- AK-RES is the Alaska Real Estate Salesperson Exam, administered through Pearson VUE for the Alaska Real Estate Commission.
- The test has 120 scored items (80 National/General, 40 Alaska law) plus 10-15 unscored pretest items, totaling 130-135 questions in 4 hours.
- Passing requires a scaled score of 75 on a 0-100 scale - not 75% of questions correct.
- Failing either the national or state portion means retaking the entire exam after a 24-hour wait.
What Is AK-RES?
AK-RES stands for the Alaska Real Estate Salesperson Exam, the licensing test the Alaska Real Estate Commission requires before anyone can practice as a licensed salesperson in the state. It's delivered as a $115 test-center exam through Pearson VUE, and it's the single gatekeeping assessment between finishing prelicensing coursework and getting a broker affiliation active. If you've searched "AK-RES" and landed on information about a different credential, be careful - this acronym is shared by unrelated certifications in other fields, and their fees, domains, and pass criteria have nothing to do with Alaska real estate licensing.
For a broader orientation to what this designation covers content-wise, the AK-RES Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 14 Content Areas breaks down every tested area in more depth than this overview can.
Who Runs the Exam and Who Takes It
The Alaska Real Estate Commission owns the licensing standard, while Pearson VUE handles scheduling, delivery, and scoring at physical test centers. There's no online-proctored option built into the standard process described by the Commission - you sit the exam at a center under standard test-day security.
Who takes AK-RES? Anyone pursuing an Alaska real estate salesperson license: people transitioning from another career into residential or commercial sales, licensees relocating from another state who still need to meet Alaska-specific requirements, and property management or brokerage support staff moving into a licensed sales role. Because the license is a prerequisite for commission-based work, brokerages across the state effectively require it before they'll sponsor a new agent - see AK-RES Jobs for a sense of where licensed salespeople typically land after passing.
Exam Format, Timing, and Fees
AK-RES is built from two content blocks delivered as a single sitting:
- 80 National/General items covering real estate principles and practice that mirror standard licensing content nationwide, effective under the outline dated April 1, 2025.
- 40 Alaska law items covering state-specific statutes and Commission rules, effective under the outline dated September 14, 2023.
On top of those 120 scored questions, Pearson VUE seeds in 10-15 unscored pretest items that look identical to the real questions - you won't know which ones don't count, so every item deserves full attention. That brings the total to 130-135 questions, administered in a 4-hour window for a $115 test-center fee.
Reference materials are prohibited during the exam. You may bring a silent, handheld, nonprinting calculator as long as it doesn't have an alphabetic keypad; financial calculators are explicitly not allowed, so leave any device with amortization or cash-flow functions at home.
For a granular look at exam-day logistics, scheduling windows, and deadlines, see AK-RES Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling. And if you're comparing the investment against other licensing paths, AK-RES Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown lays out the full cost picture beyond just the exam fee.
The 14 AK-RES Domains
AK-RES content is organized into 14 domains split across the National/General portion and the Alaska law portion. The first eight domains carry the 80 National/General items; the remaining six carry the 40 Alaska-specific items.
Domain 1: Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Use
Covers how property is physically and legally defined.
- 11 scored items
Domain 2: Forms of Ownership, Transfer, and Recording of Title
Covers how title moves between parties and how ownership is documented.
- 9 scored items
Domain 3: Property Value and Appraisal
Covers valuation approaches and appraisal fundamentals.
- 11 scored items
Domain 4: Real Estate Contracts and Agency
The heaviest single domain on the National/General side.
- 16 scored items
The remaining National/General domains - Domain 5: Real Estate Practice (10 items), Domain 6: Property Disclosures and Environmental Issues (9 items), Domain 7: Financing and Settlement (7 items), and Domain 8: Real Estate Math Calculations (7 items) - round out the 80-item national portion.
The Alaska law domains carry the 40 state-specific items:
- Domain 9: Powers of the Alaska Real Estate Commission - 4 items
- Domain 10: Licensing - 4 items
- Domain 11: Licensee Duties and Disclosures to the Public - 10-12 items
- Domain 12: Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees - 10 items
- Domain 13: Personal Services Agreements - 4-6 items
- Domain 14: Property Management - 6 items
Notice that Domains 11 and 12 together carry roughly half of the entire state-law portion - a signal worth acting on when you plan review time. A full item-by-item walkthrough of what each domain actually tests, with example concepts, lives in the AK-RES Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 14 Content Areas guide.
| Section | Domains Covered | Scored Items | Outline Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| National/General | Domains 1-8 | 80 | April 1, 2025 |
| Alaska Law | Domains 9-14 | 40 | September 14, 2023 |
How Passing Works
AK-RES uses a scaled score, not a raw percentage. You need a 75 on a 0-100 scaled scoring range to pass - this scale accounts for slight difficulty variation between test forms, so a 75 does not literally mean "75% of questions answered correctly." Because the exam bundles national and state content into one session, you must clear both the National/General and Alaska law portions; passing one and failing the other still counts as a fail overall, and you'll retake the full exam rather than just the weaker section. For the mechanics of exactly how the scaled score is calculated and what it means for your study targets, see AK-RES Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
Because a scaled 75 doesn't map cleanly to "75% correct," don't aim for a bare-minimum feel on either section - build enough margin on both the National/General and Alaska law portions that a slightly harder form on test day doesn't tip you under.
Eligibility to Sit for AK-RES
Before you can register, Alaska requires:
- Minimum age of 19
- 40 classroom hours of Commission-approved prelicensing education, completed within the 18 months immediately before applying for licensure
- Affiliation with a licensed Alaska broker
- Active errors-and-omissions (E&O) insurance
- Application for licensure submitted within six months after passing the exam
That last point matters more than it looks: pass the exam, then sit on your paperwork past six months, and you may need to revisit licensure steps before you can activate a license. A full breakdown of each prerequisite and how they interact is covered in AK-RES Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Registration and Retake Rules
Exam registration and scheduling run through Pearson VUE. If you don't pass, you're required to wait 24 hours before reserving a retake slot - plan around that gap rather than assuming same-day rescheduling. And because the exam is scored as a single pass/fail outcome covering both content blocks, a retake means sitting the entire 130-135 question exam again, including whichever portion you actually passed the first time.
This all-or-nothing retake structure is one reason candidates often underestimate difficulty going in. If you want a realistic sense of what trips people up, How Hard Is the AK-RES Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and AK-RES Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows both go deeper into that picture than a single overview article can.
Renewal and Post-Licensing Hours
Passing AK-RES and getting licensed isn't the end of the education requirement. Alaska salesperson licenses expire on January 31 of even-numbered years, and renewal requires 20 continuing-education hours - 8 designated/core hours plus 12 elective hours. New licensees have an additional obligation: 30 post-licensing hours completed within the first year of holding the license, separate from the CE hours used at renewal.
Mapping Study Time to Domain Weight
Rather than studying every domain equally, weight your schedule by item count. Domain 4 (Real Estate Contracts and Agency) carries 16 items - the single largest block on the exam - so it deserves an early, dedicated pass. On the state-law side, Domain 11 (Licensee Duties and Disclosures) and Domain 12 (Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees) together account for roughly half of all 40 Alaska-law items, making them the highest-leverage state topics to master.
National/General Heavy Hitters
- Domain 4: Contracts and Agency (16 items)
- Domain 1 and Domain 3: property descriptions and appraisal fundamentals
Remaining National/General Domains
- Domain 5, 6, 7, and 8, with dedicated calculator practice for Domain 8 math items
Alaska Law Core
- Domain 11 and Domain 12 (highest-weighted state domains)
- Domain 9 and Domain 10 for Commission authority and licensing basics
Alaska Law Wrap-Up and Full Review
- Domain 13 and Domain 14
- Full-length timed practice sessions under the 4-hour, 130-135 question format
For a structured walkthrough of pacing this over several weeks, including how to sequence review with timed practice, see the AK-RES Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. When you're ready to test your recall against realistic item counts and timing, our practice test platform mirrors the 130-135 question, 4-hour structure so there are no surprises on exam day.
FAQ
No. AK-RES is the exam you must pass before you can apply for licensure. Passing it, then applying within six months, affiliating with a broker, and carrying E&O insurance are all separate steps toward an actual license.
There are 120 scored questions - 80 National/General and 40 Alaska law - plus 10-15 unscored pretest items, for 130-135 total questions in a 4-hour session.
You still fail overall and must retake the entire exam, both sections included, after waiting 24 hours to reschedule through Pearson VUE.
Yes, but only a silent, handheld, nonprinting calculator without an alphabetic keypad. Financial calculators are specifically prohibited, and no other reference materials are allowed.
No. Passing requires a scaled score of 75 on a 0-100 scale, which does not equal answering 75% of questions correctly. See the AK-RES Passing Score 2026 guide for how scaled scoring actually works.
Whether AK-RES fits into your broader career plan is worth weighing against the time and cost involved - see Is the AK-RES Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 for that discussion, and browse our practice tests when you're ready to start building exam-day confidence.