Top 5 Real Estate License Exam Study Tips
These study tips from AceableAgent will help you ace your exam on the first attempt so you can start your career as a real estate agent that much sooner.
Millions of Americans across the country can officially call themselves a real estate agent. They’re the professionals who keep a finger on the pulse of their local market and help the industry keep moving no matter what the economy at large is doing.
But before you can become a real estate agent you have to pass a licensing exam. Unlike lawyers and doctors, you don’t have to drop tens of thousands of dollars and endure years of schooling to become licensed. However, there are a few requirements and studying up before taking your real estate license exam is highly recommended.
We’re here to act as your real estate tutors! The study tips below will help you ace your exam on the first attempt so you can start your career as a real estate agent that much sooner.
Tip #1 - Visit Your State Real Estate Commission’s Website
There’s no way to prepare for your licensing exam without knowing what’s required. The state real estate commission is in charge of determining the requirements for becoming an agent. They’re also in charge of approving third-party services that can be used to prep for your test.
Tip #2 - Take State-Certified Pre-License Courses
Each state creates their own real estate license exam as well as course requirements that must be met before you can test. But you can’t take just any course. They have to be state-certified pre-license courses. That’s why all of the Texas real estate courses at AceableAgent have been approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).
These pre-license courses vary by topic and are designed to help you prepare for the actual licensing exam. Three subjects that you’re sure to cover include:
- Real estate best practices
- Real estate principles
- Real estate laws and legal matters
Since pre-license courses are required, the only real question you have to answer is whether you want to take the courses online or in-person.
Tip #3 - Take a Practice Test . . . or Two or Three
If you really want to gauge how prepared you are after taking the required pre-license courses, then take a practice test. Studies have found taking practice tests is one of the most efficient and effective ways to study no matter what type of exam you plan to take.
Practice tests help reinforce what you already know, highlight what information needs more clarification and give you a sense of the types of questions you’ll see on the actual exam. Students that repeat the process numerous times and review the questions they missed stand to gain the most benefit from practice tests.
One advantage of using a pre-licensing course provider like AceableAgent is having access to practice tests that can be completed online with a mobile device. Your state’s real estate commission may also post some sample questions on their website.
Tip #4 - Talk to Someone Who Recently Took the License Exam
Knowing what to expect on test day is one form of prep that can put you in a better mental state. The best resource is someone who’s recently taken the exam. They can fill you in on how the exam is organized, how many questions there are and what to bring on test day.
Tip #5 - Give Yourself Time to Avoid Cramming
We’ve all participated in a cramming session or two, but scientists now say that’s not the best method for retaining the information you study. Your best bet is to spread out study sessions into small time blocks. This is what smarty pants in the education field call distributed learning.
Schedule 20-50 minutes blocks for studying one topic at a time. Give yourself about 10 minutes of recuperation time if you plan to do multiple study blocks back-to-back. The downtime will help prevent mental fatigue and studying over a longer period of time has been shown to increase long-term retention of information.
Don’t have time in your schedule to attend classroom real estate courses? Be among the first to take advantage of Aceable’s online state-certified pre-license courses. It was the first TREC-approved pre-license course you could take entirely on your phone, tablet or computer.