Best Real Estate Courses & Schools in Alabama (2026)

Alabama requires 60 hours of pre-licensing education approved by the Alabama Real Estate Commission (AREC).

Yes, you have a strict 6-month window. Under AREC rules, you must pass the Pearson VUE state licensing exam within 6 months of completing your 60-hour pre-licensing course. If you don’t pass both the national and state portions within that 6-month window, your course completion certificate expires and you’ll have to retake the entire 60-hour class from scratch. Choose a real estate school that offers timed, simulated practice exams right at the end of the course so you can transition immediately into state exam mode without wasting precious time.

Studying online at your own pace, most students finish the 60-hour course in 3 to 8 weeks. Add time for scheduling your exam, your background check, and processing your license application, and most people are licensed within 3 to 6 months total.

Most agents describe it as challenging. The exam has 140 questions — 100 national and 40 Alabama-specific — and you’ll need a scaled score of 70% to pass.

There’s no set limit on the number of times you can retake the exam. However, if you don’t pass both portions within 1 year of your first attempt, you’ll need to resubmit a new license application and fee.

There’s no published limit — you can retake it as many times as needed, as long as you pass both portions within 1 year of your first attempt.

140 multiple-choice questions total: 100 on the national portion and 40 on the Alabama-specific portion.

A scaled score of 70%.

Take as many practice exams as you can — repetition is what turns recognition into recall. Don’t neglect the 40-question state-specific portion just because the national section carries more than twice as many questions, since it covers Alabama-specific law that a national curriculum won’t drill into as deeply.

Most Alabama-approved pre-licensing courses include practice exams as part of the coursework. For additional free practice questions, check YouTube for study walkthroughs, or ask your course provider whether sample questions are available before purchasing standalone exam prep.

Yes. AREC requires the course final exam for your 60-hour pre-licensing class to be proctored. Most modern online schools include automated, virtual proctoring (via webcam) directly inside their portal as part of the course cost. However, some low-cost discount providers require you to schedule a third-party proctor or charge an extra fee at checkout.

PRO TIP: Before picking a school, verify that virtual proctoring is included in the base price so you aren’t surprised by add-on charges on exam day.

Yes, bundling pre-licensing and post-licensing is usually the most cost-effective path. When you pass the state exam in Alabama, you are issued a Temporary License. To convert it into a permanent active license, you must complete a mandatory 30-hour Post-Licensing course within your first 6 months. Top Alabama real estate schools sell “Career Packages” that include the 60-hour pre-licensing course, exam prep, AND the 30-hour post-licensing class at a discounted bundle price compared to buying them separately later.

Yes — and it’s genuinely one of the most generous reciprocity policies in the country. Alabama has reciprocal agreements with all 50 states, so if you hold an active license elsewhere, you typically only need to pass the Alabama-specific portion of the exam rather than repeating the full 60-hour course.