Chapter 2
IN THIS CHAPTER
Figuring out how to get ready for the exam
Understanding tips on how to pass the exam with ease
I want to share something with you that I tell all my students on the first day of class. If you read through Chapter 3 and then the rest of the book, you discover that real estate sales and brokerage is much more than just driving people around and showing them houses. As you read this book, you also find out that you have to know much more information than you originally thought. At that point, your head may explode. Just remember, however, that what you’re tackling is real estate sales and brokerage, not rocket science or brain surgery. It’s doable by anyone with reasonable intelligence and a decent command of the language. You’ve already established that you’re intelligent, because you’ve already taken the most important step as far as I’m concerned: You bought this book. So now, all things being equal, with the right preparation, you should do just fine on the state exam.
This chapter is all about preparing to take the state real estate exam and then taking and passing the exam. In the first part of the chapter, I talk about ways to prepare for the exam. In the second part, I give you some hints for doing your best on the exam.
Every teacher with whom you’ve ever taken a class has told you that the way to successfully pass an examination is to prepare for it. Maybe that’s all they said, leaving you hanging, or maybe they gave you a few hints. I try to do better than that by providing you with a detailed plan for getting ready to take the exam. The plan is based on steps characterized by the letters in the acronym PREPARE. Each of the letters represents a separate step in getting ready for the real estate exam. In some cases, each step is made up of several smaller steps.
I’m not in the habit of making guarantees, but what I can tell you is that if you follow these steps and put some reasonable time into mastering the material in this book, you give yourself an excellent chance at passing the state real estate license exam the first time you take it.
You need to provide yourself with every opportunity to pass the exam. But, I bet you’re asking, “How do I do that?” Keep the following in mind for test success:
Get information about the state exam. I discuss exam information in detail in Chapter 1, but it’s important enough to repeat some of it here. No matter whether you’re planning to take the salesperson or the broker exam, you need to find out what subjects, both general and state-specific, are on the test. (Take special note of the State-Specific icons throughout this book and the items in Chapter 23 to help you out.) You also want to find out about the exam’s format, the number of questions on it, and the amount of time you have to complete the test. It may be obvious, but find out where and when the exam is given and how to get there. Remember to check out what you need to bring to the exam (and what you may not bring). Whenever you require special arrangements (for example, if you are handicapped or need to bring food into the exam because of a medical condition), find out about that, too.
So where can you get all of this info? Try contacting your prelicensing course instructor, your state licensing agency, or the testing company that’s been hired to administer the exam.
Reviewing means that you’ve already read the material, which is what I’m assuming here. After you identify specific subject areas on the state exam you plan to take (either the salesperson’s exam or the broker’s), you need to spend time studying those chapters in this book. Then it’s time to review the information, and don’t worry about what you need to review or how. I’ve got the scoop on vocabulary and terms, state license law, and state-specific items.
Vocabulary is critical on all real estate exams, especially the salesperson’s exam. So the words I’ve placed in italics throughout this book are the first items to review. Do what works best for you to focus on these terms. Highlight the term and its definition with a highlighter, if you like. And I don’t mind if you write in this book! Wherever possible, I try to define a term in one sentence so that it’s easier for you to focus on the definition. You can also use the glossary and online flashcards for further review of vocabulary.
As you prepare for the state exam, you continually need to evaluate how well you’re mastering the material. The best way to evaluate your progress as you study is to answer the review questions at the end of each chapter.
As you read through the chapters in this book for the first time, you can answer the questions as a review of your reading. Don’t write your answers in the book; use a separate piece of paper. Go over the answers and then reread the sections of each chapter that may be giving you trouble.
After reviewing all the material in the book, particularly the vocabulary and terms, try sitting down with several sheets of paper and answering each chapter’s review questions in order, as if each were a test. You can take whatever time you need, but keep a couple of nights or a weekend afternoon to finish. Just keep answering all the review-question tests one by one until you’ve completed all the chapter questions. Don’t forget to score each test and make a list of your scores in the same order as the chapters. Then you can study the chapters in order of your lowest scores to your highest scores. Do the same with the required course textbook if it has chapter review questions.
After you review the material, evaluate your weak and strong points, and review the material again, it’s time for a final run-through. Whenever you can schedule two hours or so, sit down with a piece of paper and the writing tool of your choice and take one of the 100-question practice exams toward the end of the book, such as the first one in Chapter 19. Score yourself, and go over the answers to the ones you get wrong (Chapter 20 has the answers). If something isn’t clear, review that section of the book. And don’t stop there. Do it again on another day with the second practice test in Chapter 21; the answers are in Chapter 22. Do this with all four practice exams. If you’ve done everything that I’ve asked you to do so far, in the order that I’ve suggested, I’d be surprised if you don’t do well on the tests. But if your scores still are low, review the material again and then go back on another day and take the practice tests again. Keep doing this until you can pass them all.
Someone once said that 80 percent of success is showing up. To ensure that you arrive safely to take your state exam, in good humor, on time, and in the right place, you need to find out where and when the exam is scheduled and how long it takes to get there. With that information in hand, you need to get directions to the exam site (no winging it) and find out if you’re likely to encounter any long waits to getting into the exam and if people routinely are turned away because of overcrowding at the test site. (You can get this information by calling your state licensing agency.)
These factors may vary from one exam site to another, especially if your state offers the exam at more than one location. If your state administers the exam in several locations, pick one that’s most convenient for you, which may mean a little farther away but easier to get to or with better parking. When I took my broker’s exam, I chose to drive farther away to a suburban location instead of taking public transportation to the test site in the city. Do whatever makes you more comfortable and leaves plenty of time to be early. If you live far away from the exam site, consider arriving in the area the night before the exam and staying over.
Relaxation part one: Relax the night before the exam. Don’t study. Go see an early movie, rent a video, eat a light supper, read a non-real-estate book, and get to bed early. If you regularly meditate, jog, or take long walks, the evening before the exam is a good time for enjoying that kind of activity. Prepare everything you need for the next day, and have it ready to go.
Relaxation part two: Try to stay relaxed on the day of the exam. Eat a light, nourishing breakfast. Get to the test site in plenty of time, and follow the instructions to get a seat. If you can, close your eyes for a few seconds, take a few deep breaths, and remember that no one knows this stuff better than you do. Now sit down and feel yourself relax into the moment of actually taking the exam.
Relaxation part three: Stay relaxed during the test. You may get caught up in the moment, starting to rush and feel pressured. Every 15 or 20 questions, sit up straight, close your eyes, and take one or two deep breaths. Flex your shoulders and hands, and then begin again.
I know what you’re thinking: “How can anyone ever enjoy taking a test?” You’ve studied. You’ve reviewed. You’re relaxed. In short, you’re prepared. In your mind you’ve already passed the exam and are making money working in real estate, maybe even having your own brokerage business in time. I hope you’re getting the picture. Taking and passing the test certainly is a challenge, but it’s one that with the right preparation (which you now have), you can easily meet. You’re ready, and your real estate career awaits you.
So the big day has arrived. You’ve made it to the test site in plenty of time. You’re seated and have the exam in front of you. You’ve carefully followed all of the instructions about how to properly answer the questions. Now you’re ready to go. In this section I give you some test-taking tips and hints to maximize your score. Nothing replaces hard work and preparation before the exam, and no strategy helps you pass if you haven’t prepared well. But some of these hints should help you make the most of what you’ve learned as you answer the questions.
The first thing you need to do is something you should have already done during your exam preparation — a little math equation. Divide the total number of minutes you have to complete the exam by the total number of questions. This information is available either from the state licensing authority or from your course instructor. Now figure out some benchmarks for yourself. For example, say your exam has 100 questions, and you get two hours to take the exam. That gives you a little more than a minute per question. At the one-hour mark, you need to have at least 50 questions completed. After the first half-hour you need to have 25 questions finished. You may move faster in some sections and slower in others, but overall you need to maintain the right pace so you don’t leave anything unfinished. Whatever the time frame for your exam, always be aware of how many questions you need to have completed at what point during the exam time. You never want to leave any questions unanswered.
Besides, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at how many answers you know immediately. And that definitely is a great confidence booster.
The last thing you need to do is actually count all the marks you made on the answer sheet to find out whether that number matches the number of questions on the exam. (If you’re taking the exam on a computer, you need to scan the questions and answers to make sure you’ve answered every one.) In addition, make sure that you don’t fill in two answers for one question. You want to confirm that the answers you choose are aligned correctly with the questions; if you entered something incorrectly, you may have to spend precious minutes fixing everything.
I shouldn’t have to remind you about reading with care, but I’m going to. Read all the material about getting ready for the exam; read about what to bring to the exam; read the directions on the exam itself; and above all, read the exam. And I mean every word of every question and all the possible answers. Give yourself every chance to understand what each question is asking and what each answer is saying.
Remember that exam writers may give you a choice of (A) or (B) that looks really good, but choice (D) nevertheless is the best answer. You won’t know that unless you read everything. Beware of the partially correct answer. An answer has to be completely correct to be the right answer, and only one of the choices is completely correct. On the flip side, you also need to remember that you may encounter questions in which all the answers seem wrong. Nevertheless, one of them is the correct choice. And that answer may very well be the best of a bad lot, so to speak. That’s the one to pick.
Don’t think too much. I know that sounds bizarre, but trust me, it’s good advice especially for students who have some background in one or more of the exam subject areas. I’ve seen students overthink or overanalyze a question to the point of getting themselves tied in knots, selecting the wrong answer, and wasting valuable time. This scenario seems particularly true for people with specific technical backgrounds. Maybe you have a background in environmental science and in answering a question about environmental issues; you can probably come up with ten reasons why all the choices are wrong. Obviously one has to be correct. The level of knowledge provided in this book and in whatever real estate course you take is the level on which you’re tested. So leave all that extra stuff you know at the door. If you’ve studied well for the exam, the answer that first comes to you is usually the best answer. When you start overanalyzing, you may be in trouble.
Even with all of your stellar preparation, some questions are just going to throw you for a loop, and yes, you have to guess. When it comes to guessing, find out whether any penalties are assessed for wrong answers. Of course, you lose points for each wrong answer, but through the years exams have been constructed so that a percentage is added onto your wrong answers as a penalty for guessing. I’m guessing that you won’t run into this anywhere on a real estate exam, but you need to check it out just in case. Assuming you won’t be penalized for guessing a wrong answer, when in doubt, guess. Don’t leave anything blank. In fact, the last step you need to take on the exam answer sheet is counting up your answers to make sure that you haven’t left anything blank. (For more about budgeting your test time, see “It’s all in the timing,” earlier in this chapter.)
The key to guessing is to increase your odds of guessing correctly. If you’re given four choices to a question and have no clue as to the correct answer, you have a one-in-four chance of guessing correctly. However, if you can eliminate one or two of the answers as being wrong, you’ve increased your odds of getting the right answer to one in three or one in two. Most Las Vegas gamblers would take those odds anytime.
Never ever change an answer after you’ve written it down. It seems that if you’re well prepared, your mind tends to recognize the correct answer in a multiple-choice question immediately. From my own experience with correcting exams, I can tell you that all too often, I see correct answers erased and changed to wrong ones. I don’t see the opposite as often.
That said, here are two exceptions to the rule:
Many test takers find math problems to be the most intimidating of all the questions they have to answer, but keep in mind that the math we’re talking about is stuff you pretty much learned between seventh grade and your freshman year of high school. Memorizing a few formulas and conversion factors and doing lots of practice problems are tremendously helpful in giving you the confidence and knowledge to handle any math question.
For more details about real estate math, check out Chapter 18. Here are a few specific strategies that I give my students for dealing with math questions:
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