In February 2009 the multiple choice testing format for the broker license exam was changed to a scenario, information gathering, and decision making Simulation format. Whatever the reason, we now have an exam that is absolutely different from anything we've seen before and real estate educators are scrambling to figure out how to prepare broker students to pass this new test.
It's obvious that we cannot use the same teaching methods used in the past for the multiple choice test. The abysmal 35% passing rate for the first 3 months proves that. Our current textbooks are not designed for this type of testing. Many of the questions and situations in the new exam and not covered in the standard texts. That being said, the Simulation exam is not necessarily harder than the old multiple choice test: it's just different.
As before, the exam is given in 2 parts; the national portion and the state specific portion. There are still 40 state specific multiple choice questions. The national portion consists of 10 Simulation questions of which 8 are scored. The other 2 are questions that the testing service is evaluating. Each Simulation question consists of 5 to 8 different segments. After presenting the scenario, the information gathering segments will ask , "SELECT AS MANY AS YOU CONSIDER APPROPRIATE." The decision making segments will ask, "CHOOSE ONLY ONE ITEM IN THIS SECTION."
Real Estate agents are taught risk reduction techniques that require agents to ask numerous questions so that all bases are covered. The Simulation exam, however, awards points for proper responses and subtracts points for improper responses. Therefore it's important to know which are best. Fewer are selections are sometimes better than more. There are no math problems on the Simulation portion of the exam. Fifty percent of the Simulations concern residential real estate, 33% commercial simulations and 17% property management. Also, there's no going back. Answers cannot be changed.
The new test does not use branching. Branching is a testing model that brings the student to a different question based on the previous answer. There are 3 free sample Simulations at http://www.goamp.com/repSimTests.aspx. They're only designed, however, to give you an idea of what the exam looks like. They're not to be used as a learning tool. The questions are not Illinois specific and do not truly reflect the type of question you might see. The testing service does sell a sample exam on goamp.com that can be a good learning tool.
For more information contact Vince DePaul at http://www.blogger.com/Vince@YourHouseAcademy.com
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Mike was absolutely fantastic! Homer Glen condos for sale devoted a solid four days to helping us in the search, getting houses opened and guiding us all over the Louisville area. His understanding of the current market as related to specific neighborhoods was invaluable, certainly saving us time.
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