I passed the state exam the first time and failed the national by 5 questions on the first try. Then 2 weeks later I took the National again, and failed by 7 questions. So Monday after the exam I scheduled another to take this morning. Monday, Tuesday,and wednsday I just studied for a total of 32 hours.

My 6 months ends on Friday so I needed to pass today. I went in with pure confidence that I was going to pass and failed by 2 questions. I am really frustrated and warn out, I feel like it's the impossible now. I am not quitting, infact I already started to study again, I'm determined.

Does anyone have any study tips for me? I think my biggest weakness is test taking, I feel like I know all the info, but when the test comes I'm blank on most of the questions. I've been taking practice tests and passed them, but that doesn't seem to work when it comes to the real test.

Has anyone in here ever had to reapply for an inactive license in Texas before?

My advice would be to take a break from it. Dont study, read, or even think about RE for a few weeks or month. I am not a big fan of practice tests - unless they had the exact questions that were on the test! We tend to start concentrating on the practice test questions, when they are more than likely not going to be on the test.

Is there any pattern to the nature of the questions that you got wrong ?

Any pattern to the the questions that you felt uncomfortable about ?

You have to be able to identify those areas where you are weak, and focus on them.

Around here, people typically PASS the National portion and FAIL the Vermont portion due to its deviant characteristics.

Vermont has over 58,000 people who have passed the Real Estate Exams; but only 1700 are currently Licensed to practice . . . . like only 3%.

Yezzo I am the exact opposite of you. My friends hated me in high school with tests. They would study all week long and barely pass with a 70 or fail. I would study 15 minutes before the class and always get a 90 or above.

What you are trying to do is train your brain to remember certain bits of information for a specific period of time after that you dump the info back into your sub-conscious.


It's sounds like you are starting to have anxiety and self-doubt yourself from past failures.

Is the test multiple choice? If so try this strategy- Only answer the ones you know 100 percent and then later on go back to those questions. You will have already eliminate dpossible choices and now know the answer or have brought 4 choices down to 2 giving you a 50/50 shot.

Stay at a hotel the night before so you won't have to worry about traffic and getting to the test on time.You already know the information you just need to work on relaxation and focus techniques.

Yezzo,

Kalli is right - take a break for a week or so, regroup and rebelieve in yourself. You made it through the courses so you know the answers, now get comfortable with the "pressure" of the timed format. So if Vermont, unfortunately the state dosen't tell you a lot about how you did.

Are you doing practice test on paper or the computer? I did them on the computer and my daughter did them on paper. She had to reapply, I didn't - that might have been part of it.

The education credit review is good for 1 year, you'll have to pay for the application and test again. When she started, fingerprints weren't required so I'm not sure if they'll gig you for that a second time or not.

If your state uses the Promissor exam, you might want to try --- when you are ready --- an online test prep service.

I have a real estate school and here is a link to the test prep one of our vendors offer: http://www.americas-best.net/courses.php?state_abbr=ID&industry=re&affiliate_id=184 . Many of the students swear by it (this is for the Promissor text used in most states --- I think they just changed their name to Pearson Vue).

Just study harder, this is the only way. Good luck on the next try.

Thanks for the advice it's helping a lot. I am going to take a break but it's hard not to think about RE right now.

Vermont007- I think my biggest problem was that most of the questions were the same all 3 times, and even though I thought I knew the answers I started to second guess myself. Because it seemed like every situational question had 4 answers, 2 were obviously wrong and the other two seemed right in different ways.

here's an example, (not RE related because i'm not thinking about RE right now)

"In the restaurant business after an employee uses a restroom they should always..."
A) wash their hands with hot water and soap
B) return to work
C) stay in the restroom
D) Wash their hands and dry them

See I would get stumped there because I know A would be the right answer but then I would think to myself "well it's common sense that they would use soap and hot water, so it must be D)wash and dry"

txfred- first I was using the Learning express book that comes with a CD. Then after I failed the second time I signed up for licensetutor.com and realestatestudyaids.com.

I called my dad today because he's a retired teacher and I forgot that he taught test taking and study skills lol. He told me I probably studied too much before the last test and just overloaded myself with infoormation.

So I think my result will be take a week or two off and just study 30 minutes to an hour a day until the test.

Chocolate supposedly has chemicals that help with memory. Our teacher in Real estate school passed out chocolate before the test. I say eat some while youre studying and eat some before the test. Sounds pretty gimmicky but it worked for us! I actually remembered about 30 questions and many answer choices from the test and wrote them down to give to my teacher. Of course I always suggest people take the class if at all possible.

: )

It's almost 20 years ago; but I failed the dinky Vermont portion of the Sales Person's Exam. I was completely dumbfounded to discover what minutiae they had put in that Exam; but it is minutiae we use everyday ! I was in SHOCK ! . . . . I had never failed an Exam before. As I limped back home (i.e. driving BELOW the Speed Limit), I wrote down from memory the issue involved in every single question on that portion of the Exam.

We are such a small State, they only schedule R.E. Exams every other month; so I had to wait 60 days ! But I was "fixed for bear" when I came back the 2nd time and got something like 29 out of 30 correct. I was able to focus. I still don't know about that one I missed . . . . never will.

I was not blind-sided on the Broker's Exams.


Thanks Reggie; I'll pass that along to my Wife . . . Thanks a whole Lot !

(probably just a placebo; but the placebo effect has been proven to work)

A lot of areas have expert sessions where you can go a couple weekends before the test and it's completely designed around just passing the exam. Many times brokers are the ones that hire them so call major brokers in your area to see if they have such a session.

Keep studying and take it again, and again if necessary. You'll pass eventually. And when you get you license, it doesn't say how many times it took you to pass it, no one will ever know. Also......When you take the test, don't tell anyone, keep it secret, it makes for more pressure if you announce to the whole world that you're going in for another try.
My wife got a book that came with a cd that had a bunch of tests on it. She went over the questions, again and again and again.............Only pay attention to the correct answers. She passed after a few tries and english is not her first language. DONT take a break from it, well may be only one day. Keep going till you pass, and remember, don't tell anyone when you go, only when you pass. Treat it like it's your job, work at at. YOU WILL PASS.


Okeydoka

I passed both state and national with wide margins...and I suck at taking tests..always have.....I only got through high school with homework....and barely survived college years..

I reviewed my notes took a tutor course online.....and a bit of luck helps..but I also used the ....come back to it...and eliminate the obvious wrong answers thing.......

many of the test questions are fairly simple, but designed to be tricky or confusing by adding partially related or completely irrelevant information. the key is learning to pick out the important information. on short scenario questions, scan the question quickly, picking out the key information and then ask yourself what specific info. is being asked for in the answer. then read the question over again, relating the key information to your existing knowledge. don't get sidetracked by extra information in the question that is not relevant to the answer. this is especially important for the questions about legal aspects of real estate. for the math questions, it's just a matter of knowing the best approach to solving the problem...for example, some questions are worked backwards to find the solution, which will be demonstrated in the practice exams. skip the harder questions, completing just the easiest ones the first time around. on your second pass, attempt the harder ones. keep an eye on the clock, adjusting your pace as the time limit gets closer. allot the average time/question (total time allowed divided by number of questions) to each question...if you can't solve a question in the average time/question, move on to the next question. completing the test is NOT a one shot attempt. you should go over the entire test at least twice. this is a very effective method, but you have to learn to budget your time accordingly. test taking is a skill in itself.

amen Shana....amen

I think I might be in trouble. I passed the state test 19 years ago and have been successfully selling real ever since but no one ever mentioned a National test.

I have never heard of a National Real Estate Exam. Is this something new?

When they say the National Exam, they mean the "General" portion that questions your knowledge of Real Estate generally. Then most, if not all, States and Commonwealths have a portion that questions your knowledge of the Laws that are specific to your Jusisdiction.

I'm sure that N.C. would not have Licensed you if you had not passed BOTH portions. Maybe you're having a "Senior Moment" ? So don't worry about it . . . . unless this just happens to be your week to worry !

Hey, how about that John Edwards ?

I'm not sure what advice to offer to improve your skills. You claim to be flustered by the nuanced questions. But is that really the problem? I really don't know.

There were quite a few questions on the Texas licensing exam that I had not seen during my licensing courses or test prep... and the choices provided usually all seemed reasonable. So the key for me was to relax, think carefully, and choose the BEST answer of those provided.

But I did find these statistics from TREC. You may find them interesting:


So it looks like about one out of three applicants fail their first go-round. Be persistent. You'll get there!