Texas State Law cheat sheet
Texas Real Estate Licensing Texas Real Estate Exam Cheat Sheet
Licensing questions test who needs a license, who is exempt, how a sales agent qualifies, and what sponsorship, status, renewal, education, and disciplinary rules mean in practice.
Ask whether the activity is brokerage, whether an exemption applies, and whether the person has both the required license and authority to perform it.
What Pearson tests
- Activities requiring a license, exemptions, business entities, inspectors, and appraisers
- Eligibility, education, fingerprints, background review, examination, denial, and appeal
- Sponsorship, active and inactive status, renewal, continuing education, and assumed names
Three traps to catch
- Passing the exam does not authorize brokerage. A Texas sales agent must be actively sponsored to practice.
- An inactive sales agent remains licensed but may not perform brokerage activity.
- A title or role does not create an exemption. Apply the statutory activity and exemption rules.
Essential vocabulary
Texas Real Estate Licensing terms to know
- Sales agent
- A person licensed by TREC to perform real estate brokerage on behalf of a sponsoring broker.
- Broker
- A person or entity licensed to perform brokerage independently and to sponsor sales agents.
- Sponsoring broker
- The active broker responsible for a sales agent's authorized brokerage activity.
- Inactive license
- A license status that does not authorize the holder to perform brokerage.
- Qualifying education
- Commission-approved education that counts toward initial or specified license requirements.
- SAE
- Sales Agent Apprentice Education required before a new sales agent's first renewal.
- Continuing education
- Education required for later active license renewals under the applicable TREC rules.
- Fitness Determination
- A TREC process that lets a prospective applicant request an eligibility assessment before applying.
Check your recall
Can you answer these without notes?
1Can an inactive sales agent perform brokerage?
No.
2How many classroom hours of qualifying education does a first-time sales-agent applicant complete?
180 classroom hours.
3Does passing the exam make the license active?
No. Active authority requires the sponsorship step shown in TREC's licensing records.
Use the sheet, then retrieve
Test the rules while they are still fresh.
Read the full lesson when a definition is fuzzy. Then answer the topic questions without looking back at this sheet.
Primary sources
This is exam-prep education, not legal, tax, or transaction advice. Confirm the current law, form, and official exam materials before relying on a rule in practice.