Ohio Real Estate Exam Study Guide PDF (Free) | 2026
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Studying for the Ohio real estate exam is easier when your guide matches today’s rules, and some of what’s online hasn’t caught up. We wrote this one to be current and practical. It walks you through how the exam is built, what changed in Ohio’s education requirement, how to spend your study hours across four weeks, and which Ohio topics deserve extra time.
Each section stands on its own, so you can read it straight through or jump to the part you need. If you’d rather study away from a screen, our free Ohio Real Estate Exam Study Guide PDF has everything in a printable format.
Want this study guide on paper? Download our free Ohio Real Estate Exam Study Guide PDF. No email, no sign-up, just the guide.
What’s on the Ohio Real Estate Exam
PSI runs the exam for the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing, and it comes in two portions. PSI also mixes in 5 to 10 experimental questions that don’t count toward your score. Nothing marks them, and they still use up your clock, so treat every question as if it counts.
| National Portion | State Portion | |
| Questions | 80 | 40 |
| Time Limit | 120 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Passing Score | 70% | 70% |
| Correct Answers Needed | 56 | 28 |
On the national side, Contracts is the heaviest category at 19%, followed by Agency at 13% and Practice of Real Estate at 12%. Practice of Real Estate is where fair housing and antitrust live.
The Ohio portion is where the weight sits. License Law and Rules of the Ohio Real Estate Commission is 16 of the 40 questions, and Brokerage Relationships, which is Ohio’s agency law, is 14. Together that’s 30 of 40, or 75% of the state portion.
| National – Topic Area (80 scored questions) | Exam % | State – Topic Area (40 scored questions) | Items | Exam % |
| Contracts | 19% | License Law and Rules of the Ohio Real Estate Commission | 16 | 40% |
| Agency | 13% | |||
| Practice of Real Estate | 12% | Brokerage Relationships (Agency Law) | 14 | 35% |
| Property Ownership | 10% | |||
| Financing | 10% | Licensing Requirements | 6 | 15% |
| Valuation | 8% | State Governance of the Real Estate Profession | 4 | 10% |
| Property Disclosures | 7% | |||
| Real Estate Calculations | 7% | |||
| Transfer of Title | 6% | |||
| Land Use Controls | 5% | |||
| Property Management | 3% | |||
Source: PSI Ohio Candidate Information Bulletin (update 7/1/2026).
A few mechanics help too. You can sit the exam at a PSI test center or take it online with a proctor. If you fail one portion, you retake only that portion, and you do it within your original 12-month window. Ohio puts no cap on how many times you can retake it.
Ohio’s 100-Hour Pre-License Requirement
Ohio requires 100 hours of pre-license education for the salesperson license. The breakdown is 40 hours of Real Estate Principles and Practices, 40 hours of Ohio Real Estate Law, 10 hours of Real Estate Appraisal, and 10 hours of Real Estate Finance. The Ohio Real Estate Law course also covers civil rights, housing discrimination, and desegregation. You take the courses at an institution of higher education, in a classroom or through distance education.
| Course | Hours |
|---|---|
| Real Estate Principles and Practices | 40 |
| Ohio Real Estate Law | 40 |
| Real Estate Appraisal | 10 |
| Real Estate Finance | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
Here’s why you’ll still see 120. Before April 9, 2025, the law required 20 hours each of appraisal and finance, which made 120 hours in total. House Bill 238 cut those two courses to 10 hours each, and the change took effect on April 9, 2025. Older pages haven’t all caught up. When you’re deciding what to trust, go to the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and the Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing.
A few details matter if you already started. Ohio judges your education by the law in effect on the day you completed each course, so a 20-hour appraisal or finance course you finished under the old rules still counts. Courses you finish on or after April 9, 2025 follow the 100-hour rules. If you haven’t held a real estate license in the four years before you apply, your courses must have been completed within the ten years before your application. Attorneys admitted to practice before the supreme court don’t need the Ohio Real Estate Law course.
The exam leans on what you learned in those 100 hours, so it helps to schedule it while the material is fresh.
Your 4-Week Ohio Exam Study Plan
This plan puts about 66 hours of new material into three weeks, then spends a fourth week on timed practice. The hours are our suggestion, not an official number. We cover the national portion first and Ohio law second, because the national topics give you the vocabulary the Ohio rules use.
- Week 1 is national foundations, about 16 hours. Start with Property Ownership, which covers legal descriptions and easements, then Land Use Controls and Transfer of Title, which cover zoning, deeds, and closing. Give Contracts the biggest block, about 8 hours, because at 19% it’s the heaviest national category. These four topics make up about 40% of the national portion, roughly 32 of the 80 questions. Finish the week by writing a one-line summary of each topic from memory.
- Week 2 finishes the national portion, about 24 hours. It’s the longest national week because it holds seven topics and about 60% of the questions, or roughly 48 of 80. Spend your time on Agency, Practice of Real Estate, Financing, Valuation, Property Disclosures, and Real Estate Calculations, then finish with Property Management. Do the math by hand. Handheld calculators are prohibited in the exam room, so practice prorations, loan-to-value, and cap rate with pencil and paper. Agency basics belong here because Week 3 builds on them. End the week with mixed review, agency scenarios next to contract scenarios, so you see how the two connect.
- Week 3 is Ohio state law, about 26 hours, and it’s the week not to rush. License Law and Rules and Brokerage Relationships hold 30 of the 40 state questions, so give them about 20 of those hours. Cover advertising and team advertising, the broker-salesperson relationship, how you handle money, agency disclosure, and the duties you owe clients and customers. Then spend the rest on Licensing Requirements, including post-license and continuing education, and on State Governance, which covers the Division, the Commission, investigations, and the Recovery Fund. Keep a running list of what you miss, and read it again at the end of the week.
- Week 4 is timed practice, about 10 to 12 hours. Ohio gives you both portions in one sitting, so run at least one full 180-minute session, 120 minutes national and 60 minutes state. Review every miss, spend a day on the topics that keep slipping, and keep the last two days for review only, with no new material.
If you’re still finishing your 100 hours, start Week 1 during your last course, and pick your exam date early. Your eligibility window is 12 months, and it passes faster than it feels.
Ohio-Specific Topics to Focus On
A handful of Ohio topics carry most of the state portion, and they’re the ones worth your extra hours.
- License Law and Rules is the biggest. Expect advertising, including team advertising, and the broker-salesperson relationship, including the employment or independent contractor agreement. Commissions flow through the broker, so know how a salesperson gets paid. Handling of monies and other valuable considerations is on the salesperson outline, while trust accounts themselves are marked broker only. Ohio Fair Housing also lives here, and it covers nine protected classes, two more than federal law. Property management and rentals show up too.
- Brokerage Relationships is Ohio’s agency law. Ohio requires a licensee to sign a written agency agreement before advertising or showing a seller’s residential property, before making an offer on a buyer’s behalf, and before making an offer to lease residential premises for a term longer than 18 months. Know agency disclosure, who you owe duties to as a client versus a customer, confidentiality, and what counts as the unauthorized practice of law. Know false representation of your license status or expertise as well.
- Licensing Requirements covers the activities that need a license, renewal, and changes in license status such as military, retired, and inactive. It also covers the education that comes after you’re licensed. You complete one 20-hour post-license course within 12 months of getting your license, and your first continuing education is due on or before your birthday occurring three years after your initial licensure date, when you report 30 hours.
- If you’re short on time, rank the topics by points per hour. License Law and Rules gives you 16 questions, Brokerage Relationships 14, and the other two categories together give you 10, so the first two deserve about three of every four state study hours.
- State Governance is the smallest category at 4 questions. It covers the Division and the Commission, investigations, hearings and appeals, penalties, and the Recovery Fund.
Ohio Real Estate Exam Study Tips
Keep in mind these tips while preparing for the exam.
- Don’t spend all your time on the national portion. It has twice the questions, but the state portion is where the Ohio-specific points hide, and 30 of its 40 questions come from license law and agency. You need 70% on both portions, so a weak state score sinks you even if the national portion goes well.
- Build a one-page sheet for license law, agency, and brokerage rules. Put three questions at the top for every agency scenario. Who is the client? What did the licensee sign? What did the licensee have to disclose? Writing the sheet forces you to pick what matters, and it gives you something small to reread the night before.
- Practice under the full PSI time limit. That means 120 minutes for 80 national questions and 60 minutes for 40 state questions, back to back. Practice your math by hand, too, since handheld calculators aren’t allowed and scratch paper is only available at a test center.
- Schedule your exam while the 100-hour material is still fresh, and confirm your eligibility window before choosing a date. You have 12 months from the date on the label of your first Candidate Information Bulletin to pass both portions. If you run past it, you start the application over.
Once you have a plan, it helps to see where you stand. When you’re ready to practice, take our free Ohio real estate practice exam and see which topics need more time.
Ohio Real Estate Exam Requirements
Here is the path to an Ohio salesperson license at a glance.
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Be a U.S. citizen or a legal alien, and be honest and truthful.
- Have a high school diploma or equivalent if you were born after 1950.
- Complete 100 hours of pre-license education.
- Have an Ohio broker sponsor you, with the broker’s recommendation on your application.
- Pass a fingerprint background check, state and FBI, within 10 days of submitting your application.
- Submit the Salesperson Examination Application to the Division. The fee is $81.
- Pass both portions of the PSI exam within 12 months of your bulletin date. PSI charges $66 for both portions together.
Confirm current fees and timing rules with the Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing before you apply, and see our Ohio license requirements page for the full process.
Download Your Free Ohio Exam Study Guide
Our free Ohio Real Estate Exam Study Guide PDF is the printable companion to this post. It has the 100-hour education update, the exam structure, the four-week study plan with hours for each topic, the topic weights for both portions, key terms in plain English, and a closer look at Ohio license law and agency, where most of the state portion sits. It’s free with no sign-up, so you can print it, mark it up, and keep it next to your course materials.
Download the free Ohio Real Estate Exam Study Guide PDF, then take our free Ohio practice exam to see where you stand. When you want the full question bank and progress tracking, our Ohio exam prep gives you both.
