- Official section
- National III: Valuation
- Broker weight
- 8% of the national broker portion
- Expected scored items
- Valuation accounts for about 8 of 100 items
Illinois exam glossary
The appraisal process
A clean appraisal reads like a well-built case file. The question is defined, the evidence is verified, the method fits the property, and the conclusion can be traced back to facts. Skip an early step and the weakness usually returns later as a bad comparable, wrong property right, or unsupported value.
Last updated: August 1, 2026
What does this exam area cover?
Short answer: The appraisal process moves from assignment acceptance and problem identification to scope of work, subject and market research, data verification, market and highest and best use analysis, applicable sales, cost, and income approaches, reconciliation, reporting, review or correction, and workfile retention. It is iterative rather than strictly linear because new reliable facts can require the appraiser to revise scope or analysis.
The public PSI outline tests appraisal purpose, process, value approaches, reports, and appraiser qualifications. This guide uses current federal definitions and minimum standards, Illinois appraisal law, 2024 USPAP status, and Fannie Mae's June 2026 Selling Guide context checked through August 1, 2026. Fannie Mae requirements are used as a current residential lending example, not as rules for every appraisal purpose or client.
What is on the official outline?
- Topic
- 1. Screen the assignment
- What to know
- Request, client communication, property type, location, purpose, timing, fee, conflict, independence, credential, competency, resources, access, data, jurisdiction, and accept or decline decision
- Best exam move
- Confirm authority, independence, and competency before promising a result or delivery date.
- Topic
- 2. Identify client and users
- What to know
- Client, intended user, borrower, owner, attorney, lender, investor, agency, report recipient, reliance, confidentiality, distribution, assignment transfer, and third-party request
- Best exam move
- Do not assume the payer, owner, borrower, or report holder is the client or an intended user.
- Topic
- 3. State intended use
- What to know
- Mortgage underwriting, purchase, sale, estate, divorce, tax appeal, condemnation, insurance, litigation, portfolio, internal planning, feasibility, review, and use restriction
- Best exam move
- The same property can require different scope and reporting for different legitimate uses.
- Topic
- 4. Identify the subject and interest
- What to know
- Address, legal description, parcel, improvements, condominium unit, cooperative interest, ownership, title, fee simple, leased fee, leasehold, easement, life estate, partial interest, and personal property
- Best exam move
- Make sure the legal interest and assets match the question, not just the street address.
- Topic
- 5. Define value and date
- What to know
- Market value, investment value, use value, insurable value, liquidation premise, value definition, effective date, retrospective, current, prospective, inspection date, report date, and market conditions
- Best exam move
- Pair the exact value definition with the effective date before selecting evidence.
- Topic
- 6. Identify relevant characteristics
- What to know
- Physical, legal, economic, location, ownership, lease, zoning, restrictions, condition, quality, size, utility, environmental influence, market segment, and information source
- Best exam move
- Relevant characteristics are those that can affect the assignment result for the stated use.
- Topic
- 7. Set assignment conditions
- What to know
- Extraordinary assumption, hypothetical condition, jurisdictional exception, limiting condition, proposed improvement, completion assumption, repair, uncertain fact, disclosure, credibility, and use necessity
- Best exam move
- Label the premise correctly and determine whether it is necessary, reasonable, and properly disclosed.
- Topic
- 8. Design scope of work
- What to know
- Inspection extent, desktop, hybrid, third-party data, research depth, market boundaries, data period, verification, approaches, specialists, technology, report level, timing, and credibility
- Best exam move
- Scope grows from the problem and evidence needs rather than from a fixed form alone.
- Topic
- 9. Research the subject
- What to know
- Deed, legal description, assessor record, tax, survey, zoning, permits, flood map, utilities, easements, restrictions, lease, rent roll, expenses, contract, concessions, listing history, plans, measurements, and condition
- Best exam move
- Cross-check sources because ownership, size, use, room count, and transaction data often conflict.
- Topic
- 10. Observe or collect property data
- What to know
- Interior, exterior, photos, floor plan, measurement, layout, materials, quality, updates, condition, deferred maintenance, functional utility, site, view, access, adverse influences, and inaccessible areas
- Best exam move
- Record what was observed, by whom, when, and with what limitations.
- Topic
- 11. Analyze market area
- What to know
- Competitive boundaries, land use, employment, population, supply, demand, inventory, absorption, exposure, marketing time, price trend, rent trend, concessions, financing, new construction, and externalities
- Best exam move
- Choose the market area from buyer behavior and competition, not a prohibited demographic shortcut.
- Topic
- 12. Verify comparable evidence
- What to know
- Closed sale, listing, pending contract, transaction party, deed, MLS, concessions, financing, motivation, exposure, relationship, property rights, condition at sale, renovations, rent, expense, and reliability
- Best exam move
- A recorded price proves a transfer amount, not all the terms needed for comparison.
- Topic
- 13. Test highest and best use
- What to know
- Legally permissible, physically possible, financially feasible, maximally productive, as vacant, as improved, interim use, demolition, conversion, excess land, surplus land, and consistency
- Best exam move
- Apply the four tests in order and distinguish the vacant-site conclusion from the improved-property conclusion.
- Topic
- 14. Develop sales comparison
- What to know
- Comparable selection, property rights, financing, conditions of sale, expenditures after purchase, market conditions, location, site, view, design, quality, condition, size, utility, adjustments, bracketing, and indication
- Best exam move
- Adjust the comparable to the subject and derive adjustments from market evidence.
- Topic
- 15. Develop cost approach
- What to know
- Land value, reproduction cost, replacement cost, direct cost, indirect cost, entrepreneurial incentive, physical deterioration, functional obsolescence, external obsolescence, site improvements, and indication
- Best exam move
- Separate land from improvements and account for all forms of depreciation supported by the assignment.
- Topic
- 16. Develop income approach
- What to know
- Market rent, contract rent, potential gross income, vacancy, collection loss, other income, effective gross income, operating expense, reserve, NOI, capitalization rate, direct capitalization, yield analysis, and indication
- Best exam move
- Build income and rates from the same market, property rights, time frame, and expense basis.
- Topic
- 17. Reconcile the evidence
- What to know
- Data quality, quantity, recency, comparability, verification, approach applicability, sensitivity, consistency, uncertainty, weighting, range, final opinion, rounding, and effective date
- Best exam move
- Explain why the strongest evidence deserves its weight instead of averaging the indications.
- Topic
- 18. Report the result
- What to know
- Identity, users, use, rights, value definition, date, scope, analysis, approaches, assumptions, limiting conditions, conclusion, certification, signature, license, exhibits, addenda, and understandable support
- Best exam move
- The report must let intended users understand what was done, why, and with what limitations.
- Topic
- 19. Review, correct, and revise
- What to know
- Client review, appraisal review, factual correction, reconsideration of value, new comparable, revision request, independence, material change, revised report, date, version control, and no target pressure
- Best exam move
- Correct facts and analyze new evidence without promising or directing a predetermined value.
- Topic
- 20. Preserve the workfile
- What to know
- Engagement, communications, research, source documents, verification, calculations, analyses, technology output, report copy, revisions, reviewer notes, confidentiality, retention, access, and legal hold
- Best exam move
- The workfile should support the assignment path even after the report has been delivered.
Which distinctions produce the most mistakes?
- Terms
- Problem identification vs. scope of work
- Difference
- Problem identification states what value question must be solved. Scope of work states the research and analysis needed to solve it credibly.
- Question cue
- What is asked versus how it will be solved.
- Terms
- Data collection vs. data verification
- Difference
- Collection obtains facts from sources. Verification tests accuracy, terms, context, and reliability through records or knowledgeable parties.
- Question cue
- Gather versus test.
- Terms
- Property observation vs. home inspection
- Difference
- Appraisal observation collects value-relevant characteristics. A home inspection evaluates condition and systems under a separate inspection scope.
- Question cue
- Valuation evidence versus condition service.
- Terms
- Extraordinary assumption vs. hypothetical condition
- Difference
- An extraordinary assumption treats an uncertain fact as true. A hypothetical condition assumes something contrary to known fact for analysis.
- Question cue
- Uncertain reality versus contrary-to-fact premise.
- Terms
- As-vacant vs. as-improved highest and best use
- Difference
- As-vacant analysis tests the ideal use of the site as though vacant. As-improved analysis tests whether existing improvements should remain, change, convert, or be removed.
- Question cue
- Site premise versus current improvement decision.
- Terms
- Comparable selection vs. adjustment
- Difference
- Selection finds transactions that compete with the subject. Adjustment accounts for material differences between selected evidence and the subject.
- Question cue
- Choose evidence versus make it comparable.
- Terms
- Approach indication vs. final value
- Difference
- An approach indication is the result of one valuation method. Final value follows reconciliation across the relevant evidence and methods.
- Question cue
- Method result versus reconciled conclusion.
- Terms
- Reconciliation vs. averaging
- Difference
- Reconciliation assigns reasoned weight to evidence. Averaging mechanically combines numbers without judging their reliability.
- Question cue
- Evidence judgment versus arithmetic shortcut.
- Terms
- Appraisal development vs. reporting
- Difference
- Development is the research and analysis that produces the opinion. Reporting communicates that opinion and enough support to intended users.
- Question cue
- Build the result versus explain the result.
- Terms
- Correction vs. value pressure
- Difference
- A correction supplies a verified material fact or relevant market evidence. Value pressure demands a target or threatens consequences based on the conclusion.
- Question cue
- Evidence request versus result demand.
- Terms
- Report revision vs. new effective date
- Difference
- A revised report can correct or clarify an assignment without changing its effective date. A new value date can require a new or updated assignment analysis.
- Question cue
- Communication change versus valuation-time change.
- Terms
- Report file vs. workfile
- Difference
- The report is delivered to intended users. The workfile contains records needed to support development, reporting, communications, and revisions.
- Question cue
- Client communication versus supporting assignment record.
The S-C-O-P-E appraisal workflow
- State the problem: identify client, users, use, subject, property interest, value definition, effective date, relevant characteristics, assignment conditions, and governing jurisdiction.
- Collect and confirm: research title, tax, zoning, site, improvements, lease, income, expense, contract, listing, comparable, construction, and market information, then verify the material facts.
- Observe and organize: complete the required property-data process, disclose who observed what and when, define the competitive market, and organize evidence by legal, physical, economic, and location relevance.
- Process the approaches: analyze highest and best use, apply each relevant valuation approach with supported inputs, test sensitivity and consistency, and explain meaningful omissions.
- Explain and preserve: reconcile the evidence, communicate a supported conclusion with assumptions and limitations, respond to legitimate corrections without pressure, and maintain the workfile.
- File
- Problem file
- Core question
- What exactly must be valued?
- Output
- Defined assignment
- File
- Scope file
- Core question
- What work will produce credible results?
- Output
- Research and analysis plan
- File
- Evidence file
- Core question
- Which facts are reliable and relevant?
- Output
- Verified subject and market data
- File
- Analysis file
- Core question
- What do the applicable methods indicate?
- Output
- Supported value indications
- File
- Conclusion file
- Core question
- How should the evidence be weighted and communicated?
- Output
- Final opinion, report, and workfile
How do the rules work in scenarios?
The wrong property interest derails the file
Scenario: An office building is subject to a long-term lease below current market rent. The appraiser begins a fee-simple analysis even though the client requested the owner's leased fee interest.
- The lease affects the owner's current rights and cash flows.
- Fee simple and leased fee are different appraisal problems.
- The appraiser must correct problem identification, scope, income analysis, and comparable selection before concluding value.
Answer: Return to the first step and value the requested leased fee interest.
A desktop assignment needs additional verification
Scenario: Public records show 1,850 square feet, the listing shows 2,150, and a third-party floor plan reports 1,970. The appraisal is a permitted desktop assignment.
- The process does not become credible by choosing the middle number.
- The appraiser investigates measurement standards, included areas, data dates, and source reliability.
- Any unresolved uncertainty affects scope, assumptions, comparison, and report disclosure.
Answer: Reconcile the conflicting data through additional evidence and disclose any material limitation.
Highest and best use changes the approach
Scenario: A small house sits on commercially zoned land along a redeveloping corridor. Supported market evidence shows assemblage and commercial redevelopment are financially feasible.
- Existing residential use is not automatically highest and best use.
- The appraiser tests legal, physical, financial, and productivity criteria for the site and improvements.
- Land and redevelopment evidence may become more relevant than ordinary house sales.
Answer: Complete highest and best use analysis before choosing residential comparables by habit.
A concession needs transaction verification
Scenario: A comparable closed at $500,000 with a large seller-paid rate buydown, but the database records only the price and closing date.
- The recorded price alone does not reveal cash equivalence.
- The appraiser verifies financing and concessions with reliable sources.
- Any adjustment should reflect market reaction, not an automatic dollar-for-dollar subtraction without support.
Answer: Verify the terms before deciding the sale's comparability and adjustment.
The approach with weak data receives little weight
Scenario: A 90-year-old special-purpose property has a cost indication of $6 million based on uncertain depreciation, a sales indication of $4.4 million from two verified sales, and an income indication of $4.5 million from strong lease evidence.
- The cost approach is sensitive to poorly supported depreciation.
- The sales and income approaches have better market support on the supplied facts.
- Averaging to about $4.97 million would overstate the weak cost evidence.
Answer: Reconcile near the supported sales and income evidence and explain the limited cost weight.
A verified correction triggers a revision
Scenario: After delivery, the client provides a recorded easement that the report missed. It materially restricts development of the rear third of the site.
- The easement is relevant legal and physical evidence.
- The appraiser evaluates its effect on highest and best use, comparable selection, adjustments, and value.
- Version control and report disclosure should make the correction and revised analysis clear.
Answer: Analyze the easement and revise the assignment results if the supported conclusion changes.
A form needs an addendum
Scenario: A standard residential form has too little space to explain an accessory dwelling unit, legal nonconforming status, solar lease, and unusual market reaction.
- The form does not cap the required appraisal analysis.
- Fannie Mae's current guidance expects additional comments and exhibits when needed for support.
- The appraiser should use an addendum and relevant documents rather than compress material facts into vague phrases.
Answer: Expand the report so intended users can understand the property, analysis, and conclusion.
What are the common exam traps?
- Trap
- Choosing comparables before defining the problem
- Correction
- First identify the interest, value definition, date, use, users, and relevant characteristics.
- Trap
- Treating scope as a client shortcut
- Correction
- Client preferences matter, but scope must still be sufficient to produce credible results for the assignment.
- Trap
- Trusting one database
- Correction
- Material facts should be cross-checked and transaction terms verified from reliable sources.
- Trap
- Calling observation a home inspection
- Correction
- The appraiser gathers value-relevant property data and does not guarantee systems, code compliance, or hidden condition.
- Trap
- Assuming the current use is highest and best use
- Correction
- Test legal, physical, financial, and maximal-productivity criteria for vacant and improved premises as applicable.
- Trap
- Using only closed sales nearest in distance
- Correction
- Competitive similarity, date, transaction terms, property rights, condition, and market segment matter more than distance alone.
- Trap
- Adjusting without market support
- Correction
- Use paired data, grouped analysis, trend evidence, cost or income support, and informed market behavior as appropriate.
- Trap
- Using all approaches because three sounds complete
- Correction
- Develop the approaches relevant to the property, assignment, and available credible evidence.
- Trap
- Averaging the value indications
- Correction
- Reconciliation weighs reliability and relevance rather than assigning equal mathematical weight.
- Trap
- Letting the contract price drive the conclusion
- Correction
- Analyze the contract as market evidence, but develop the value opinion independently under its definition and date.
- Trap
- Believing a standard form limits analysis
- Correction
- Use addenda, exhibits, comments, and additional support whenever the assignment requires them.
- Trap
- Changing a value because the client is unhappy
- Correction
- Revise only when verified facts, better evidence, corrected analysis, or another legitimate assignment issue supports change.
- Trap
- Confusing revision date with effective date
- Correction
- A revised report may retain the original value date unless the assignment itself calls for a new effective date.
- Trap
- Deleting superseded support
- Correction
- Maintain the workfile and version history required to explain the original and revised assignment path.
- Trap
- Using protected-class composition to define a market
- Correction
- Define competition through property and market behavior, not race, religion, national origin, disability, familial status, or other protected traits.
Can you answer these original practice questions?
These questions are original study items aligned to the published outline. They are not copied, recalled, or predicted PSI questions.
1. What should occur before comparable sales are selected?
- Identify the appraisal problem and scope
- Average three online estimates
- Choose the contract price
- Write the certification
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Identify the appraisal problem and scope
Comparable relevance depends on the interest, value definition, date, use, and subject characteristics.
2. Which item belongs to problem identification?
- Effective date
- Final proofreading only
- Loan approval
- Seller net sheet
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Effective date
The value date is part of the appraisal question that controls the time context for analysis.
3. What is the best description of scope of work?
- Research and analysis needed for credible assignment results
- The shortest report the client accepts
- A mandatory interior inspection in every appraisal
- A list of three comparable addresses
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Research and analysis needed for credible assignment results
Scope is assignment-specific and includes data, verification, methods, observation, and reporting.
4. Why is a recorded sale price not enough for comparable analysis?
- Terms, concessions, motivation, rights, and condition may differ
- Recorded sales are never usable
- Only listings can be compared
- Every recorded price equals market value
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Terms, concessions, motivation, rights, and condition may differ
Verification explains the transaction and whether it reflects comparable market behavior.
5. Which highest and best use test comes before financial feasibility?
- Physical possibility
- Final reconciliation
- Report delivery
- Loan underwriting
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Physical possibility
The normal sequence tests legal permissibility and physical possibility before financial feasibility.
6. What should the appraiser do when the income approach has excellent data and the cost approach has weak depreciation support?
- Give reasoned greater weight to the income evidence
- Average both numbers automatically
- Discard all income data
- Choose the higher result
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Give reasoned greater weight to the income evidence
Reconciliation follows evidence quality and approach relevance.
7. What does Fannie Mae currently say about appraisal report forms?
- They guide but do not limit or control the appraisal process
- They eliminate the need for addenda
- They replace appraiser judgment
- They apply to every appraisal purpose
Show answer and explanation
Answer: They guide but do not limit or control the appraisal process
Additional support and exhibits are needed when the assignment cannot be adequately explained on the form alone.
8. A client provides a verified missing easement after report delivery. What is the best response?
- Analyze its material effect and revise if warranted
- Ignore all post-delivery facts
- Raise value to preserve the loan
- Delete the original workfile
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Analyze its material effect and revise if warranted
Material new evidence can affect scope, highest and best use, approaches, and conclusion.
9. Which is a reporting task rather than appraisal development?
- Communicating the conclusion and support to intended users
- Verifying a concession
- Analyzing highest and best use
- Selecting comparable sales
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Communicating the conclusion and support to intended users
Development produces the opinion; reporting communicates assignment results.
10. What is the final record that supports the full assignment path?
- The workfile
- The list price
- The tax bill alone
- The buyer's preapproval
Show answer and explanation
Answer: The workfile
The workfile preserves research, verification, analyses, communications, reports, and revisions as required.
How should you study this area?
- Session
- Session 1
- Focus
- Define 20 appraisal problems
- Proof you are ready
- For each case, state client, users, use, subject, rights, value definition, date, characteristics, conditions, and jurisdiction without selecting a method yet.
- Session
- Session 2
- Focus
- Build scope from risk
- Proof you are ready
- Design observation, data, verification, market, approach, technology, specialist, and reporting scope for 16 standard and unusual assignments.
- Session
- Session 3
- Focus
- Verify the evidence file
- Proof you are ready
- Resolve 24 conflicts involving area, unit count, zoning, lease, easement, condition, sale terms, concessions, rent, expenses, and transaction relationship.
- Session
- Session 4
- Focus
- Sequence use and approaches
- Proof you are ready
- Complete 18 highest and best use decisions, then select and outline the applicable sales, cost, and income analyses for each property.
- Session
- Session 5
- Focus
- Reconcile and report
- Proof you are ready
- Reconcile 15 conflicting value files using data quality, relevance, sensitivity, and market behavior, then write a four-sentence conclusion for the intended user.
- Session
- Session 6
- Focus
- Run S-C-O-P-E
- Proof you are ready
- Score at least 90 percent and explain every miss through state, collect, observe, process, or explain and preserve.
Do not count recognition as mastery. Close the notes and explain the rule, apply it to a new fact pattern, and identify why each distractor fails.
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Questions students ask about Appraisal Process: Illinois Real Estate Exam Guide
What are the steps in the real estate appraisal process?
The appraiser accepts or declines the assignment, identifies the appraisal problem, determines the scope of work, gathers and verifies subject and market data, analyzes the market and highest and best use, develops applicable approaches to value, reconciles the indications, communicates the result, and maintains the required workfile. Real assignments can loop back when new facts change the scope or analysis.
What does it mean to identify the appraisal problem?
It means identifying the client and intended users, intended use, subject property, property interest, type and definition of value, effective date, relevant characteristics, assignment conditions, and applicable jurisdiction. If any of those elements is wrong, even accurate mathematics can answer the wrong question.
What is scope of work in an appraisal?
Scope of work is the research and analysis needed to produce credible assignment results. It can include the extent of property observation, data sources, verification, market area, research period, approaches developed, specialist assistance, technology use, assumptions, and reporting detail. Scope should fit the problem rather than follow a one-size-fits-all checklist.
Does an appraisal process always require an interior inspection?
No. The required observation depends on the assignment, law, client, program, form, property, available data, and credibility needs. Traditional, desktop, and hybrid mortgage products illustrate different data-collection models. Whatever model is used, the appraiser must understand its limitations and obtain enough reliable information for the assignment.
Where does highest and best use fit in the appraisal process?
It is analyzed before the approaches are completed because it identifies the reasonably probable legal and economic use that drives value. The tests are legal permissibility, physical possibility, financial feasibility, and maximal productivity. The appraiser may analyze the site as vacant and the property as improved.
Must an appraiser use all three approaches to value?
No. The appraiser considers relevant approaches and develops those needed for credible results. A strong sales approach may carry most weight for a typical owner-occupied home, while income evidence may dominate an apartment property. The report should make the reasoning and any meaningful omission understandable.
What is reconciliation in the appraisal process?
Reconciliation is the appraiser's reasoned weighing of the quality, quantity, relevance, consistency, and reliability of data and value indications. It produces the final opinion or range called for by the assignment. Reconciliation is not a simple average, and the approach with the highest number does not automatically win.
What happens if new information appears after inspection?
The appraiser evaluates whether the new fact affects the problem, scope, data, assumptions, analysis, or conclusion. A newly discovered lease, easement, permit issue, concession, structural problem, or market change can require more verification, a revised analysis, or a new assignment condition. The original plan is not a reason to ignore material evidence.
Is an appraisal complete when the appraiser calculates a value?
No. The result must be reconciled and communicated in a report appropriate to the intended use and users, with required disclosures, support, certification, and exhibits. The appraiser also maintains a workfile under applicable law and standards. A number without an understandable evidentiary path is not the full process.
Does an appraisal form control the entire process?
No. Fannie Mae's current guide expressly says its forms guide but do not limit or control the appraisal process. The appraiser must add comments, exhibits, or addenda when needed to describe the subject, document the analysis, and support the conclusion. The complexity of the assignment determines the needed collection, analysis, and reporting.
Are these official PSI questions or appraisal instructions?
No. The questions are original and aligned to the public Illinois broker outline. Sources were checked through August 1, 2026. A practicing appraiser must follow the actual engagement, current USPAP obligations, Illinois law and rules, credential limits, client requirements, applicable lender or agency guides, and facts of the assignment.
Primary sources
- PSI Illinois Candidate Information Booklet effective June 24, 2026
- The Appraisal Foundation, current 2024 USPAP and April 2026 technology-guidance status
- 12 CFR 34.42, current federal appraisal, market-value, and real-property definitions
- 12 CFR 34.44, minimum development, reporting, review, market-value, and credential standards
- 225 ILCS 458, current Illinois Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Act of 2002
- Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, current appraisal laws, rules, licenses, and resources
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.2-01, current scope, forms, exhibits, certifications, and UAD 3.6 policy
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-02, current subject-property and contract-analysis requirements
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-03, current neighborhood and market-area analysis requirements
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-04, current site, zoning, utilities, hazards, and land-use reporting
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-05, current improvements, area, quality, condition, and functional-utility analysis
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-07, current comparable selection, adjustment, contract, and reconciliation guidance
The current official outline controls the tested scope. Statutes, regulations, and official agency materials control when a general study rule and a jurisdiction-specific rule differ.
Editorial status
Checked against primary sources
The Pass Illinois editorial team last checked this guide on August 1, 2026. Every practice question is an original study item, and the source links above let you verify the rules that support the lesson.