8 reasons why real estate school is so hard

For some, real estate school is fairly easy to complete.  These individuals enter into the class, take the course and pass the exams on the first attempt without any difficulty.  

Yet others come out of the class and all they can say is how hard they thought the class was. 

I have consulted with over 100 students that have stated that the real estate class was hard and have compiled a list of the top 8 reasons that they have mentioned in our conversations. 

1. They haven’t gone to school in years
2. The information is very dry  
3. Not practical exercises
4. Your excited to get started
5. You are not making money
6. Schedule
7. The exam
8. Pressure to Pass

They haven’t gone to school in years

Unless you are taking the real estate school right out of high school or college, it has probably been awhile since you stepped foot into a classroom.  

For a lot of people, their time in school classes does not bring back the fondest memories.  Homework, boring subjects and the general nature of learning new subjects all come back to mind. 

Real estate school brings back a lot of these emotions, making the process feel more difficult than it actually is. 

The information is very dry 

From Latin terms to vocabulary and concepts that you are forced to memorize, the real estate class can sometimes seem like a foreign language. 

And even if you are taking the real estate class and you have purchased a home before, some of the information presented in the course will be brand new to you.  

Few buyers or sellers have given a thought to agency concepts or fiduciary laws.   You may know that there are fair housing laws that exist, but do you know who they protect and who is exempt from them and what years they were passed?  

The first time I took a real estate licensing class I had an instructor that liked to say, this is important, it might be on the test.  They said it so often that when I went back to review the textbook, the pages were bright yellow because I had highlighted so many terms and concepts.  

Once I saw the sample test questions in the exam prep module I realized that I didn’t have to know the meaning to every term, but just understand the concepts.  Not everyone understands this and they overstudy the terms and vocabulary and make it harder than it actually has to be. 

Not practical exercises

Because you are learning so many terms and concepts with vocabulary, it is sometimes difficult to see how it all fits together.  

I remember a question about Agent Alice and Broker Bob.  The question said that Alice had just sold a home and had the deposit in a check. She got the check on a Friday and the question asked what she should do with the check.

Again, pretty dry information.  The exam wants to know how long she has to turn it into the office to Broker Bob and how many days Bob had to put it into the bank, and what account he would deposit it into. 

The entire time, my mind is wondering about what type of home did Agent Alice sell.  Was it nice?  How did she find the client? Did they pay cash or get a loan?  When was closing?  You know, all of the practical questions that one would ask regarding the sale of the home.  

Because the class is not the most practical, it can be hard to understand what they are trying to get you to answer.  Reading the questions and re reading them is something that you need to learn.  Same goes for the potential answers presented on the multiple choice exams.   

Your excited to get started

And then you have to go to class.  You dream of selling homes. And then you have to go to class.   

This delay can be very frustrating and can make the class feel harder than it actually is.  And with a state like Colorado requiring a 168 hour class, it can feel like it is never going to end.  

The anticipation is quickly replaced by a feeling of what have I gotten myself into for some students.  

You are not making money

During your time in the real estate pre-licensing school, you are not yet able to work with buyers and sellers or collect a commission.  

Your mind is on real estate because of the class, and you will start overhearing people talking about real estate but you can’t do anything about it because you are still in the class. 

It is not the class’s fault.  But students ended up resenting the class for reasons similar to these, making it seem hard and unfair.  

Yet when the student would have heard the same conversation a year ago, it would not even register. 

Damn class…

Schedule

This is even more difficult for a classroom based course where you have to be in class for hours on end at a certain time each week.  And after you have been in the class, you still have to set time aside to read the materials.  Even though you are not getting credit for that time spent.  

Even when you are taking an online based class, finding the time to study can be difficult.  At least you get time credit for reading the chapters. 

The majority of students that I talk with do not work off of a time blocked schedule.  If they have a job, they go in for their 9 to 5 shift but outside of work, they don’t pay much attention to the clock.  

With the rise in streaming services like Netflix, this is even more the case.  Back in the day certain shows would cause people to block off a time to see their show when it came on at 8, 7 central.  

So getting into a routine and setting time aside can be difficult.  And the class gets blamed for making life harder.  

The exam

Test.  A dreaded 4 letter word.   Even the best students can dread tests.  The time pressure can be overwhelming.  The real estate exam can seem hard and for some people it is. Students look at questions and start to question the answer that they know should be correct.  The mind starts to play tricks on you. 

Just like it has been a long time since a number of students stepped foot into a classroom, the same can be said for the number of tests they have had to take since then.  

Thankfully the tests are multiple choice and not essay questions like we faced in school.  And if you take enough sample tests, like I encourage with the exam prep modules, you will start to see patterns in the answers.   One is always obviously wrong, so at least when you understand that you will increase your odds of passing by 25%.  

A small portion of the population has brains that are wired in a way to enjoy tests like the ones given in the real estate class.  The rest of us think it is hard until we learn the tricks of the game. 

An online mentor can assist you in preparing for the exam.

Pressure to Pass

By the time that you get to the class final exam and the state administered exam, everyone you know that means anything to you will know that you are in the real estate class.   And they are all going to ask you, “Did you pass the test?”

Wow.  Talk about pressure.  And some of them are going to already have an opinion about you getting into real estate.  Some will be positive and some will be negative.  In either case, you will be committed to show them.  That adds pressure and makes the class and the exams seem too difficult to handle. 

Then you add in that some states have rules that you can only take the test so many times and if you fail you have to take the course hours over again.   Gee thanks.   The test was already difficult enough without them adding that pressure.

But like other items on this list, the real estate class gets labeled as hard or difficult because the students are asked to do things and think of things in ways that they are not accustomed to.  

Change is hard and the real estate class shines a bright spotlight on this concept.