Alabama Real Estate Cheat Sheet.
The night-before summary, built like the exam.

The numbers to remember

• Exam fee: $73 for the salesperson exam.
• Passing score: a scaled 70 on a 0-100 scale, and a report below 70 shows how close you came to passing.
• General (national) portion: 80 scored items, 2.5 hours.
• State-specific portion: 40 scored items, 1 hour.
• Total seat time: 3.5 hours for both portions combined.
• Plus 10-15 unscored pretest items mixed in throughout — they don't count against you and you can't tell which ones they are.
• Minimum age to hold the license: 19.
• Pre-license course: 60 clock hours with a minimum grade of 70, required before you can sit for the exam.
• Post-license course: 30 clock hours, due within 1 year of licensure along with the original license application.
• Bring two forms of unexpired signature ID (one government-issued, photo-bearing) — this is checked at the door.
• Delivered by Pearson VUE, which develops and administers Alabama's real estate exam program.

Content domains and weights

• General portion (80 items): national real estate principles and practices — twice the weight of the state portion.
• State-specific portion (40 items), with named sub-areas including:
  • Licensing requirements — 7 items
  • Broker licenses, company licenses, and place of business — 5 items
  • RECAD — 3 items
  • Violations which may result in disciplinary actions — 15 items (the largest named sub-area)

High-yield review areas

• License-law violations and disciplinary grounds — the biggest named state sub-area, so it deserves the most repetition on your last pass.
• Licensing requirements and broker/company licensing rules — smaller sub-areas but easy to mix up under time pressure.
• National agency, contracts, financing, and real estate math concepts on the general portion, since it carries twice the items of the state portion.
• Pair each national concept with its Alabama-specific variation rather than studying the two separately.

Top traps

• Missing the 6-month clock: state law requires passing the exam within 6 months of finishing the pre-license course, or you retake the course.
• Letting authorization lapse: your test authorization is good for 6 months with unlimited attempts at any Pearson VUE center — miss that window and you must retake pre-licensing and get re-authorized.
• Sitting on a passing score: you have 90 days after passing to submit your complete license application with materials and fees.
• Forgetting the license is temporary: the salesperson license issued expires 1 year after issuance unless you complete the 30-hour post-license course and file the original application in time.
• Wrong ID at the door: two unexpired signature IDs are required, one government-issued and photo-bearing — a single ID gets you turned away.
• Ignoring pacing: 80 items in 2.5 hours on the general portion versus 40 items in 1 hour on the state portion means the state portion leaves you slightly less time per item — don't burn extra time on the first few questions.