Offering the license examination by computer beginning in October 2000 will allow applicants to be examined and licensed in a much shorter period of time.
By Larry Outlaw, Director of Education and Licensing
The Real Estate Commission is very pleased to announce that persons who file real estate license applications on or after October 1, 2000, will have the option of taking the license examination by computer at examination sites in several cities. Qualified applicants who choose the computerized examination option will be able to schedule and take the examination at a convenient location on a date of their choice, and will receive their examination results immediately upon completion of the examination. The entire application, examination and licensing process will be much faster and more convenient for applicants choosing this option rather than the traditional "paper and pencil" examination procedure. The Commission expects that a vast majority of applicants will choose the computerized examination option.
In the past, the Commission has been restricted to the traditional procedure because of the expense factor; i.e., the cost of offering the examinations by computer greatly exceeded the $30 license application fee - which for many years has been the lowest real estate license application fee in the country. Now, however, the General Assembly has authorized the Real Estate Commission to offer its license examination by computer and to have applicants pay the cost of taking the computerized examination directly to the testing company chosen by the Commission to administer such examinations, which is Psychological Services, Inc. (PSI) of Glendale, California.
Applicants for examination by computer will make application directly to the Commission and pay the $30 application fee - just as applicants do now - but computer examination applicants can file at any time of the month, immediately upon completing their prelicensing courses. Applications will be reviewed on a first come-first served basis, and qualified applicants will be promptly sent a notice of examination eligibility, usually within a few days after an application is received. The Commission will electronically transmit information on eligible applicants to the testing company.
Immediately upon receipt of their notice of examination eligibility, applicants may call the testing company's toll-free 800 number to be scheduled for examination at one of six (6) test centers located in Asheville, Charlotte, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. (Applicants in the northeastern part of the state may also choose to be tested in Norfolk.) The test centers in Raleigh and Charlotte will be open daily and the others will be open as needed to meet demand. Saturday testing will be available at all sites.
At the time of scheduling, applicants will pay the $57 computerized examination fee directly to the testing company (PSI). This may be done by credit card. PSI operates an automated voice response system 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that may be used to schedule examinations. Customer service representatives will be available from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Monday - Friday. If space is available, applicants may be able to take the examination as early as the day after calling PSI. In any event, candidates with the ability to be flexible about their testing date are guaranteed to be provided space at the site of their choice within seven days.
Applicants will be able to take their examinations at private computer workstations using very "user-friendly" computer programs that are quite simple to operate, even for a computer novice. The tutorial program walks the applicant through the process of taking the examination on a step-by-step basis and allows the applicant to practice as long as desired before beginning the examination. The applicant only has to follow very clear instructions that appear on the monitor and use several color-coded keys on a keyboard to operate the programs. Test center personnel are also available to assist applicants. Applicants will have four (4) hours to complete the examination.
As soon as the applicant has completed the examination, the computer will immediately advise the applicant whether he/she passed or failed.
Examination results will be electronically transmitted by PSI to the Commission, and passing applicants will have their licenses issued within a few days (unless there are character or other issues that must be resolved prior to license issuance).
Unsuccessful applicants will, immediately after learning their examination results, be offered the opportunity to review their examinations to see exactly what questions they missed before they leave the test center. Such applicants will be allowed one hour to perform this review. Unsuccessful applicants will be provided by test center personnel with a score report that shows their performance by major subject area, and will also be given another license application form for use in reapplying for examination.
Such applicants must repeat the initial application process (except for providing course completion information) by reapplying to the Commission and paying the $30 application fee before they can be issued another notice of examination eligibility. Applicants may then contact PSI to be rescheduled to take the computerized examination. The examination fee must also be paid each time the applicant is scheduled for examination.
Applicants who are not in a big hurry to get their licenses or who prefer to take their examinations the old-fashioned way -- by paper and pencil -- may still choose this option by filing a license application with the Commission and paying the $30 application fee. There is no additional fee for the paper and pencil examination, but there also will be no expedited examination and licensing process.
The paper and pencil examinations will be available only one Saturday each month, just as is presently the case, and it will be offered only in Raleigh and Charlotte. Also, those wanting the paper and pencil option will still have to meet a filing deadline that is about 30 days in advance of the monthly examination date, and will have to wait up to two weeks to receive their examination results and license if they pass the examination.
Although there will continue to be separate salesperson and broker licenses, there will be only a single real estate license examination for persons applying for licensure after October 1, 2000 because the requirement for a separate broker examination for applicants who have a North Carolina salesperson license will be eliminated effective October 1, 2000. "The" single examination will be only slightly different from the current salesperson examination and will continue to be drawn from the Commission's own question bank developed specifically for use in North Carolina.