How many hours of continuing education do California brokers need?

Effective 1/1/2023: Licensees with renewal dates 1/1/2023 and later will be required to complete the following as part of the total 45 hours of continuing education:

• One nine-hour CE survey course that covers the seven mandatory subjects: ethics, agency, trust fund handling, risk management, management and supervision, fair housing and implicit bias training (pending approval with the DRE) OR licensees can choose to take individual courses in all of those mandatory subjects;
• A minimum of 18 hours of CE courses in the category of consumer protection; and
• The remaining clock hours to complete the 45 hours of continuing education may be related to either consumer service or consumer protection courses.

California State Requirement Details for Real Estate Continuing Education

Renewal Date: Every four years

Hours Required: 45hours

For subsequent renewals, all real estate brokers and salespersons must complete 45 clock hours of DRE-approved continuing education consisting of:

• One eight-hour survey course covering the six mandatory subjects (Ethics, Agency, Fair Housing, Trust Fund Handling, Risk Management, and Management and Supervision) OR licensees can choose to take each of the mandatory subjects separately; and
• A minimum of 18 clock hours of consumer protection courses; and
• The remaining clock hours required to complete the 45 hours of continuing education may be related to either consumer service or consumer protection courses.

Effective 1/1/2023: Licensees with renewal dates 1/1/2023 and later will be required to complete the following as part of the total 45 hours of continuing education:

• One nine-hour CE survey course that covers the seven mandatory subjects: ethics, agency, trust fund handling, risk management, management and supervision, fair housing and implicit bias training (pending approval with the DRE) OR licensees can choose to take individual courses in all of those mandatory subjects;
• A minimum of 18 hours of CE courses in the category of consumer protection; and
• The remaining clock hours to complete the 45 hours of continuing education may be related to either consumer service or consumer protection courses.

DRE Disclaimer: The courses in this California catalog are approved for continuing education by the California Department of Real Estate. Sponsor ID number 6314. However, these course approvals do not constitute an endorsement of the views or opinions expressed by the course sponsor, instructor, authors, or lecturers.

The CE Shop’s Offering: 45 hours

Reporting: The state does not require schools to report course completions.

DRE Rules: Per DRE Regulation 3007.3:

• You will be limited to completing final examinations for a maximum of 15 credit hours during any one 24-hour period. Note: The date/time you electronically sign the course is the date/time it will be marked as completed. You are responsible for monitoring this to ensure you are not signing off on more than 15 hours in one day.
• A maximum of eight hours of reading/study time per day will be used to calculate the number of days that must elapse from the time you have had access to the course material until you can access the examination (e.g., if you started an 8-hour course and completed the final exam in a 24-hour period, the final exam for an additional course will not be available until the next 24-hour period).
• You must spend the required number of hours navigating through the content and completing the incremental assessments prior to being granted access to the final examination (e.g., for a 3-credit course, a minimum of three hours must elapse and you must complete all unit quizzes before you can access the final exam).

The course system will automatically track these rules and a message at the bottom of your course will let you know when your final exam is available.

Expiration Date of Course: Course expiration dates vary by course but are generally one year after order date. Each individual course will have an expiration date listed in your account. 

Final Exams: You must pass your final exams with a score of at least 70%. You will be allowed to re-take your final exams once if you don’t pass on your first try. If you don’t pass the exams after your second attempt, you may re-enroll at no cost (by contacting customer support) and retake the entire course, including the final exams. Pursuant to Article 25 – Section 3007.3 (f)(k)(o), you are allotted one minute per question on the final exams.

Certificates: Immediately upon real estate course completion, The CE Shop will provide students with an electronic copy of the course certificate of completion. Certificates will remain in your account for a minimum of five years, should you need additional copies at a later time. Please refer to your renewal application to determine if you need to submit your certificate(s) of completion with your renewal. Course completion dates are recorded using Central Standard Time. Please note that the date on your certificate of completion will reflect this.

DRE Survey: A course and instructor evaluation is available on the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) website.  Access this form by typing in "RE 318A" in the search box located in the upper-right corner of the home page. You will be notified of this survey and how to access it on your course completion slide, as well as in your completion email.

License Renewal Process: The process to renew in this state is to log in to the licensing system online and follow the prompts to renew.  

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