How hard was your Certified Residential Test?

[Couch Potato]

The more I think about it, the more I understand why everyone is saying things like "easier than expected", "kind of a joke" and "anticlimax" <--I like that one .
You spend 2-3 years doing something on a daily basis, you better know it by then. Like cooking a steak....You don't know how until you cook 1,000 of them.

Yes, but the underling issue is just how many people have to take the test multiple times in order to achieve a passing score. What have they been doing in those 2-3 years?

 

[Steven Campbell]

I took the test in 2006. My test had a lot of income questions. I thought it was more like a CG test. I passed on the first try without studying. Figured I either had enough working knowledge of appraising or I didn't deserve to be a CR. Then again I test well. I know some people have problems with tests.

 

[Apraysr]

I originally took my cert test back in 2004 and failed it. Although i did take on the same day i took my FHA exam. Only passed 1. Seemed ok for difficulty, however i think most of the scoring is related to ethics at least in ohio. Test results give 2 different results, overall and ethics.

 

[GCJim]

I took my exam in NJ last month and I also think the exam was way too easy. I was done in 30 minutes...

Just took and passed the GC exam here in NJ, and, I'm wondering if there are different versions of the exam. More power to ya if you can get thru it quickly, but sorry, I don't see how anyone could get thru that exam in 30 minutes. It took me 30 minutes to just read and make sense of the 'straight' questions, forget about questions on capitalization or discounting cash flows. Of the 4 hours allotted, it took me 3 hrs 56 minutes to complete, with 4 minutes remaining, 'if' I wanted to check over my answers. I consider myself a very good 'test taker'. I also know of several people that failed it multiple times. It did not seem as difficult as I thought it would be, however I did think it was 'tricky'.

 

[Jeffery Hall]

Easy test for good testers.

I found many of the questions to be ambiguous or poorly written. One went something like this:

The subject's neighborhood shows an increased price for homes with pool. You have 3 comps, all larger than the subject, but none with pools. What adjustments would you make?

It various answers giving combinations of adjusting up or down for the GLA and the pool.

My answer? Hell if I know, since no one bothered to mention whether the SUBJECT had a pool. That wasn't one of the offered answers, so I had to figure out what most people would ASSume and answer it that way. I thought in appraisal we weren't supposed to make assumptions like that.

I took the test for Cert Res last Friday (Dec 07) (and passed) and recall those questions. If you know how to read a subject/comparables grid it is possible to figure out the proper adjustments using paired sales analysis. Not too hard, if set up correctly.

About the pool, if it didn't mention a pool for the subject, no pool.

I do agree that the test is fairly easy. I studied for about 8 hours and passed with a test time of about an hour and a half, taking my time.

Oh, you should study the "four pillars" of highest and best use. It came up alot (TC). And study about cap rates. I had lots of questions on cap rates. (But I still passed.)

All in all, the test was not too hard, but I knew the stuff because I read this and other forums. And I test well. I have never had to retake a Gov't qualifying test.

I did ask the proctor what the failing rate was. She said she didn't know, but some test sections everyone passes, and others only a few pass. Sad.

 

[Lobo Fan]

You guys are going to love this. We loaded the Compu-Cram practice tests on my 14 year old daughter's laptop in order to practice while driving to the test. She just took a practice exam and scored an 80. I am sure she has picked up some of the lingo through osmosis, but that cracked me up.

 

[TC]

Damn, if she's that smart, she's on the fast track to be a reviewer.

TC

 

[Lobo Fan]

She is too smart to become an appraiser.

 

[gcasteel]

CR Test

I find that hard to believe.....and I've been in this business a LOOOONG time, and taken a lot of exams...

Gwen...

 

[BenLuby]

It was tough. Took it Monday, and passed. It wasn't as tough as I expected, but I studied like a maniac for it, too.