ProSchools
Get Licensed. Get Ahead.

In this and following posts, I will give you some of my ideas on how to go through Proschools’ Real Estate Prelicense course (we offer courses in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii , Colorado & Tennessee), pass the license exam with high scores the first time, and graduate from real estate school sounding like a professional real estate agent.

The first reaction of many students who begin their course of study is the excitement of the thought of a new career. The second reaction, after reading a page of material is, “I cannot learn all of this.” And that is probably true.

So how can you progress through the course, while remaining sane and tolerable to those around you?

Lower your expectations. After only one page you expect to need to know everything you have read. After 100, 300, or 500 pages, you don’t. You will be surprised that there is so much you did not know. Hopefully, this is true, since we are trying to present information that is new and not waste you time with material you already knew.

Expect to go over material two or three times. The first time, you may remember half of what you read and understand half of that. Do not stop to memorize every new word or idea. Go from the beginning of a section to the end. Words, terms and ideas get clarified as they are used repeatedly. If the section is confusing, do not try to remember specifics until you understand general idea being presented.

For example, do not try to memorize which items might be real property or personal property. First try to understand the difference between real and personal property. If you do, you will know whether an item would be real or personal.

The most difficult areas (other than those that look like they have math) are those with a number of similar items to sort out. For example, the section on estates is difficult because there are at least 11 of them, and some of them have a number of different names. Each is easy by itself, but after 11, it’s a jumble. If you first get the concept that all estates fall into one of two categories – freehold (owning) or non-freehold (leasing) – with five being freehold and four being non-freehold, the task of learning them gets easier.

If there are exercises, brainteasers, or other forms of interactivity, stop to do them. They are there to give you a chance to take a breather as well as to reinforce certain ideas. When you have finished a section, take the quiz or complete the exercise that follows. This will help to reinforce information in the section. Review the explanations provided. Then move on to the next section. Later go back to the section and review and retake any quiz that pertains to it.

When you have finished the course(s), go back again and review key words and concepts and retake quizzes.