| In October 2011 I enrolled in an online course
to study for my real estate license. Three weeks later I took the
exam at the school. After I received the passing test, I became
eligible to enroll for the final exam with the State of Georgia
Real Estate Commission a few days later.
For anyone thinking about studying to get your
real estate license, here is my recommendation. I have some
suggestions. I hope these will be helpful to you as you consider how
to go about getting your real estate license.
SELF-STUDY REAL ESTATE
LICENSE COURSE
I took an online course for the real estate
license and finished in two
weeks. Since I had a real estate investing background, a large
portion of the course content was not new to me. I have been talking
to professionals such as real estate attorneys, lenders, agents,
appraisers, and full time investors for several years in the normal
course of my business.
Even with my experience and knowledge, there
was a lot of new content and concepts to learn.
I would recommend the online self study course
for anyone who is highly motivated to get through the material at
their own pace. This option allows you to go through the material
FAST, especially if you have some previous knowledge and background
in real estate. I think it would be difficult and slow going this
way if you are new to real estate.
TWO DAY CRAM COURSE FOR REAL
ESTATE LICENSE
After finishing my online course, I decided to
enroll in a two day cram course offered by Barney Fletcher Schools
in Atlanta. I'm glad I took the cram course, as it helped me in two
areas:
1.
LEARNING HOW TO TAKE THE REAL ESTATE LICENSE EXAM - The
cram course opened my eyes to how one's knowledge is tested by the
use of different types of questions. Evidently the exam questions
can be very tricky and it takes some practice to understand what
different types of questions may or may not be asking. It is easy to
assume a question requires a particular answer, but when examining
the question carefully, the information being asked becomes clearer.
I learned not to read too much into the questions!
2.
EXPOSING AREAS OF WEAKNESS IN MY REAL ESTATE KNOWLEDGE -
During the two day cram course, the teacher exposed the students to
every area covered in the course through the use of questions. There
was no new content taught in the class but through the use of the
questions, I became very aware of the particular topics that I
needed study more. This enabled me to focus my final study time to
that content which I needed to learn in order to pass the exam.
I would highly recommend a cram course such as
the one I took in order to prepare for the real estate license exam,
unless you have previous experience taking exams of this type. The
questions can be tricky and if you are not prepared, you will get
tripped up during the exam.
CLASSROOM REAL ESTATE
LICENSE COURSE
I would suggest a full classroom course for
anyone wanting to get their real estate license who has no
background in real estate. I honestly can't imagine absorbing all
the content required to pass the exam by going it alone with no
previous real estate experience. Taking a live class with
other students in a classroom environment may be your best option.
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