NY Real Estate Math: The Complete Guide to Passing the Numbers Section

If you’re going to fail the NY Salesperson exam, math is the most likely reason. Here’s every formula, why it shows up, and how to handle it under exam pressure.

Why math trips so many NY exam students

Roughly 10% of the 75-question NY Salesperson exam is math. That’s only 7–8 questions — but those are the questions students most often skip, panic on, or guess. Get them right and you move from borderline to comfortable. Get them wrong and a 70%-pass exam becomes painful.

The good news: NY exam math is not advanced math. There is no calculus, no algebra beyond rearranging a basic equation, no trig. Everything reduces to multiplying or dividing two numbers. The challenge is recognizing which formula to apply and not getting tangled in the wording.

Commission math

The most common math question on the exam. Simple at first glance — but the exam loves to layer in a brokerage split and an agent split.

Read the question slowly. Identify each split. Multiply through. Never guess from the answer choices on a math question — they are designed to include each intermediate value as a wrong answer (the $30,000 and $15,000 above will both appear as distractors).

Discount points and finance math

Points are an upfront fee paid to the lender to “buy down” the interest rate. Each point = 1% of the loan amount (not the purchase price — this trips up students).

LTV (loan-to-value):

A $360,000 loan on a $400,000 property = 90% LTV. Conventional loans above 80% LTV typically require PMI (private mortgage insurance). FHA loans have their own MIP rules.

Prorations at closing

When a property is sold mid-year, taxes, insurance, fuel, and rent are prorated between buyer and seller — each pays for the days they actually own the property.

Area, acres, and lot math

Memorize the 43,560 conversion. It’s tested every cycle. A 100 × 200 ft lot is 20,000 sq ft, which is 20,000 ÷ 43,560 = 0.46 acres.

For irregular lots that combine rectangles and triangles, break the shape into pieces, calculate each area, and add.

Capitalization rate and gross rent multiplier

For investment property questions, the income approach to valuation uses cap rate:

A building with $60,000 NOI selling at $750,000 has a cap rate of 8%. To value a similar building with $80,000 NOI at the same 8% cap rate: $80,000 ÷ 0.08 = $1,000,000.

Gross rent multiplier (GRM) is simpler and used for small residential investment properties:

A $300,000 property renting for $2,000/month has a GRM of 150. To value a similar property renting at $2,500/month: $2,500 × 150 = $375,000.

Property tax and mill rates

A “mill” is one dollar of tax per $1,000 of assessed value.

Property assessed at $200,000 with a 25-mill rate: $200,000 × 25 ÷ 1,000 = $5,000/year.

Note for NYC: NYC uses a more complex assessment system with separate classes (1 = small residential, 2 = larger residential, 3 = utility, 4 = commercial) and separate tax rates per class. For exam purposes, the mill-rate formula is enough.

The T-method (your universal tool)

If you remember nothing else, remember this:

Draw a T on your scratch paper. Put the “Part” on top, “Whole” and “Rate” on the bottom. Cover the value you’re solving for — the remaining operation reveals itself.

The T-method covers commission, LTV, cap rate, tax rate, and most other “percentage” problems. Learn it cold.

Test-day strategy for math

• Skip and return. If a math question takes more than 90 seconds, flag it and move on. Easier questions later can pull you forward and give you time to come back.
• You get a basic calculator at PSI. No graphing, no financial calculator. Practice on a basic 4-function calculator — not your phone.
• Watch your decimal places. When the answer choices include $1,080 and $10.80 and $10,800 — that’s almost always a decimal trap. Slow down.
• Work backward from answer choices when stuck. Plug each option into the formula. The one that balances is your answer.
• Memorize the cheat sheet. Our 1-page math cheat sheet has every formula in one place. Print it. Stare at it. Drill it.