Florida Administrative Code
61 - DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION
61J2 - Florida Real Estate Commission
Chapter 61J2-3 - MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Section 61J2-3.008 - Pre-licensing Education for Broker and Sales Associate Applicants

(a) Any licensed sales associate desiring to become licensed as a broker must satisfactorily complete the Commission-prescribed course designated as Course II. This course will consist of 72 hours of 50 minutes each, inclusive of examination, in the fundamentals of real estate appraising, investment, financing, and brokerage and management operations.

(b) For all courses approved for classroom delivery, 50 minute hours means fifty minutes of classroom instruction, exclusive of any breaks, recesses, or other time not spent in instruction. Classroom hours are the hours delivered live by an instructor in a classroom or by a live streaming or any means of video conferencing technology while the students are in attendance.

(c) Any school requesting approval for a live streaming course must submit to the DBPR at the time of course submission all course materials as well as information on the delivery method and software platform being used.

(a) Accredited universities, colleges, community colleges and area technical centers in this state that offer transferable college credit courses, or real estate schools registered pursuant to Section 475.451, F.S. ("school"), may offer these Commission-prescribed courses. Satisfactory completion of these courses will not entitle any person to receive a license as a real estate broker or sales associate until such person has met all other requirements of law and has passed the applicable Commission-approved state examination which DBPR administers.

(b) The school permit holder, permitted administrative person, or permitted instructor shall, assure necessary equipment performance and administer and certify student and course compliance.

(a) A grade of 70% or higher on the Commission-prescribed end-of-course examination constitutes satisfactory course completion. The school shall administer the examination upon completion of the instruction, provided the student has not missed in excess of 8 hours of classroom instruction.

(b) The school must submit to the Commission the course materials and end-of-course examinations. The school must also submit a copy of the course, and access to the course, in the format in which the course will be offered to the student. Primary schools shall submit pre-license courses for evaluation every new edition. In no event may a course evaluation submission for renewal be made more than four years after the original approval date. Secondary schools shall resubmit pre-license courses for evaluation prior to every second renewal. A primary school is a school that develops the course material for evaluation under its school name. A secondary school is a school that has been given authority by the primary school to submit the course material for evaluation under its school name. Secondary schools must submit, with the course evaluation, a letter from the primary school authorizing the secondary school to submit the course for evaluation under its school name. When delivered by distance education, the course and examination shall comply with the "Course Approval criteria" as follows:

(c) The Commission will approve pre-licensure courses for a period of 24 months and evaluate the course for renewal, provided the school submits the form DBPR RE 18, "Continuing Education Course Approval Application, " incorporated by subsection 61-35.027(17), F.A.C., no more than 120 days prior to the course expiration date. The renewal application must include the course materials, the end-of-course examinations and a summary of what updates and revisions have been made to the course. A school may grade an examination within 15 days after the expiration date of the course, provided it receives the materials prior to or on the date of expiration. Schools shall notify students of the course number and expiration date upon enrollment.

(d) The school shall develop at least 2 forms of the end-of-course examination, and submit them for approval as provided in paragraph (4)(b) above. No end-of-course examination shall contain more than 15% duplication of questions. Examinations must test the course material. The answer key must be unique for each form of the examination. The answer key must reference the page number(s) containing the information upon which each question and correct answer is based. At least 70% of the questions on each form of the test shall be application oriented. Application level means the ability to use the learned material in a completely new and concrete situation. It usually involves the application of rules, policies, methods, computations, laws, theories, or any other relevant and available information. No more than 10% of the questions on each form of the test shall be at the knowledge level. Knowledge level means the recall of specific facts, patterns, methods, terms, rules, dates, formulas, names, or other information that should be committed to memory. A school offering the Commission-prescribed courses must maintain a sufficient bank of questions to assure examination validity. The sales associate end-of-course examinations shall contain at least 100 items, or 2 items per instruction hour. The broker end-of-course examinations shall contain at least 95 items, of which 5 items are 2 points each, which shall cover closing statements or escrow accounts, or 2 items per instruction hour. All Questions shall be multiple-choice with 4 answer choices each. The order of the examination questions may not follow the sequence of the course content and the item must not refer the student to the course material. The overall time to complete the end-of-course examination must not exceed the equivalent of 1.8 minutes per item.

(a) The school offering these Commission-prescribed courses shall inform each student of the standards and requirements at the commencement of each course. Notice of course completion shall comply with Rule 61J2-3.015, F.A.C.

(b) In all Commission-approved courses by distance education, the school and permitholder shall provide to students an address, email address and telephone number of a permitted instructor registered with such school, who shall be available to assist the students with instruction. The school shall communicate to all students the times in which the permitted instructor will be available to assist the students with instruction.