Where to take the 75-hour Pennsylvania course
Pennsylvania splits the requirement into a 30-hour Real Estate Fundamentals course and a 45-hour Real Estate Practice course. All three national schools sell both.
AceableAgent
- The only one of the three that publishes the 30-hour Fundamentals and 45-hour Practice split explicitly, so you can confirm you are buying both halves
- Cites a Pennsylvania course licence number on its own page, which gives you something checkable against the Commission's provider list
- Delivers both courses as one combined 75-hour product, which removes the risk of buying one half and forgetting the other
- Self-paced online, which Pennsylvania permits in full
The CE Shop
- Four tiers from course-only upward, so you can buy just the hours if you already have study materials
- Sells the full 75-hour salesperson course as a standalone product as well as inside packages
- Every Pennsylvania product is catalogued at 75 hours with no stale hour counts left in the listing
- Runs a free trial before you commit
Colibri Real Estate
- Four packages with an entry tier covering the 75 hours and no exam prep
- States the 75-hour requirement and the salesperson exam correctly on its Pennsylvania licensing page
- Could not be confirmed to publish the 30 / 45 course split on its licensing page — worth checking both courses are included before you pay
- Careful with naming: its Exam Preparation tiers are full pre-licensing packages with prep bundled, not standalone exam prep
How to get your Pennsylvania licence
Five steps — and the broker has to be lined up earlier here than in most states, because they sign your application.
Complete 75 hours in two courses
Thirty hours of Real Estate Fundamentals and 45 of Real Estate Practice. An hour of instruction in Pennsylvania is at least 50 minutes. A juris doctor, or a bachelor's degree with a real estate major, exempts you from the coursework entirely.
Pass both portions with Pearson VUE
Eighty national questions in 150 minutes and 40 state questions in 60 minutes, both needing 75%. The fees are $52 national and $49 state. Your passing score is good for three years — unusually generous.
Get your criminal history records check
From the Pennsylvania State Police, and from the equivalent agency in every other state where you have lived, worked or studied in the past five years. The PA check is $22. The report must be dated within 180 days of your application.
Secure an employing broker
You cannot apply without one. The application requires a sworn statement from the broker certifying they will actively supervise and train you, so this comes before the paperwork, not after.
Apply through PALS
Twenty-five dollars for the application and $72 for the licence, $97 in total. Your licence is then mailed to your broker's main office rather than to you.
From the Pennsylvania State Real Estate Commission, 49 Pa. Code §§ 35.201, 35.203, 35.221, 35.223, 35.272, 35.382, 35.383 and 35.384, the Commission's licensure guide and CE module outline, and the Pearson VUE Pennsylvania candidate handbook (rev. 03/2026), verified August 2026. Two figures are stated two ways by official sources and we name both rather than pick one: the education requirement (60 hours in the regulation, 75 on the Commission's own pages) and the course shelf life (10 years in the regulation, 5 in the Commission's guide and the exam handbook — work to 5). No exam retake fee appears here because none is published. Pennsylvania does not publish exam pass rates by school.
Pennsylvania FAQs
Who runs the Pennsylvania real estate exam?
Pearson VUE, and has done since 20 March 2023. This matters because PSI's old Pennsylvania candidate bulletin is still hosted on PSI's servers and still turns up high in search results — it came up ahead of the correct source when we looked. Any page still naming PSI for Pennsylvania, or quoting PSI's fees and format, is three years out of date.
I got licensed just before 31 May. Do I really owe 14 hours of CE straight away?
Almost certainly not — but you have to ask for the waiver, and the deadline to ask falls before the renewal deadline. Pennsylvania's rule says a licensee renewing a licence "initially issued within 6 months of the biennial license period" is "deemed eligible, on the basis of hardship, for a full waiver of the continuing education requirement." The catch is the filing date: requests "must be filed with the Commission on or before March 31 of the renewal year." Renewal is due 31 May. So someone who starts thinking about renewal in May has already missed the window to claim a waiver they were entitled to. You still pay the $96.
How many hours does Pennsylvania actually require?
Seventy-five, in practice. The Commission's education page and licensure guide both say 75 hours, or 5 credits, delivered as a 30-hour Real Estate Fundamentals course and a 45-hour Real Estate Practice course, and the approved courses run to that. The regulation still says 60 hours, or 4 credits, "as determined by the Commission" — a floor the Commission's own course outlines exceed. Complete 75.
Do I need a broker before I apply?
Yes. The Commission is explicit that you may not apply until you have an employing broker holding a valid Pennsylvania broker licence, and the application itself requires a sworn statement from that broker undertaking to actively supervise and train you. Your licence is then posted to the broker's main office, not to your home.
How much does the background check really cost?
More than the $22 most guides quote, if you have moved recently. Pennsylvania requires a criminal history records check from every state in which you have lived, worked, or completed professional training or study in the past five years — each one dated within 180 days of your application. The Pennsylvania State Police check is $22, plus $5 if you need it notarised, but a recent graduate who studied out of state owes at least two.
Does Pennsylvania require errors and omissions insurance?
No. The renewal page does not mention it and carries no carrier or policy field; the rule listing what must accompany a licence application names only the fee, criminal-conviction details and consent to service of process; and there is no insurance section anywhere in Chapter 35. Errors and omissions appears in Pennsylvania's exam content outline as a risk-management topic you may be tested on — which is very likely where the claim that Pennsylvania mandates it comes from.