Tomorrow morning at 8:00am, I am taking the Real Estate Education Center’s school exam – the first of two exams that I must take in order to obtain my real estate license. The test is a sixty question, multiple choice exam, which will be followed on Tuesday by the New York State License Exam, which is also multiple choice, but only fifty questions. Although I am studying hard and I am doing pretty well on the sample questions in the textbook – I am still very nervous that I will not pass these exams.

This is the first time I have had to take an exam since I was in college thirteen years ago. Since then, I have never set foot in a classroom – much less had to study for an examination. The good news is that many of my friends who are already real estate agents have told me that the exams are very easy and that I should pass with no problem – but that does not mean that I am still not nervous.

The course itself was eleven classes, totaling forty-two hours. In that short period of time, you have to absorb quite a lot of information, like different types of mortgages, license law, construction requirements, contracts and deeds, mathematical formulas – and much more. Having not been in a classroom setting for over a decade – it was a little overwhelming for me to now have to return to “school” mode. Plus, while some of the instructors went over the book in great detail and told us what would be on the exam – other instructors went off on tangents about their lives and careers, leaving us as students to learn the material on our own.

As with most state exams like the one you take to obtain a learner’s permit, many of the questions on the exam do not necessarily pertain to real life – but more to life in “a perfect world.” Even the instructors informed us that most of what we learn in the classes we took will not be things that we would have to deal with as real estate agents – but simply are required to know for the exam. Being someone who really wants to succeed in real estate, I want to learn as much as I can even if I don’t put it to use – just so I can say I have the knowledge.

My plan is to run a few errands and then return to my house so I can bury my face in my real estate course book and, hopefully, pass both exams. All you need to get a passing grade on each exam is 70% or higher – and I think that I can accomplish that. I just hope that I don’t fail even one of the exams – because I would have to pay the $220 course fee all over again in order to retake them.

Wish me luck.