Apply for the real estate agency
examination

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) requires individuals who wish to assume the role of the Key Executive Officer (KEO) of an estate agent (EA) to pass the real estate agency (REA) examination, or possess equivalent qualifications.

The REA examination is administered by CEA's appointed examination administrator, NTUC LearningHub, which will handle and manage all examination enquiries, including registration, deferment, results, eligibility matters, appeals, and all communication with applicants and candidates. They will respond to enquiries within five working days, or longer if the enquiry is more complex, or if the volume of enquiries is high.

To register for the REA examination, please visit NTUC LearningHub’s website.

NTUC LearningHub Pte Ltd
Website: https://rea.ntuclearninghub.com/ 
Main Hotline (Mon - Fri, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm): 6336-5482  
E-mail: rea@ntuclearninghub.com 
Address: Haw Par Centre 180 Clemenceau Avenue #01-02 Singapore 239922 (With effect from 18 Aug 2025)

REA examination requirements 

1. Complete the REA Course 

You must attend and complete the REA course conducted by a CEA Approved Course Provider (ACP) before registering for the REA examination. Upon completing the REA Course (a minimum of 75% attendance is required), the ACP will issue you a Certificate of REA Course Completion. Only certificates issued by CEA ACP will be recognised for the purpose of REA examination registration. 

You may not be required to take the REA course and REA examination if you possess any of the recognised qualifications in the table below:  

Qualifications equivalent to RES and REA examinations 

Note:

1. The Bachelor of Science (Real Estate) course and Diploma in Real Estate Business course are currently offered by NUS and NP respectively:

   1. Students enrolled in either of these two courses on or after 1 April 2020 and subsequently attain these qualifications are exempted from RES examination Paper 1 and REA examination Paper 1. They will be required to take RES examination Paper 2, and REA examination Papers 2 and 3.

   2. To be eligible to sit for RES examination Paper 2, they must attend and complete the partial RES course for Paper 2. Course completers will be issued with the Certificate of Completion for RES Course (Paper 2).

   3. To be eligible to sit for REA examination Papers 2 and 3, they must attend and complete the partial REA course for Papers 2 and 3. Course completers will be issued with the Certificate of Completion for REA Course (Papers 2 and 3).

   4. Students enrolled in either of these two courses before 1 April 2020 and subsequently attain these qualifications will continue to be exempted from the RES and REA examinations.

2. These courses are no longer offered by NUS, NP, and SP. Graduates who possess any of these academic qualifications will continue to be exempted from the RES and REA examinations.

Individuals who have passed all 3 examinations in General Practice by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) on or before 1 March 2023 shall be deemed to have obtained qualifications equivalent to a pass in the RES and REA examinations. This does not apply to RICS memberships, fellowships, or other RICS-accredited course qualifications.

2. Submit your educational qualifications 

You must have either:

• A minimum of four GCE O-Level passes (results may be combined from a maximum of two examination sittings) or equivalent, which is one of the regulatory requirements for KEOs; or

• Attained Level 5 and above in all five components of the Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (WPLN) assessment developed by the British Council in collaboration with SkillsFuture Singapore: Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing, and Numeracy.

When registering for the REA examination, you must submit a copy of your qualification certificate and all supporting documents to NTUC LearningHub for verification.

Examination syllabus 

The following table summarises the REA examination syllabus. 

You can refer to the full REA Examination Syllabus (PDF, 524KB) for more details. 

Examination format 

The REA examination comprises three papers with eight essay questions each.

You are required to answer any five out of the eight questions for each paper.

Duration: 2.5 hours per paper.

Examination schedule 

Note: *We may reschedule the REA examination dates and/ or registration period without prior notice. The changes will be updated in the table above. 

Examination fees 

The REA examination fees are as follow: 

Note: A modular sitting is only applicable for candidates who have passed at least one paper of the REA examination. Examination fees are subject to revision and may be changed without prior notice.

Examination results notification 

NTUC LearningHub will email the examination results to you within four to six weeks after the examination.

Appeal for review of REA examination results 

If you wish to submit an appeal application for a review of your REA examination results, you shall do so on NTUC LearningHub’s website within five working days after the release of the examination results and make a payment of $87.20 (inclusive of GST).

This fee is to cover the cost of reviewing the marking of the answer scripts and for re-checking of the awarded marks. Please note that you will not be shown your answer scripts as part of the appeal process.

NTUC LearningHub will inform you in writing of your appeal outcome about 14 working days after the closing date, or longer if the number of appeals is high.

Validity of REA examination results 

You must pass the REA examination within two years from the date of your Certificate of REA Course Completion. If you have received a partial pass in the REA examination, you must pass the remaining papers within the two-year timeframe.

If you are unable to pass all three papers of the REA examination within the two-year validity period, you must retake the REA course before attempting the REA examination, and retake all three papers.

After passing the REA examination, you will receive your REA examination certificate. If you wish to assume the role of KEO, you must submit your application through the EA within two years from the month of passing the REA examination. Your examination results will no longer be valid for application of this role after two years.

Examination rules

For the REA examination rules and regulations, please visit NTUC LearningHub’s website.

Deferment of REA examination

If you fail to turn up for the REA examination, you will be marked as "Absent" and considered to have failed the examination.

CEA may consider deferment of the examinations under the following circumstances:

1. Hospitalisation on the day of examination.

2. Demise of spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild which occurred up to 14 days before the day of examination.

3. National Service duties that cover the day of the examination.

A non-refundable fee of $130.80 (inclusive of GST) is payable for each examination deferment application. You must submit the application and relevant supporting documents via NTUC LearningHub’s website within five working days after the examination. You will be assigned to the next earliest examination upon approval of your deferment application with no further deferments allowed.

For clarifications, please email NTUC LearningHub at rea@ntuclearninghub.com.

Retaking the REA examination

If you obtain a modular pass in one or two papers of the REA examination, you may retake your failed papers in subsequent modular sittings, subject to the following:

• You must pass at least one paper of the REA examination.

• If you fail more than one paper, you must retake all failed papers in your next REA examination attempt.

• You must pass the REA examination within two years from the date of your Certificate of REA Course Completion. If you are unable to pass all three papers of the REA examination within the two-year validity period, you must retake the REA course before attempting all three papers of the REA examination again.