Syllabus
What Changes in the 2027 RES Syllabus
CEA has revised the Real Estate Salesperson examination syllabus for examinations from 1 January 2027. Examinations up to and including 2026 use the previous one. Here is what actually differs, and which one Freehold is built for.
Freehold's Singapore question bank is authored against the 2027 syllabus. If you are sitting in 2026, use it as revision of the underlying law rather than as a rehearsal of your blueprint.
Competency units, before and after
41 topics become 42, but the movement is not evenly spread and one unit renumbers almost entirely.
| Competency unit | Superseded | Revised | What moved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 - Industry overview and basic land law | 8 topics | 8 topics | Unchanged in shape. One topic is retitled: what was framed around the State Lands Act now names the Land Betterment Charge Act alongside it, which is the levy that replaced development charge and differential premium. |
| Unit 2 - Dealings with interests in land | 13 topics | 12 topics | The largest renumbering on the page, and the one most likely to mislead a candidate working from an old set of notes. "Negligence" is widened to "Property torts". "Conveyance inter vivos" no longer stands as its own topic. Everything that followed it shifts up one, so the number against mortgage, gift, trust, succession, future interests, co-ownership, capacity and planning is one lower than it used to be. |
| Unit 3 - Regulation and marketing practice | 11 topics | 14 topics | The unit that grew. The revised objectives name green buildings and conservation properties, and money laundering, proliferation financing and terrorism financing obligations are called out explicitly rather than left inside general regulation. |
| Unit 4 - Property transactions | 9 topics | 8 topics | Consolidated rather than cut: the transaction material is the same ground - stamp duties, financing, the sale process, strata management, collective sale and foreign ownership - carried across fewer headings. |
What does not change
The examination format is identical under both: two papers of 2.5 hours, sat separately, each carrying 60 Section A questions at one mark and 20 Section B questions at two marks against one or two case studies, 100 marks a paper and 60 to pass. A pass in one paper carries forward on its own under both.
Both syllabuses also publish the cognitive level expected of each learning outcome - remembering, understanding, applying - so what is being tested at each level is a published fact rather than a guess about difficulty.
Read the syllabuses
Freehold reproduces neither document. These are CEA's own PDFs.
Syllabus questions
Which syllabus does my sitting use?
CEA states that examinations held in 2026 and earlier are based on the RES Examination Syllabus 2017, and that the revised syllabus is implemented for examinations from 1 January 2027. Your sitting date decides it, not the date you started studying.
Does the examination format change?
No. Both syllabuses set two papers of 2.5 hours, each 80 questions and 100 marks - 60 Section A questions at one mark and 20 Section B questions at two marks against one or two case studies - with 60 marks to pass a paper, sat separately.
Is Freehold's question bank usable for a 2026 sitting?
Partly, and we would rather say so than sell you the whole thing. The law is largely the same law and the statutes cited are the same statutes, so it is sound revision. What does not carry across is the blueprint: topic numbers differ, one competency unit gained three topics and another lost one, and the mix of a full practice paper follows the revised structure. Practising against a different weighting is not the same exercise as rehearsing your own.
Where can I read both syllabuses?
CEA publishes each as a PDF, linked from this page and from its own examination preparation page. Freehold reproduces neither: this page describes what differs in structure and links you to the source for the wording.
Free practice, no account needed
Every RES question cites the Act, regulation or CEA page it comes from, with the section and the date we checked it. No ads, no subscriptions.
RES practice runs here in your browser today. Freehold RES is also available on the App Store with the same bank, the same citations and offline practice.
