If I had my way, I would even take my students out on field trips for actual appraisal inspections. That said, I agree with almost everything else in Pam's post.
That is what is needed. An intensive 2 year hands on "field trip" that eliminates the mentor/student and the student has to pay the way. I think 50% of trainees were never cut out to be appraisers. Not so much about smarts as common sense. Once I identify a person with common sense, I think I could train them quickly to do common garden variety appraisals. It takes good sound judgment skills, something that is hard to train, to get over that next hump.
Too many trainees are told appraisers make a lot of money, easy. When they are confronted with the truth, they have to make a choice. Pay their dues and tough it out; quit; or, worst choice, rationalize the business down to i-gotta-be-skippy-so-catch-me-if-you-can.
It wasn't until the end of my third year start of my fourth that I started seeing daylight.
Those of us starting in the early 90's had a leg up..i mentioned this before...need exceeded available people, so a lot of us novices got opportunites no longer available. I got on a major bank vendors list on the strength of a lack of anyone else willing to do reports in the very area I lived. But my first year I did 50 appraisals at about $250 each, most without a mentor. And worked my tail off. It frequently took me 3 - 4 days for a simple house. Two weeks for many complex ones. I did have connections. I had a mentor Washington Co., one in Benton Co., and one in Oklahoma upon whom I could call. I was incredibly lucky..not one was a crank 'em out skippy. 2 are now dead, I miss them much. They were incredible gentlemen in deed. One died of cancer but never mentioned his own fate, but was worried more about one of his hands whose wife had terminal cancer, too. The other once told me I was the only appraiser he would work with because ole' Bernie zzz [the local skippy] had "ruined everyone else around here."] He was immovable when it came to compromising his integrity or "pushing the value." The third, a long time county appraiser, then Cert. Gen. is now writing songs. A sweet and competent lady who was cheerful and encouraged me in every way.
I can't imagine the learning curve for those that get into appraising without a strong real estate background ahead of time.
I think the Real Estate per se is not as valuable as other aspects of the appraisers background. My own experience was to see the Oil Patch drying up and a nagging woman wanting me to be at home more and on the road less [at least, until I was home when she found out absence makes the heart grow fonder]. My brother, a banker, suggested appraising to me after he and I had made a failed bid on a NAPA Parts Store. But as a geologist, I had a background in environment, I had a strong background in preparing reports and running a consulting business. My (now ex) wife was a WordPerfect and Lotus adult education instructor, and I had owned a computer for 6-7 years. Newbies who strike out on their own for the first time often run into financial difficulty...but Real estate certainly should provide a background in financial difficulty. It is tough the first few years for most RE salespeople.
My background also had a strong math element and I routinely researched courthouses in my career, so these were not foriegn places for me to go...and go we did in those first years before computerized records. I sold my diesel truck and drove a 1976 3/4 T. truck (which I still own) Later I bought a used Jeep Wrangler. I avoided payments. I had to use a credit card to purchase a new copier when my old one quit. Ditto for computer, printer...and it took 3 years to pay that card down which never exceeded $4000....but I have paid and kept those CC's down over the years. It was 1998 before I matched the income that I had made during 1989. My nadir was 93 when I divorced and my gross that year was 19K..gross- net was zip. The year I did 50 appraisals, and did a little consulting in the patch. I don't regret the choices I made then, hindsight is 20/20. I would like to go back to the oil patch full time, but from all I see, we may be in a long haul on high gas prices because the oil companies themselves feel like the Gov't will throttle them and they feel betrayed from the extreme low prices of 1999. No one I know has a secure job in the patch anymore.
Overall, I think the market for self-employed professionals is much tougher than most people think. And, the ditches are filled with wrecked lives. There are no easy careers to pursue. But for those who cannot stand the thought of being a mindless robot in a large and inpersonal corporation, or inundated with mindless regulation as a paper shuffler or being a teacher burdened with idiotic regulations having nothing to do with teaching [Arkansas's big thing that consumes teachers time now is documenting the weight of students and trying to make them thinner. that's a societal problem not a teaching problem. Just let teachers teach, hire sociologists for the rest.]
So the choice of a newbie is as I stated above. Quit, or tough it out. Don't even consider my third option. It is not an unrewarding career in some ways. But it will take a downturn in the economy and increase in bank failure to give appraisers back their independence. And, I hope, there will be plenty of opportunity to replace the skippies with a new generation of honest appraisers, once such a failure results in a whole bunch of goofs being run out of the business or jailed.
Conversely, you punch the clock, can't take off an afternoon to go fishing or play golf, shut down to go to Disneyworld on your schedule, and you'll never get beyond a salary.
I think you may be putting a little too much time into your inspections!!!!! :rofl: 
