Let me start off by saying, school was never my “favorite.” I hated studying. I would cram it all the day before and would end up passing, barely. I’ve always been a very visual learner. Books and reading never helped me truly understand something until I had actually seen it done or did it myself.
So once I got my courses paid for it was time for me to start studying for the exam. You had to complete 60 hours in one section & 30 hours in the second. I would take 3-4 hours a day to look over the material, write down notes & take all the practice quizzes I could. Around the middle of my courses I realized I could sit and learn real estate by the “book” or I could get out and learn it first hand. I ended up knowing someone who was in the business & luckily was starting a brokerage of their own. They invited me to join them in the office M-F to study my courses and listen to other realtors conversations they would have with potential clients. It was too good to be true, so of course I jumped on that opportunity. — I will say this, if you are looking to start real estate I highly recommend you “Date the Brokerage” go in and check out a couple and see which one feels the best to you. If they are willing they may let you in a couple days a week to do the same as I did. It helped me tremendously.
— I started my classes in March and was in that brokerage as much as I could be. Role playing, listening, learning and growing my confidence more and more each day. After a good month of learning the material I was finally ready to schedule my exam, which was a process in itself lol. Now the courses and online learning will teach you the basics but what really helped me in the long run was: Quizlett https://quizlet.com/ & Study.com https://study.com/ — (I would recommend paying for the Study.com for at least a month, also be sure when looking up quizzes to take you need to search “South Carolina Real Estate Exam” or whatever state you’re in to make sure it’s the correct information) I did that for weeks leading up to the exam.
In May, I was finally able to schedule my exam and ya’ll the confidence I had in the days leading up to it was something I had never felt before. I finally felt as if I knew the material and was ready to take on the world. – They had two locations to choose from, one was in North charleston and the other in Beaufort County. The first available site was Beaufort and in all honesty it was only an hour away for me. So i decided to take the 1PM slot and head down on June 8th to take what i felt was the biggest exam of my life. — That was my first mistake. Don’t and I repeat DO NOT put in your mind that if you don’t pass the test the first time you’ll be the person who couldn’t even pass a simple real estate exam. If you do, I can promise you that you’ll set yourself up for disaster. Everyone is always programmed that failure is evil, but what if you took it as a stepping stone on your way to success? — Had to add that little side note 🙂
Fast forward to the morning of my exam. I woke up, went to the gym, ate breakfast, studied for a little longer and then made my way down to Beaufort. That hour car ride seemed like the longest of my life, I tried listening to music to ease my mind but nothing worked. I was so anxiety driven over passing the exam not even my favorite song “Lucky” by BS could calm me down. See that’s the irony of the little voices in our heads, we know in our hearts we got it in the bag but our minds play dirty little tricks on us. — I pulled up to the testing site 20 minutes before my exam. I decided to take that time to study flash cards, give myself a pep talk and breathe for one quick second before entering. I checked in, sat at my computer & literally went blank….. everything i had studied for gone like the wind.
Test anxiety is a thing & makes even the best test takers fail. I knew in my heart I didn’t pass that test. There were two sections: South Carolina State Exam which had 40 questions & the National Portion which had 90. I was so close to 75% , which is what you need to at least pass. (by the way, i have spoken to many “seasoned agents” & they all had to failed the test the first time. So I didn’t beat myself up quite yet) – – I went home, rescheduled my test & thought to myself “well there are two sections, let me focus on the State first & the national second.” – & – So that’s what i did for a good week until test day came around…. I go in and CRUSH the state test! but failed the national once again. By this time I was getting a little frustrated but it was okay because I ended up only needing to focus on the National portion now. Well y’all I went home, rescheduled the National portion & studied my ass off for a week before taking it again. Test day came once again. By this point I was already so mentally drained for doing these tests back to back in the matter of weeks, and also was having bad allergies that day. I go in, failed once again. That time I ran out that building in tears. I was so mad at myself, i just felt like a failure. Like everything I’ve been doing was for a waste. Or that maybe Real Estate wasn’t meant for me. I pick up the phone & call my Aunt Kelly who had been waiting for me to tell her the results. I get on the phone, barely can speak and she says to me “God either says yes, no or maybe and he is just saying maybe right now. He isn’t totally writing real estate off for you. Just keep pushing through because the people who don’t give up & keep fighting are the ones who will flourish.” I sat there & took it all in. She was right. Like Nelson Mandela said “Don’t judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times i fell down & got back up again.”
So I rescheduled that National exam one more time. Took a couple weeks to look over the material again, studied with my friends & learned to calm down my test anxiety a little more. (which by the way, meditation is one amazing way to chill out your mind before taking a big exam.) So after a month of trying to pass these exams I go in for the last time. Hit that enter button & PASSED came across my screen. Y’all, I swear I almost passed out right there. I walked out of there & immediately called everyone! After months of hard work and perseverance I finally conquered that shit.
Main reason to all this blabber is, even if you fall get back up and never lay down. You can truly do ANYTHING you put your mind to.
PS. wanna shoutout to the amazing friends and family I had supporting me through this time. It was very difficult. There were plenty sleepless, crying nights and I wouldn’t of been able to get through it without y’all! ♥️
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