Taking the WV Real Estate Exam

If you’ve heard stories about driving to Charleston once a month to sit for a paper exam with a $25 cash fee — that’s not how it works anymore. At Spruce School of Real Estate, a West Virginia online real estate school doing this for 30-plus years now, we hear from students all the time. They often assume the old process is still in play. Pearson VUE now runs the WV real estate exam. PSI used to handle it, so if you’ve seen older material (including some of our own) mention PSI, that’s who they meant. Different company, but basically the same role: administering your exam on behalf of the WV Real Estate Commission. The process, format, and even where you can take it have all changed since then. Here’s exactly what to expect today. This guide covers just the exam step — for the full path from enrolling in your course to getting licensed, see our complete guide on how to get your West Virginia real estate license.

What’s Actually on the Exam

The exam splits into two parts — national and WV state-specific — and you get a separate score for each one.

• National portion: 80 scored questions, 150 minutes
• WV state portion: 50 scored questions (salesperson) or 60 scored questions (broker), 60 minutes for salesperson / 90 minutes for broker
• Each part also mixes in 5–10 unscored “pretest” questions — you won’t know which ones they are, so answer everything as if it counts
• Passing score: 70% for salesperson, 75% for broker

Since the state portion tests you directly on West Virginia’s real estate law code, it’s worth having something that breaks that code down in plain English rather than trying to decode legal language the night before your exam. We actually publish a resource for exactly that: the West Virginia Real Estate Law Code Bible lays the official WV Real Estate License Act side-by-side with a plain-language interpretation of every section.

Your Free One-Day Review (Only for Spruce Students)

Before Pearson VUE took over exam administration, our one-day review session used to run in person — and it built a bit of a reputation. Students from other real estate schools would actually show up and pay just to attend, because it covered everything so thoroughly.

These days, the review is fully online, but we made a deliberate choice to keep it exclusive: it’s only for Spruce students, and it automatically unlocks once you finish your course. We don’t sell it as a standalone product to students from other schools, and it’s already included in your enrollment — no extra fee, no upsell. As far as we know, no other WV real estate course provider offers anything like it.

Here’s a quick look at what it covers:

Two Ways to Take It: Test Center or At-Home

This is the biggest change from a few years ago — you now have a real choice in how you sit for the exam.

Option 1: A Pearson VUE test center. There are 15 locations across West Virginia, including:

• Charleston
• Morgantown
• Beckley
• Beaver
• Bridgeport
• Huntington (three locations)
• Hurricane
• Martinsburg
• Moundsville
• Parkersburg
• Princeton
• South Charleston
• Wheeling

Service members and their dependents can also test at military installations worldwide without traveling back to WV.

Option 2: At-home online testing (OnVUE). You can take the exam from your own home if you meet Pearson VUE’s technical requirements:

• Windows 10 or macOS 14 or newer
• A working webcam, microphone, and speaker (headphones/headsets are not allowed)
• Only one display screen — no dual monitors
• Stable internet: at least 6 Mbps download / 2 Mbps upload
• A quiet, private room with no one else present

Pearson VUE doesn’t allow phones, tablets, smartwatches, or smart speakers in the room, and you can’t be on a VPN, corporate network, or public Wi-Fi. Run Pearson VUE’s system test ahead of time to make sure your setup qualifies.

One important catch: with OnVUE, you only get one attempt for life at each level (salesperson or broker). If you need to retest, you’ll have to go to a physical test center.

What It Costs

The exam fee is $59 per part (so $118 total if you’re taking both the national and state portions the same day). You pay by credit or debit card when you schedule online. Pearson VUE no longer accepts cash or checks, and they don’t collect anything at the test center itself. For the full breakdown of every WV real estate fee, from application to license renewal, see our WV Real Estate License Fees guide.

How to Schedule

1. The WV Real Estate Commission has to authorize you to test first — you’ll get an “Authorization to Test” email from Pearson VUE once that happens.
2. Once authorized, schedule online at pearsonvue.com or by calling (888) 204-6218, at least 24 hours before the date you want.
3. There are no walk-in exams anymore — you must have a reservation.

What to Bring

You need exactly one form of ID: unexpired, government-issued, with your photo and a visible signature, and the name must exactly match your registration. Pearson VUE does not honor state grace periods on expired IDs — expired means expired.

Acceptable IDs include a driver’s license, passport, passport card, military ID, state/national ID card, or permanent resident card.

Deadlines to Know

There are two separate 90-day clocks here, and it’s easy to mix them up. Here’s how they actually work:

• Clock #1 — Getting authorized to test. Once the WV Real Estate Commission approves you to test, you have 90 days (or two attempts, whichever happens first) to actually sit for the exam.
• Clock #2 — After you pass. Once you pass, you have 90 days to get your license application submitted to the WV Real Estate Commission. Miss that window, and you’ll have to repeat the process.

Since “90 days from today” means something different depending on when you’re reading this, use the calculator below to get your own exact dates instead of doing the math by hand.

Once you’ve passed, the next step is getting your paperwork filed and your license in hand — check out our full breakdown of what to do after your WV real estate course for the exact steps.

Common Questions

How much does the WV real estate exam cost?

The WV real estate exam costs $59 per part through Pearson VUE, or $118 total if you’re taking both the national and state portions. You pay by credit or debit card when you schedule — cash and checks aren’t accepted.

Can I take the WV real estate exam at home?

Yes. Pearson VUE’s OnVUE platform lets you test from home if you meet the technical requirements — the right operating system, a webcam, a single monitor, and a minimum internet speed. Just know that OnVUE only allows one attempt for life per license level, so you’d need a physical test center to retest.

What score do I need to pass the WV real estate exam?

You need 70% to pass as a salesperson, or 75% to pass as a broker, on both the national and state portions.

How many questions are on the WV real estate exam?

The national portion has 80 scored questions over 150 minutes. The state portion has 50 scored questions for salesperson (60 minutes) or 60 for broker (90 minutes), plus a handful of unscored pretest questions mixed into each part.

What ID do I need to bring to the WV real estate exam?

One unexpired, government-issued photo ID with a visible signature that exactly matches your registration name. A driver’s license, passport, passport card, military ID, state/national ID card, or permanent resident card all qualify.

This exam is just one part of the full path to getting licensed — see our complete guide on how to get your West Virginia real estate license for the step-by-step rundown from enrolling in your course to receiving your license.