- What Is the AK-REB, Exactly?
- Who Administers the AK-REB and Where You Take It
- Exam Format: Timing, Question Counts, and Rules
- The 15 AK-REB Domains at a Glance
- Eligibility: Age, Education, and Experience
- After You Pass: Application, Insurance, and Renewal
- Who Takes the AK-REB and Why
- Building a Study Plan Around the Two Halves
- Frequently Asked Questions
- AK-REB is the Alaska Real Estate Broker Exam, delivered via Pearson VUE for $115 with a 4-hour time limit.
- The exam has 140 scored items (80 National/General, 60 Alaska law) plus 10-15 unscored pretest items.
- Passing means scoring 75 on a 0-100 scaled score, not 75% correct answers.
- Applicants need 30 classroom hours within 18 months and 36 months of licensee experience within 60 months.
What Is the AK-REB, Exactly?
AK-REB stands for the Alaska Real Estate Broker Exam, the licensing test that real estate professionals in Alaska must pass to become a licensed Broker or Associate Broker. It is not a general certification or a national industry credential shared across states - it is Alaska's own broker-level examination, built around two distinct content bodies: a National/General real estate outline and an Alaska-specific law outline. If you're researching this exam for the first time, this overview pairs well with our AK-REB Certification primer and the deeper AK-REB Requirements breakdown for eligibility specifics.
Because "AK-REB" is a shorthand acronym, it's worth being precise: everything on this page refers strictly to the Alaska Real Estate Commission's Broker/Associate Broker exam. If you've seen other content online using the same three letters for a different credential, that is not what this article - or this site - covers.
Who Administers the AK-REB and Where You Take It
The exam is overseen by the Alaska Real Estate Commission and delivered through Pearson VUE testing centers as a computer-based exam. Candidates schedule a seat at an approved test center rather than testing remotely, and the exam fee is $115. You'll want to confirm scheduling windows and any blackout periods well ahead of your target date - our AK-REB Exam Dates 2026 guide walks through testing windows and deadlines in more detail.
Because Pearson VUE administers the test at a proctored facility, candidates should expect standard test-center protocols: identification checks, secure storage of personal items, and a controlled environment with no outside materials allowed.
Exam Format: Timing, Question Counts, and Rules
The AK-REB gives candidates 4 hours to complete the exam. Structurally, it consists of:
- 140 scored items total - 80 questions from the National/General outline and 60 from the Alaska law outline
- 10-15 additional unidentified pretest items that don't count toward your score, bringing the total on-screen item count to roughly 150-155 questions
Because pretest items are unidentified, you cannot tell during the exam which questions are scored and which are experimental - the practical implication is that every question deserves full attention, since skipping or rushing "extra-feeling" items isn't a viable strategy.
Key Takeaway
Treat every one of the 150-155 questions as if it counts, since the 10-15 pretest items are mixed in without identification.
On tools and materials: reference books, notes, and outside documents are prohibited. Candidates may bring a silent, handheld, nonprinting calculator without an alphabetic keypad - but financial calculators are explicitly not allowed. If you're used to using a real estate financial calculator for amortization or investment math, you'll need to practice the required math using a basic calculator instead.
One structural detail trips up a lot of candidates: the exam is split into a National/General portion and an Alaska law portion, but it is graded and retaken as a whole. Passing one part and failing the other requires retaking the entire exam - there's no partial credit carried forward. This makes balanced preparation across both halves essential rather than optional; see How Hard Is the AK-REB Exam? for a closer look at where candidates typically lose points.
The 15 AK-REB Domains at a Glance
The AK-REB content is organized into 15 domains split across the two outlines. Domains 1-8 fall under the National/General outline (effective April 1, 2025), and Domains 9-15 fall under the Alaska law outline (effective September 14, 2023). Official scored item counts per domain are as follows:
| Domain | Topic | Approx. Scored Items |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use | 10 |
| 2 | Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title | 8 |
| 3 | Property Value and Appraisal | 10 |
| 4 | Real Estate Contracts and Agency | 15 |
| 5 | Real Estate Practice | 12 |
| 6 | Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues | 9 |
| 7 | Financing and Settlement | 8 |
| 8 | Real Estate Math Calculations | 8 |
| 9 | Powers of the Alaska Real Estate Commission | 6 |
| 10 | Licensing | 6 |
| 11 | Licensee Duties and Disclosures to the Public | 9-11 |
| 12 | Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees | 9 |
| 13 | Personal Services Agreements | 4-6 |
| 14 | Property Management | 9 |
| 15 | Broker Only | 15 |
Notice that Domain 4 (Real Estate Contracts and Agency) and Domain 15 (Broker Only) carry the heaviest weight in their respective outlines, at 15 items each. That makes them high-priority study areas. For a full walkthrough of what each domain actually tests - down to sub-topics and example scenarios - see the AK-REB Exam Domains 2026 Guide.
Domain 15: Broker Only
This domain is unique because it applies specifically to broker-level responsibilities rather than general licensee duties - a distinction that matters since Associate Broker candidates and Broker candidates sit for the same exam but need to understand where broker-specific obligations begin.
- Office registration and supervisory responsibilities
- Broker-level accountability under Alaska statute
- Distinctions between broker duties and associate broker affiliation requirements
Domain 4: Real Estate Contracts and Agency
As the highest-weighted National/General domain, this area covers agency relationships, contract formation, and the legal mechanics of real estate transactions - foundational material that also connects conceptually to several Alaska-law domains later in the outline.
- Types of agency relationships and fiduciary duties
- Contract elements, contingencies, and termination
- How national contract principles interact with Alaska-specific disclosure rules
Eligibility: Age, Education, and Experience
Before you can even sit for the AK-REB, the Alaska Real Estate Commission requires candidates to meet several prerequisites:
- Be at least 22 years old
- Complete 30 classroom hours of approved broker training within the 18 months before applying
- Document 36 months of active and continuous real estate licensee experience within the preceding 60 months
These timing windows matter as much as the raw hour and month counts - training completed too far in advance, or experience gaps outside the 60-month lookback, can create eligibility problems. For the complete rundown of documentation and application logistics, see AK-REB Requirements 2026.
After You Pass: Application, Insurance, and Renewal
Passing the AK-REB is not the final step. Candidates must:
- Submit a complete application within six months after passing the exam
- Carry errors-and-omissions (E&O) insurance
- If licensing as a Broker, register an office; if licensing as an Associate Broker, affiliate with a licensed broker
Once licensed, Alaska real estate licenses expire January 31 of even-numbered years, and renewal requires 20 continuing-education hours - split into 8 designated/core hours and 12 elective hours. Keeping this cycle in mind early helps you plan your professional development calendar well before your exam date even arrives. For the full cost picture - exam fee, training, insurance, and renewal - see AK-REB Certification Cost 2026.
Who Takes the AK-REB and Why
The AK-REB is specifically for real estate professionals already working under a salesperson license who are advancing to a supervisory or ownership-level role - either as an Associate Broker affiliating with an existing broker, or as a full Broker registering their own office. It's a career-stage exam, not an entry-level one: the 36-month experience requirement means you've already been actively practicing before you're eligible to sit for it.
Because the role shift from salesperson to broker changes both responsibility and earning structure, many candidates research the practical upside before committing the time to the 30 classroom hours and exam prep. If that's you, AK-REB Salary Guide 2026 and Is the AK-REB Certification Worth It? both dig into the career and financial trade-offs, while AK-REB Jobs looks at what roles typically require or reward broker licensure.
Building a Study Plan Around the Two Halves
Because the AK-REB is really two exams merged into one pass/fail outcome, the most effective preparation treats the National/General outline (Domains 1-8) and the Alaska law outline (Domains 9-15) as separate study tracks that converge close to test day. A simple technique like spaced repetition works well here - but only if you're applying it to the actual domain weightings rather than generic flashcards.
National/General Foundations
- Work through Domains 1-3 (property characteristics, ownership/title, valuation)
- Build a basic real estate math routine using a permitted nonprinting calculator
Contracts, Practice, and Disclosures
- Prioritize Domain 4 (Contracts and Agency) given its 15-item weight
- Cover Domains 5-7: practice, disclosures/environmental issues, financing and settlement
Alaska Law Core
- Study Domains 9-12: Commission powers, licensing, licensee duties, and activity requirements
- Cross-reference agency concepts from Domain 4 against Alaska-specific disclosure rules
Broker-Level Material and Full Review
- Focus heavily on Domain 15 (Broker Only) and Domain 14 (Property Management)
- Run full-length timed practice sessions to simulate the 4-hour, 150-155 question format
For a structured, week-by-week plan with more depth on resources and review cadence, see the AK-REB Study Guide 2026. And if you want a fast, condensed reference for last-minute review, the AK-REB Cheat Sheet 2026 summarizes must-know facts in one page. You can also start practicing exam-style questions directly through our practice test platform to get comfortable with the pacing before test day.
Key Takeaway
Don't split your study time evenly by outline - weight your review toward Domain 4 and Domain 15, the two highest-item-count domains, while still covering every domain at least once.
Frequently Asked Questions
AK-REB stands for the Alaska Real Estate Broker Exam, the licensing test administered for the Alaska Real Estate Commission via Pearson VUE. For more on the terminology, see AK-REB Meaning and What Does AK-REB Stand For?
The exam contains 140 scored items (80 National/General, 60 Alaska law) plus 10-15 unidentified pretest items, for 150-155 total questions, within a 4-hour time limit.
You need a scaled score of 75 on a 0-100 scale. This is not the same as answering 75% of questions correctly, since the score is scaled rather than a raw percentage.
No. If you pass one part (National/General or Alaska law) but fail the other, you must retake the entire exam - there is no option to retest only the failed portion.
Reference materials are not allowed. You may bring a silent, handheld, nonprinting calculator without an alphabetic keypad, but financial calculators are prohibited.
You must submit a complete license application within six months of passing, secure errors-and-omissions insurance, and either register an office (Broker) or affiliate with a licensed broker (Associate Broker). Details are in AK-REB Requirements.
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