5 Ways to Pass the Real Estate Examination on the First Attempt!

5 Ways to Pass the Real Estate Examination on the First Attempt!

Frequently students will ask me what they should do to prepare for and pass the real estate examination. In this blog post, I'm going to provide you with what I feel are the top five items you should do to pass the real estate examination on your first attempt.

#1 -  Take Good Notes with a Pen and Dedicated Notebook.  It's a proven fact if you take handwritten notes while preparing for a class or course, you will learn the information much better. (Source).  True, many students will try to read a textbook and only highlight the critical parts of a chapter. Yes, this is a form of study, and you may do quite well on your test, however, if you would include a handwritten journal with your highlighted study, you will increase the knowledge of the subject matter by leaps and bounds.

I'm convinced that if you were to take two students, one student merely using their textbook and highlighting the key points and the other student uses pen and paper to record the essential topics, the handwritten note-taking student will know the information and do much better on the exam.

If you want to learn the material and pass the real estate examination on the first attempt, I would strongly encourage you to buy a dedicated notebook, your favorite pen (an ink pen that contains the type of writing ball or tip you prefer) you will do much better on the real estate examination versus trying to read a book and highlighting notes.

#2 - Study and then Study More! I talk about this topic a lot, and I believe it is probably the best advice I can give anyone who is considering to take the real estate salesperson course. If you want to pass the real estate examination, you have to study the material and then you have to study a little more.  

Take any successful athlete, especially those who win gold medals, and they will tell you, they prepared and practiced and then they exercised a little more. The famous basketball player, Larry Bird, is said to have always arrived early to the opposing basketball teams gymnasium. I have read that Larry Bird would spend a lot of time before each game looking at every piece of square footage on the basketball court.  Larry would then make mental notes on how and where he might shoot the ball during the upcoming game. That's what I mean about practicing and studying, and then going a step further.

Sure, Larry Bird practiced a lot in preparation for almost all games.  Still, going to the basketball court in advance and mentally preparing and getting a feel for the court is something most other players would never do. And as we can discover, history has provided proof Larry Bird's preparation and going a few steps beyond the standard practice most professional athletes put into their development, put him in the Hall of Fame and a basketball player many of us remember.

The take away from bullet point number two, you need to practice and study for the exam and then study a little more.

Tip #3, Makeup Your Own Flashcards. At Global Real Estate School, we provide digital flashcards for our students who enroll in our courses. However, regardless of where you may be located in the U.S., you can still purchase and use our digital flashcards. Downloadable flashcards are great for helping you prepare for the exam.  However, if you can spend the extra time and create your own flashcards, I would highly recommend it. This suggestion relates back to item number one above, (using a dedicated notebook and pen to record notes).

One of the essential requirements for passing the real estate examination on the first attempt is to understand the definitions. The item writers (people who write the exam questions) love to use definitions within their questions.  If you don’t know or understand the vocabulary, you will have a difficult time passing the exam. There will be many questions that incorporate other words within the problem, so needless to say, a good working knowledge on knowing and understanding the definitions will help you a lot!

One side note regarding flashcards.  If you do plan to develop and spend time creating flashcards, you must take the time to review your flashcards whenever possible.  I’ve known many students who had spent the time developing flashcards but did not put the time into reviewing those study aids. If you prepare the flashcards, use them!

#4, Take as Many Practice Questions Possible. I believe students who do well on the real estate exam take as many practice questions as they can. You have to get comfortable preparing for as many types of questions as possible for the exam day.  Most testing agencies will have a practice exam you can purchase which I strongly encourage you to do so. Retake the questions from your course books and school provider as often as possible.

You might also check out our practice exam questions (free to global real estate school students) at global real estate school.com. We have over 500 exam questions you can download when you purchase our practice exams module. Although you may not see the questions worded precisely the same on your test day, spending the time and taking as many practice questions in advance is very important to help prepare you for the real estate examination.

Take away from bullet point number four, keep taking as many practice exam questions as possible!  Don’t forget, following this suggestion also helps fulfill suggestion number two, study and then study more!

#5, Read Each Question Carefully, Preferably Three Times! The item writers (remember those are the people who write the exam questions) love to write questions that may appear to be a bit sneaky. Okay, I guess I should not refer to them as sneaky item writers or refer to the questions as trick questions, however, if you don't take the time to read the questions carefully, you will probably miss a rather large percentage of items you could have gotten right.  Let's face it, every correct answer on the exam is essential. If you try to answer questions with only one read, I can guarantee you that you're giving up three or four easy questions during the entire test. However, if you read the questions two or three times, I can almost ensure that you will raise your percentage of correct answers and have a better chance of passing the real estate examination.

Here's an excellent example of a test question many people might miss. The question refers to two brokers sharing a commission equally. During the balance of the problem, you are the item writer gives you the commission rate charged and the sales price, etc. However, the question asked what portion of the commission is the cooperating broker due? Answer A will be the “bait,” offering the selection of 3%. The question said the listing broker took the listing with a 6% sales commission. The question also referred to the brokers agreeing to share the commission equally. But remember, the question asked you what “portion” of the commission is the selling broker due? The key word there is. “portion.”  Answer D, the last choice available is 50%. Guess what? 50% is the correct answer to this question. Why? Because the question asked what portion of the commission is the selling broker due? The question gives you lots of goodies and information, and if you skim the question, you would probably want to choose answer A, 3% which is half of the 6%. But again, what “portion” of the commission is the selling broker going to receive? Well, they agreed to share it; equally, their “portion” of the commission is 50%.

Hopefully, that wasn't too confusing, but remember this, read the questions carefully and tell yourself on exam day, John (from global real estate school) told me to read the questions three times!

In Closing

There you have it, my five suggestions for passing the real estate examination on the first attempt.  Remember, it is a challenging examination; however, you can pass this if you:

1. Use a pen and a dedicated notebook for taking notes (even when you're reading your textbook).
2. Study and study a little more
3. Prepare flashcards which will help you study and study more (and oh, by the way, make sure you review the flashcards that you prepare)
4. Take plenty of practice questions
5. Get in the habit when you are taking those practice questions to read the questions three times

If you need more help with the real estate examination you can go to our website www.globalrealestateschool.com and download some of our practice exams and flashcards. You can also reach out to us by email subscribe to our podcast, (look for global real estate school).  You can also subscribe to our blog and oh yes, go to our YouTube channel and like us there for future video updates. And last but not least, go to our Facebook page and give us a like there.  Again, search for Global Real Estate School.

Best of luck with your real estate studies and I hope you enjoy your career in real estate as much as I have enjoyed mine. 2018 marks my 40th year in real estate and I can't think of another profession I would want to have as my career.

Have a wonderful day!

John Mayfield

The Business Tech Guy