Tennessee Affiliate Broker Exam Study Guide

The Tennessee affiliate broker exam is administered by PSI on behalf of the Tennessee Real Estate Commission, and it is split into two separately scored sections rather than one combined test.

• Structure: a national section and a state section, each timed and scored on its own.
• Full exam fee: $63.00, which covers both sections in one sitting.
• Retake fees: if you only need to retake one side, it is $37.00 for the national section (160 minutes) or $26.00 for the state section (80 minutes).
• Passing score, national: 56 out of 80 items, which is 70%.
• Passing score, state: 28 out of 40 items, also 70%.

Because each section is graded independently, a strong score on one side never offsets a weak score on the other — you must clear 70% on each portion. Plan your study time so neither section is treated as an afterthought, and remember the timing difference: the national section runs twice as long as the state section, so pace yourself differently for each part rather than assuming a uniform rhythm across the whole appointment.

The affiliate broker exam blueprint breaks the state-law content into named domains, each with its own item count. Knowing how many questions each area carries helps you allocate study time proportionally instead of spreading effort evenly across topics that carry very different weight.

• Advertising and Marketing: 7 items.
• Agency and Disclosure Issues: 6 items.
• Broker/Affiliate Relationships: 5 items.
• Handling of Documents and Record Keeping: 4 items.
• Duties and Powers of the Real Estate Commission: 4 items.
• Licensing Requirements: 4 items.
• Handling of Trust/Escrow Funds: 4 items.

Advertising and marketing rules, plus agency and disclosure obligations, together account for more of the state-law questions than any other pairing, so both deserve early and repeated review. The broker exam uses the same domain names but weights several of them more heavily, since brokers carry more supervisory responsibility than affiliate brokers.

Before you can sit for the affiliate broker exam, Tennessee requires you to meet a short list of eligibility conditions and complete pre-licensing education.

• Age: you must be at least 18 years old.
• Education: proof of high school graduation is required.
• Pre-license hours: the state requires 90 total hours of real estate education for the affiliate broker path.
• Of those hours, 60 hours must cover real estate principles and fundamentals, completed before you sit for the exam.
• Separately, a 30-hour “Course for New Affiliates” is required, with a completion letter or certificate included in your application.
• Initial application fee: $91.

The licensing entry point for this path is titled “Affiliate Broker,” and it is regulated by the Tennessee Real Estate Commission, which was established in 1951 to oversee brokers, affiliate brokers, and related license types in the state. Because the 60-hour principles course must be finished before exam day but the 30-hour new-affiliate course is tied to the application itself, most candidates study the principles material first and treat the new-affiliate course as a separate, later step.

If you do not pass on the first attempt, Tennessee's retake rules are specific about timing and how long a passing score on one section stays valid.

• A passing score on one section is valid for two retakes of the failed section or one year, whichever comes first — so you don't need to retake a section you already passed within that window.
• After a second failed attempt, candidates must wait 30 days before retaking the exam.
• If you need to reschedule, cancellation notice must be received at least 2 days before your scheduled exam date.

Once licensed, renewal is required every 2 years at $75 for the licensee and firm renewal fee. Some affiliate brokers later pursue the broker license; the fee to upgrade from affiliate to broker is $91. Because the retake clock and the section-validity clock both run in parallel, candidates who fail one section should schedule the retake promptly rather than letting the passing side's validity window lapse.

Because the affiliate broker exam scores the national and state sections separately, the most effective study plans treat them as two distinct preparation tracks rather than one blended review.

• Work through the state-law domains in rough order of item count — advertising and marketing, then agency and disclosure, then broker/affiliate relationships — so your review time roughly matches how the exam is weighted.
• Use timed practice sessions that mirror the real section lengths so you build a feel for pacing rather than just topic recall.
• Review missed questions by domain, not just by right or wrong, so you can see whether a whole content area needs a second pass.
• Save a final practice test for the last few days before your exam date to confirm both sections are exam-ready, since a strong showing on one side cannot make up for falling short on the other.

A short, well-organized night-before review of definitions, key numbers, and commonly confused terms tends to help more at this stage than cramming new material, since the exam rewards recall speed and precision over last-minute learning.