- How the NHREC-S Exam Is Structured
- The 11 National Portion Domains
- The Highest-Weighted National Domains
- Real Estate Calculations: The Domain Candidates Fear Most
- The 5 New Hampshire State Domains
- Scoring Mechanics: Two Portions, Two Passing Marks
- Mapping Your Prep Calendar to the 16 Domains
- Who Actually Uses This License
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The NHREC-S has 16 total content areas: 11 national domains plus 5 New Hampshire state domains.
- Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%) carry the most weight in the 80-question national portion.
- You need 56 of 80 national points and 28 of 40 state points - and must pass both separately.
- The national section runs 2 hours 30 minutes; the state section runs 1 hour 30 minutes.
How the NHREC-S Exam Is Structured
The New Hampshire Real Estate Salesperson Exam (NHREC-S) is governed by the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission, operating within the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, and it's administered on computer at PSI test centers. Before you can even sit for it, the underlying question bank breaks down into 16 distinct content areas - 11 national domains and 5 New Hampshire-specific state domains - and every scored question on your test comes from one of those 16 buckets.
The exam itself is delivered as two separate timed portions taken back-to-back on the same day:
- National portion: 80 scored questions, 2 hours 30 minutes, covering Domains 1-11
- State portion: 40 scored questions, 1 hour 30 minutes, covering Domains 12-16
You may also encounter 5-10 unscored experimental questions mixed into either portion. PSI uses these to field-test future exam content, and importantly, the time you spend answering them does not count against your testing limit - so don't panic if a question feels oddly out of place.
The 11 National Portion Domains
The national portion mirrors real estate fundamentals tested across most U.S. jurisdictions, weighted according to how frequently that knowledge shows up in daily practice. Here's the full breakdown, with all percentages calculated within the national portion only:
| Domain | Topic | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Property Ownership | 10% |
| 2 | Land Use Controls | 5% |
| 3 | Valuation | 8% |
| 4 | Financing | 10% |
| 5 | Contracts | 19% |
| 6 | Agency | 13% |
| 7 | Property Disclosures | 7% |
| 8 | Property Management | 3% |
| 9 | Transfer of Title | 6% |
| 10 | Practice of Real Estate | 12% |
| 11 | Real Estate Calculations | 7% |
Adding those up, five domains - Contracts, Agency, Practice of Real Estate, Property Ownership, and Financing - account for roughly two-thirds of your national score. That's not a coincidence; it reflects what a working salesperson actually does every week: drafting and explaining agreements, managing fiduciary duties, guiding transactions, and understanding how ownership and money move through a deal.
The Highest-Weighted National Domains
If you only have time to deep-dive a handful of domains before test day, start here.
Domain 5: Contracts (19%)
The single largest domain on the entire national portion. Expect questions on offer and acceptance, contract elements, contingencies, breach and remedies, and the lifecycle of a purchase agreement from listing to closing.
- Know the difference between void, voidable, and unenforceable contracts
- Understand contingency removal timelines and their consequences
- Be able to identify which party bears risk under specific contract clauses
Domain 6: Agency (13%)
Fiduciary duties, types of agency relationships, and disclosure obligations dominate this domain. This is also where a lot of Domain 15 (New Hampshire's own agency regulations) content overlaps conceptually, even though it's tested separately in the state portion.
- Master the fiduciary duties owed to clients versus customers
- Understand dual agency and designated agency distinctions
- Know when and how agency relationships must be disclosed
Domain 10: Practice of Real Estate (12%)
This domain covers day-to-day professional conduct: advertising rules, fair housing compliance, license law fundamentals, and general business practices that don't fit neatly into contracts or agency.
- Fair housing protected classes and prohibited practices
- Advertising and marketing compliance basics
- General professional conduct expectations
Real Estate Calculations: The Domain Candidates Fear Most
Domain 11, Real Estate Calculations, sits at 7% of the national portion - smaller than Contracts or Agency, but it generates outsized anxiety because it requires applying formulas under time pressure rather than recalling facts. Typical question types involve prorations, commission splits, loan-to-value ratios, and area or square footage math tied to valuation scenarios.
The good news: PSI provides an online calculator during testing, or you may bring your own silent, nonprogrammable calculator as long as it has no alphabetic keys. Practicing with whichever calculator you plan to use on test day - not just working problems on paper - removes a layer of friction when the clock is running.
Key Takeaway
Real Estate Calculations questions are formula-based, not conceptual. Drill the actual arithmetic repeatedly rather than just reading about the formulas, and confirm your calculator input method well before exam day.
The 5 New Hampshire State Domains
The state portion is where the NHREC-S diverges sharply from generic real estate content, and it's also where candidates who relied purely on national-level study materials tend to lose points. Forty scored questions, drawn from five domains, cover New Hampshire's own statutory and regulatory framework:
Domain 12: New Hampshire Real Estate Commission
Structure, authority, and role of the Commission itself within the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification. Expect questions on how the Commission oversees licensees and enforces rules.
Domain 13: Licensure
Eligibility requirements, education prerequisites, and the licensing process specific to New Hampshire. This ties directly into the practical steps outlined in our NHREC-S requirements guide, which walks through age, education, and background-check prerequisites in more depth.
Domain 14: Regulation of Licensee Conduct
Rules governing how salespersons must behave once licensed - recordkeeping, trust account handling, and disciplinary standards unique to New Hampshire.
Domain 15: Regulation of Agency Conduct
New Hampshire's specific statutory treatment of agency relationships, disclosures, and brokerage responsibilities - distinct from the general agency principles tested in Domain 6.
Domain 16: New Hampshire Principles and Practice
State-specific practice standards, forms, and procedural details that don't fall under the other four state domains but come up regularly in actual New Hampshire transactions.
Unlike the national domains, PSI's bulletin does not publish individual percentage weights for these five state domains - they're simply distributed across the 40-question state portion. That makes it harder to prioritize by weight alone, which is exactly why comprehensive coverage of all five matters more here than triaging by percentage.
Scoring Mechanics: Two Portions, Two Passing Marks
Because the NHREC-S splits scoring across two independent portions, understanding the exact math matters:
- National portion: 80 scored questions, need 56 correct to pass
- State portion: 40 scored questions, need 28 correct to pass
- Both portions must be passed - passing one and failing the other means you did not pass the exam
If you don't pass both portions within six months of your original examination date, or if you reach eight total attempts, you'll be required to complete additional accredited prelicensing education before testing again. That's a meaningful incentive to prepare thoroughly rather than treat the exam as something you can chip away at indefinitely. For the exact numbers behind each threshold, see our breakdown in NHREC-S Passing Score 2026.
Mapping Your Prep Calendar to the 16 Domains
Rather than studying domains in the order they're listed, allocate time according to weight and difficulty. A four-week structure built around the NHREC-S's own domain percentages looks like this:
Heaviest National Domains
- Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%) - the two largest national domains
- Practice of Real Estate (12%) fundamentals and fair housing rules
Mid-Weight National Domains
- Property Ownership (10%) and Financing (10%)
- Valuation (8%) and Property Disclosures (7%)
Calculations and Remaining National Domains
- Real Estate Calculations (7%) - drill formulas with your test-day calculator
- Transfer of Title (6%), Land Use Controls (5%), Property Management (3%)
All Five State Domains
- Real Estate Commission, Licensure, Regulation of Licensee Conduct
- Regulation of Agency Conduct and New Hampshire Principles and Practice
Because the state portion isn't broken into published percentages, treat all five state domains as equally essential during your final week rather than skimming any of them. If you want a condensed reference to run through in your last days before testing, our NHREC-S study guide outlines a full first-attempt prep strategy, and the practice exams on our main practice test platform let you simulate both timed portions separately.
Who Actually Uses This License
Passing the NHREC-S is the gateway to holding an active New Hampshire real estate salesperson license, which is what allows you to work under a supervising broker representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across residential and commercial transactions in the state. Brokerages hiring newly licensed salespeople care less about your exam score and more about whether you demonstrably understand the Domain 5 (Contracts) and Domain 6 (Agency) material in practice - those are the areas that show up daily in client interactions.
Before you even reach the exam, remember the eligibility baseline: applicants must be at least 18 years old, complete 40 hours of approved prelicensing education (at least 32 classroom hours, with no more than 8 distance-education hours allowed within six months before testing), and satisfy New Hampshire's criminal-record requirements. If you're still early in the process, our exam prep resources and requirements guide can help you sequence your coursework correctly before you even schedule a test date.
Key Takeaway
The exam's weighting isn't arbitrary - it mirrors what licensed salespeople handle daily. Studying Contracts and Agency heavily isn't just test strategy; it's professional preparation.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 16 total content areas: 11 national domains covering general real estate practice and 5 New Hampshire state domains covering state-specific law and regulation.
Contracts is the highest-weighted national domain at 19%, followed by Agency at 13% and Practice of Real Estate at 12%.
No. PSI's bulletin publishes percentage weights for the 11 national domains but does not break down individual percentages for the 5 state domains within the 40-question state portion.
You can use the online calculator provided during testing, or bring your own silent, nonprogrammable calculator as long as it has no alphabetic keys.
You must pass both portions to pass the NHREC-S. If you don't pass both within six months of your original exam date, or after eight total attempts, you'll need additional accredited prelicensing education before retesting.