What is the exam-ready distinction?
| Official syllabus topic | Agency: Brokerage Roles, Representation, and Non-Agency Assistance |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Agency |
| Published weight | 13% of the 100-question national portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes a weight for the complete official area, not a guaranteed count for this individual comparison. Use the source, document, actor, event, and timing stated in the question before applying a memorized definition.
Side-by-side comparison
Read across each row. The terms are deliberately compared on identical dimensions so the difference remains clear when the exam hides the vocabulary inside a scenario.
| Decision dimension | Agent | Broker | Transaction broker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimension | Relationship or capacity of representation | License and business-supervision role | Non-agency role defined by applicable state law |
| Principal or client | Represents a principal or client | May represent a client or supervise others, depending on the transaction | Does not represent either party as a client in the transaction |
| Typical authority | Acts within actual and lawful authority | Conducts brokerage and carries firm-level duties | Performs permitted ministerial or transaction services |
| Key caution | Agent does not always mean salesperson | Broker does not identify the transaction relationship by itself | Not recognized or defined identically in every state |
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A Georgia broker has no brokerage engagement with either party but presents offers, accounts for earnest money, and performs permitted ministerial acts.
Reason it through. The broker's license status does not create client representation. The described services match BRRETA's non-agency transaction-broker role.
Answer. The broker is acting as a transaction broker rather than as either party's agent.
Common exam traps
- Using agent as a synonym for salesperson
- Assuming every broker represents someone
- Calling a transaction broker a dual agent
- Importing Georgia terminology into a state that defines roles differently
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These are original instructional questions mapped to the July 1, 2026 PSI outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A Georgia broker has no brokerage engagement with either the buyer or the seller, but presents offers, accounts for the earnest money, and performs ministerial acts. What role is the broker filling?
- A. Transaction broker, assisting without representing either party
- B. Dual agent, since the broker is helping both parties at once
- C. Buyer's agent, since the broker presented the buyer's offer
- D. No recognized role, so no statutory duties apply to the broker
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Transaction broker, assisting without representing either party
BRRETA recognizes a transaction broker, who assists the parties without a brokerage engagement and without representing either one as a client. Presenting offers and accounting for money are services a transaction broker may perform. Calling this dual agency is the common mistake, because dual agency requires client relationships with both sides and their written consent.
Question 2Which statement correctly separates the terms broker and agent?
- A. A broker represents sellers, while an agent represents buyers
- B. Broker and agent mean the same thing once a person is licensed
- C. Broker describes a license role, and agent describes representation
- D. Agent describes a license role, and broker describes a client tie
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. Broker describes a license role, and agent describes representation
Broker is a license and business role, while agent describes the capacity of representing a principal. The two labels answer different questions, so the same broker can be an agent in one deal and a transaction broker in another. Reversing them, or treating agent as a synonym for salesperson, is the usual slip.
Question 3A Georgia salesperson takes a listing, and the seller signs the listing agreement with the salesperson's firm. Who holds the brokerage engagement with the seller?
- A. The salesperson personally, because the salesperson took the listing
- B. The broker, because the salesperson acts on the broker's behalf
- C. No one, until the seller signs a separate agency agreement
- D. The multiple listing service, because the listing is entered there
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. The broker, because the salesperson acts on the broker's behalf
A Georgia salesperson performs brokerage on behalf of the broker who holds the license, so the engagement runs to the broker's firm. The salesperson's name on the paperwork does not make the salesperson the contracting party. Treating the relationship as belonging to the individual licensee is the misconception.
Ready to move on?
You have this distinction down when all of these are true.
- Define every compared term without using the other term as the definition.
- Rebuild the comparison table from memory.
- State the decision rule and Georgia distinction without notes.
- Solve the worked example after changing one key fact.
- Explain the rule or fact that makes each distractor wrong.
- Answer all three original questions correctly in mixed practice on a later day.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Duties to Clients Versus Duties to Customers. Once you can tell license status apart from representation, the next page shows what each relationship owes: the BRRETA duties a client receives under a written engagement and the narrower duties a customer still gets.
Return to the complete exam-concept library or the Agency hub.