- The MD-REB Exam Blueprint at a Glance
- National Portion: 11 Domains, 75 Questions
- Maryland State Portion: 6 Domains, 40 Questions
- How Questions Are Actually Written
- Scoring Mechanics by Domain Group
- Sequencing Your Prep Around the 17 Domains
- Domains, Eligibility, and Renewal Overlap
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The MD-REB has 17 total content areas: 11 national domains and 6 Maryland state domains.
- Contracts is the largest national domain at 19%; Business Conduct leads the Maryland portion.
- You need 56 of 80 national points and 28 of 40 Maryland points - each portion is scored separately.
- 1-10 unscored experimental items are mixed into your 90 national and 30 Maryland minutes.
The MD-REB Exam Blueprint at a Glance
The Maryland Real Estate Broker Exam (MD-REB), administered through PSI Services LLC on behalf of the Maryland Real Estate Commission and the Maryland Department of Labor, is built from two distinct blueprints that combine into 17 content areas. The national portion contributes 75 scored questions worth 80 points across 11 domains, and the Maryland state portion contributes 40 scored questions worth 40 points across 6 domains. Together that's 115 scored questions worth 120 points, delivered in a $44 computer-based session with 90 minutes for the national section and 30 minutes for the Maryland section.
Understanding exactly how those 17 domains are weighted is the single biggest lever you have over your study plan. Candidates who treat every domain as equally important waste hours on low-yield material while under-preparing for Contracts, Agency, and Business Conduct - the three heaviest domains on the exam. If you haven't yet mapped out a full prep sequence, the MD-REB Study Guide 2026 pairs well with this domain breakdown.
National Portion: 11 Domains, 75 Questions
The national portion draws from real estate principles and practice that apply broadly, but every domain still gets tested through Maryland-flavored scenarios. Percentages below are calculated within the national 80-point portion only.
Domain 5: Contracts (19%)
The largest single domain on the entire exam. Expect scenario-based items covering offer and acceptance, contingencies, contract remedies, and broker-related contract obligations. Some national broker questions here are worth up to two points, so a single miss can matter more than elsewhere.
- Elements required for a valid, enforceable contract
- Contingency clauses and their triggering conditions
- Breach, remedies, and contract termination scenarios
Domain 6: Agency (13%)
The second-largest national domain. Focuses on fiduciary duties, types of agency relationships, and how those duties shift when a broker supervises other licensees.
- Fiduciary duties owed to clients versus customers
- Disclosed and undisclosed dual agency implications
- How agency duties interact with broker-level supervision
Domain 10: Practice of Real Estate (12%)
Covers day-to-day brokerage operations, licensee conduct standards, and how brokers oversee transactions from listing to closing.
- Listing agreement types and broker responsibilities
- Advertising and marketing compliance basics
- Broker oversight of transaction documentation
The remaining eight national domains round out the blueprint: Property Ownership (10%), Financing (9%), Valuation (8%), Property Disclosures (7%), Real Estate Calculations (6%), Transfer of Title (6%), Land Use Controls (5%), and Property Management (5%). None of these are safe to skip - combined, they still represent nearly half of the national portion's point value.
Maryland State Portion: 6 Domains, 40 Questions
The Maryland state portion is where the exam becomes distinctly local. These six domains test your knowledge of the Real Estate Commission's rules rather than universal real estate practice, and Business Conduct is the largest domain within this portion.
Business Conduct
The heaviest Maryland domain. Covers broker recordkeeping, trust account handling, escrow procedures, and standards of conduct enforced by the Commission.
- Trust account management and required recordkeeping
- Escrow disbursement rules and timing
- Prohibited practices under Maryland licensing law
Supervision
Directly tied to the 15-hour renewal curriculum required of brokers, branch office managers, and team leaders, which includes 1.5 hours specifically on supervision. Anyone stepping into a new supervisory role must complete that course within 90 days if it wasn't already finished.
- Broker responsibilities for supervising affiliated licensees
- Documentation standards for supervisory oversight
- Timing rules tied to new supervisory appointments
The other four Maryland domains are Duties and Powers of the Real Estate Commission, Licensing Requirements, Brokerage Relationships, and Ethics. Licensing Requirements deserves particular attention because it overlaps heavily with the eligibility rules you had to satisfy just to sit for the exam - good character and reputation, three years of documented active, regular, and lawful real estate practice, and the one-year windows for testing after coursework and for licensing after passing.
Key Takeaway
Study the Maryland state domains as a single interconnected system rather than six separate topics - Licensing Requirements, Supervision, and Business Conduct constantly reference the same Commission rules from different angles.
How Questions Are Actually Written
Both portions are multiple-choice, but the national portion in particular leans on scenario-based items - a broker facing a specific client situation, contract dispute, or disclosure question - rather than simple definition recall. Some national broker questions are worth up to two points instead of one, which means a handful of complex, multi-part scenarios carry outsized weight in your final score.
Every candidate also encounters 1-10 unscored experimental questions blended invisibly into the 90-minute national session and the 30-minute Maryland session. You cannot identify which questions are experimental, and they still consume your exam time, so pacing matters as much as content mastery. For a deeper breakdown of how difficulty is distributed across the 17 domains, see How Hard Is the MD-REB Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
| Attribute | National Portion | Maryland State Portion |
|---|---|---|
| Domains | 11 | 6 |
| Scored Questions | 75 | 40 |
| Points Available | 80 | 40 |
| Time Allotted | 90 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Passing Threshold | 56 of 80 points (70%) | 28 of 40 points (70%) |
| Largest Domain | Contracts (19%) | Business Conduct |
Scoring Mechanics by Domain Group
Because the MD-REB scores the national and Maryland portions independently, mastering 15 of the 17 domains isn't enough if the two you skip happen to sit in the portion where you're already borderline. You need 70% on each side - 56 of 80 national points and 28 of 40 Maryland points - with no ability to offset a weak Maryland score with a strong national one.
This is also why domain weighting matters more for the national portion than the Maryland portion. Contracts (19%), Agency (13%), and Practice of Real Estate (12%) together account for nearly half of the 80 available national points, while the Maryland domains aren't published with individual percentages beyond Business Conduct being the largest. Treat every Maryland domain as high-priority by default, since a single Commission rule question can appear in Licensing Requirements, Supervision, or Business Conduct depending on how it's framed. For the exact numeric thresholds and how they're calculated, review MD-REB Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Sequencing Your Prep Around the 17 Domains
Rather than studying domains in the order they're listed on the blueprint, sequence your prep by point value and dependency. Heavier national domains benefit from early, repeated review since they take longer to internalize; lighter domains and the interconnected Maryland domains work better clustered together near the end, when Commission rules are freshest in memory for exam day.
Anchor the heaviest national domains
- Contracts (19%) and Agency (13%) - build scenario-recognition drills first
- Practice of Real Estate (12%) for broker-level operational rules
Fill in mid-weight national domains
- Property Ownership, Financing, and Valuation
- Property Disclosures and Transfer of Title
Close out lighter national domains and calculations
- Land Use Controls and Property Management
- Real Estate Calculations - practice proration and commission math repeatedly
Master the six Maryland state domains as one unit
- Business Conduct, Supervision, and Licensing Requirements together
- Duties and Powers of the Real Estate Commission, Brokerage Relationships, Ethics
This sequencing keeps the highest point-value domain group in front of you the longest while still giving the Maryland portion a dedicated, focused stretch instead of scattered review sessions. Use short review blocks between full study sessions to revisit Contracts and Business Conduct specifically - they're the largest domain in each portion and worth disproportionate repetition.
Domains, Eligibility, and Renewal Overlap
The 17 domains don't exist in isolation from the broader licensing process. Before you can even sit for the exam, you need 135 hours of approved broker prelicensing education, documented active, regular, and lawful real estate practice for the three immediately preceding years, and you must be at least 18 with good character and reputation. You also must pass both exam portions within one year of completing that coursework. If you're still confirming you qualify, cross-check everything against MD-REB Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify before locking in a study start date.
The Supervision and Licensing Requirements domains carry forward after you pass, too. Brokers, branch office managers, and team leaders face a 15-hour renewal curriculum that includes 1.5 hours of supervision content, and stepping into a new supervisory role triggers that course within 90 days if it wasn't already completed. In other words, the Maryland state domains you study for the exam become the same rules you'll be re-tested on conceptually every renewal cycle.
Once you're ready to schedule, confirm current testing windows and application deadlines through MD-REB Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling, and run a full practice session on the main practice test platform to see how your domain-by-domain performance lines up with the actual blueprint before test day.
If you're weighing whether the broker license is worth pursuing at all given the coursework and fee requirements, Is the MD-REB Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 walks through that decision separately from the domain content covered here. And once you've passed, the MD-REB Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is a fast way to keep the highest-weight domains fresh right up to exam morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 17 domains total: 11 in the national portion and 6 in the Maryland state portion, covering 115 scored questions worth 120 points.
Contracts at 19% is the largest national domain, and Business Conduct is the largest Maryland domain. Both deserve the heaviest repetition in your study plan.
Only Business Conduct is confirmed as the largest Maryland domain; the six Maryland domains don't come with individual published percentages the way the 11 national domains do, so treat them all as high priority.
No. The two portions are scored independently, and you must reach 56 of 80 national points and 28 of 40 Maryland points separately to pass.
The 1-10 unscored experimental items are blended into both portions but aren't identifiable to candidates, and they still consume your 90-minute national or 30-minute Maryland time allotment.