written form. A valid contract needs capable parties, mutual consent, a lawful object and consideration. The Statute of Frauds requires some contracts, such as a sale of real property, to be in writing before a court will enforce them, but writing is not one of the elements that make a contract valid.
How many practice questions should you do?
Our instructors recommend working through at least 1,000 different questions before exam day, spread across all seven areas in proportion to the outline, plus at least two full mock exams under the real 3 hour limit. The goal is not to have seen every possible question. It is to have seen every kind of question so many times that the wording no longer slows you down.
Why practice questions work better than rereading
- Recall builds memory. Pulling an answer out of your head strengthens it far more than reading it again. That is why students who drill questions remember more on exam day than students who reread notes.
- You learn the language. The exam has its own way of asking things. Hundreds of questions in, you start to see what a question is really asking within a sentence or two.
- You find your gaps early. A wrong answer in practice costs nothing. The same wrong answer on exam day costs a $100 retake and weeks of your time.
- You learn the pace. At 72 seconds a question, there is time to think but not to dither. Timed practice makes that pace automatic.
How to review a question you missed
- Read why the right answer is right, in your own words, until you could explain it to a friend.
- Find out why your answer was wrong. Usually it was a trap on purpose: a real term used in the wrong place, or a rule that applies to a different situation.
- See it again soon. Come back to it in a day or two, then a week later. A miss you fix is worth more than ten questions you already knew.
1,600+ more where these came from
Prepped has more than 1,600 questions written to the DRE outline, each with an explanation, plus Smart Review that brings back every question you miss until you own it and a timed 150 question mock exam. One price, yours until you pass.
Questions people ask
Are real California DRE exam questions available online?
No. The DRE keeps its questions confidential, and California Business and Professions Code section 123 makes it a misdemeanor to obtain, reproduce, sell or use them without authorization. Practice with questions written to the DRE exam outline instead.
How many questions are on the California real estate exam?
The salesperson exam has 150 multiple choice questions with four answer choices each. You need 105 correct, which is 70 percent, to pass.
How much time do you get per question?
You get 3 hours for 150 questions, which is about 72 seconds a question.
Is there math on the California real estate exam?
Yes. Expect questions on commissions, prorations, loan to value, points, cap rates and area. No calculator is provided at the test center, and you cannot bring your own.
Which topics have the most questions?
Practice of Real Estate and Disclosures is about 25 percent of the exam, and Laws of Agency and Fiduciary Duties about 17 percent. Together they are about 64 of the 150 questions.
Sources
- DRE salesperson examination content
- DRE, taking the exam
- DRE, requirements to apply for a salesperson license
- DRE examination statistics, October 2025
Also read: How to pass the California real estate exam