Booking the
New York real estate exam

Everything runs through eAccessNY

Create an eAccessNY account on the Department of State's site if you do not have one. From the Main Menu choose Apply to Take an Exam, follow the instructions, pick your site and date, and pay. The same account is where the result appears afterward; results are not given over the telephone.

The fee is $15 an attempt

That is per attempt at the written exam, salesperson or broker. It is separate from the license application, which is $65 for a salesperson and $185 for a broker and comes after you have passed.

Eleven sites, and they are not all running

The Department lists exam sites in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Franklin Square, Hauppauge, New York City, Plattsburgh, Pomona, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Which sites are open, and on which dates, changes through the year, so check the Department's exam-sites page at the moment you book rather than relying on what was true last time.

Identification, and the rule that costs people the day

Bring current government-issued photo identification that carries your signature and has not expired. And arrive early: no one is admitted after the starting time. The Department puts that in capitals, which is unusual for a state agency and tells you how often it happens.

How long you get

An hour and a half for the salesperson exam and two and a half hours for the broker exam. Both are multiple choice.

Afterward

Log back in and choose View Exam Results. You will see passed or failed and nothing else, so there is no score to interpret and no margin to read. If you failed, the only diagnostic you will ever have is the practice you did beforehand, which is an argument for doing it under the clock and keeping the breakdowns.

Since the result itself tells you nothing, whatever you learn about your own weak subjects has to come from practice beforehand. Ten questions are free on the samples page; the timed forms are on the real estate page.