Free Texas State Law study sheet
Texas Real Estate Licensing Texas Real Estate Exam Cheat Sheet
Quick answerLicensing is 3 scored Texas state-law items covering licensed activity and exemptions, the sales-agent application and denial process, and license maintenance through renewal, sponsorship, inactive status, and registered names.
Source-checked Texas State Law portion
Texas law controls this page. Do not replace a TREC or Texas rule with a generic national principle.
Sort actor, activity, expected payment, exemption, and current authority. Then decide whether the item asks about getting the license or keeping it active.
Exam scope
What Pearson tests
Verified against the official content outline.
- A. Activities Requiring License: scope of practice, exemptions, business entities, inspectors, and appraisers
- B. Licensing Process: general and fitness requirements, education, examination, application denial, and appeal
- C. License Maintenance and Renewal: continuing education, sponsorship changes, inactive status, and assumed names
Decision traps
Common traps to catch
Check the governing source material.
- Passing the exam does not activate a sales-agent license. TREC issues an inactive license, and active brokerage requires sponsorship.
- Broker permission cannot make license-required activity lawful for an unlicensed person.
- Showing includes unlocking, giving access, permitting a viewing, and hosting an open house unless an exemption applies.
- Owner, employee, attorney, auctioneer, apartment-manager, and power-of-attorney exemptions are fact-specific.
- An inspector or appraiser credential is not authority to negotiate, list, lease, or procure for another.
- A registered compensation entity may receive a holder's commission but may not perform brokerage.
- A Fitness Determination is optional and does not replace fingerprints or the required background check.
- A criminal record is not an automatic denial in every case. Apply the fitness rules and related-offense factors.
- First renewal uses SAE and Legal Updates, not the ordinary later-renewal 18-hour pattern.
- The 2026 Broker Responsibility change applies to all brokers, but only to a sales agent who is a delegated supervisor.
- Inactive means no brokerage. Previous sponsorship creates no grace period.
- Alternate names, team names, and broker assumed business names have different registration paths under Rule 535.154.
Essential vocabulary
Texas Real Estate Licensing terms to know
- Real estate brokerage
- A defined broker act performed or offered for another with expected valuable consideration.
- Sales agent
- A person sponsored by a licensed broker to perform brokerage for that broker.
- Broker
- A person or entity licensed to perform brokerage and, when qualified, sponsor sales agents.
- Residential rental locator
- A person who, for consideration, offers to locate an apartment unit for a prospective tenant.
- Statutory exemption
- A fact-specific provision making Chapter 1101 inapplicable to a named actor or activity.
- Designated broker
- The active individual Texas broker with managing authority who acts for a licensed brokerage entity.
- Registered compensation entity
- A qualifying holder-owned LLC or S corporation registered only to receive the holder's brokerage compensation.
- Fitness Determination
- An optional pre-application TREC assessment of honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity.
- Qualifying education
- TREC-approved coursework used for initial licensing or other specified requirements.
- Inactive license
- A current license status that does not authorize any real estate brokerage.
- Sponsoring broker
- The active broker for whom a sales agent acts and through whom the sales agent receives authority.
- SAE
- Sales Agent Apprentice Education required for a sales agent's first renewal.
- Continuing education
- Education required for later active renewals and return to active status.
- Alternate name
- An individual license holder's registered name other than the name shown on the license.
- Team name
- A broker-registered collective name ending in team or group that does not imply independent brokerage.
- Assumed business name
- A broker's registered DBA or trade name supported by legal authority to use it in Texas.
Check your recall
Can you answer these without notes?
Open each card only after you commit to an answer.
1What five facts sort a license-required activity?
Actor, activity, expected payment, exemption, and current authority.
2How many initial qualifying hours does a sales-agent applicant need?
180 classroom hours.
3Can an inactive sales agent perform brokerage?
No. Rule 535.120 prohibits it.
4May a registered compensation entity perform brokerage?
No. It may only receive qualifying compensation for its license-holder owner.
5What score must a sales-agent applicant earn on each exam portion?
At least 70 percent.
6What are the regular later-renewal CE components?
4 hours Legal Update I, 4 hours Legal Update II, 3 contract hours, and 7 elective hours.
7Does another real-estate credential authorize brokerage?
No. Inspector, appraiser, and brokerage authority are separate.
8Does a Fitness Determination replace fingerprints?
No. It is optional and does not replace the background check.
9What additional qualifying education is due before first renewal?
90 hours, including the 30-hour Real Estate Brokerage course.
10What happens after three consecutive exam failures?
Added qualifying education is required before retesting.
11When is a sponsorship termination effective under Rule 535.121?
When TREC receives the termination and any applicable fee.
12Who registers a team name before use?
The sponsoring broker.
Use the sheet, then retrieve
Turn recognition into recall.
Read the full lesson when a definition is fuzzy. Then answer the topic questions without looking back at this sheet.
Primary sources
Checked .
- Pearson VUE Texas Real Estate Content Outlines
- TRELA, Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1101
- TREC Rules
- TREC, Become a Real Estate Sales Agent
- TREC, Renew Your Sales Agent License
- TREC, Fitness Determination
- Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1103
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.