In order to become licensed, most states require that an applicant take a minimum number of classes before taking the state licensing exam. Such education is often provided by real estate brokerages as a means to finding new agents.
Today in many states, the real estate agent (acting as an agent of the broker with whom he/she is employed) is required to disclose to prospective buyers and sellers who represents whom. See below for a broker/agent’s relationship to seller and their relationship to buyers.
While some people may refer to any licensed real estate agent as a real estate broker, a licensed real estate agent is a professional who has obtained either a real estate salesperson's license or a real estate broker's license.
In the United States, there are commonly two levels of real estate professionals licensed by the individual states, but not by the federal government