Trust
How we decide what to publish
Exam prep is a category where being confidently wrong is common and consequential. A candidate budgeting from a pre-2024 fee figure, or planning around an unverified continuing education requirement, has been failed by whoever published it. These are the rules we work to.
- 01
Provenance is part of the interface, not a footnote
Every regulated number on this site carries a link to the DRE page it came from and the date we checked it. Not a bibliography at the bottom, a link next to the number. If you cannot see where a figure came from, you should not trust it, here or anywhere else.
- 02
Unverified means unpublished, not softened
When we cannot confirm something against a primary source, we say so and leave it out. We do not hedge it into the prose with a 'generally' or an 'approximately' and let it read as fact. The California first-time pass rate and the continuing education hour requirement are both handled this way.
- 03
When DRE contradicts itself, we show both positions
The calculator question is the live example. DRE's Examination Control Information lists calculators among prohibited items, while Regulation 2763(a)(6) quoted on the same page expressly permits a simple non-programmable one. We quote both, attribute both, and resolve neither, because DRE has not. The fact is flagged in the data so a later edit cannot quietly smooth it over.
- 04
Derived numbers are labelled as derived
DRE publishes a percentage weight for each content area, not a question count. Every count on this site is that weight multiplied by 150 and rounded, which is arithmetic we did. Because each rounds independently the seven counts sum to 152 rather than 150, and we publish that discrepancy rather than adjusting an area down to make the total look tidy.
- 05
One source of truth, and the site audits itself against it
Content areas, weights, topic lists, fees, examination mechanics, forms and the tool inventory all live in a single registry. Counts render from that registry rather than being typed into a page. A self test asserts that the weights total 100 across seven areas, validates every calculation fixture, checks that the question bank covers every area, and reports the verification status of every fact.
- 06
Every calculation is guarded by a tested fixture
The numbers a candidate sees come from functions the test suite exercises with known inputs and known expected outputs. One of those fixtures exists because a range input once snapped a typed figure to its step before the calculation read it, silently changing a documentary transfer tax result. It is still there as a regression guard.
- 07
No real examination questions, ever
Business and Professions Code section 123 makes reproducing examination questions a misdemeanour with liability for damages up to $10,000, and section 10153.01 lets the Commissioner bar a candidate for up to three years. Every question here is written to DRE's published topic list. A site advertising real exam questions is either lying or exposing you to that.
- 08
No pass guarantee, and no competitor claim without evidence
We make no claim about your likelihood of passing, because we have no evidence that would support one. We make no comparative claim about other resources without documented support. Marketing language is cheap and it is the first thing to go when a site is trying to be trustworthy.
- 09
Complete results before any signup
Every practice question shows whether you were right and why, immediately, with no email. Every calculator shows the full working rather than a teaser. That is a product rule rather than a layout preference, and the boundary is published on the pricing page so no individual page can move it.
Review cadence
Facts do not stay true. DRE fees increased on July 1, 2024, the first increase since 1997, and pre-increase figures are still republished across the web. The implicit bias course requirement took effect on January 1, 2024. Both changes made previously correct pages wrong overnight.
Each category of fact carries a review interval, and a record past its interval is meant to raise a notice rather than sit quietly. Fees and examination rules are reviewed every 90 days. The content outline and course rules are reviewed every 180 days.
Everything on this site was last verified on August 27, 2026. Where a fact has changed since you last looked, it will appear in updates.
What we deliberately do not publish
A first-time pass rate
Figures near 50 percent circulate widely and are attributed to DRE statistics. We have not located the DRE page that states a first-time salesperson pass rate, so we publish none. DRE does publish Licensee and Examinee Statistics, and that is where a verified figure would have to come from.
A continuing education hour requirement
45 hours every four years is the figure in general circulation for salesperson renewal. It is not yet confirmed against a DRE licensee page, so it is not stated as settled anywhere on this site.
A recommended total number of study hours
No substantiated source establishes one, so the study planner's 100-hour default is labelled a round starting number rather than a recommendation. What we do publish is the allocation, because the weights behind it are a published DRE fact.
An app price
The app is not yet released and its price is not confirmed. Rather than publish a placeholder, we publish nothing.
If we get something wrong
We will. The correction policy, and the log of what has been corrected, is on the corrections page. Corrections are logged rather than quietly edited, because a silently fixed error teaches a reader nothing about how much to trust the rest.
Nothing on this site is legal advice, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by the California Department of Real Estate. Where a decision turns on money or on a deadline, verify it against the DRE page we link to rather than against us.