Understanding how to pass the real estate exam is a vital requirement to starting a successful real estate career. If taking exams gets you into panic mode, don’t worry, I’ve got you. With the right preparation and strategies, you will pass with flying colors. Let’s look at 13 of the top tips to help you pass the real estate exam with confidence. From effective studying to understanding exam format, this collection of tips points you toward a confident and successful testing experience.
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1. Know Your Learning Style
Knowing your learning style can help in effectively preparing for the real estate exam rather than overwhelm you with task after task. This is because retention and comprehension increase as you tailor your studying to your preferred ways of learning. By aligning how to study for the real estate test and your study approach to your learning style, you will make exam preparation more effective and increase your chances of passing the real estate exam.
If you learn through sight, then you’re a visual learner. You remember things most from images, flowcharts, and visual aids. Use plenty of charts, diagrams, and flashcards to break down more difficult topics. Set up mind maps on real estate laws and visual timelines on processes could help you retain such information. Watching tutorial videos or interactive slides may also drive a point home.
Auditory learners learn most effectively through listening and discussing. In your study, listening to real estate podcasts, lectures, or audio courses that will aid your memory is effective. Join study groups where you can discuss aloud, which will help you to learn and solidify what you have. The additional methods of using sound for learning include repeating key terms and definitions to yourself and recording your notes to be played back later. Some online real estate schools provide auditory exam prep lessons that could be beneficial.
Kinesthetic learners learn most when involved in hands-on activities. Take interactive quizzes or practice exams, or practice with real-world scenarios to interact with the material. Physical movements can enhance retention, so you may want to walk while reviewing flashcards or act out a scenario to understand better how it works.
2. Create a Study Schedule
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Best for:
All learning styles
A study schedule is essential to how to prepare for real estate exam, will help keep you on course, and guarantees you get all the material covered without cramming at the last minute. Divide the material into broad topic areas, such as real estate law, contracts, and math, and commit each day to studying different areas. Stick with the schedule religiously. Another benefit of breaking up your studying is that it allows for spacing out materials so your brain learns and retains information more effectively during learning sessions.
3. Use Flashcards
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Best for:
Visual and kinesthetic learners
Flashcards are a good practice for how to study real estate to understand key terms, their definitions, and formulas. Write the real estate term on one side and the definition or explanation on the other. Flashcards are very helpful in studying throughout the day during commutes, lunch breaks, or whenever you are waiting. As you continually review your flashcards, you are reinforcing your memory to retain and recall later in the exam. You can also get digital flashcards through apps that will let you take your study materials with you anywhere you go.
4. Find a Study Buddy or Study Group
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Best for:
Visual and kinesthetic learners
Having a partner to study with could also bring new insights and clear information that you may not have been able to comprehend on your own. A study buddy will keep you accountable to your studying and will quiz you on what you are learning. In a study group, you will be able to discuss topics that you may be having a hard time understanding, share materials, and even teach to reinforce learning material. Equally effective if you can’t meet in person, study groups can be virtual through video calls or online forums.
5. Refresh Your Memory on Real Estate Terms & Vocabulary
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Best for:
All learning styles
Real estate has so much jargon, which to any new learner can be confusing. Prospective real estate agents should go over key terms, vocabulary, and definitions on a routine basis. This could be done with flashcards, glossaries, or going back into the textbook. Knowing your real estate terminology is key to passing the exam, with many application-based questions presenting different scenarios.
6. Practice Your Real Estate Math & Math Formulas
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Best for:
Visual learners
A significant part of your real estate exam deals with math. Master the concepts and formulas of real estate math and calculations that are presented in your prelicensing course. Break those formulas down piece by piece and set a routine to solve problems day in and day out. Online tools and calculators will help you simplify the more complex calculations, but do not stop working out problems by hand. This is because it will prepare your mind for when you are in that examination room without access to a computer.
7. Take a Practice Exam or Exam Prep Course
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Best for:
All learning styles
Practice exams are one of the best ways to prepare for a test. These mock exams will expose the candidates to the format of questions, time, and structure of the real exams. The exam preparation courses go further in providing focused content reviews, methods of test taking, and personal feedback. Practice exams serve to outline your areas of deficiency, but they also instill a lot of confidence when you get familiar with the types of questions you will be answering. Check out our Free Real Estate Practice Exam to test your skills.
If you are serious about passing your real estate exam, then PrepAgent has tools to help you do just that. Its platform offers practice exams in topics specific to exactly what you’ll find on the real estate exam, along with audio lessons, video tutorials, and interactive quizzes. From real estate law to vocabulary and even math, PrepAgent has targeted study materials prepared for you that will reinforce your knowledge and build your confidence.
8. Ask Practicing Agents for Advice
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Best for:
Auditory learners
Practicing real estate agents who took the exam can give a pretty good idea of what to expect from this exam. Speak to agents within your circle or even your mentors regarding how they prepared, what areas they found tough, and how they kept their concentration. This helps obtain good insight to lessen your burden and omit other people’s mistakes.
9. Get Enough Rest the Night Before Your Exam
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Best for:
All learning styles
Rest is an important part of mental clarity and focus when finding strategies on how to pass the real estate exam. Cramming the night before an exam will have the opposite effect, as you could be tired and anxious because of such last-minute studying on the day of an exam. Try to wrap up your studying early the night before the test and engage in several relaxing activities. Sleep helps your brain solidify information, so you want to get a good night’s rest before the test to ensure the best performance.
10. Go to the Exam Site Early
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Best for:
All learning styles
Plan extra time to reach the site of the exam well before your starting time. Preparing this way will remove the stress of being late or encountering unexpected delays like traffic congestion or problems finding a place to park. Arriving early allows you to get settled, compose yourself, and go over last-minute notes without feeling rushed. Being at the location early also gets you acquainted with the environment so that by the time the exam begins, you are already focused.
11. Take Your Time Reading & Understanding the Questions
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Best for:
Visual learners
You can easily get into the rat race of the exam and rush through the questions. However, taking your time reading and understanding the question will save you from those costly mistakes.
Real estate exam questions are sometimes tricky. They might be worded to include information beyond what you need to know, or they might be carefully worded to test your understanding. Make sure you read a question and understand what it is asking before selecting an answer. Take an extra second if you need to; it’s better than misreading and getting it wrong.
12. Review State-specific Laws & Regulations
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Best for:
Visual and auditory learners
Every state has its own unique set of real estate laws and rules. These will comprise a major portion of your exam. Invest time into studying them because knowing your laws is crucial to passing the state portion of the exam. For the most part, many of the rules center on licensing, agency relationships, and transactional requirements. Look toward your state’s Real Estate Commission website or study guides for the most current information.
Colibri Real Estate is a solid resource for specific state laws and regulations review. They offer special courses and materials with the express purpose of teaching you about the legal aspects of real estate that specifically apply to your state so that you are properly prepared when the time comes to take the exam. Content will be updated for you, meaning you can confidently study state laws that you know will most likely appear on your test.
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13. Take Timed Practice Tests
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Best for:
Kinesthetic and visual learners
Timed practice tests simulate the pressure of the actual examination and help you manage your time effectively. You could easily use up your entire test time and not finish, which wouldn’t be the best practice. Taking these timed tests builds stamina for those long testing sessions and helps in maintaining focus and concentration throughout the test.
Common Mistakes to Avoid During the Real Estate Exam
Knowing how to pass the real estate exam involves more than just knowing the test materials. It is also about how to avoid those common mistakes that could trip you up on test day. To help you succeed, here are expert insights into the most frequent mistakes and how to steer clear of them.
Mistake 1: Misreading Questions Because of Stress
A typical stress-induced mistake made by test takers is misreading questions. At this pressure, test-takers scan questions instead of reading them more deeply to notice keywords that can change the entire question. It’s best just to take a deep breath, slow down, and carefully read each question and its choices to avoid all this. This way, you’ll have ample time to understand the question while taking more time, which can limit the chance of making many unnecessary mistakes from oversight.
Mistake 2: Overthinking Simple Concepts
Overthinking can be equally disastrous as being underprepared. Most test candidates tend to second-guess themselves on easier concepts. You could overthink these questions and change the right answers to the wrong ones. Have confidence in how you prepared for the real estate exam and go with your first instinct unless there is an evident reason to change your answer. Most examination questions are straightforward; hence, overthinking them could lead to making unnecessary mistakes.
Mistake 3: Rushing Through the Math Section
The math portion is a part of the test that many real estate exam candidates have trouble with. Approach the math questions methodically. Take your time to write out each step of the calculation and double-check your work on any scratch paper provided to you. Real estate math problems can be practiced ahead of time to develop skill and speed without sacrificing accuracy.
Mistake 4: Ignoring State-specific Regulations
State-specific regulations make up a big part of the exam, which is probably one thing many candidates take too lightly. Where the national portion of the license exam deals with general principles of real estate, each state has a legislated set of laws that control the transactions, disclosures, and licensing requirements within that state.
Understudying specific state laws can easily result in failing that portion of the exam. Use adequate preparation time studying your state’s specific laws because many of these questions will be based upon an application of those laws and how the agent is expected to function within them.
How hard is the real estate exam?
The real estate exam is tough. However, its difficulty level is very much dependent on how you prepare and strategically understand the subject. Normally, it would talk about real estate law, contracts, ethics, property management, and other variations of state-specific laws.
For most test-takers, the toughest areas in the real estate exam are the real estate math part and all those technical vocabularies involved. With a good study plan, practice exams, and a review of the key concepts, the exam is passable by many prospective agents. Passing rates vary for each state, but the secret behind conquering the challenge is making sure you are prepared.
What is on the real estate exam?
The real estate exam usually has two parts. One part is based on questions about the whole nation, and the other pertains to each state. The exact number of questions and time limit vary by state, but both sections are critical for passing the exam. Some of the major topics to understand when learning how to study for real estate tests are as follows:
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I educate myself in real estate?
Educating yourself in real estate involves a combination of formal education, self-study, and practical experience. Enroll in a prelicensing course that covers the basic elements of real estate law, contracts, property management, and ethics. These courses are usually required before sitting for your licensing exam.
Complement this formal education with self-study through real estate books, podcasts, webinars, and trade publications to deepen your understanding. You get real-life experiences and networks by participating in local groups or being mentored. Also, seminars, workshops, and online courses will keep you updated about the latest trends in the industry and the newest regulations.
Which subject is best for real estate?
Among the best educational backgrounds most real estate agents have are those studying business or finance. Business courses provide ample skills in negotiation, marketing, and management, which are very important in real estate transactions. Finance provides a wide background in property valuation, investment strategies, and market trends. These courses will still be particularly priceless when dealing with legal frameworks, learning economic principles that may influence the market, and even the intricacies of zoning and land use.
Who has the easiest real estate exam?
No real estate test is ever “easy,” but some states are known to be easier with their testing and licensure requirements. North Carolina, Georgia, and Massachusetts tend to be more cut-and-dried, whereas places like California or Texas have more comprehensive testing and hours of prelicensure education.
Still, the idea of ease is relative since each state’s exam covers that state’s specific laws and regulations. One should remember that instead of hoping for an “easier” exam, much more emphasis needs to be placed on preparation since the complexity of these exams varies from individual experiences and understandings.
Bringing It All Together
Passing the real estate exam is about strategic preparation, putting effective study techniques in place, and paying attention to details during the test. Build a strong foundation by creating a study schedule, using flashcards, or finding a study group. Knowing your learning style and focusing on areas like real estate math and state-specific regulations raises your chances of success. Stay focused during the test by avoiding some of the more common mistakes in reading questions inaccurately and overthinking.
If you have the right frame of mind going into the examination, you will be well prepared on how to pass the real estate exam on the first try. Have study tricks to share? Let us know in the comments below!
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