CA-RE-B Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass

The CA-RE-B Passing Score, Exactly

If you searched for a specific number, here it is: the California Department of Real Estate requires candidates to answer at least 75% of the 200 questions correctly to pass the California Real Estate Broker Exam (CA-RE-B). There is no curve, no scaled score, and no "it depends on the day you test." It is a fixed correctness threshold set and administered directly by the DRE - not a third-party testing organization, not a franchise, and not a membership-based credentialing body. That distinction matters because several other credentials share the "CA-RE-B" shorthand, and importing their scoring rules would give you the wrong target entirely.

Seventy-five percent of 200 questions works out to a firm, countable number of correct answers you need to clear. Because the DRE scores the exam as a straight percentage of the full 200-question set rather than through weighted subscores, every question you answer correctly counts the same toward that threshold - a Domain 4 financing question is worth exactly as much as a Domain 6 disclosure question in the final tally.

Exam Format: 200 Questions, Four Hours

The CA-RE-B is delivered as 200 electronic, four-option multiple-choice questions, and you're given four hours to work through all of them. That's an average of about 1.2 minutes per question, though real test-day pacing is uneven - some scenario-based items in Domains 6 and 7 take longer to parse than straightforward definitional questions in Domain 4.

The exam is closed-book and administered in person at one of the DRE's five electronic test-center areas across California. There's no remote-proctoring option and no open-reference version. Everything you need to answer correctly has to be committed to memory or reasoned out from principles you've studied in advance.

One underrated feature of the format: results are immediate. You walk out of the test center already knowing whether you cleared the 75% threshold, which removes the days-long waiting period that many other licensing exams impose.

How the Passing Score Interacts With the 7 Domains

The 75% threshold applies to your overall performance across all seven domains, but not all domains carry equal weight. Understanding the split is the fastest way to decide where your study hours actually move your score:

For a deeper walkthrough of what each domain actually tests, see the CA-RE-B Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.

How Many Questions You Can Actually Miss

Because the passing standard is 75% of 200 questions, you can think of your margin in concrete terms rather than abstract percentages.

Seeing the target as "roughly 150 correct answers out of 200" rather than "75%" changes how you approach practice sessions. Instead of chasing a vague percentage, you can track your actual miss count on full-length practice runs and watch it shrink toward the margin the DRE allows. This is exactly the kind of concrete benchmarking covered in the CA-RE-B Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and it's worth pairing with realistic practice questions at CA-RE-B Exam Prep so your miss-count tracking reflects actual exam-style items rather than guesswork.

Registration, Fees, and Retake Mechanics

The DRE charges $150 for an original examination or a reexamination - there's no membership tier, discount bundle, or subscription pricing involved. Every attempt, whether it's your first sitting or your fourth, costs the same $150 fee paid directly to the DRE.

If you fall short of the 75% passing score, the news isn't as discouraging as it might feel in the moment: attempts are unlimited within your two-year application window. You simply pay a new $150 fee for each subsequent sitting. There's no mandatory waiting period built into the fee structure itself, though you'll want to give yourself enough time between attempts to actually close knowledge gaps rather than retesting on the same weak spots.

For the full cost picture, including how exam fees fit alongside course and licensing expenses, see CA-RE-B Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. And if you want to know when test-center seats and application deadlines open up, CA-RE-B Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling covers the scheduling side.

Eligibility Before You Can Even Sit for It

Hitting 75% is only relevant once you're actually eligible to sit for the exam. The DRE's requirements are specific:

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You must complete eight prescribed college-level real-estate courses
• You ordinarily need two years of full-time licensed salesperson experience within the preceding five years
• Qualifying equivalent experience or a four-year real-estate degree can satisfy the experience pathway instead

These prerequisites shape who typically sits for the CA-RE-B: working salespersons transitioning into brokerage, and degree-holders using the academic pathway to bypass the traditional experience clock. For the full breakdown of documentation and course requirements, read CA-RE-B Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

Once licensed, the broker credential is valid for four years and renewal requires 45 hours of DRE-approved continuing education, with the first broker renewal specifically including management and supervision coursework - a detail worth planning for well before your license comes up for renewal.

A Domain-Weighted Study Timeline

Generic study techniques only help if they're pointed at the right material. Here's how to sequence preparation around the CA-RE-B's actual domain weights rather than studying every topic equally.

This sequencing isn't arbitrary - it mirrors the actual point value of each domain, so your early weeks build the foundation that protects the largest share of your score. For a topic-by-topic study plan built the same way, see the CA-RE-B Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.

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