Paper 1

RES Exam Paper 1: What It Covers and How to Prepare

Last reviewed 11 October 2026

Paper 1 is the law paper of the RES examination. It examines Competency Unit 1 and Competency Unit 2 — the real estate industry with basic land law concepts, and then every way an interest in land can be dealt with. Twenty-one units sit behind it, and they are unevenly sized, which is the single most useful fact for planning your revision.

Key points

Paper 1 examines CU1 (Real Estate Agency Industry Overview & Basic Land Law Concepts) and CU2 (Dealings with Interests in Land).
Structure: 2.5 hours, 100 marks — Section A is 60 MCQs at 1 mark, Section B is 20 MCQs on one or two case studies at 2 marks.
The pass mark is 60 per paper, subject to review by CEA, and the two papers are graded separately (as at October 2026).
Twenty-one units sit behind Paper 1: eight in CU1 and thirteen in CU2, so CU2 deserves roughly two thirds of your Paper 1 time.
Study CU1 first and quickly — its vocabulary is what CU2 is written in — then CU2 at length.
Section B’s case studies share their facts, so a misread detail costs several two-mark questions at once.
Exams are held three times a year, administered by NTUC LearningHub; results are Pass or Fail only, in four to six weeks.
A revised syllabus applies from 1 January 2027; the format and duration do not change, only the content and learning outcomes.

What Paper 1 examines

Paper 1 covers two of the four competency units in the RES examination syllabus: Competency Unit 1, titled Real Estate Agency Industry Overview & Basic Land Law Concepts, with eight units, and Competency Unit 2, Dealings with Interests in Land, with thirteen. Paper 2 takes the other two, CU3 and CU4.

In substance Paper 1 is the law-heavy paper. Its first two units are economic and institutional — how the market behaves, how it divides into submarkets, who the players are, and how the Government intervenes through planning, public housing, stamp duties and lending limits. Everything after that is law: what land is, how long an interest in it can last, how the State grants its own land, what rights exist over someone else’s land, how title is registered, and then the general law of contract, agency, tenancy and negligence applied to the dealings that move or burden land. The two papers are structurally identical; the difference is subject matter.

The structure of Paper 1

Paper 1 runs two and a half hours and carries 100 marks. Section A is 60 standalone multiple-choice questions worth one mark each, for 60 marks. Section B is 20 multiple-choice questions set with reference to one or two case studies, worth two marks each, for 40 marks. The pass mark is 60, and CEA states that it is subject to review by CEA (as at October 2026).

Paper 2 has exactly the same shape, and both papers must be passed. They are graded separately, so a strong Paper 1 does not rescue a weak Paper 2; a candidate who passes one and fails the other re-sits only the failed paper, as a modular sitting. The examination is held three times a year and is administered by NTUC LearningHub on CEA’s behalf, with results issued as Pass or Fail for each paper — no scores, no returned scripts — within four to six weeks (as at October 2026).

One pacing fact follows: 80 questions in 150 minutes is a little under two minutes each on average, and the Section B questions need more than that, so Section A has to be moved through briskly.

CU1 in Paper 1: industry overview and basic land law

CU1’s eight units fall into two halves. Units 1.1 and 1.2 cover the market and the players: why real estate is heterogeneous, immobile, durable and illiquid, how submarkets are defined, the four classifications of a property by title, form, tenure and use, which agency does what, and the intervention toolkit of stamp duties and lending limits. Unit 1.2 is the most figure-heavy unit in the competency unit.

Units 1.3 to 1.8 are the land law foundation. Unit 1.3 supplies the four distinctions the rest of the paper is written in. Unit 1.4 fixes what “land” includes and teaches the fixtures tests. Unit 1.5 is duration, separating tenure from estate. Unit 1.6 is the State as grantor. Unit 1.7 is easements, restrictive covenants and licences. Unit 1.8 is the register: title by registration, indefeasibility and its exceptions, caveats and priority.

CU2 in Paper 1: dealings with interests in land

CU2 is the largest single block in the examination, and where most Paper 1 marks are won or lost. Units 2.1 to 2.4 are the general law a salesperson works inside: contract, agency, landlord and tenant, negligence. Units 2.5 to 2.8 are the dealings that move or burden land — conveyance, mortgage, gift and trust. Units 2.9 to 2.11 cover death, timing and shared ownership. Units 2.12 and 2.13 close with who may hold land at all, and what the planning system permits.

CU2 is examined precisely. The recurring pattern is a question built on the boundary between two similar things: a lease or a licence, a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common, a reversion or a remainder, misrepresentation or negligence. It also supplies most of Paper 1’s case-study material.

How to split revision time within Paper 1

CEA does not publish a mark weighting for each competency unit, so any precise percentage split is invented. What is published is the syllabus, and unit count is a reasonable proxy for how much ground can be asked about. On that basis Paper 1 is lopsided: eight units in CU1 against thirteen in CU2, so a workable allocation is about a third of your Paper 1 time to CU1 and two thirds to CU2.

The order matters more than the ratio. CU1’s concepts are the vocabulary CU2 assumes, so take CU1 first and relatively quickly, then CU2 at length. Within CU1, start with Unit 1.3 and leave Unit 1.2 late, because its rates are the facts most likely to have changed since your notes were printed. Within CU2, take Units 2.1 and 2.2 first, then the heavy scorers 2.5, 2.11 and 2.3.

Two overlaps are worth planning for: Unit 1.2’s stamp duties and lending limits reappear in Units 4.8 and 4.9, and Unit 2.12’s foreign ownership and HDB eligibility rules in Units 3.7 and 4.4.

What Section B demands

Section B gives you one or two case studies — a factual scenario with names, dates, figures and a sequence of events — and 20 questions applying the rules to it. The syllabus describes the section as testing the ability to interpret and analyse questions in a practice-oriented context.

It demands a different skill from Section A, and it punishes a particular mistake. The weight is double, so misreading one date can cost the equivalent of two Section A questions. Worse, the facts are shared, so an error in reading the case study itself — the tenure of the property, who the parties are, in what capacity someone is acting — propagates across several questions at once. Read the case study twice before answering anything under it, and note the parties and their capacities on the paper.

In Paper 1 the case studies tend to be multi-unit, drawing on co-ownership, succession, mortgage, tenancy and registration at once. Section B rarely asks you to recall a rule in isolation; it asks which of two rules the facts have triggered.

The syllabus in force, and the change from 1 January 2027

Examinations held in 2025 and 2026 are set on the current syllabus. A revised RES examination syllabus applies to examinations from 1 January 2027 onwards.

The revision does not change the shape of Paper 1. CEA has confirmed that the examination format and duration are unchanged from 2027: the same two papers, the same two and a half hours, the same Section A of 60 one-mark questions and Section B of 20 two-mark case-study questions. What changes is the content and the learning outcomes within the competency units.

The practical consequence is about timing rather than technique. If your sitting falls in 2026 you are examined on the current syllabus; if it falls in 2027 or later, work from the revised syllabus document and check which learning outcomes have moved before relying on second-hand notes. One scoping rule applies either way: candidates are not tested on government policy changes announced or implemented within one month before the examination date.

Terms to know

Section A: The first part of each RES paper: 60 standalone multiple-choice questions worth one mark each.
Section B: The second part of each RES paper: 20 multiple-choice questions set on one or two case studies and worth two marks each.
Modular sitting: A re-sit of one paper only, available to a candidate who passed the other paper, at a lower fee than a full sitting.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between RES Paper 1 and Paper 2?

Subject matter only. The two papers have an identical structure — two and a half hours, 60 one-mark questions in Section A and 20 two-mark case-study questions in Section B, 100 marks, pass mark 60. Paper 1 examines CU1 and CU2, which are the industry overview and the law of dealings with land. Paper 2 examines CU3 and CU4, the regulatory regime, marketing and property transactions.

How many questions are there in RES Paper 1?

Eighty in total: 60 standalone multiple-choice questions in Section A worth one mark each, and 20 multiple-choice questions in Section B set on one or two case studies and worth two marks each. That gives 100 marks for the paper.

Can I pass Paper 1 and re-sit only Paper 2?

Yes. The papers are graded separately, so passing one and failing the other means only the failed paper is re-sat, as a modular sitting at a lower fee. The pass you already hold is recognised, but it is tied to the validity of your Certificate of RES Course Completion, so it is not indefinite.

Is Paper 1 harder than Paper 2?

Neither paper is officially harder, and CEA publishes no per-paper pass rates. Candidates without a legal background usually find Paper 1 more demanding because CU2 is the largest competency unit and is examined on fine distinctions, while Paper 2 is more a matter of knowing specific rules and doing calculations accurately.

Does the 2027 syllabus change affect Paper 1’s format?

No. The revised syllabus applies to examinations from 1 January 2027, but CEA has confirmed that the examination format and duration are unchanged: two papers, two and a half hours each, the same Section A and Section B split. Only the content and learning outcomes within the competency units are revised.

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