North Dakota real estate school and pre-licensing course requirements

North Dakota requires every salesperson license applicant to complete a 90-hour pre-licensing course certified by the North Dakota Real Estate Commission (NDREC) before sitting for the state licensing exam. Your schooling for real estate starts at one of four NDREC-approved schools, where the course covers national real estate principles alongside North Dakota-specific agency law, contracts, ethics, and risk management. Courses are available online, in a classroom, or in a hybrid format. A separate 60-hour broker pre-licensing course is required for those upgrading to a broker license.

Required pre-licensing coursework in North Dakota

Both the salesperson and broker pre-licensing courses are NDREC-certified and restricted to resident applicants, per the NDREC How to Apply page^[1].

New resident salesperson licensees who completed the full pre-licensing course are exempt from continuing education for their first renewal cycle.

What the 90-hour salesperson course covers

The 90-hour salesperson pre-licensing course combines national real estate principles with North Dakota-specific law and practice. NDREC certifies courses but does not mandate specific sub-hour allocations for individual topics, so the exact breakdown varies by provider. No specific mandated hours for fair housing or implicit bias appear in NDREC pre-licensing regulations.

A typical course syllabus includes:

Fair housing is covered within both the national principles and state risk management portions of the curriculum. The Fair Housing Act^[2] prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Understanding these protections is part of the real estate agent training the pre-licensing course provides.

Course format options and NDREC-approved providers

NDREC certifies four schools to deliver pre-licensing education in the state, per the NDREC Education Providers page^[3]. The approved providers are:

• Academy of Real Estate Professionals
• Cooke Real Estate School
• The CE Shop
• University of North Dakota (UND)

Schools and their pre-licensing courses are certified by NDREC but otherwise operate independently, and course fees are paid directly to the school, as stated on the NDREC How to Apply page^[1]. NDREC certifies each course for a 3-year period from the date of approval.

Pre-licensing course tuition

Tuition for the pre-licensing course depends on the school and format you choose. Online self-paced courses typically range from approximately $600 to $770, while live-instruction or hybrid formats start at about $850. Broker pre-licensing courses range from roughly $400 for self-paced online to about $1,000 for blended formats.

Course requirements: seat time, quizzes, and final exam

Students must complete the full required instruction hours and pass a final exam to receive a certificate of completion. NDREC certifies courses but does not publish uniform quiz or final exam requirements; individual providers set their own thresholds and exam formats.

Typical requirements across NDREC-approved schools include:

Online courses typically enforce seat-time requirements by tracking student activity, and extended inactivity may disengage the student from the course session. Students generally must complete the final exam in one sitting. A student affidavit verifying identity and participation is typically required before a certificate is issued. ARELLO^[4], the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials, sets distance education and course delivery standards that NDREC and other state commissions adopt for online course quality and student verification.

Course access windows and completion reporting

Students typically have 6 months to 1 year to complete the pre-licensing course from the date of enrollment, depending on the provider. Some providers offer paid extensions; others allow up to 1 year of access before the course expires.

North Dakota does not require schools to report course completions to NDREC. Students must retain their certificate of completion and submit it with their license application. The certificate is valid for 2 years from the date of course completion, so applicants should plan their exam scheduling and application timeline within that window.

North Dakota previously required only 45 hours of pre-licensing education. The 45-hour pathway is no longer available for new applicants. Licensees who completed the 45-hour course under the previous requirement must take 15 hours of post-licensing education within 1 year of licensure, per the NDREC Approved Courses page^[5].

Does North Dakota require a separate commercial real estate course

The state issues general real estate licenses without specialty designations, so the pre-licensing course applies equally to residential and commercial practice. Commercial real estate courses are not a distinct licensing requirement. Agents who want to specialize in commercial transactions develop expertise through on-the-job experience and brokerage training after getting licensed.

After course completion: preparing for the licensing exam

After completing the pre-licensing course, the next step is scheduling and passing the North Dakota real estate licensing exam administered by PSI Services LLC^[6]. Salesperson applicants can test at any time without obtaining test codes from NDREC, per the NDREC Exam Information page^[7]. Many students supplement their coursework with a real estate exam course or practice tests before sitting for the licensing exam.

Your next steps: finish the pre-licensing course, retain your certificate of completion, schedule your licensing exam with PSI, and submit your salesperson application to NDREC before your certificate expires.