The Exam & Florida License Law

The state exam at a glance

According to the DBPR Candidate Information Booklet (effective January 2025), the Florida Real Estate Sales Associate exam:

• has 100 multiple-choice questions;
• allows 3.5 hours;
• requires a score of 75 or higher to pass;
• is closed book and given by computer at Pearson VUE test centers;
• allows a silent, non-printing calculator.

The exam is drawn from Chapter 475, Part I, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 61J2, Florida Administrative Code, plus general real estate principles and practices. The booklet's content outline:

Who needs a license?

A broker is anyone who, for another and for compensation, appraises, auctions, sells, exchanges, buys, rents or negotiates real property or business opportunities, or advertises or holds out as doing so (§ 475.01, Fla. Stat.). A sales associate performs those acts under the direction, control or management of a broker or owner-developer.

Some people are exempt under § 475.011, Fla. Stat., including an attorney acting within the scope of their duties as an attorney, an attorney in fact executing contracts or conveyances only, court-appointed personal representatives and receivers, and owners selling or leasing their own property (unless they use transaction-paid salespeople in the ordinary course of selling to the public).

Qualifications

• At least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or equivalent (§ 475.17, Fla. Stat.(1)(a)).
• Honest, truthful, trustworthy, of good character, with a good reputation for fair dealing.
• Pre-licensing: a Commission-prescribed course of no more than 63 classroom hours for sales associates (72 for brokers), each hour 50 minutes, inclusive of the course exam.
• Post-licensing: sales associates must complete a post-licensing course of no more than 45 classroom hours before their first renewal (§ 475.17, Fla. Stat.(3)(a)).
• Continuing education: after that, at least 14 classroom hours each biennium of a license period (§ 475.182, Fla. Stat.).

Discipline and penalties

Under § 475.25, Fla. Stat., the Commission may deny, suspend (up to 10 years) or revoke a license, place a licensee on probation, issue a reprimand, and impose an administrative fine of up to $5,000 per count. Grounds include fraud, misrepresentation, culpable negligence, failure to account for escrowed property, and violations of the chapter or the Commission's rules.

Separately, violating § 475.42, Fla. Stat. (for example, practicing without a valid license) is generally a second-degree misdemeanor unless the chapter prescribes a different punishment.