Massachusetts Real Estate Exam: Everything You Need to Know

To get your Massachusetts real estate license, you must pass the state licensing exam.

Since the application, scheduling, and passing your real estate exam can be a confusing process, we wanted to provide you with everything you need to know about the Massachusetts real estate exam.

This article will cover the following aspects:

• How to schedule the Massachusetts real estate licensing exam
• What is on the Massachusetts real estate exam
• The difficulty level of the Massachusetts real estate exam
• How to pass the Massachusetts Real Estate Exam

How to Schedule the Massachusetts Real Estate Licensing Exam

The Massachusetts real estate exam can be scheduled online through the PSI services, a leading third-party exam administrator used nationwide. To schedule your real estate exam, you must submit your pre-licensing course certificates from your education provider to PSI and then create your online account as a student.

Once the aforementioned requirements have been met, you can schedule the Massachusetts real estate licensing exam. In addition, you will be asked to include identification documents with your application, such as a government-issued photo ID (e.g., a Driver’s license).

Scheduling your Massachusetts real estate exam will cost $85. This includes an application fee of $31 and a test fee of $54. When you pass the exam, you will also have to pay a $150 licensing fee to receive your license.

Where Do You Take the Massachusetts Real Estate License Exam?

Candidates must take their real estate exams at any of the designated PSI testing centers across Massachusetts. Here is a list of these locations:

• Auburn
• Boston
• Fall River
• Lawrence
• West Springfield

Can You Take the Exam Online?

Yes, candidates can take the Massachusetts real estate license exam online through the PSI website. Although the entire licensing process can be completed online, you must still pick up your real estate license in person to take a photograph for the license.

What to Bring on the Day of Your Exam

On the day of your exam, you will need to bring two forms of identification with the same name (government issued photo ID and another form of identification with your signature, such as a social security card). An online calculator will be available at your chosen testing center.

What is on the Massachusetts Real Estate Exam?

The exam questions are divided into two sections: the national real estate section covering general real estate principles and practices relevant across the United States, and the state real estate section, which focuses on Massachusetts real estate laws and regulations.

Here are the categories of questions on the Massachusetts real estate exam:

National Real Estate Categories

• Contracts
• Financing
• General principles of agency
• Land use controls and regulations
• Property condition and disclosures
• Property Ownership
• Real estate calculations
• Specialty areas
• Transfer of title
• Valuation and market analysis

State Real Estate Categories

• Duties and powers of the Board of Registration of Real Estate
• Licensing requirements
• Massachusetts Fair Housing Law
• Requirements governing licensees

Will There Be Math on the Exam?

Yes, the Massachusetts real estate licensing exam will have 8 to 10 math questions. These questions will commonly be found in the national real estate section of the exam and will be related to real estate concepts such as:

• Credits and debits
• Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratios
• Market sales prices
• Property taxes
• Property valuation and measurements
• Return On Investments (ROI)

Math questions in the Massachusetts real estate exam may tend to be difficult and take a lot of time to solve. Therefore, leaving the math questions for the end is good practice unless the answers are clear. That way, you'll be able to answer questions that take less time to solve first.

Is the Massachusetts Real Estate Exam Hard?

Past exam takers consider the Mass real estate exam challenging, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to pass. The best way to pass is with thorough preparation. We will cover the best prepping methods as well as some tricks to help you study later in this article.

How Many Questions Are on the Massachusetts Real Estate Exam?

The Massachusetts real estate licensing exam consists of 120 multiple-choice questions divided into two sections. They are: 

• the national-specific section, which has 80 questions, and
• the state-specific section with 40 questions. 

You will have 4 hours to complete the exam and obtain the minimum score of 70% in each section. Immediately after you submit the test, your result will be made available to you.

Note that the Massachusetts real estate exam has 10 pre-test questions. These questions are used by the exam administrator (PSI) to evaluate the quality of the exam and make improvements. Although these questions do not affect your overall test score, you must answer them within the allotted time for the test.

How Many Times Can You Take the Real Estate Exam?

Massachusetts real estate licensing exam candidates are allowed to take the exam an unlimited number of times within two years, starting from the day of their pre-licensing education completion. Within this period, you must get the minimum pass mark of 70% in both exam sections. If you fail one section of the exam, you do not have to retake the section you passed.

However, every retake comes with an exam cost of $54. If a candidate does not pass the exam within 2-years, they will have to retake the pre-licensing education at an accredited real estate school in Massachusetts.

How to Pass the Massachusetts Real Estate Exam

The only way to pass the exam is to study. If you plan on winging it, then you probably won’t hit the 70% pass score. Even putting in minimal studying will make a big difference. If the thought of studying is overwhelming, don’t stress because we have some actionable tips to make studying quick and easy.

Create a Study Schedule

Create a healthy study schedule that suits you! You should plan on studying a little bit every night or taking moderately longer sessions every other day. Taking an hour to create your study schedule will help you set the groundwork for success.

When you’re creating your study schedule, make sure you:

• Draft a study routine that works well for you and stick to it. Your study time should be set to when you are less busy and assimilation is easy. We recommend that you study every night or at least every other night.
• Use a scale of preference to rank the real estate topics you need to cover in order of difficulty and importance. Typically, you should allot more study time to topics that you find difficult and those described as important. This strategy will keep you focused and enable you to spread your study time across all the topics.
• Breaks should be essential in your study schedule as they help eliminate fatigue. Thus, you should take short breaks every hour while studying.
• Get at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep daily while preparing for your real estate exam to keep you well-rested and energized.

Use Acronyms and Mnemonic Devices

Memory aids such as acronyms and mnemonic devices can help make complex concepts easier to learn. Therefore, these tools are great and should be utilized when preparing for the Massachusetts real estate exam.

Acronyms are words derived from the first letters of a phrase or list of items. A good example of a real estate acronym is HELOC which stands for Home Equity Line Of Credit. 

On the other hand, mnemonic devices are used to connect pieces of information to relatable things. A good mnemonic device for five types of mortgage loans for homebuyers would be “Cold Apple Juice Feels Good”

• Cold for Conventional loans
• Apple for Adjustable-rate loans
• Juice for Jumbo loans
• Feels for Fixed-rate loans
• Good for Government-insured loans

Join a Study Group

Joining a study group is a great strategy for getting prepared. Study groups offer several advantages to their members, such as:

• Boosting your ability to memorize and understand information due to the constant exchange of ideas, group discussions, and sharing of study materials.
• Exposure to various points of view about topics being discussed in the group.
• Increasing your motivation and sense of responsibility to study.

Get Guided Help

By far, getting guided help is the best way to study. The good news is, we offer a Massachusetts real estate exam prep package to give you this guided help and make studying easy.

The best part of the package are the unlimited practice exams you can take to help you familiarize yourself with the topics and types of questions you will see on the exam. You can customize the practice exams to cover specific categories or simply take a mock version of the exam over and over again.

The full package comes with:

• 1,500 Massachusetts real estate exam practice questions
• Customizable practice state exams
• Vocabulary flashcards
• Video explanations
• E-book study guide

The other great thing about our package is that it gives you an outline of what to study. You don’t have to guess what to know from each category, which eats up your time and fills your brain with unnecessary information. Our exam prep guides you through everything you need to learn for the exam. It’s offered at a competitive price and can make your studying a whole lot easier.

You can add real estate crash course videos. It's 8+ hours of video content that teaches you the concepts, vocabulary, historical events, and more. Led by our head instructor, Robert Rico, our crash course videos teaches you everything you need to know to pass on your first try.

Final Thoughts on the Real Estate Exam in Massachusetts

There’s a lot of steps to applying, scheduling, and passing the real estate exam in Massachusetts. But, with a little bit of tenacity and guidance, you can easily start your real estate career. Just remember to deploy the study tips above and you make the exam simple and easy!

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