This page is designed to be printed, bookmarked, or reviewed on your phone the morning of your test. It compresses the North Dakota Real Estate Salesperson Exam into the numbers, rules, and weightings you're most likely to forget under pressure. For deeper explanations of any single fact, our NDRES Study Guide 2026 and NDRES Exam Domains 2026 guide go into full detail - this article is the condensed version.
- PSI charges $134 per attempt regardless of whether you take one or both portions.
- You need 70 points on the 100-question National section and 30 points on the 40-question State section.
- Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%) carry the most weight of the 11 National domains.
- National allows 150 minutes; State allows 90 minutes, with 5-10 unscored questions mixed in.
How to Use This Cheat Sheet
Don't try to "study" this page from scratch. It's a review tool, not a textbook. The most effective use case is a final pass through your knowledge two to three days before your scheduled test date, or a quick refresher the night before. If any line item below feels unfamiliar, that's a signal to go back to your prelicensing course materials or run a few targeted practice questions on our practice test platform before test day.
Registration & Fee Facts at a Glance
The North Dakota Real Estate Commission governs licensing, while PSI Services LLC administers the actual exam. Keeping these two entities straight matters because fees, scheduling, and content questions get routed differently.
- PSI exam fee: $134 per sitting - this covers both portions together or either portion alone, so there's no discount for splitting them across two visits.
- Salesperson application fee: $150, paid to the Commission separately from the PSI testing fee.
- Recovery fund payment: a one-time $20 contribution to the Real Estate Education, Research and Recovery Fund.
- Annual license renewal: $125 once you're actively licensed.
For a full line-item breakdown of everything you'll spend from prelicensing course through your first renewal, see NDRES Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're still confirming you qualify to sit for the exam at all, cross-check the NDRES Requirements 2026 guide before you pay anything.
Exam Structure: National vs. State Portions
Per the October 1, 2025 bulletin, the exam is delivered as two distinct scored sections, taken as a computer-based, closed-book test. No reference materials and no personal calculators are allowed - any calculation tool you need is built into the testing software.
| Portion | Scored Questions | Time Allowed | Passing Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | 100 questions | 150 minutes | 70 points |
| State | 40 questions | 90 minutes | 30 points |
PSI may also insert 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions into either portion. You won't be able to tell which questions these are, so answer every item as though it counts. This is a detail worth internalizing before test day - read more about how it affects pacing in How Hard Is the NDRES Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Key Takeaway
Treat the National and State portions as two separate exams with two separate clocks. Manage your time within each section independently rather than pacing yourself against a combined total.
National Domain Weights, Ranked
PSI publishes 11 weighted National domains. Ranking them by percentage tells you exactly where to spend your remaining review hours - the top four domains alone account for over half of the National portion's scored questions.
Domain 5: Contracts - 19%
The single largest domain. Expect scenario-based questions about offer and acceptance, contingencies, contract remedies, and required disclosures within purchase agreements.
- Know the elements of a valid contract cold - this domain rewards precision, not general familiarity.
Domain 6: Agency - 13%
Covers fiduciary duties, types of agency relationships, and disclosure obligations between licensees and clients.
- Distinguish clearly between a client and a customer; questions often hinge on that distinction.
Domain 10: Practice of Real Estate - 12%
Day-to-day licensee conduct, advertising rules, and professional practice standards.
- Expect situational questions testing what a licensee should or should not do in a given scenario.
Domain 1: Property Ownership - 10%
Estates, interests, and forms of ownership.
- Review the differences between fee simple, leasehold, and various concurrent ownership types.
Domain 4: Financing - 10%
Loan types, underwriting basics, and finance instruments.
- Be comfortable with mortgage terminology even without a calculator handy.
The remaining six domains - Valuation (8%), Property Disclosures (7%), Real Estate Calculations (7%), Transfer of Title (6%), Land Use Controls (5%), and Property Management (3%) - still appear regularly and shouldn't be skipped, but they carry proportionally less weight. For the complete breakdown of every domain with example question styles, see the NDRES Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 11 Content Areas.
State Portion Topics
Unlike the National portion, PSI does not publish weighted percentages for the 40-question State section. Instead, it's organized around four broad topic areas:
- Duties and Powers of the Real Estate Commission - how the Commission is structured and what authority it holds.
- Licensing Requirements - who must be licensed, license categories, and application mechanics.
- Statutory Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees - North Dakota-specific conduct and disclosure rules.
- Additional Topics - a catch-all category covering other state-level rules candidates need to know.
Because there's no published weighting, treat all four areas as equally important. This is also the section most candidates underestimate - 30 points out of 40 questions is a tighter margin than it looks. Our NDRES Passing Score 2026 guide walks through exactly what that margin means in practice.
Passing Score Math
Passing requirements are straightforward but worth memorizing precisely:
- National portion: 70 points required out of 100 scored questions.
- State portion: 30 points required out of 40 scored questions.
Both portions must be passed - there's no averaging a strong National score against a weak State score. If you fail one portion, you retake only that portion, not both, and North Dakota allows unlimited retakes within a rolling 12-month period. That retake flexibility takes real pressure off a single sitting, but it doesn't excuse under-preparing for either section.
Key Takeaway
Because the two portions are graded independently, a candidate who is strong on national concepts but weak on North Dakota statute can still fail overall. Budget dedicated review time for the State portion even if National feels comfortable.
Day-of-Exam Rules
The exam is computer-based and administered under closed-book conditions. A few operational facts to lock in before you arrive:
- No reference materials of any kind are permitted at the testing station.
- Personal calculators are prohibited - any calculation function is provided within the testing software itself.
- Expect 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions mixed into your test; there's no way to identify them, so pace yourself as though every question counts toward your score.
- National and State portions have separate time limits (150 and 90 minutes respectively) - plan bathroom breaks and pacing checkpoints accordingly.
For scheduling logistics - booking windows, rescheduling policies, and deadlines - see NDRES Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Final-Week Review Schedule
If you're within seven days of your test date, don't start new material - consolidate what you already know, weighted toward the domains that matter most.
Contracts & Agency
- Re-read your notes on Domain 5 (Contracts, 19%) and Domain 6 (Agency, 13%) since together they're nearly a third of the National portion.
- Run practice questions on the main practice test site focused on these two domains.
Practice of Real Estate & Financing
- Review Domain 10 (12%) and Domain 4 (10%) scenario questions.
- Drill mortgage and financing terminology without a calculator.
State Portion Topics
- Work through all four State topic areas - Commission duties, licensing requirements, statutory requirements, and additional topics.
- Since these aren't weighted, review them evenly rather than skipping any one area.
Light Review Only
- Skim this cheat sheet, confirm your testing appointment details, and rest.
- Avoid cramming new material the night before.
If your timeline is longer than a week, our full NDRES Study Guide 2026 lays out a complete multi-week plan rather than just the final push.
After the Exam: Licensing Steps
Passing both portions is a milestone, not the finish line. To hold an active North Dakota salesperson license, you'll also need broker affiliation and errors-and-omissions coverage in place. Resident applicants generally must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Complete a 90-hour NDREC-certified prelicensing course within two years of applying.
- Satisfy credit and criminal-history requirements.
- Pass both exam portions.
- Secure broker affiliation and errors-and-omissions coverage before practicing actively.
Once licensed, renewal is annual at $125, with active resident licensees generally completing 12 hours of continuing education. For the bigger-picture question of whether the time and cost are worth it, see Is the NDRES Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and NDRES Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis. If you're curious who's actually hiring newly licensed salespersons in the state, browse NDRES Jobs for a sense of the market.
FAQ
There are 100 scored National questions plus 40 scored State questions, with 150 minutes and 90 minutes allotted respectively. PSI may add 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions on top of that.
You need 70 points on the National portion and 30 points on the State portion. Both must be passed independently.
No. Personal calculators and reference materials are prohibited. The exam is closed-book and computer-based, and any needed calculation tools are provided within the testing software.
You can retake only the failed portion. North Dakota allows unlimited retakes within a rolling 12-month period, and the $134 PSI fee applies per attempt.
Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%) are the two heaviest-weighted National domains and together make up nearly a third of that portion's questions.