Customs broker exam category breakdown: how the 80 questions split

How many questions are in each category, exam by exam?

Rows are exam administrations, newest first. Each cell is the number of questions that paper assigned to that category, transcribed from the category table at the front of the exam. Every row sums to 80. Category III was titled "Modernized Drawback" through April 2025 and became "Quota" from October 2025 onward; see the note below the table.

• I Broker Compliance
• II Practical Exercise
• III Quota (was "Modernized Drawback" through April 2025)
• IV Classification
• V Entry / Entry Summary
• VI Valuation, Appraisement and Duty Assessment

Source: the category table on each paper. Links in the Exam column open the official CBP PDF for that administration. Full index: CBP Past Customs Broker License Examinations & Answer Keys. Verified July 24, 2026.

What does the pattern show?

Averaged across the five most recent papers, the weight sits heavily in entry and valuation. These are the categories worth the most study time.

• Entry and Entry Summary is the exam. It has held at exactly 25 questions (31% of the paper) on every one of the five administrations, the single largest and most stable block. If you master one category, master this one.
• Valuation is the reliable second. Category VI has stayed at 15 questions (19%) on every paper, so entry plus valuation together are half the exam.
• Classification shrank. Category IV fell from 15 questions to 10 beginning with the October 2025 exam, a real drop in weight for the tariff-classification category.
• Category III changed topic. It tested Modernized Drawback (5 questions) through April 2025, then became Quota (5, then 4 questions) from October 2025, one of the clearest recent structural shifts in the exam.
• Broker Compliance grew, then settled. Category I moved from 15 questions to 20 in October 2025 and 17 in April 2026, a heavier compliance load than the older papers. This is also where CBP draws questions on antidumping and countervailing duties, intellectual property rights, fines and penalties, and quotas, alongside trade agreements and marking, which the exam blueprint lists under broker compliance and entry-adjacent subject matter rather than as their own numbered category.

What was the pass rate for each recent exam?

CBP reports a pass rate "prior to appeal decisions" for each administration. It currently publishes the three most recent; older administrations are shown here as not posted rather than filled with a guess. The passing score is a fixed 75% (60 of 80 correct).

Pass rates: CBP License Examination Notice of Examination. Reference editions: the "you are responsible for having the following references" list on each exam paper. An appeals threshold began with the April 2026 exam: candidates scoring within three questions of passing (57 or more correct) may appeal up to four questions.

Which references did each paper require?

The CBLE is open book, but only the editions CBP names are allowed in the room. These are the references listed on each recent paper. Bring the exact edition; an old HTSUS or 19 CFR is a common, avoidable mistake.

The Right to Make Entry (RTME) directive and the ACE Entry Summary Business Rules and Process Document are also on the required list every recent paper. Confirm the current edition on the official notice before every exam; editions change between administrations.