Montana · Real estate exam prep
20 free Montana practice questions with no signup required. When you're ready for more, the full RealReady bank has 1,060 questions for the 2026 exam that cover both national principles and Montana law.
Practice
Use this like a free Montana real estate practice test: read the question, commit to an answer, then tap to reveal the correct answer and a plain-English explanation. The ones you miss tell you where to focus next.
Correct: C The Board of Realty Regulation
Complaints against Montana licensees are investigated under the Board of Realty Regulation's authority — in practice, Department of Labor & Industry staff investigate with the concurrence of a member of the Board's screening panel (MCA 37-1-307, 37-1-308). The Board may examine broker records and impose discipline as warranted.
Correct: A Negotiating a sale for compensation
Negotiating a real estate sale for compensation on behalf of another person requires a Montana real estate license. Selling one's own property, giving free advice, and appraising are not activities requiring a real estate license.
Correct: D All active licensees
Under MCA 37-51-325, all active Montana real estate licensees are required to carry errors and omissions insurance. There are no exemptions based on license type or experience level.
Correct: C The licensee's name
Montana's advertising rule (ARM 24.210.428, effective August 2025) requires every advertisement by a licensee to include a truthful, accurate description of the property or service, the licensee's name, and a statement that the ad is made by a licensee or a brokerage company. Cell numbers, street addresses, and MLS numbers are not required.
Correct: B The supervising broker
A salesperson may only work under a broker who holds a supervising broker endorsement (MCA 37-51-309; ARM 24.210.604). The supervising broker is legally responsible for overseeing all real estate activities of affiliated salespersons — including auditing transaction files and reviewing all advertising (ARM 24.210.605).
Correct: C Failing to present all written offers
Montana requires a seller agent to submit all offers and counteroffers received — written or not — until a pending transaction closes or the listing terminates, unless the seller waives these obligations in writing (ARM 24.210.641(1)(n)). Failing to do so is unprofessional conduct, regardless of the offer amount or terms.
Correct: B The broker and seller negotiate it
Commission rates in Montana are freely negotiable between broker and client. No board, association, or law sets standard rates. Any agreement on rates among competitors would violate antitrust law.
Correct: C Before the offer is accepted
Montana's seller disclosure law (MCA 70-20-502, enacted 2023) requires the seller's statement of known adverse material facts to be delivered prior to or contemporaneously with the execution of a contract — so providing it before the offer is accepted is the compliant practice. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the contract does not become effective until 3 days after the buyer receives the statement, and a buyer who receives it late may rescind within 3 days (MCA 70-20-504).
Correct: B Statutory broker
Montana uses the term 'statutory broker' for a licensee who facilitates a transaction without establishing a fiduciary relationship with either party. This is a Montana-specific designation not used in most other states.
Correct: B 8 years
Per ARM 24.210.414(1) (effective August 23, 2025, carrying forward the rule formerly in ARM 24.210.601), Montana licensees must maintain trust account records and real estate related documents — sales contracts, offers, leases and options, agency agreements, and closing statements — for 8 years from the date of receipt or the date the transaction was completed, whichever is latest. The 8-year period matches the statute of limitations on written contracts under MCA 27-2-202(1). Records may be paper or electronic and must be readily available for inspection.
Correct: B Exclusive right-to-sell
An exclusive right-to-sell listing guarantees the broker a commission no matter who procures the buyer, including the seller. This is the most common listing type in Montana.
Correct: C Rectangular survey system
Montana primarily uses the rectangular (government) survey system for legal descriptions. This system divides land into townships, ranges, sections, and fractional parts using the Montana Principal Meridian as the reference point.
Correct: A Montana Unit Ownership Act
The Montana Unit Ownership Act governs condominium ownership, including creation requirements, unit owner rights, common elements, and HOA governance. Creation requires filing a declaration, bylaws, and plat.
Correct: A Most residential rental properties
Montana's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act governs most residential tenancies in the state, with limited exceptions listed in MCA 70-24-104 — such as hotel and motel occupancy, employer-provided housing conditioned on employment, and premises used primarily for commercial or agricultural purposes. It establishes rights and duties for both landlords and tenants.
Correct: B One year
Montana provides a one-year statutory redemption period after a judicial foreclosure sale. During this period, the borrower can redeem the property by paying the sale price plus interest and costs.
Correct: A Yes, the Board can examine records anytime
The Board's representatives may examine broker records without advance notice — brokers must keep records maintained to facilitate auditing and produce them on request during normal business hours (ARM 24.210.427; MCA 37-51-324). This authority helps ensure licensees maintain proper records and comply with regulations.
Correct: B Yes — a property manager license (or a real estate license) is required
Under MCA 37-56-103, a person may not practice as a property manager unless actively licensed, and collecting rents on others' property is property management (MCA 37-56-101). A licensed real estate broker or salesperson may also act as a property manager without a separate property manager license (MCA 37-56-104(2)). Montana does exempt a person who leases no more than four residential units (MCA 37-56-104(1)(e)), but 10 units for compensation requires licensure.
Correct: C $100,000
Montana's group errors and omissions insurance plan provides minimum coverage of $100,000 per claim and $300,000 in annual aggregate (MCA 37-51-325(4)(b)); individual policies carry the same minimums. A firm-issued policy is different — it requires a $1 million aggregate (37-51-325(7)).
Correct: B An accurate property description and the licensee's name
ARM 24.210.428(1) requires a truthful, accurate, and detailed description of the property, the licensee's name, and a statement that the advertisement is made by the licensee or a brokerage company. Omitting the licensee identification violates the rule and is unprofessional conduct under ARM 24.210.641(1)(dd).
Correct: B Yes, if the broker failed to adequately supervise
A Montana supervising broker is not automatically liable for a salesperson's misrepresentation — MCA 37-51-315 limits vicarious liability — but failing as a supervising broker to adequately supervise salespeople is itself unprofessional conduct (ARM 24.210.641(1)(uu)), and ARM 24.210.605–.606 require auditing transaction files, regular communication, and training. If the misrepresentation reflects inadequate supervision, the broker faces discipline and can lose the supervising broker endorsement.
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About the exam
Montana scores its national and 40-question state-law portions separately, so a strong national score won't carry you if your grasp of Montana law is thin. That makes Montana-specific preparation matter as much as the national material.
Montana tests its own rules in ways a national course never touches, from the Title 37 Chapter 51 brokerage relationships law that lets a licensee act as a statutory broker without becoming the agent of either party, to the written relationship disclosure MCA 37-51-314 requires at fixed trigger points — no later than when a statutory broker first endeavors to locate property or when negotiations commence — the Small Tract Financing Act trust indenture and 120-day non-judicial trustee's sale that replaces the ordinary mortgage foreclosure on tracts of 40 acres or less, Montana's prior-appropriation water rights and the way water rights pass with the land, and the errors-and-omissions insurance mandate every active licensee must satisfy every year — Montana repealed its old Real Estate Recovery Account in 2019, so mandatory E&O coverage is now the consumer's financial backstop. None of that looks like the material a candidate in a neighboring state studies, so a generic real estate practice test won't cut it. You need Montana-specific practice questions.
FAQ
The Montana Real Estate Salesperson Examination has 120 scored multiple-choice questions, split into an 80-question national portion and a 40-question Montana state-law portion. Pearson VUE delivers both portions by computer, and you can schedule them back-to-back in a single sitting. It adds five unscored pretest questions on the national portion and up to ten on the state portion. The pretest questions look just like the scored ones, but they do not count toward your score.
The two portions are scored separately on a scaled 0–100 scale, and you need a 75 on each. Scaling means your raw score is statistically adjusted for the difficulty of the specific form you took, so 75 scaled is not the same as 75 percent correct. If you pass one portion and fail the other you only retake the portion you failed, and your authorization to test stays valid for up to five years after you finished the first required pre-licensing course.
Pearson VUE charges $95 per exam reservation, and the national and state portions are booked as separate exams, so plan on $95 for each portion. If you fail one portion, retaking just that portion is another $95. Vouchers are sold through Pearson VUE if a school or employer is paying. Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable except under the published change and cancel policy.
Four hours of seat time total. Pearson VUE allows two and a half hours for the 80-question national portion and an hour and a half for the 40-question Montana portion. The two portions are scheduled separately but can be taken back-to-back in one sitting, and your official score report is provided before you leave. Pearson VUE runs test centers in Montana's larger cities and also offers the exam through its OnVUE online proctoring platform from home.
The Montana Real Estate Salesperson Examination is administered by Pearson VUE for the Montana Board of Realty Regulation. You register and schedule your exam date through Pearson VUE.
It's a serious test, and the part that catches people off guard is the 40-question Montana portion. The national half covers the same principles taught in every state, but the state questions reward candidates who actually studied Montana's brokerage relationships law, the relationship disclosure form, the statutory broker concept, the Small Tract Financing Act, and Montana's errors-and-omissions insurance rules. Most people who fail leaned too heavily on national material and underprepared on Montana law. Honest reps on Montana-specific practice questions are the difference between a first-time pass and a $95 retake.
The 80-question national portion covers real property characteristics and legal descriptions, forms of ownership and transfer of title, property value and appraisal, real estate contracts and agency, the practice of real estate including fair housing, property disclosures and environmental issues, financing and settlement, and real estate math. Contracts and agency together carry the most weight, with sixteen items on the national outline. The 40-question Montana portion covers the Board of Realty Regulation's investigatory and disciplinary powers, licensing activities and license maintenance, the substantive requirements that govern the day-to-day activities of licensees including advertising, broker–salesperson supervision, unprofessional conduct, compensation, agency and property disclosure, handling documents and handling monies, and additional topics like errors-and-omissions insurance, common-interest ownership, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and foreclosure and redemption. Activities of licensees is by far the heaviest state topic with 28 of the 40 items, so it is worth extra attention.
After you finish Montana's required pre-licensing education, the highest-leverage move is grinding Montana-specific practice questions with honest feedback on every miss. National principles you can pick up from any course, but the 40-question state portion rewards repetition on the brokerage relationships law, the relationship disclosure form, the statutory broker concept, trust account rules, and the Small Tract Financing Act foreclosure process. The RealReady app gives you the full Montana question bank plus the national bank, detailed explanations, a missed-question drill mode, and per-category progress tracking so you can see exactly where you are weak.
The 20 Montana practice questions on this page are free, no account or signup needed. Unlocking the rest of the Montana bank is a single in-app purchase you pay once and own, with no recurring charge and no time limit on access.
Yes. RealReady has a dedicated Montana question bank built for the Montana real estate exam, covering the national principles every candidate sees plus the Montana law that trips people up, like the Title 37 Chapter 51 statutory broker relationship, the Small Tract Financing Act trust indenture, and Montana's mandatory errors-and-omissions insurance.
No. RealReady is exam practice, not a pre-license course, so it doesn't count toward Montana's required pre-license education hours. Use it after or alongside your coursework to drill realistic practice questions and find your weak spots before exam day.
