135 hours of class time is needed to complete broker course. Plan2Pass breaks it down into 3 Sessions: Session #1 Fundamentals (45 hrs) Session #2 Specializing (45 hrs) Session #3 Supervision (45 hrs)
All 135 hours must be earned through one school/provider. You cannot combine hours from different programs. If you already attended some of the GRI program through MD REALTORS, you may want to just continue with the GRI series since you already have earned some of the 135 hours needed hours.

A licensee needs to have been actively licensed for 3 years, without a break, immediately preceding sitting the MD PSI broker exam.

Complete enrollment form and live stream form. Copy of ID provided.
Completion of 135 class time hours. On camera attendance for Zoom classes.
135 hours of attendance must include 3 hours of MD Ethics.
Pass both portions of Plan2Pass proctored final exam for Session #1, #2 and #3. Passing grade for MD law and national portions of finals are 75% or higher.
Complete payment processed for each of the 3 Sessions.

Live stream classes are attended on Zoom with proctored in person final exams. Select dates are hybrid allowing for optional in person attendance or continued Zoom attendance.

Often 2 days a week – for example: Mondays and Thursdays. The schedule is NOT for every Monday and Thursday – it would be grueling. Also, a 3-week break is offered in between each of the Sessions.

Plan2Pass broker course has the following 4 goals: (1) earning CE hours along with broker course hours (2) increase of productivity (3) decrease of liability (4) textbook coverage and test taking preparation

CE hours are a bonus! We got our course approved with continuing education (CE) components so that you are not just earning 135 broker course hours but also CE hours. The course includes all mandatory topics plus a generous number of elective hours. The CE is approved for Maryland only.

$485 per each of the 3 Sessions. This includes 2 textbooks, a student binder, a takeaway study packet at the end of the class and 2 FREE prep classes. You can pay 50% at the start of each Session and balance before the next Session starts. You can also have a $50 savings if you decide to pay for both Session #2 & #3 at the start of Session #2.

The deadline for completing the broker course is 24 months from the last date scheduled for the 1st Session you attend. For example, if you start in January 2023, the last day scheduled is March 9th. Completion deadline would be March 9, 2025.

Broker course students must make-up the hours and the topic missed. Options include:
The next offering of Plan2Pass broker course and attend any topics/hours missed at NO COST.
CE classes that are part of the broker course are also offered on Plan2Pass CE calendar. A student can make-up hours for the broker course by attending the same CE class they missed at NO COST.
Lastly, we also offer tutoring options at A COST. You can share the cost with other agents who missed the topic you missed; we will invite those agents to the tutoring session so that the cost of the tutoring can be a SHARED COST. We only offer tutoring in August, November, December and January.

There is a 1-year deadline from completing the broker course to pass both portions of the MD PSI broker exam (70% or higher). There are 80 questions for national and 40 questions for MD law.

There is also a 1-year deadline from passing the MD PSI broker exam to apply for your new associate broker or broker license.

My school is so lucky that I have great relationships in the industry. We partner with HCAR and FCAR to support their members by using their office to pick up textbooks at the start of the course and the bonus study packet provided at the end of the course. We often use their classrooms to do the in person final exams. Fortunate to also have access to select brokerage firms such as Coldwell Banker and their offices such as Annapolis, Columbia, Crofton, Salisbury and Waldorf for textbook pick-ups and final exams.

Once you earn an associate broker’s license, it only takes 2 administrative steps to upgrade to a broker’s license (submit current credit report and set up trust account in MD financial institutions).

I became an associate broker. Which I use in my marketing and my presentations all the time. I explain that I have the advanced qualifications of a broker but wish to continue working directly with clients. I also added it to my BIO which helps me if I’m looking to manage an office or run a team. People I try to recruit will expect that I can answer more questions and solve more problems. And taking the course allowed me to take more ownership of my business model.
I keep wanting to start with a team and then maybe have my own boutique brokerage firm – but it is just a maybe at this time.
At any point I want, I can upgrade to a broker’s license. Which I continue thinking about doing but I was not ready to be a broker when I took my broker course. This way I am an associate broker which has boosted my marketing and ability to close and the moment I am ready to try my own firm, it is a quick adjustment with MREC to change over to being the actual broker.
It can be a great holding pattern to have an associate broker title that is more advanced than a salesperson plus acquiring a more complete education about the industry and as a bonus – the ability to flip to broker without any more testing or class hours when ready to do so.

The PSI website has a PSI bulletin that can be downloaded and printed out providing all the instructions for taking the PSI exam. The bulletin also provides a breakdown and an outline of the topics covered for the exam. PSI also has practice exams available for the National portion of the exam.
PSI Online – One stop Solution for Test Takers (psiexams.com)

3 hrs Legal Update Category (A)– needed by all licensees.

3 hrs MD Ethics with Predatory Lending Category (D) – needed by all licensees

3 hrs Brokerage Relationship and Disclosures/BRAD Category (H) – only for residential licensees

3 hrs MREC Agency – Commercial Category (H) – only for commercial licensees

1.5 hours Fair Housing Category (C) – not needed by licensees who handle ONLY commercial

3 hrs MREC Supervision Category (I) – only needed by brokers, branch managers and team leaders

In addition to the mandatory classes required, a licensee must attend electives (F) to reach the 15-hour continuing education requirement for license renewal.

Only your home association can upload you to the NAR completion site for the NAR Ethics requirements.  You can request proof from Plan2Pass that you attend our MD Ethics class that includes NAR Code of Ethics and it would then be up to your association if they would add you to the NAR completion list due to your Plan2Pass attendance.  Currently, you must complete NAR Ethics class once every 3 years but you would want to refer to www.realtor.org to stay current on this requirement.

Please know that it can take 10 days for CE to be processed and uploaded to the portal.  You should receive a confirmation email from Plan2Pass and another confirmation from MREC as long as you have provided Plan2Pass and MREC with a correct email address. There also had to be full compliance for the attendance of CE class for the hours to have been uploaded to MREC.  For example, did you provide your MD real estate license #, show picture ID, comply with in-person or live stream/Zoom classroom policies, sign in to class and sign out at the end of class.  Additional policies are posted on our CE Class webpage. 

Yes.  You still have a license if it is INACTIVE, it is just being held by MREC instead of a broker.  This is why INACTIVE agents cannot sell or accept any portion of a commission – their license must be ACTIVE to receive referral fees/partial commission or participate in sales.  Even though you are not using your license while it is INACTIVE, you do not want to lose your license by not renewing.  You need to renew your license while it is parked in INACTIVE status or it will EXPIRE.  The maximum time for a license to be INACTIVE is 3 years.   

If you do not have the needed 15 hours of CE, you cannot renew your license and it will EXPIRE.  You cannot sell or accept any portion of a commission if your license is EXPIRED.  You have a 3-year period to reinstate your license from the date it expired.  In order to reinstate, you must have all the CE needed and pay a reinstatement fee (which is currently $150).

If you take the same class but with different schools/providers, then the duplicate class could count as an elective.  For example, if you took Fair Housing 1.5-hour class with Plan2Pass and then you also took it with your association, one of them would count as the mandatory 1.5 hours and the duplicate with count as 1.5 elective hours since it was two different providers.

You have more than you need to successfully renew your license as long as you have all the mandatory topics.  Excess hours do not roll-over to the next renewal period.

Education Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Maryland Real Estate Commission (MREC) – Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing

Some of the designations require attendance of an additional course to be completed with your
application. ABR and SRS both require an elective course to be completed and submitted with
application. Each of the courses we offer has an explanation on our designation/certification
page which includes a list of electives when that is part of the requirements. C-RETS requires 2
of the 4 courses offered to be completed prior to your application.

You are not allowed to add any credentials to your marketing efforts until your application has
been successfully completed. If it is a designation you will need to also stay current with your
annual fees to continue receiving the benefits. You will need to remain a member of NAR to
continue with those benefits as well. Many of the courses provide support materials and some
have an online directory that could mean ease for referring business.

To earn a designation or certification, attendance of the complete course will be required. If you
miss no more than 15 minutes each day, you could still qualify for complete attendance but will not
earn any MD CE hours if applicable. If you miss more than 15 minutes daily from the course,
whether you can make up hours in another future offering of that course will be decided by the
NAR, REBAC or REBI education policies. Additional payment may be needed to attend a make-up
class if allowed.

Missing a portion of the scheduled class does not qualify for a refund. You can request a class credit to
attend the class during one of the future offerings.

If an exam is administered during the class, passing the exam will not be a requirement for earning
the designation or certification. It is possible that the CIPS course requires an exam, but our school
does not offer this course.

No, the slides do not belong to Plan2Pass. They are proprietary and belong to NAR, REBAC or
REBI. Your student manual has all the information shown on slides and more! The graphics
look different but there is WAY more content in the manual you are provided than the slides
used as a presentation. The manual might also have a worthwhile appendix and should be
considered a reference material for ongoing use

Most of the courses do not have a completion deadline. It would be worthwhile to attempt
your application for completion even if some time has gone by since attending the course. The
rare course that does require you to complete within a set period usually offers a generous
amount of time such as 3 years. Our school cannot offer you the assistance you need once we
submit the class roster to NAR, REBAC or REBI. Processes of applications are outside of our
control. You will need to reach out to NAR or REBI to ask if you can still apply. Contact info
shown below. Consider auditing a class that you have not attended for a while.

Yes, that is a great idea since the course barely fits into the course. If you want to sit through
the course another time down the road, ask to AUDIT the class, which means you already
earned the hours and just want to sit in but do not have to attend all hours. It should also
mean you are offered a much lower price to audit.

I usually send a “sharing email” to anyone who provides me an email for that purpose. The
sharing email just has some examples but none of them are ready-to-use, they would need
improvement and customizing prior to use. Just wanting agents to benefit from attendance.

If I provide a sharing email it does not clear a path for continued emails for the sake of
guidance. I get into trouble when agents reach out to me instead of their broker, manager or
team leader. I cannot discuss real transactions with a licensee that I am not supervising, and I
am no longer a manager, so I do not offer guidance for actual transactions. I refer you back to
your brokerage firm or to MD REALTORS hotline.

I would say place a reminder on your calendar for 2-3 weeks after completing the course since
that will give enough time to process your attendance. You could then work on your
application and then look to see what type of support materials are provided. Set up your
online profile within the online referral database if that option exists. When there are area
conventions, look to see if there is a networking group for that designation or certification –
good idea to really work the referral opportunities. There could be online and fb networking
groups for the course as well. I will sometimes do a bonus session that I like to call a
“brainstorming session” to revisit some of the best ideas discussed. I also offer group coaching
that will often tie into recent topics taught.

REBAC – Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council rebac@nar.realtor 800 648-6224
REBI – Real Estate Business Institute rebac@nar.realtor 800 621-8738

Yes, it will prepare them for a slightly tougher exam, but it will be good prep. The
broker exam usually pulls content from the same textbooks that are used for the
salesperson’s exam.

Yes, it will prepare them for a slightly easier exam, but it will be good prep if a broker
specific prep is not offered when needed. The broker exam and the salesperson’s exam
usually pull content from the same textbooks. Some differences between the two
exams include @10 more questions on the law portion for the broker exam. Another
difference is that the broker exam tends to include some longer scenario-type
questions.

No, refunds are not provided for lack of attendance. You can still request the materials
we share following the prep class you paid for and can request credit to attend a future
prep class. If we cancel the prep class, we will issue refunds if applicable.

No, some of the items are the belongings of the instructor and used to teach the class,
not to study. We do share quite a bit of material but not everything. Some of the items
we share, such as audios, have an expiration date. We are not required to resend items
due to the student losing the content or waiting too long to sit for exam.

If you go to www.psiexams.com, you can select your state/jurisdiction and then select “real estate”. You can then choose salesperson or broker and you will have access to the display bulletin.
The bulletin for the applicable state will tell you how many questions you will have to tackle based on which jurisdiction and if you are taking the law portion only or if you are also taking the national portion.
The bulletin will also provide you with a wonderful breakdown of how many questions you will prepare for and an outline of the content for that topic.
For example:

MD Law for broker exam 40?s

MD Law for salesperson exam 30?s

National for broker exam 80?s

National for salesperson exam 80?

Topics for law often include licensing, disclosure requirements, agency/brokerage, fair
housing, ethics, trust money and duties of the real estate commission or board.

Topics for national often include calculations, contracts, financing, land-use controls,
leasing, property ownership, transfer of title and valuation.

You will want to know what your testing deadline might be – for example, in Maryland you must pass both portions of the PSI exam within 1 year of completing the 60-hour salesperson pre-licensing class. If you are preparing for the salesperson exam, the 60- hour provider will have to upload you to PSI and then you will receive a confirmation email and can pay for and schedule your exam.
Use the PSI bulletin mentioned in the last FAQ to familiarize yourself with what is needed to register for the exam and need-to-know info for the exam such as test center locations and rules for the test center.

Passing the broker exam might qualify you to apply for an associate broker license or a
broker license depending on the area requirements. You will want to know what your
testing deadline might be – for example, in Maryland you must pass both portions of the
PSI exam within 1 year of completing the broker course. Use the PSI bulletin mentioned
in the last FAQ to familiarize yourself with what is needed to register for the exam. If
you are preparing to sit for the broker exam, you will likely have to submit the
application yourself and it may require proof of your licensed history and proof of your
broker course hours. Also, use the PSI bulletin mentioned to familiarize yourself with
what is needed to register for the exam and need-to-know info for the exam such as test
center locations and rules for the test center.

Requirements for sitting for broker exam vary. For example, you need to be licensed for
3 years in MD & actively licensed for 36 months of the last 48 months in VA to sit for the
broker exam and you need to be licensed for 2 years in DC to sit for the broker exam.
The broker course is 135-hours for DC & MD and 180-hours for VA. You will need to
provide proof of licensed history and completed hours submitted with PSI application.
For example, you need to be licensed for 3 years immediately preceding sitting for the
MD broker exam without break such as inactive or expired status. You will need to provide
prrof of licensed history and completed hours submitted with PSI application.

In DC, there is a salesperson exam, broker exam and property manager exam. You must
apply for license within 6 months of passing any of these DC PSI exams.

In MD, you have 1 year from passing both portions of the PSI exam to apply for license.

In VA, your PSI passing score expire after 1 year and your background
check/fingerprinting (required for VA applicants) expires after 45 days.

Group coaching meets once a week or once every other week. The series stretches out over 2-3 months. Agents can choose the 10am morning time slot – 2pm afternoon time slot – or 630pm evening time slot

The session is 2 hours long. Coaching presentation is the first hour… followed by 30-minute large group brainstorming… followed by 30-minute small group accountability meeting.

Yes, some of the sessions will be in person but if the location is not convenient for you, Zoom attendance is possible.