- The exam has 130 total questions (120 scored, 10 unscored pretest) with a scaled passing score of 70.
- Broker Operations and Responsibilities is the heaviest domain at 18% of the exam.
- Registration costs $75 through Pearson VUE, with no membership tiers to worry about.
- You get one year and unlimited attempts once authorized, but the exam cannot be split for reexamination.
Quick Facts Snapshot
If you only have five minutes before test day, this is the section to read. The Arkansas Real Estate Broker Exam (AR-RE-B) is administered by the Arkansas Real Estate Commission through Pearson Professional Assessments (Pearson VUE) testing centers. It's a closed-book, computer-based, multiple-choice exam built around a unified outline that took effect December 1, 2025, and the current handbook governing candidates is dated June 2026.
Here's the number set worth memorizing cold:
- 130 questions total - 120 scored, 10 unscored pretest items you can't identify during the test
- Four hours to complete the entire exam
- Passing score: 70 on the unified scaled score
- $75 fee, flat rate, no membership tier discounts or upgrades
- 18 years old minimum, plus 60 approved broker-education hours completed within the preceding 36 months
For a deeper breakdown of what the passing threshold actually means in practice, see AR-RE-B Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Domain Weights at a Glance
The AR-RE-B outline splits into ten content domains, weighted unevenly. Knowing the weight tells you where to spend your limited review hours. This table mirrors the official outline in effect since December 1, 2025.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Duties and Authority of the Real Estate Commission | 4% |
| 2. Arkansas Statutory Requirements Governing Licensure | 10% |
| 3. Other Arkansas Statutory Requirements Governing Real Estate | 6% |
| 4. Federal Laws Governing Real Estate Activities | 10% |
| 5. Broker Operations and Responsibilities | 18% |
| 6. Client and Customer Relationships and Agency Disclosures | 12% |
| 7. Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, Condition and Inspection | 10% |
| 8. Property Valuation and the Appraisal Process | 5% |
| 9. Contracts, Financing and Settlement | 15% |
| 10. Property Management | 10% |
Notice that Domains 5, 9, and 6 together account for 45% of the exam - nearly half your score rides on Broker Operations and Responsibilities, Contracts/Financing/Settlement, and Client/Customer Relationships. Any cheat sheet that doesn't front-load those three is incomplete. For the full breakdown of what's tested inside each domain, bookmark AR-RE-B Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 10 Content Areas.
Domain 5: Broker Operations and Responsibilities (18%)
This is the largest single domain and covers how a broker actually runs a firm - trust account handling, supervision of affiliated licensees, advertising compliance, record retention, and office policy obligations.
- Trust/escrow account rules and disbursement timing
- Supervisory duties owed to salespersons working under a broker
- Advertising and disclosure requirements tied to brokerage operations
Domain 9: Contracts, Financing and Settlement (15%)
The second-heaviest domain blends contract law fundamentals with financing instruments and the mechanics of closing a transaction.
- Elements of a valid contract and contingency handling
- Financing instrument types and how they affect settlement
- Settlement statement line items and prorations
Registration & Fee Mechanics
Unlike exams with tiered membership pricing, AR-RE-B registration is refreshingly flat: $75, no discount tiers, no bundled add-ons. That fee gets you scheduled at a Pearson VUE test center for the full 130-question, four-hour session.
Before you can even register, though, the Arkansas Real Estate Commission expects you to have already cleared several eligibility gates:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Complete 60 approved broker-education hours within the preceding 36 months, including the 45-hour Commission-developed Broker Pre-License Course
- Submit background-check materials
- Ordinarily document 24 months of active salesperson or broker experience within the prior 48 months
These prerequisites trip up more candidates than the exam content itself, mainly because the 36-month and 48-month lookback windows are easy to miscalculate. Walk through the full eligibility checklist in AR-RE-B Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify before you pay the fee.
Key Takeaway
Confirm your 60 broker-education hours (including the 45-hour Pre-License Course) fall inside the 36-month window and your experience documentation fits the 48-month lookback before you submit anything to the Commission - fixing paperwork after rejection costs more time than the exam itself.
Exam-Day Format Cheat Sheet
Walking in with a clear mental model of the format reduces avoidable stress. Here's what to expect the moment you sit down at the Pearson VUE workstation:
- Closed-book, computer-based, multiple-choice - no reference materials, no calculator apps beyond what's provided on-screen
- 130 questions, but you won't know which 10 are the unscored pretest items, so treat every question as scored
- Four-hour time limit for the entire session - roughly 1.8 minutes per question if you pace evenly, though some domains (like contract math) will eat more time than others
- One unified scaled score, meaning there's no separate national-portion score and state-portion score to track - just one number, and you need 70
Because it's a single unified exam rather than a split national/state test, you also can't retake just the weak half. If you fail, you retake the entire 130-question exam. That single fact should shape how you study - there's no partial credit strategy here. For a broader look at how tough candidates find this format in practice, read How Hard Is the AR-RE-B Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and check the data-driven view in AR-RE-B Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
Post-Exam Licensing Timeline
Passing the exam isn't the finish line - it starts a clock. Missing these deadlines can delay or jeopardize your license even after a passing score.
- 90 days - initial licensing materials must be submitted after you pass
- 6 months - 30 post-license education hours are due, and must be completed before requesting Executive Broker or Principal Broker status
- Annually - licenses renew every year, with 7 CE hours required for active renewal in 2026
Treat the post-license hours as part of your exam prep, not an afterthought. Since they must be finished before you can request Executive Broker or Principal Broker designation, delaying them stalls your career progression even if your license itself stays active. See what this all costs cumulatively in AR-RE-B Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and what career paths open up once you're licensed in AR-RE-B Jobs.
Final Two-Week Review Plan
You don't need generic study hacks here - you need a plan mapped to the domain weights above. This compressed two-week plan assumes you've already completed your 60 education hours and are in final review mode before scheduling with Pearson VUE.
Heavy-Weight Domains First
- Days 1-2: Domain 5 (Broker Operations and Responsibilities, 18%) - trust accounts, supervision, advertising rules
- Days 3-4: Domain 9 (Contracts, Financing and Settlement, 15%) - settlement math and contract elements
- Days 5-7: Domain 6 (Client and Customer Relationships and Agency Disclosures, 12%) - agency disclosure timing and duties
Mid-Weight Domains and Full Simulation
- Days 1-3: Domains 2, 4, 7, and 10 (10% each) - statutory licensure rules, federal fair housing law, property characteristics, property management
- Day 4: Domains 3 and 8 (6% and 5%) - remaining statutory items and the appraisal process
- Days 5-7: Full-length timed practice runs at 130 questions / four hours to build stamina and pacing
If you're building a longer runway instead of a two-week sprint, the full methodology - including how to sequence weaker domains earlier - is laid out in AR-RE-B Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
Common Traps in the Question Wording
Candidates who've been through the exam consistently flag a handful of question patterns that catch people off guard. These aren't secrets - they're just easy to forget under time pressure:
- "Commission vs. broker authority" mix-ups - Domain 1 questions test what the Real Estate Commission can enforce versus what falls on the broker's own supervisory duty under Domain 5. Read carefully whose authority the question is actually asking about.
- Federal vs. state overlap - Domain 4 (Federal Laws Governing Real Estate Activities) and Domain 2/3 (Arkansas statutory requirements) sometimes cover adjacent ground. A question about disclosure might hinge on whether it's a federal fair housing issue or a state licensure issue.
- Settlement math under time pressure - Domain 9 proration and closing-cost questions take longer to compute than they look. Practicing these with a timer matters more than practicing them untimed.
- Legal description terminology - Domain 7 questions on metes-and-bounds or other description systems often hinge on precise vocabulary, not concept recognition.
None of these traps are exotic - they're just the natural friction points where two similar-sounding rules brush up against each other. Building familiarity with the exact domain language (not paraphrased study-guide language) is the best defense.
Key Takeaway
When two answer choices both sound correct, check whether the question is really asking about Commission authority, broker responsibility, or federal law - the exam frequently tests which layer of authority applies, not just the underlying fact.
Once you've built confidence with the material, run full-length timed sets on our AR-RE-B practice test platform to simulate the real four-hour, 130-question format before you ever step into the Pearson VUE center. Repeated exposure to the pacing - not just the content - is what separates a comfortable pass from a photo finish. If you're still deciding whether pursuing the broker license is worth the time and money relative to staying a salesperson, the analysis in Is the AR-RE-B Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and the earnings context in AR-RE-B Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis are worth reading before exam day, not after.
FAQ
The exam delivers 130 total questions: 120 are scored and 10 are unscored pretest questions mixed in without identification, so every question should be treated as if it counts.
You need a unified scaled score of 70. There is no separate national and state score - it's one combined number covering all ten domains.
The exam fee is $75, administered through Pearson VUE, with no membership tiers or add-on pricing structures.
No. The exam cannot be split for reexamination. If you don't pass, you retake the full 130-question exam, though your authorization remains valid for one year with unlimited attempts within that window.
You must submit initial licensing materials within 90 days of passing, then complete 30 post-license education hours within six months - and those hours must be finished before you can request Executive Broker or Principal Broker status.