Can you use scratch paper on the Illinois real estate exam?

Short answer: A test-center candidate receives one piece of scratch paper and a pencil from PSI. A remote candidate may not use scratch paper. Personal paper, notes, formula sheets, and writing supplies are not a substitute in either format.

1. Leave personal paper and writing supplies outside the exam room.
2. Accept the piece of scratch paper and pencil supplied by PSI.
3. Use them only during the authorized examination session.
4. Keep all examination notes inside the controlled room.
5. Return the paper and pencil during checkout.

Do not copy questions for later review or take exam notes out of the center. PSI treats examination content and materials as secure. A missing sheet can delay checkout and create a conduct issue.

Clear all paper, notebooks, sticky notes, mail, whiteboards, pens, pencils, and reference material from the desk and reachable area before check-in. The remote room scan can include the desk, the area under the keyboard or laptop, the floor, ceiling, and surrounding room.

Do not bring paper into view after the scan. Do not write on the desk, hand, wall, or another surface. A personal whiteboard does not become acceptable merely because it can be erased. Follow the booklet and the proctor's instructions.

The Illinois PSI remote room setup guide covers the complete desk, camera, phone, privacy, and scan checklist.

Real estate calculations account for 7% of the scored national broker portion, about seven of the 100 scored national questions. Math can also appear inside financing, valuation, property ownership, and transaction scenarios.

A remote candidate does not need to become a mental-arithmetic performer. The goal is to reduce each question to a short, ordered set of decisions that can be handled without a handwritten page.

1. Name the unknown. Are you finding dollars, a percentage, time, distance, or area?
2. Identify the relationship. Choose the formula before touching the numbers.
3. Standardize the units. Convert months, days, square feet, acres, percentages, and decimal rates first.
4. Estimate the range. Decide whether the answer should be hundreds, thousands, or a small percentage.
5. Calculate one step at a time. Avoid an unnecessarily long expression.
6. Check direction and units. Ask whether the result answers the actual question.

Do not discover the paper restriction on exam day. Use a deliberate transition:

1. Solve new math lessons with paper until the formula and units are understood.
2. Repeat familiar question types without paper in sets of five.
3. Mark every miss as a formula, unit, arithmetic, or reading error.
4. Practice timed mixed sets without paper or a physical calculator.
5. Compare paper and paper-free accuracy before keeping remote delivery.

If accuracy drops sharply without written setup, that is useful evidence about the delivery format, not a character flaw.

• Eliminate results with the wrong unit.
• Reject amounts outside your estimated range.
• Check whether a percent was entered as a decimal.
• Look for an answer that reflects one missing conversion.
• Substitute a proposed answer back into a simple relationship.

Do not guess from the shape of the choices before reading the facts. Distractors often represent a plausible but incomplete calculation.

PSI promises a piece of paper, so use it as a limited resource:

• Write only the numbers, units, and relationship you need.
• Separate one problem from the next with a short line.
• Keep proration debits and credits visibly distinct.
• Do not spend opening minutes creating a long formula dump.
• Reserve space for later multi-step questions.
• Never plan around receiving another sheet.

A formula dump can consume time and introduce an error before you see a question. Recall formulas when the facts call for them.

Review every practical difference in the Illinois real estate exam online versus test-center comparison. Change the appointment through the official PSI process at least two days before the scheduled examination.

An approved testing accommodation can modify a standard condition. It does not authorize candidates to create their own exception. Request accommodations through the official process before scheduling as directed, retain the written approval, and bring or use only the materials PSI specifically authorizes.

If approval language is unclear, resolve it with PSI before the appointment rather than asking the proctor to make a new decision at launch.

• PSI Illinois Candidate Information Booklet dated June 24, 2026
• PSI Illinois Real Estate Examination Program

Your appointment confirmation, testing rules, approved accommodation, and proctor instructions govern the session.