- The 2025 TNREB Pass Rate Data
- Why the TNREB Splits Into Two Separate Scores
- Domains That Drag Scores Down
- Fee Structure and What a Fail Actually Costs
- The Retake Window and Why It Matters for Pass Rates
- Closing the Gap Between National and State Scores
- Who Is Sitting for This Exam
- Raising Your Odds Before Test Day
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The 2025 all-attempt pass rate was 61.95% national and 80.43% state - national is the harder hurdle.
- You need 60/80 national points and 38/50 state points; both must clear on the same or a valid retake.
- A passed section stays valid for two retakes of the failed section or one year, whichever comes first.
- Contracts (19%), Agency (13%), and Practice of Real Estate (12%) carry the most national weight.
The 2025 TNREB Pass Rate Data
The Tennessee Real Estate Commission, working through its testing vendor PSI, publishes candidate performance for the Tennessee Real Estate Broker Exam (TNREB) as two distinct figures rather than one blended score. For 2025, the all-attempt pass rate was 61.95% on the national portion and 80.43% on the state portion. That nearly 20-point spread is the single most important thing to understand before you register: the two halves of this exam are not equally difficult in practice, even though they cover related material.
Because the exam is scored and reported as separate national and state components, "pass rate" for the TNREB is really two questions in one. A candidate can clear the state law section comfortably and still fail on national broker content, or vice versa. If you're still mapping out what the exam actually contains before worrying about pass rates, the TNREB Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 20 Content Areas breaks down every one of the content areas referenced below.
Why the TNREB Splits Into Two Separate Scores
The exam structure explains the pass rate gap. The national broker section has 75 scored items worth 80 points, delivered in 150 minutes, and requires a raw score of 60 out of 80 points to pass. The state section has 50 scored items, delivered in 90 minutes, and requires 38 out of 50 points. Combined, that's 125 scored items, though PSI may insert 5 to 10 unscored experimental items that look identical to real questions but don't count toward your result - you won't know which ones they are.
The national side draws from broad, transferable broker-practice concepts: ownership, valuation, financing, contracts, agency, and calculations. The state side is Tennessee-specific law and commission procedure. Lower pass rates on the national portion generally track back to the sheer breadth of concepts tested versus the narrower, rule-based nature of the state content. For a full walkthrough of exactly how the point thresholds work, see TNREB Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
Treat this as two exams under one roof. A study plan that spends equal time on both sides is misallocated - national content needs more repetitions given its lower historical pass rate.
Domains That Drag Scores Down
National broker content is weighted unevenly, and the heaviest domains are also conceptually dense - a combination that plausibly explains why the national pass rate trails the state rate.
Domain 5: Contracts (19%)
The single largest national domain. Expect scenario questions on offer/acceptance, contingencies, breach, and remedies.
- Master the elements of a valid contract before memorizing forms
Domain 6: Agency (13%)
Fiduciary duties, agency relationships, and disclosure obligations recur across both national and state-flavored questions.
- Know the duties owed to clients versus customers cold
Domain 10: Practice of Real Estate (12%)
Day-to-day broker operations, licensing law application, and business practice questions.
- Expect "what would a broker do" situational items
On the state side, three domains are tied for the largest weight at 14% each: Advertising and Marketing, Handling of Trust/Escrow Funds, and Agency and Disclosure Issues. Trust/escrow procedure in particular tends to punish candidates who study only the "big idea" of fiduciary duty without learning Tennessee's specific handling and record-keeping timelines. Given that the state pass rate (80.43%) already runs well above the national rate, these three domains are where a state-side failure is most likely to originate if it happens at all. A domain-by-domain breakdown of study priority lives in TNREB Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
Fee Structure and What a Fail Actually Costs
The financial mechanics of retesting matter more than most candidates realize, because the TNREB lets you retest only the section you failed rather than starting over.
| Exam Component | Cost | Items / Time | Passing Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full exam (both sections) | $63 | 125 scored items | 60/80 national + 38/50 state |
| National-only retest | $37 | 75 scored items, 150 minutes | 60/80 |
| State-only retest | $26 | 50 scored items, 90 minutes | 38/50 |
Given the national pass rate of 61.95% versus the state pass rate of 80.43%, statistically more candidates will be paying the $37 national-only retest fee than the $26 state-only fee. Budget accordingly - a full breakdown of every fee, course cost, and hidden expense in the licensing pathway is in TNREB Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
The Retake Window and Why It Matters for Pass Rates
A passed section doesn't stay banked forever. Under PSI's rules (bulletin updated July 1, 2025), a passed section remains valid for two retakes of the failed section or one year, whichever comes first. That means if you pass state but fail national on attempt one, you have a firm clock and a limited number of tries before you'd need to pass state again too.
This rule quietly shapes reported pass rates: all-attempt figures like 61.95% and 80.43% include repeat test-takers within that window, not just first-time candidates. If you're not sure how the testing calendar and retake windows line up with your registration, TNREB Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling lays out the scheduling mechanics.
Key Takeaway
Don't let a passed section's validity clock run out. If you fail national on your first sitting, schedule the retake promptly rather than letting the one-year window and two-attempt cap close in on you.
Closing the Gap Between National and State Scores
Given the delivery format - computer-based, closed-book, available at test centers or via remote proctoring - there's no notes crutch to lean on during either section. Remote candidates face an added constraint worth planning around: no scratch paper and no breaks are permitted during remote-proctored sessions. If your plan includes Real Estate Calculations (6% of the national content) or contract-math scenarios, that no-scratch-paper rule for remote testing is a real factor in choosing test-center delivery instead.
Because the national exam allots 150 minutes for 75 items and the state exam allots 90 minutes for 50 items, pacing is roughly two minutes per item on both sides - but national items skew more scenario-based, which tends to eat more of that per-item budget. If you want an honest assessment of where the real difficulty sits before you commit a testing date, How Hard Is the TNREB Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 goes deeper into item style and pacing pressure.
National Heavyweights
- Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%) - the two largest national domains
- Build a contract-elements and fiduciary-duty reference sheet
Remaining National Domains
- Practice of Real Estate (12%), Financing (9%), Valuation (8%)
- Property Disclosures, Transfer of Title, Calculations, Land Use, Property Management
State's Three 14% Domains
- Advertising and Marketing, Handling of Trust/Escrow Funds, Agency and Disclosure Issues
- Drill commission rules, escrow timelines, and required disclosures
Full Timed Simulation
- Run a full 150-minute national and 90-minute state session on ../ under real time pressure
Who Is Sitting for This Exam
Eligibility for the TNREB generally requires 36 months of active affiliate-broker experience, or 24 months with a qualifying real estate degree, plus 120 approved classroom hours - including the mandatory 30-hour Office/Broker Management course - and TREC approval of your application. That baseline naturally screens the candidate pool toward experienced affiliate brokers rather than newcomers, which is part of why the state-side pass rate (80.43%) runs higher: candidates already understand agency practice from the field before they ever open a study guide. If you're unsure whether you currently meet the experience and education thresholds, TNREB Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify walks through every prerequisite in detail.
Once you pass, the clock doesn't stop: your license application is due within one year after passing, and new brokers must complete 120 additional approved hours before their fourth license anniversary, then keep up 16 CE hours per two-year renewal (including the 6-hour TREC CORE course) plus maintain E&O coverage. Brokers who clear this exam typically move into managing affiliate brokers, running brokerages, or overseeing transaction compliance - see TNREB Jobs and TNREB Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis for what the credential opens up on the employment side, and Is the TNREB Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 for the broader cost-versus-benefit picture.
Raising Your Odds Before Test Day
The pass rate data points to a clear strategy: spend disproportionate prep time on the national section, and within it, prioritize Contracts, Agency, and Practice of Real Estate specifically, since those three domains together represent 44% of the national weight. On the state side, don't coast just because 80.43% clear it - the three 14% domains (Advertising and Marketing, Trust/Escrow Funds, Agency and Disclosure Issues) are exactly where a state-side miss is most likely to happen.
Run full-length, timed practice sessions that mirror the real split - 150 minutes for a 75-item national set, 90 minutes for a 50-item state set - using resources like our practice test platform so pacing pressure is familiar before it counts. Pair that with a condensed review pass using TNREB Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts in your final week, and confirm your registration and testing-window details through TNREB Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling so nothing about the retake clock catches you off guard.
Frequently Asked Questions
The official 2025 all-attempt pass rates were 61.95% on the national broker portion and 80.43% on the state portion, reported separately by PSI.
The national section covers broader, more scenario-heavy broker-practice content across domains like Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%), while the state section is narrower, rule-based Tennessee law content - a difference the pass rate gap reflects.
No. You only retest the section you failed. A passed section stays valid for two retakes of the failed section or one year, whichever comes first.
A national-only retest costs $37 and a state-only retest costs $26, versus $63 for the full exam taken together.
There's no published data separating remote from test-center results, but remote sessions disallow scratch paper and breaks, which candidates relying on calculation work-space should weigh before choosing that format.