Does New York Publish an Exam Question Count or Passing Score?

There is no official subject-by-subject breakdown either. You will see figures like “75 questions” and “70 percent to pass” repeated on prep sites, but none of them appear on a current Department page, so treat them as unofficial.

Official source map

This guide uses the New York State Department of State salesperson page for the facts the agency currently publishes about format, curriculum basis, time and result reporting. The official 77-hour syllabus supplies the 19 subjects and their course-hour allocations. The Department's FAQ confirms the separate school exam and the eAccessNY result labels. Real Property Law section 441 describes the written examination and the areas of competency it is designed to assess without stating a numerical question count or passing percentage.

Published versus not published

The blank rows are the honest answer. Filling them with numbers nobody can cite to the Department would only look more complete.

What New York officially says about the examination

The Department's current salesperson page makes four direct statements:

1. The written exam is multiple choice.
2. It is based on the 77-hour prelicensing curriculum.
3. Applicants receive 1.5 hours after the instructions conclude.
4. Results are Pass or Fail, and no numerical score is provided.

Real Property Law section 441 adds the purpose of the written examination. It authorizes questions that allow the Department to assess trustworthiness and competence to transact real estate business in a way that safeguards the public. For salesperson applicants, the statute identifies knowledge involving contracts, real property, agency, Article 12-A, fair housing and discrimination, basic job skills, ethical obligations and applicable General Obligations Law provisions.

The law describes competency areas. It does not give a number of questions or a numerical cutoff in the current section.

Reading is the first step

Turn what you read into something you can recall.

Start with the free website diagnostic to find a useful next subject. For a longer review routine, the Pass New York app keeps missed questions and study progress together. Download it free and explore the included features before deciding on full access.

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Why the 77 course hours are not exam weighting

The official syllabus allocates 77 instructional hours among 19 subjects. For example, Law of Agency receives 11 course hours, while several other subjects receive one, two, three, four, five, six or ten hours.

Those numbers describe qualifying education. They do not state how many questions from each subject appear on the Department exam.

The difference matters:

• course hours tell approved schools how much instruction is assigned
• exam weighting would tell candidates how questions are distributed
• the current Department salesperson page publishes the first, not the second

So 11 agency hours does not mean 11 questions or 11 percent of the exam. Hours and questions are different units, and the Department has never published a conversion.

Use What the 77-Hour Course Covers for the actual instructional table.

Why a Pass or Fail result does not reveal the cutoff

After the examination, eAccessNY displays “Pass” or “Fail.” While processing, it may display “Waiting for Score.” The Department says candidates do not receive a numerical score.

A Pass label tells you the Department's standard was met. It does not tell you:

• how many questions were answered correctly
• how many questions appeared
• the numerical cutoff
• performance by subject
• the margin above the standard

A Fail label likewise does not tell you how many questions separated the result from passing.

You cannot work backward from a nonnumerical result to prove an official question count or cutoff.

How to evaluate a number you see elsewhere

When a website, video, school handout or social post states a question count or passing percentage, ask:

1. Does it link to a current New York Department of State source?

A circular chain of exam-prep websites repeating one another is not a government source.

2. Does the official page actually contain the number?

A link to the general salesperson page is not evidence if the linked page never states the claimed figure.

3. Is the source about the salesperson exam?

Do not import a number from the New York broker exam, another profession, a school final or another state's test.

4. Is it current?

An archived manual or old provider page may describe an earlier administration. Current exam facts need a current source.

5. Is the writer labeling an estimate honestly?

A planning assumption, recollection or provider practice is not an official state rule. It should not be written as one.

If the Department ever publishes a count or a cutoff, this answer changes. Until then, the accurate answer is that those figures are not on the official salesperson page.

What this means for exam preparation

You can build a strong study plan without a published count. You just measure readiness differently.

Cover all 19 curriculum subjects

The Department says the exam is based on the 77-hour curriculum, so that is your study boundary. Skipping a subject because an unofficial chart calls it “light” is a gamble with no evidence behind it.

Track mastery by objective

For each subject, ask whether you can:

• explain the governing rule without answer choices
• identify the rule in a new scenario
• distinguish it from a plausible misconception
• complete the applicable calculation with correct units
• explain why each wrong answer is wrong

Track confidence as well as accuracy

A correct low-confidence answer may show incomplete recall. A high-confidence wrong answer shows a misconception that needs immediate correction.

Sort every practice answer into one of four buckets:

Use practice percentages as internal trends

A practice score can show whether your performance is improving under consistent conditions. It cannot be converted into an official New York pass prediction when the Department does not publish a numerical cutoff or when the practice set does not reproduce a state exam.

Compare like with like:

• same length or study duration
• mixed subject coverage
• unseen questions
• closed-book conditions
• explanations reviewed after completion
• repeated measures over time

The trend is useful. The claim that a particular practice percentage equals a New York pass is not supported by the current published facts.

A readiness standard that does not pretend to be the state cutoff

Use a learning standard, not an alleged official score:

1. Every curriculum subject has been studied.
2. Every mapped objective has at least one recent retrieval attempt.
3. Weak subjects have been relearned, not merely reread.
4. Calculation setups are correct before calculator entry.
5. High-confidence misses are rare and corrected.
6. Mixed practice performance is stable across more than one session.
7. You can explain why the best answer applies.
8. You can complete a timed mixed session without losing accuracy to rushing.

None of this predicts your state result. It does give you evidence you can see that your preparation is broad and repeatable.

Claims this site intentionally avoids

We do not label any of the following as official unless the Department publishes them in a current source:

• a fixed salesperson-exam question count
• a numerical passing score
• a percentage cutoff
• a subject weighting table
• a claim that a fixed number of questions will come from a topic
• a conversion from practice score to state result
• a claim that copied questions will appear on the live exam

Original practice should teach decisions and rules. It should not pretend to reproduce protected exam content.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the New York real estate salesperson exam?

The New York Department of State does not publish an official question count for the salesperson exam. Figures like 75 questions come from unofficial sources.

What percentage do you need to pass?

New York does not publish a passing percentage. The Department of State reports salesperson exam results only as Pass or Fail, with no numerical score.

Does New York publish a passing score?

No. As of September 25, 2026, no Department of State page, regulation or statute states a numerical passing score for the salesperson exam.

Is the exam multiple choice?

Yes. The Department of State says the salesperson exam is multiple choice.

How long is the exam?

The New York salesperson exam allows 1.5 hours (90 minutes), and the clock starts after the instructions end.

Does the exam follow the 77-hour curriculum?

Yes. The Department says the written exam is based on the 77-hour prelicensing curriculum.

Are the curriculum hours the exam weights?

No published Department source says they are. They are instructional time allocations for the qualifying course.

Does eAccessNY show your percentage?

No. The Department FAQ describes the final result as Pass or Fail, and the salesperson page says no numerical score is provided.

Can a practice score predict a pass?

Only loosely. A practice score shows how you did on that practice set; with no published state cutoff, no practice percentage can be an official pass predictor.

Why do other websites give exact numbers?

Usually they are repeating older third-party material or each other. Ask for the Department citation and check that the linked page actually states the number.

What evidence would change this answer?

A current Department page, official candidate bulletin, regulation or statute that explicitly states the salesperson-exam figure would support changing the answer.

What to do next

Study the complete 19-subject guide, use free practice to find objective-level gaps and follow a study plan. Read the exam-results guide for the exact eAccessNY statuses and the course-versus-state-exam comparison to keep the two exams separate.

Sources and verification notes

When we say a figure is “not published,” we mean it does not appear in the official sources listed below. If the Department issues a candidate bulletin or changes its page, we will update this article.

1. New York State Department of State, Become a Real Estate Salesperson. Multiple-choice format, 77-hour curriculum basis, 1.5-hour testing time, Pass or Fail reporting and no numerical score.
2. New York State Department of State, Real Estate Salesperson 77-Hour Curriculum. Nineteen official subjects and course-hour allocations.
3. New York State Department of State, Real Estate Salesperson Frequently Asked Questions. Separate school examination and eAccessNY result labels.
4. New York Real Property Law section 441. Written-examination purpose, competency areas, qualifying education and application framework.

This article reports what the current official sources do and do not publish. It does not provide a hidden score, reproduce live exam content or predict an individual's result.