- Eligibility Basics: Age, Education, Background
- The 60-Hour Principles of Real Estate Requirement
- Fingerprint-Based Background Requirements
- Registration, Fees, and Scheduling With PSI
- Exam Format: What You're Actually Sitting For
- Domain Breakdown by Requirement Category
- After You Pass: Licensing and Post-License Rules
- Mapping Requirements to a Study Plan
- Frequently Asked Questions
- You must be 18+, hold a high school diploma or equivalent, and complete 60 hours of Board-approved Principles of Real Estate education.
- Fingerprint-based background clearance is mandatory before licensure, not optional paperwork.
- The exam costs $60 per attempt through PSI and covers 80 national plus 40 Virginia-specific questions.
- Passing requires 56/80 correct nationally and 30/40 correct on the state portion - separate thresholds, not a combined score.
Eligibility Basics: Age, Education, Background
Before you ever sit down at a PSI testing center, the Virginia Real Estate Board sets a short list of baseline eligibility rules for the Virginia Real Estate Salesperson Exam (VARE-S). These aren't suggestions - they're gatekeeping requirements checked before your exam application is even approved.
To qualify, an applicant must:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Hold a high school diploma or its equivalent (GED accepted)
- Complete 60 class or clock hours of Board-approved Principles of Real Estate education
- Satisfy fingerprint-based background requirements administered through the Board
None of these thresholds are unusual by licensing-exam standards, but the education and background pieces trip up more candidates than the age or diploma rules. We'll break each one down below. If you want a broader orientation to what the credential actually is before diving into logistics, What Is VARE-S? and VARE-S Meaning are useful starting points.
The 60-Hour Principles of Real Estate Requirement
The single largest prerequisite is completing 60 class or clock hours of Board-approved Principles of Real Estate coursework. This isn't a generic real estate primer - Virginia requires the course to be approved specifically by the Real Estate Board, which sits within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.
Course providers vary in format (in-person, live-online, or self-paced online), but the hour count doesn't flex. Sixty hours is the floor. Candidates who complete coursework through non-approved providers, or who accumulate hours from out-of-state programs without Virginia equivalency review, risk having their application rejected or delayed while the Board verifies credit.
This prerequisite matters for exam prep too. The national portion of the VARE-S draws heavily on the same content taught in an approved Principles course - property ownership, contracts, financing, agency law, and more. If you treat your 60-hour course as a checkbox rather than genuine content mastery, you'll feel that gap immediately when you start reviewing the VARE-S Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 17 Content Areas.
Key Takeaway
Confirm your course provider's approval status with the Virginia Real Estate Board before enrolling - hours from an unapproved provider will not count toward your 60-hour requirement.
Fingerprint-Based Background Requirements
Virginia requires applicants to satisfy fingerprint-based background check requirements as part of licensure eligibility. This step exists independently of the exam and coursework - you can pass the VARE-S and still be held up on licensure if your background submission isn't complete or comes back with unresolved issues.
Practical points candidates often overlook:
- Fingerprinting typically needs to happen through an approved vendor, and results are routed to the Board rather than to you directly
- Processing time varies, so submitting fingerprints early - ideally while you're still finishing your 60-hour course - avoids a licensing bottleneck after you pass the exam
- A criminal record does not automatically disqualify an applicant, but certain findings can trigger additional Board review
Because this requirement runs on its own timeline separate from exam scheduling, it's worth starting the background check process as soon as you're eligible rather than waiting until after your exam date.
Registration, Fees, and Scheduling With PSI
PSI administers the Virginia Real Estate Salesperson Exam on behalf of the Real Estate Board. Once your prerequisites - education, background clearance, age, and diploma verification - are confirmed, you become eligible to register for a test date.
The exam fee is $60 per attempt. That fee is paid directly to PSI when you schedule, and it applies each time you sit for the exam, whether you're taking it for the first time or retaking a portion after a failed attempt. For a full cost picture that includes coursework and other associated expenses, see VARE-S Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
PSI publishes a Candidate Information Bulletin that governs exam-day policies, and the version relevant for 2026 candidates was revised February 18, 2026. Always check that you're referencing the current bulletin, since testing rules, ID requirements, and calculator policies can be updated between revisions. Scheduling logistics, blackout considerations, and how far in advance to book are covered in VARE-S Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Exam Format: What You're Actually Sitting For
Understanding the exam's structure is itself part of meeting the requirements - you can't plan a realistic prep timeline without knowing what you're walking into. The VARE-S is split into two distinct, separately scored portions:
| Portion | Question Count | Time Allotted | Passing Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | 80 scored multiple-choice | 105 minutes | 56 correct |
| Virginia State | 40 scored multiple-choice | 45 minutes | 30 correct |
PSI may also include additional unscored experimental questions mixed into either section, which are used to evaluate future exam items but don't count toward your score. You won't be able to identify which questions are experimental, so the safest approach is to treat every question as scored.
Because passing is calculated separately for each portion, a strong national score cannot offset a weak state-portion performance, and vice versa. For the precise mechanics behind these numbers, review VARE-S Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. If you're still gauging how demanding the exam feels relative to your background, How Hard Is the VARE-S Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and VARE-S Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows offer additional context.
Domain Breakdown by Requirement Category
The VARE-S content outline is organized into 17 domains - 11 national and 6 Virginia-specific - and knowing this breakdown is part of understanding exam requirements, since your preparation needs to mirror the weighting.
National Domains (1-11)
These cover general real estate principles tested across the national portion.
- Domain 1: Property Ownership (10%)
- Domain 2: Land Use Controls (5%)
- Domain 3: Valuation (8%)
- Domain 4: Financing (10%)
- Domain 5: Contracts (19% - the largest national domain)
- Domain 6: Agency (13%)
- Domain 7: Property Disclosures (7%)
- Domain 8: Property Management (3%)
- Domain 9: Transfer of Title (6%)
- Domain 10: Practice of Real Estate (12%)
- Domain 11: Real Estate Calculations (7%)
Virginia-Specific Domains (12-17)
These make up the 45-minute state portion and require Virginia statute-level knowledge, not general real estate theory.
- Domain 12: Licensing
- Domain 13: Escrow Accounts
- Domain 14: Disclosure Requirements
- Domain 15: Agency Definitions and Relationships (30% - the largest state domain)
- Domain 16: Virginia Fair Housing Law and Regulations
- Domain 17: Specific Acts Pertaining to Real Estate Practice
Because Contracts carries the most weight nationally and Agency Definitions and Relationships dominates the state portion, these two domains deserve disproportionate study time relative to their neighbors. A full walk-through of every domain, including how the sub-topics connect, is available in VARE-S Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 17 Content Areas.
After You Pass: Licensing and Post-License Rules
Meeting exam requirements is only half the picture - Virginia also imposes ongoing requirements once you're licensed. A Virginia real estate salesperson license is valid for 2 years. Within the first year of activation, new salespersons must complete 30 hours of post-license education, a requirement distinct from the pre-license 60-hour course you took to qualify for the exam.
After that initial period, experienced salespersons shift to a standard continuing education cycle: 16 hours of continuing education per renewal term. Missing these deadlines can put your license into inactive status, so it's worth building post-license education into your calendar the moment you activate your license - not waiting until the deadline approaches.
Understanding these downstream obligations also helps frame whether the credential fits your career plans. If you're weighing the investment of time and money against what the license enables, Is the VARE-S Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and VARE-S Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis address that question directly, and VARE-S Jobs covers where licensed salespersons typically work once qualified.
Mapping Requirements to a Study Plan
Once your eligibility items are in motion - course enrolled, fingerprinting scheduled, exam date targeted - the smartest next move is aligning your study calendar with domain weight rather than studying domains in the order they appear in a textbook.
Contracts and Agency
- Start with Domain 5 (Contracts, 19%) since it's the single heaviest national domain
- Layer in Domain 6 (Agency, 13%) immediately after, since agency concepts recur inside contract scenarios
Financing, Valuation, Ownership
- Cover Domain 4 (Financing, 10%) and Domain 1 (Property Ownership, 10%) together
- Add Domain 3 (Valuation, 8%) since it shares math logic with financing calculations
Practice, Disclosures, Calculations
- Work through Domain 10 (Practice of Real Estate, 12%) and Domain 7 (Property Disclosures, 7%)
- Drill Domain 11 (Real Estate Calculations, 7%) using an approved nonprogrammable calculator
Virginia State Portion
- Focus heavily on Domain 15 (Agency Definitions and Relationships, 30% of the state portion)
- Finish with Domains 12-14 and 16-17: Licensing, Escrow Accounts, Disclosure Requirements, Fair Housing, and Specific Acts
This isn't a rigid template - it's a demonstration of scheduling logic: heaviest-weighted domains first, related domains grouped together, and the state portion tackled once national fundamentals are solid. For a more detailed week-by-week methodology, including how to structure review sessions and practice testing, see the VARE-S Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. You can also reinforce recall in short bursts using VARE-S Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts during the final days before your exam.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Board-approved Principles of Real Estate course is a prerequisite that must be completed and verified before your exam application is approved, not something you can finish after registering.
No. The $60 fee applies per attempt through PSI, meaning it's charged again if you need to retake either portion after an unsuccessful attempt.
Yes, and this matters because the two portions are scored independently - 56 of 80 correct nationally and 30 of 40 correct on the state section. A strong score on one side does not offset a weak score on the other.
You can still sit for the exam if your other eligibility items are met, but licensure itself typically requires the background clearance to be complete, so it's best to submit fingerprints as early as possible to avoid a post-exam delay.
No. The 30 hours of post-license education required within the first year after activation is a separate requirement from the 16 hours of continuing education required per renewal term for experienced salespersons.