Colorado (CO) Real Estate Exam Cheat Sheet 2026
CO: 154 questions, 230 minutes, 60 of 80 and 53 of 74, $49 in exam fees. Below are the 8 rules that decide pass or fail, each with its source.
The 8 rules worth memorising
Not subject knowledge — that comes from practice questions. These are the procedural rules candidates lose the exam to: how the threshold is applied, what a partial fail means, and the deadlines that void a pass.
- 1
154 questions — the longest real estate exam in the country
The general part is 80 questions in 120 minutes and the Colorado part is 74 in 110 minutes. Most states put 30 to 60 questions on the state half; Colorado puts 74. Plan your study time around that, not around a national-heavy course.
Source: PSI bulletin, Examination Summary Table
- 2
Forms and contracts alone are 23 questions
Colorado forms and contracts is the single biggest topic on any state portion in the country — 23 of 74 items, nearly a third. The Colorado Real Estate Manual from the Division is the source the exam is written from.
Source: PSI bulletin, State Portion Content Outline
- 3
You may take the two parts on different days
Applicants need not pass both parts on the same administration date. Fail one and you retake just that one at a later sitting — useful when 230 minutes in one day is the real obstacle.
Source: PSI bulletin, Introduction
- 4
No passing score survives past one year
In no event will a passing score on either part be accepted beyond one year, and you must apply for the license within one year of passing the entire exam. Splitting the parts across dates makes this clock easy to lose track of.
Source: PSI bulletin, Introduction and Procedure for Licensure
- 5
In Colorado the entry-level license is called Broker
There is no salesperson license here. Everyone starts as a Broker; supervising is an Employing Broker. Study material written for other states will call this the salesperson exam.
Source: PSI bulletin, Examination Summary Table
- 6
The two parts have different passing rates
60 of 80 on the general part is 75%. 53 of 74 on the Colorado part is about 72%. Knowing the counts is more useful than the percentages — twenty misses on the general part, twenty-one on the state part.
Source: PSI bulletin, Examination Summary Table
- 7
Continuing-education candidates take the state part only
If you are satisfying a CE requirement, register for the Continuing Education examination — not the Broker State examination. The bulletin says so in capitals because people get it wrong.
Source: PSI bulletin, Examination Summary Table
- 8
168 hours, the heaviest in the country
Colorado requires 168 hours of qualifying education through an accredited college or university or a DPOS-approved school. For comparison, Michigan and Maryland sit at 40 and 60.
Source: Colorado Division of Real Estate, Broker Qualifying Education
What the Colorado state part covers (74 scored items)
Straight from the official outline. Study the top of this list first.
Colorado forms and contracts
23 questionsCounterproposal form · Closing instructions · Seller financing
Requirements governing the activities of licensees
11 questionsAdvertising and trade names · Employer/employee relationships · Place of business and office policy requirements · Commissions, rebates, referrals and inducements · Disclosure of conflict of interest or licensed status · Practice of law and seller financing · Unlicensed personal assistants · Sign crossing
Brokerage relationships
11 questionsBrokerage relationship disclosure · Transaction brokerage · Single agent · Designated brokers
Closing and settlement
10 questionsComputation of proration · Responsibility for accuracy of closing statements · Matching closing statements to contract instructions · Responsibilities of parties at closing · Closing documents
Additional topics
7 questionsProperty management and the Landlord Tenant Act · Water rights and disclosures · Well change of ownership
Licensing requirements
5 questionsTypes of licenses and corporations · Acts requiring a license · License maintenance, renewal and inactive status · Continuing education · Errors and omissions insurance
Record keeping and trust accounts
5 questionsTransaction record keeping · Account requirements · Delivery of funds to broker or title company · Trust account record keeping
Duties and powers of the Real Estate Commission
2 questionsGeneral powers · Investigations or audits, hearings and appeals · Criminal and license law violations
If you fail
Reregister with PSI — not the same day you tested — and pay the $48 retake fee. You repeat only the part you failed. Both parts must still be passed inside one year of each other, and the license application must follow within one year of completing the exam.
Where these came from
- PSI Candidate Information Bulletin — Colorado Real Estate Broker (bulletin 649)
- Colorado Division of Real Estate — Broker Qualifying Education (168 hours)
Figures read from the source on 2026-09-18.
Questions
Is there a Colorado real estate exam cheat sheet PDF?
This page is the cheat sheet, and it stays on the web on purpose: every rule below cites the bulletin or commission page it came from, so you can check it against the current source. A printed PDF goes stale the moment PSI revises a figure, and most of the ones being sold do not say where their numbers came from.
What should I memorise for the CO state portion?
The rules that decide pass or fail rather than the ones that are merely interesting: how the 75% threshold is applied, what happens if you fail one portion, and the deadlines that void a pass. Those are the 8 below. Subject knowledge comes from practice questions, not from a list.
How current is this Colorado cheat sheet?
Every figure was read from the source on 2026-09-18, and each rule names its source below. Where CREC has revised something since, the source link is the authority — not this page.