Taking the real estate licensing exam can be difficult, especially if math isn’t your strong suit. But don’t worry, EZ Real Estate Math is here to help with your real estate licensing exam prep! In the two-part post, we describe 25 strategies for tackling the math questions on your real estate licensing exam. Our first post covers 15 general test taking and real estate exam prep strategies. This second post covers 10 strategies to use when answering a real estate math question.
Tackling Real Estate Math Questions At The Licensing Exam
1. Recognize the type of problem you are solving. Is it a commission problem, mortgage math, or geometry?
2. Read the entire problem carefully – Know what you are solving for (e.g., are you looking for annual or monthly payments?)
3. Figure out your plan for solving the problem – Many of the problems will require you to do 2-3 math calculations to get to the right answer. Plan your work, then work your plan.
4. Break down word problems into their parts and formulas. Don’t get caught up with all of the words. The words are just extra!
5. Don’t skip steps – For multi-step problems, make sure you write down each step. That way, if you make a mistake, it’ll be easier to see where the problem is.
6. Once you come up with the answer, re-read the problem to make sure you solved for the right thing. Check your units!
7. When you go back to a question that you couldn’t solve, use a new sheet of paper. Sometimes using a new sheet of paper will mentally un-block your approach to solving the problem.
8. Don’t feel like you need to use every piece of information in the problem. Some exams will purposely put additional, unnecessary information in the problem to throw you off, so don’t worry if you do not use a piece of information given in the question.
9. If you have to guess, eliminate as many answers as possible first. Use your best judgment to eliminate obviously wrong answers. For example, let’s say you have a commission problem and you need to solve for the sales price. You know that the sales price will be greater than the commission. Therefore, you can eliminate any answers that are smaller than the commission.
10. If you can’t figure out a question, go back to it later rather than waste too much time on one question. It’s better to work efficiently on the entire test than to spend too much time on a single problem. You don’t need to get 100% correct, so it’s ok skip a problem and go back to it only if you have time. Just don’t skip too many problems!
Remember to take our FREE PRACTICE EXAM to identify the math areas you need to work on and download our FREE e-book “10 Essential Real Estate Math Calculations Every Agent Should Know To Succeed.”