Where to take the 60-hour Arkansas course
Arkansas approves fewer online pre-license courses than most states — the majority of approved 60-hour offerings are classroom-based. These are the two national schools we could confirm sell the Arkansas course.
The CE Shop
- The only one of the two that also sells the 18-hour Arkansas post-license course, so you are not hunting for a second provider six months into your licence
- Appears on AREC's education provider roster for both salesperson pre-license and salesperson post-license
- Sold in tiers, so exam prep is optional rather than bundled in
- Self-paced online, which Arkansas permits with no minimum live hours — though the rules do require an instructor to interact with you
Colibri Real Estate
- Its Arkansas course is confirmed on the Commission's own approved course list as a 60-hour distance course, which is about as solid as approval evidence gets
- Carries Arkansas CE for the annual renewals that start in your second year
- Self-paced online, and the 60-hour requirement is met in a single course rather than split in two
- Plan for a second provider: Colibri does not sell Arkansas post-licensing, so the 18 hours due six months after you are licensed will have to come from somewhere else
How to get your Arkansas licence
Six steps — and the exam is not the third one, because Arkansas gates it behind your application and your fingerprints.
Start the 60-hour course
Sixty hours, of which at least thirty must be in the basic principles of real estate. It is one course, not two — Arkansas does not have a separate 30-hour law or practice course.
Apply to AREC straight away
You do not have to wait until the course is finished. AREC accepts the application before the 60 hours are complete, and applying early is what gets the background check running in parallel. Residents pay $50 to AREC and $36.25 to the Arkansas State Police, separately.
Wait for AREC to authorise fingerprinting
The Commission tells applicants not to get fingerprints made until it emails authorisation. Book early and you waste the fee.
Get the certificate of exam eligibility
AREC issues it only once it has proof you completed the pre-license education and your fingerprints have been submitted electronically to the Arkansas State Police. Until then Pearson VUE cannot test you.
Pass the Pearson VUE exam
Eighty scored national questions and thirty scored Arkansas questions, 70 scaled to pass each. Booking both in one transaction costs $75; booking them separately costs $75 each.
Complete 18 hours of post-license education
Due by the end of the month six months after your licence date — and it is receipt by the Commission that counts, not the date you finished the course. You cannot do it before you are licensed.
From the Arkansas Real Estate Commission, Ark. Code Ann. § 17-42-302 and § 17-42-303, AREC Commission Rules 4.1, 6.1, 9.9, 11.5 and 16.7, and the Arkansas real estate candidate handbook, verified August 2026. The mandatory continuing education topic changes every year — the figure above is the annual total, and the 2026 breakdown is one hour on limiting risk plus six elective hours. AREC is part-way through renumbering its rules into Arkansas Code of Regulations format, so a citation you find elsewhere may use either scheme.
Arkansas FAQs
Does Arkansas make me take two separate 30-hour courses?
No. Arkansas requires sixty hours in one requirement, with a content minimum: AREC Rule 4.1(b)(2) calls for "not less than sixty (60) classroom hours, of which at least thirty (30) hours must be in the basic principles of real estate." That thirty-hour figure is an allocation inside the course, not a course you buy separately. The Commission's approved course list bears this out — every approved salesperson pre-license offering on it is a single 60-hour course, and there is no 30-hour salesperson course number at all.
Can I sit the exam as soon as I finish the course?
No, and this is the step almost every guide gets backwards. AREC issues a certificate of exam eligibility, and it states that these "will not be issued until 1) AREC receives proof of completion of pre-license education AND 2) the Applicant's fingerprints are electronically submitted to Arkansas State Police." So the application fee, the state police fee, the acknowledgment form and the fingerprint appointment all come before you have seen a single exam question. Because AREC now accepts applications before the course is finished, the efficient order is to start the course, apply immediately, wait for the fingerprint authorisation email, then finish and test.
Does my 60-hour certificate expire?
Not for salespersons. AREC states that "the 60-hour certificate has no expiration." The 36-month window you will see quoted applies to broker pre-license education, not salesperson education, and it gets copied onto salesperson pages regularly. What does have a deadline is the other end: once you pass the exam, the forms and fees are due at AREC within ninety days.
What happens if I miss the 18-hour post-license deadline?
Your licence goes inactive by itself. Commission Rule 11.5 requires the documentation to be "received by the Commission no later than the end of the month six (6) months following the date of the broker's or salesperson's initial license," and if it is not, "the license will be placed on inactive status until the broker or salesperson files satisfactory documentation." Two details matter: the deadline is end-of-month, so a licence dated 10 March is due 30 September, and it is AREC receiving the paperwork that counts, not you finishing the course. Rule 9.9 also allows a citation carrying a $100 penalty.
Does Arkansas require errors and omissions insurance or run a state policy?
We found no errors and omissions requirement anywhere in Arkansas real estate licence law, in the Commission's rules, or on the current licence renewal form — and states that do mandate cover put a carrier and policy attestation on that form. The likely source of the confusion is the Arkansas Real Estate Recovery Fund, which is funded by licensee assessments under Ark. Code Ann. § 17-42-405. That is a consumer restitution fund with statutory caps on what it will pay; it is not professional liability cover for you, and describing it as state-run E&O is wrong.
Do I need continuing education for my first renewal?
No. AREC states that "for licensees obtaining a license in the current year, satisfaction of your continuing education requirement will be required upon your second active license renewal after you are licensed." Do not let that lull you, though — the 18-hour post-license course is a completely separate obligation, it is due six months after licensure, and AREC is explicit that post-license hours cannot be counted towards continuing education. Guides that fold the two together are describing one requirement where Arkansas has two.