Certified Residential Appraisal Exam

[ATNA]

I took the Certified General almost four years ago and proud to say that I passed on the first try. My train of thought was go back to the basics. I read ALL the course books from every class I took, even principles and procedures and especially USPAP. I would also recommend the Hondros book Appraisal Review Crammer. One added piece of advice, when you read a test question, flush out the bull s**t information and concentrate only on what they are asking. I looked at it in reverse order; what are they asking? what data do I need? and then read the information they are providing. This was a very useful way for me in answering the math problems. Also remember, there are questions on the exam that do not count, they are there to possibly be added permanently to future exams. I remember reading some that made absolutely no sense and I could not figure out the correct answer. Like someone else said, flag the long troublesome questions and go on to the easier ones. Good luck!

 

[dmoberly]

Hello,

I have completed all of my coursework for the certified residential appraiser. I will be taking the exam in February.
I am reviewing my coursework. Any specific words of wisdom on what I NEED to study/focus on?
Is there anything I DON'T NEED to focus on? It's a lot of material.

Thank you.

Karl Knorr

Hi Karl,
I just saw your post and wanted to share some info. I passed my exam in March of this year on the first attempt. I highly recommend the exam practice questions from the Appraisal Institute. I would say they are the most similar to the exam questions. I also purchased the McKissock exam prep class and that is helpful as well. I would really study USPAP Standards 1 and 2. As soon as I finished my exam, I wrote down every topic I could remember from the exam. Here's my list. Good luck!!

Important: I feel math is one of my strengths but what I found very helpful was to skip every math question that would take some time to calculate. Then, after I made it through all of the questions, I would go back and complete all the math questions. You don't want to get hung up on a question that you're struggling to find the answer and cause additional stress and potentially cause you to run out of time before you get to all the questions. Also, the math questions can be very wordy and include significant info that is irrelevant. I suggest reading the last sentence to see what they are actually asking. Then, go through the question and pick out the relevant info needed to calculate your answer.

Assemblage/ Plottage
Hypothetical condition
Extraordinary assumptions
Superstructure/ Substructure
Long lived / Short lived
Leased fee / Leasehold
Tenants in common / Joint tenancy
Escheat
Eminent Domain /Condemnation
Calculate GLA
Calculate depreciation
Calculate remaining economic life
Fenestration
Types of easements
Deed restrictions
Know record keeping rule
Know competency rule
Calculate adjustments
Sublease / Sandwich lease
Tenancy by entirety / severalty
Determine highest and best use
Calculate acreage
Metes and bounds definition
Rectangular survey acre calculation
Draw out section of land
4 forces DUST
Influences PEGS
Agents of production Land Labor Capital and Coordination
Calculate cap rates
Calculate EGI/NOI/PGI
Calculate NIR/OER
Calculate GRM/GIM
Curable/Incurable functional obsolescence
External/Economic obsolescence
Calculate lot value by allocation
Understand appraisal reviews
Ethics rule covers what 3 components
Excess/Surplus Land
Gross vs Net lease
Contribution/Substitution/Anticipation
Calculate tax rate/Mills
Calculate standard deviation
Calculate standard regression

 

[Alsie35]

Hi Karl,
I just saw your post and wanted to share some info. I passed my exam in March of this year on the first attempt. I highly recommend the exam practice questions from the Appraisal Institute. I would say they are the most similar to the exam questions. I also purchased the McKissock exam prep class and that is helpful as well. I would really study USPAP Standards 1 and 2. As soon as I finished my exam, I wrote down every topic I could remember from the exam. Here's my list. Good luck!!

Assemblage/ Plottage
Hypothetical condition
Extraordinary assumptions
Superstructure/ Substructure
Long lived / Short lived
Leased fee / Leasehold
Tenants in common / Joint tenancy
Escheat
Eminent Domain /Condemnation
Calculate GLA
Calculate depreciation
Calculate remaining economic life
Fenestration
Types of easements
Deed restrictions
Know record keeping rule
Know competency rule
Calculate adjustments
Sublease / Sandwich lease
Tenancy by entirety / severalty
Determine highest and best use
Calculate acreage
Metes and bounds definition
Rectangular survey acre calculation
Draw out section of land
4 forces DUST
Influences PEGS
Agents of production Land Labor Capital and Coordination
Calculate cap rates
Calculate EGI/NOI/PGI
Calculate NIR/OER
Calculate GRM/GIM
Curable/Incurable functional obsolescence
External/Economic obsolescence
Calculate lot value by allocation
Understand appraisal reviews
Ethics rule covers what 3 components
Excess/Surplus Land
Gross vs Net lease
Contribution/Substitution/Anticipation
Calculate tax rate/Mills
Calculate standard deviation
Calculate standard regression

Daaaaaymmnnn ... that's impressive! (Or just OCD - not sure which ) ... I forgot all the stuff that was on the exam the moment I walked out having just been told I passed ... I just know there was a TON of math on it, and that the fact patterns for the questions on the test tended to be twice, or three times as long as they were on the practice exams ... which made being able to figure out what factors in the fact patterns were irrelevant (ie meant to try to throw you off) critical to passing the test ... I did the practice tests in just over 2 hours, but took the the entire 4 hours on the actual exam ...

 

[Yuanyin]

100% Compucram Cert Residential and Appraisal Institute Exam Prep. If you get through that you'll pass the test.

Know the math! Do all of the math problems until you're sick of em'. There is a lot of useful resources on quizlet too.

https://quizlet.com/754773926/real-estate-appraisal-math-formulas-flash-cards/

Also there is a really handy app for iphones called Real Estate Appraisal Exam Prep by Feraco Media Inc. It's only 99 cents.

Good luck!

 

[Yuanyin]

Also for the Appraisal Institute Questions, the questions at the very end of some of the sections are for Cert Gen. So they won't be necessary for the cert res test. But I would highly recommend going through at least 85% of each segment.

 

[Yuanyin]

Get ready for a few questions from left field like this. Here is one I had written down in my notes from when I actually took the test.

An appraiser is completing an assignment in an area where crime activity has recently been publicized. Can the appraiser consider the use of the term “high-crime area.”

Then they give 4 plausible-sounding answers. Anyhow look this one up in USPAP AO's

 

[Karl Knorr]

Hi Karl,
I just saw your post and wanted to share some info. I passed my exam in March of this year on the first attempt. I highly recommend the exam practice questions from the Appraisal Institute. I would say they are the most similar to the exam questions. I also purchased the McKissock exam prep class and that is helpful as well. I would really study USPAP Standards 1 and 2. As soon as I finished my exam, I wrote down every topic I could remember from the exam. Here's my list. Good luck!!

Important: I feel math is one of my strengths but what I found very helpful was to skip every math question that would take some time to calculate. Then, after I made it through all of the questions, I would go back and complete all the math questions. You don't want to get hung up on a question that you're struggling to find the answer and cause additional stress and potentially cause you to run out of time before you get to all the questions. Also, the math questions can be very wordy and include significant info that is irrelevant. I suggest reading the last sentence to see what they are actually asking. Then, go through the question and pick out the relevant info needed to calculate your answer.

Assemblage/ Plottage
Hypothetical condition
Extraordinary assumptions
Superstructure/ Substructure
Long lived / Short lived
Leased fee / Leasehold
Tenants in common / Joint tenancy
Escheat
Eminent Domain /Condemnation
Calculate GLA
Calculate depreciation
Calculate remaining economic life
Fenestration
Types of easements
Deed restrictions
Know record keeping rule
Know competency rule
Calculate adjustments
Sublease / Sandwich lease
Tenancy by entirety / severalty
Determine highest and best use
Calculate acreage
Metes and bounds definition
Rectangular survey acre calculation
Draw out section of land
4 forces DUST
Influences PEGS
Agents of production Land Labor Capital and Coordination
Calculate cap rates
Calculate EGI/NOI/PGI
Calculate NIR/OER
Calculate GRM/GIM
Curable/Incurable functional obsolescence
External/Economic obsolescence
Calculate lot value by allocation
Understand appraisal reviews
Ethics rule covers what 3 components
Excess/Surplus Land
Gross vs Net lease
Contribution/Substitution/Anticipation
Calculate tax rate/Mills
Calculate standard deviation
Calculate standard regression

Wow! This is very helpful. Thanks very much!!

 

[Karl Knorr]

Also for the Appraisal Institute Questions, the questions at the very end of some of the sections are for Cert Gen. So they won't be necessary for the cert res test. But I would highly recommend going through at least 85% of each segment.

Thank you very much!!!

 

[cdanj]

I have not take the Certified Res exam, but I am stydying for it. Here are a few tips I got from reading the advice of others on this forum who had just taken the exam.

"Complex reversion questions and complex annuity will only be 2 questions.

Instead of spending hours studying trying to get 2 questions right, just focus on your real estate terms and USPAP questions."

"Zero questions which required a financial key let alone cash flow or regression"

This all seems like sound advice.

The last advice below is questionable... but if you can't figure out how to turn on the HP12C it might be sound.

" I skipped all financial calculator questions and guessed. Spend all of your time on the moderate to hard questions, skip the ones for the math wizez out there"

 

[Alsie35]

I have not take the Certified Res exam, but I am stydying for it. Here are a few tips I got from reading the advice of others on this forum who had just taken the exam.

"Complex reversion questions and complex annuity will only be 2 questions.

Instead of spending hours studying trying to get 2 questions right, just focus on your real estate terms and USPAP questions."

"Zero questions which required a financial key let alone cash flow or regression"

This all seems like sound advice.

The last advice below is questionable... but if you can't figure out how to turn on the HP12C it might be sound.

" I skipped all financial calculator questions and guessed. Spend all of your time on the moderate to hard questions, skip the ones for the math wizez out there"

That last advice is indeed a sure-fire way to flunk the exam. I took it in 2018 and the number of complex math questions was substantial. You can't pass without getting a majority of them correct.