The day itself
California real estate exam day
Arrive 30 minutes early with one of three accepted forms of identification, and carrying almost nothing else. The prohibited list is longer than candidates expect, and possession alone is enough to breach it.
Bring one of these
- Current state-issued driver's license or DMV identification card
- U.S. passport, or a passport issued by a foreign government
- U.S. military identification card
The list is short and closed. DRE names three forms and says you will not be admitted without one of them, so a student card, a work badge or an expired licence will not do.
Leave all of this behind
- Cell phones. Possession alone is prohibited, including on breaks
- Purses, wallets, keys, backpacks, briefcases, suitcases
- Watches, pens, hats or caps, lapel pins, tie tacks
- Smart glasses, tablets, laptops, PDAs, cameras, recording devices
- Food, drink, gum
- Study materials of any kind
- Weapons
- Anything else a proctor deems inappropriate
Note that the phone rule is about possession, not use. Switched off in a pocket is still possession, and it still applies during breaks.
The calculator question
This is the one thing on this page we cannot resolve for you, because DRE has not resolved it either.
DRE's own pages disagree
Position A
The Examination Control Information list names “calculators” among items NOT permitted in the examination room.
DRE, Examination Control InformationPosition B
Regulation 2763(a)(6) expressly permits “pencils and slide rules or silent, battery-operated, electronic, pocket-sized calculators which are non-programmable, do not have a print-out capability, or an alphabetic keyboard.”
Regulations of the Real Estate Commissioner 2763(a)(6)What to do: Both statements sit on the same DRE page. Until DRE reconciles them, plan to do the arithmetic without a device you brought, and confirm with your examination centre when you schedule.
Both statements checked 2026-08-27. We show both and resolve neither.
Most third-party sites pick a side confidently. We do not, because both statements sit on the same DRE page and neither has been withdrawn. The practical consequence is straightforward: practise every calculation by hand so that you are prepared under either reading, and ring your examination centre when you schedule to ask what they actually enforce.
All 5 examination centres
Sacramento, Oakland, Fresno, La Palma (Orange County), San Diego. Electronic format at all five.
In person at a DRE examination center. There is no remote or online option. For a candidate in a rural county the nearest centre can be several hours away, so treat travel as part of the plan rather than an afterthought. Booking an early session and staying nearby the night before is worth more than an extra evening of revision.
The timeline on the day
- -30 min
Arrive
Bring your identification and nothing else you can avoid. Storage may be limited, so leaving items in the car is usually simpler than carrying them in.
- Check in
Identification and admission
Your identification is checked against the name on your application. A mismatch, including an unrecorded name change, is a real risk worth resolving before the day.
- 0:00
The session starts
150 questions, 180 minutes. That is about 72 seconds a question, so flag and move on rather than stalling.
- 3:00
Submit
There is no penalty for guessing, so every question should carry an answer before you submit. A blank and a wrong answer score identically.
- Immediately
Result
Electronic examination results are given on completion. If you passed, no score. If you did not, the per-area breakdown follows.
Rescheduling, accommodation and conduct
- $40 reschedule fee
- DRE fee schedule · checked 2026-08-27
Applies to the first and every subsequent reschedule.
- Misdemeanour, liability for actual damages up to $10,000 plus costs, and the Commissioner may bar a candidate for up to three years
- All fees nonrefundable per Business and Professions Code section 10207
- Testing modifications are requested on form RE 413
- File the reasonable accommodation request before you schedule, not after. Retro-fitting an accommodation onto a booked session is far harder than arranging it up front.