Best Real Estate Courses & Schools in Maryland (2026)

Maryland requires 60 hours of pre-licensing education, capped off with a proctored course final exam given by your school (110 questions, 70% to pass).

Studying online at your own pace, most students finish the 60-hour course in 2 to 6 weeks. Add time for scheduling your course and state exams and selecting a brokerage, and most people are licensed within 5 to 10 weeks total.

Most agents describe it as challenging. The exam has 110 questions — 80 national and 30 Maryland-specific — and you’ll need a minimum score of 70% to pass.

You only need to retake the section you failed, not the whole exam — just reschedule with PSI and pay a reduced re-examination fee. There’s no limit on the number of retakes.

There’s no published limit — you can retake a failed section as many times as needed, paying the $44 fee each time.

110 multiple-choice questions: 80 on the national section and 30 on the Maryland-specific section. You’ll have 90 minutes for the national portion and 30 minutes for the state portion, administered by PSI.

70% overall.

You can pass the exam without a broker, but the Maryland Real Estate Commission won’t issue an active license until a licensed Maryland broker submits a commitment to sponsor you. You have one year from your exam pass date to affiliate with a broker and activate your license.

Most Maryland-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.

Take as many practice exams as you can — repetition is what turns recognition into recall. Math makes up roughly 10 to 15% of the national portion (commissions, prorations, loan-to-value ratios), so don’t skip that part of your review even though PSI provides a basic calculator at the testing center.

No, you don’t need to buy a separate ethics course. Maryland requires 60 total hours of pre-licensing education, and state rules mandate that a specific 3-hour module on Maryland Real Estate Ethics and MREC regulations be built directly into that 60-hour curriculum. However, you should double-check that your school is officially MREC-approved. Out-of-state or generic discount providers sometimes fail to include the required Maryland ethics component, which will cause MREC to reject your course completion certificate when you register for the exam.

Many students struggle more with the 30-question Maryland State portion than the 80-question National portion. Maryland tests heavily on MREC disciplinary rules, Guaranty Fund regulations, and unique agency disclosures like the Understanding Whom Real Estate Agents Represent form. Furthermore, Maryland is a “designated agency” state rather than a traditional dual agency state, which produces tricky scenario questions on the test. Look for a real estate school or prep tool that offers dedicated Maryland State-Specific question banks so you aren’t caught off guard by local laws.

You have exactly 1 year from the date on your 60-hour course completion certificate to pass both the national and state portions of the PSI exam. Once your school transmits your completion data to PSI, you can schedule your test. If you do not pass both portions within 365 days, your course completion expires and MREC requires you to retake the entire 60-hour pre-licensing course from scratch. Picking a school package with simulated timed exams allows you to test while the material is still fresh and avoid missing your deadline.