The answer is so simple it boggles the mind. The people running the show haven't clue about REAL Real Estate life. Book learning & FSBO mentality prevail. They don't see it as broken.

I'm convinced it's a filter; they just want to weed out the not so serious. If you can learn, you can earn. I feel it's just hoops; if you want it bad enough you'll jump through them. But agreed; 

Much Ado About Nothing

A great question and one I've asked myself a few times over the years still with no answer.

Same as in any school or college. This is just a very broken system no one dares to fix. 

Because what you need to know to add the test has nothing to do with being in business for yourself

I am not sure that this is a correct premise. However, a licensing course is not enough to prepare an individual for a real estate career.

I think it comes down to money.  In Colorado, it's criminal how easy it is to get a real estate license ... take a easy test, pay the state (!!) $50.00 to get your license and they're turned loose on the public, who thinks we're all alike.  The sad part, is the public has no clue.  Wake up Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)!!! You're there to protect the pulic not harm them. Julie Montgomery, Elite DenverHomes

I'm suspicious of the 95% number but the reality of the licensing course is that it prepares you to take and pass the exam but has very little(if anything) to do with a career in the field.  

Same reason they teach  you to conjugate a very and diagram a sentence.

The educational requirements for pre-licensing courses are dated and if you get a poor instructor it compunds the problem!

Kinda like required college courses...required for what ?  Most of what is required is easily referenced and is a test of memorization.

They are teaching to to pass a test, not sell real estate.

Good question!  Let me know when you find out.

I taught prelicense for 25 years and I actually think you use and it helps you know about 75% of what you learn. I presented it in a way that related to their day to day life in real estate so they could see the value.

Some of the information presented in my licensing course was irrelevant but I don't think it was 95% irrelevant.  Some of the material learned I put to use fairly often.

I have no idea, but believe it or not...some of that stuff I thought was useless has come up over the years. 

as in most things in life, the book world (acedemic) and the real world are two different things.we need less college and more on hands training

It is the way that "education" is handled in the broader sense. No slight to teachers since my sister is one.

If you think about it, very much like when we were in school. Rare cases that I have ever used 95% of what I learned in school, but then again I had to learn (memorize) it, then was tested on it!

Unfortunately agents pass the test, saying "that was easy", and then they think that is all there is to being a top Realtor, wrong!

I agree with Barbara Todaro ... and it's more a test of discipline than subject matter that really matters.  

I honestly feel it's a process just to verify that one is intelligent enough to learn material that's related to the profession, even though they know it will not be used again, and then pass the exam....

I'm going to guess it's because 95% of the agents have forgotten the information.

In CA these were the questions asked years ago.  My wife left a study guide from middle 70s and they still ask the same question .... If a home sold for $35,000 and commission is 7% how much your broker gets before your split...

Sam

I think it's mostly because the licensing courses/exams are meant to keep you out of real estate jail and not really teach you how to sell real estate.

It's background material we should know, even if we don't use it in practice every day. In fact, there should be more national uniformity in the presentation of the material.

 Good Sunday morning Tony and Suzanne. If it's anything like the home inspection industry, a lot of it is pure BS.

Tony and Suzanne, it's funny to read some of the questions about this stuff that are posted by people taking the pre-licensing test course.  Who cares about riparian rights in the middle of the big city?

Because some day it might show up in a trivia contest!

Because it ia all leagal stuff and if everyone doesn their job right no need to go back to it

Because very few RE schools actually have instructors who actively practice. My broker's hours were taught by the daughter of the outgoing state RE Commissioner who ran a brokerage next door. He came over for Q/A every day. That was a good education.

The PURPOSE of the real restate licensing course is to fulfill a standard established by the laws of each respective state. 

The outcome is to allow those who pass the test the opportunity to fail at real estate....legally.

In the state of Florida, "Legally Failed' has been achieved and many unknown folks are making money every step of the way.

Why has it not changed....because someone is making money.

Because our industry is fluid and ever changing. You learn so very much from experience both good and bad. 

I think the exam should be overhauled for relevancy and include more about legality and ethics. The brokers exam was far more relevant than the agent exam.

Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers I don't believe this is true. There are many terms that come up in practicing real estate.

I think that 95% is a bit extreme. Wehn I took the brokers exam last year I was wondering why the questions I studied obsessively weren't on the test. 

I remember there were 75 taking the course and only 62 passed the test the first time 3 never passed and there are only three left with a license.

I occasionally get the maual out and read through again and still do not know why some of the attorney stuff is in it!

Before computers, it was to give one a database in your mind of everything one needs. It certainly weeds out most who do take the test. Most forget it the day they start selling while those who retain it, are better off in the long run.

Much of it is important and useful.

Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers it's just the way it is! And that may be true of only one profession - and that is Real Estate!

I have never understood that either.

Tony and Suzanne - I think the education provided really should be changed to more directly relate to the actual job one will be performing after you obtain the license.

The real estate course is designed to help you pass a test, not succeed in real estate.