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. This first post covers 15 general test taking and real estate exam prep strategies. Stay tuned tomorrow for our second post, which will cover 10 strategies to use when answering a real estate math question.
General Test Taking Strategies
1. Know how you learn – by reading, hearing, or seeing? We all learn in different ways. You may pick up the information by watching a YouTube video or listen to a podcast. Others may need to read examples to understand the math concepts. By understanding how you learn, you can tailor your studying to maximize its effectiveness.
2. Reach out for help! If you need help, ask for it! Feel free to leave a comment or email us if you have a real estate math question. We’re here to help you pass the real state licensing exam.
3. Practice, practice, practice – Practice makes perfect. The more example problems you see and are familiar with, the better you will do on the licensing exam. Start with our FREE real estate math exam to identify which types of real estate math problems you are having trouble with.
4. Pay particular attention to errors that you do all of the time. Make note of these. Learn from your mistakes. For example, students often solve for an annual payment, when the question asks for a monthly payment. By knowing which mistakes you make often, you can pay particular attention to these on the exam.
5. When you are practicing, keep track of your guessing ability – While you are practicing, keep track of the problems you had to guess at, and if you guessed right or wrong. By keeping track of how you guess, you can become a better guesser.
6. Get a study group together. If you feed off of other people’s energy, you may want to get a study group together to review problems. When you all pass the exam, you will have an immediate network of real estate agents you know!
7. Explain the problem to someone else (it may be your cat!) – Following on the previous strategy, if you can teach someone how to do a problem, you’ll know it much better yourself. If you don’t have a study group, just try to explain it to yourself or even your cat!
8. Come up with a schedule for studying. Don’t wait until the last minute! A schedule allows you to make sure you have enough time to prepare for the exam and that you’ve covered all of the materials you need to. If you’re intimidated by real estate math, creating a schedule also breaks down real estate math into bite-size, do-able chunks.
9. Get to the test site relaxed and prepared – Make sure you have your calculator, ID and required papers in one place before the exam. Do a test run to the exam site and leave plenty of time to get there.
10. Get a good night’s sleep for the exam!
Real Estate Math Exam Prep Strategies
11. Be familiar with your calculator – Use the same calculator when you are studying as the one you will use on your exam. You don’t want to get frustrated at the exam because you don’t know how to use the calculator. A simple, basic calculator will be enough for all of your calculations.
12. Know the basics inside out – especially decimals, percentages, and the T method . Many of the real estate problems you’ll encounter will require you to do something with decimals, percentages and the T method, so make sure you get these concepts down!
13. Create flashcards for definitions and formulas so you can memorize them. If you’re always on the go, make flashcards so you can review them when you have free time (e.g., waiting for the bus, waiting for an appointment, etc..)
14. Create problem flash cards with step by step solutions on the back. Flashcards don’t have to be just for words and definitions. Write a flashcard for each “typical” problem so you can review those also.
15. Try to associate the concepts with real life experiences. Math is around us every day, so pay attention to relationships between sales price, percentages, and decimals. For example, if you see a shirt that is $100, and it’s on sale for 50% off, you know the sales price is $5
Stay tuned tomorrow for more strategies to pass the real estate licensing exam!