DE-RE-B Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass

What "Passing Score of 70" Actually Means

The Delaware Real Estate Commission, operating under the Division of Professional Regulation, requires broker candidates to reach a scaled score of 70 to pass the DE-RE-B exam. A scaled score isn't a raw percentage of questions answered correctly - Pearson VUE converts your raw performance into a standardized score so that results are comparable across different test forms. In practical terms, you should treat 70 as the target, but don't assume it maps directly to "70% of questions right." The scoring conversion accounts for item difficulty, which is why guessing your exact raw-question threshold is less useful than simply mastering the content across every domain.

What matters more than the arithmetic is understanding that this is a closed-book, computer-delivered exam administered at Pearson VUE test centers, and there is no partial credit for "almost" knowing a topic. If you want the full breakdown of how each content area is weighted before you build a study calendar, the DE-RE-B Exam Domains 2026 guide walks through all 13 domains in detail.

Two Separate Hurdles: National vs. Delaware Portions

Most candidates fixate on a single overall percentage and miss the structural detail that decides whether they pass or fail: the DE-RE-B exam is graded as two independent sections. You must clear the scaled score of 70 threshold on the national/general portion and clear it again on the Delaware-specific portion. A candidate who scores very high on general real estate practice but stumbles on Delaware statutes will still fail the exam overall, even if a blended average would look passing.

This dual-pass design rewards candidates who spread their study time deliberately rather than concentrating only on the topics that feel intuitive (usually the national content, since it overlaps with prior salesperson experience). The Delaware-specific portion - built from the state outline effective June 1, 2020 - deserves equal, and arguably more urgent, attention because it contains less generic overlap with everyday practice.

How the 145 Questions Break Down

The exam totals 145 questions delivered in a four-hour window:

• National/general portion: 80 scored questions plus 5 unscored (pretest) questions, for 85 total.
• Delaware state portion: 50 scored questions plus 10 unscored (pretest) questions, for 60 total.

The unscored items are mixed in without identification, so there's no way to skip them or spend less effort on them - every question should be treated as if it counts, because you genuinely cannot tell which ones do. This is a standard feature of computer-delivered licensing exams, and it means pacing matters: with four hours to cover 145 items across two content portions, you have roughly comfortable time per question, but you should still avoid lingering too long on any single math or contract-analysis item.

If you're still unsure how demanding this pacing and question style actually feels in practice, How Hard Is the DE-RE-B Exam? compares the cognitive load of the national and state portions in more depth.

Domain Weighting and Where Your Points Live

Because Domains 1-8 are scored strictly against the 80 scored national items, and Domains 9-13 are scored strictly against the 50 scored state items, your point-earning opportunities are not evenly distributed. Some domains simply carry more weight than others, and ignoring that weighting is one of the fastest ways to underperform relative to your actual knowledge level.

For the complete percentage breakdown across all 13 domains - including the smaller but still scored areas like property disclosures, financing, and real estate math - see the full domains guide.

Registration, Fees, and Retake Mechanics

Understanding the passing score matters more once you see the cost of getting it wrong. The exam fee itself is $88 per sitting, separate from the $248 state application fee and the $25 Real Estate Guaranty Fund fee. These aren't one-time costs you can ignore if you need to retake a portion - a failed attempt means paying the $88 exam fee again.

Delaware allows no more than three exam attempts before a candidate must repeat the approved 99-hour Delaware broker prelicensing course. That's a meaningful consequence: three failed attempts doesn't just cost money, it resets your eligibility clock back to coursework. For a full accounting of every fee involved in becoming licensed, including the application and guaranty fund costs, the certification cost breakdown lays out the complete pricing picture.

Remember too that the broker exam sits on top of substantial eligibility prerequisites: candidates must be at least 23 years old, hold five continuous years of licensure immediately before applying, and document at least 30 eligible transactions in the preceding five years. A full broker license further requires three years of active practice and compliance with office, supervision, and escrow requirements. If you're not certain you already qualify to sit for the exam, review the DE-RE-B requirements page before you even schedule a test date.

Turning the Scoring Rules Into a Study Plan

Once the dual-portion, dual-threshold structure is clear, the smartest way to allocate study weeks is to mirror the item counts rather than split time evenly. Since Domain 11 and Domain 12 together account for the bulk of the 50-item state portion, and Domain 4 dominates the national portion, your calendar should reflect that imbalance.

This is the only place methodology gets generic in this article: a spaced-repetition pass through flashcards for statutory definitions works well in weeks 4-5 specifically because that's when Domain 11's density is highest and rote recall matters most. For a more complete week-by-week framework tied to first-attempt success, see the DE-RE-B Study Guide.

Common Scoring Misunderstandings

• "A high overall average guarantees a pass." False - because the two portions are scored independently, an unbalanced performance (strong nationally, weak on Delaware statutes) still results in failure.
• "Unscored questions don't matter, so I can skip effort on the ones that feel like pretest items." You cannot reliably identify which of the 145 questions are unscored, so every item deserves full attention.
• "The passing score is a fixed percentage of questions correct." The scaled score of 70 reflects a standardized conversion, not a simple raw percentage - content mastery across every domain is a more reliable target than trying to reverse-engineer a raw-question count.
• "I can retake as many times as I want." Only three attempts are permitted before you must repeat the 99-hour prelicensing course entirely.

Curious how these scoring mechanics compare against actual outcomes reported for the exam? The DE-RE-B Pass Rate page looks at what the available data shows without relying on invented figures. And if you're still deciding whether pursuing the broker license is worth the investment given the fees and eligibility requirements involved, Is the DE-RE-B Certification Worth It? covers the return-on-investment question directly.

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