July 9th - 2007

Closed book examinations will raise education bar

Brokers, REALTORS®, regulators and other certification bodies have all expressed a need to implement more rigorous registration standards to prepare real estate professionals to deal with consumers and other professionals with credibility and authority.

Brokers, REALTORS®, regulators and other certification bodies have all expressed a need to implement more rigorous registration standards to prepare real estate professionals to deal with consumers and other professionals with credibility and authority.
 
To that end the OREA Real Estate College has recently announced a change in the examination process, from open book to closed book examinations, effective January 1, 2008.
 
Consumers expect real estate professionals to understand and have the ability to explain the contents of forms, agreements and methods of conducting business without having to research reference material. A real estate professional who is able to demonstrate knowledge brings value and credibility to the real estate transaction and is able to more easily justify fees charged for services rendered, the College noted on its website.
 
Closed book exams, the college says, provides students with an opportunity to focus on learning and comprehension of curriculum as opposed to reproducing workbook exercise solutions in an effort to answer exam questions. Exam time may be devoted to thinking about solutions as opposed to searching through reference texts in the hopes of finding and copying the correct response.
 
Raising standards
From a regulatory and certification standpoint, the OREA Real Estate College believes the move to closed book exams will graduate a more knowledgeable candidate with greater understanding of course curriculum, and who will be in a better position to align with the consumer protection mandate of the Real Estate Council of Ontario.
 
For OREA, the move helps the OREA Real Estate College to align itself with other regulatory and certification bodies in Canada and the United States where closed book examinations are conducted.
 
Closed book testing also allows for adherence to examination standards advanced by ARELLO (Association of Real Estate License Law Officials).
 
Making the transition
With a greater focus on comprehension, rather than regurgitation of material, the College will modify all examination questions to reflect the revised format. Students will receive resource material to enable them to properly answer examination questions, and so will eliminate the need to bring unnecessary material to the exam.
 
Notice of the change has already been distributed to students either in their course kits, or by their classroom instructors. Announcements also appear: on the OREA Real Estate College web site, under College News; are communicated to all students’ My Portfolio accounts; and are attached to all student enrolment confirmation letters. The memo about the policy change is also available at our reception counter at 99 Duncan Mill Road.

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For more information contact

Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Manager, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-445-9910 ext. 246

Ontario Real Estate Association
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