Exam topics · Tennessee
Commission splits, proration, loan-to-value, area, and transfer tax. Not hard math — just a small number of formulas applied under time pressure.
The arithmetic is middle-school level. What costs students points is setting up the problem: identifying which number is the base, which is the rate, and who owes what on the day of closing.
Base × Rate = Part. Commission, interest, tax, and profit questions are all this formula wearing different clothes. Identify the base first — the sale price, the loan amount, the assessed value — and the rest falls out.
Decide who owes the item, find the daily rate, count the days each party owns, then credit and debit accordingly. Read the question for whether the seller owns the day of closing — that single day changes the answer.
Square footage is length × width; an acre is 43,560 square feet. Assessed value questions in Tennessee apply an assessment ratio to market value before applying the tax rate, so never apply the rate to market value directly.
Points are always a percentage of the loan amount.
Lenders use the lesser of price or appraised value.
Read the question. It will say, and it changes the day count by one.
Math is a modest share of the questions, but it is concentrated in a few predictable formulas — commission, proration, interest, loan-to-value, points, area, and assessed value. Drilling those formulas is far more efficient than reviewing every chapter again.
A basic, non-programmable calculator is generally permitted at the testing center. Confirm the current rules with the testing vendor before your appointment.
Proration divides a shared expense — property taxes, rent, HOA dues — between buyer and seller according to the number of days each owns the property during the period the expense covers.
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