*Update – The March 2011 real estate brokers board exam results have already been released: Real estate brokers exam results March 2011
If you took the real estate brokers exam last March 27, 2011, I’ll bet you are one of those who feels frustrated, to put it lightly.
You are not alone.
Almost all examinees I know have expressed not so nice things about the recently concluded real estate brokers exam. To think we have not yet even seen the exam results, which should be released within 10 days after the exam, as per section 16 of the RESA Law IRR.
Based on the feedback from people I know who took the exam, most are frustrated, and some are even angry, because they felt the exam did not focus on the real estate service practice, and instead focused more on ecology, among other things.
This leads to the question, “Why was ecology included in the real estate brokers exam in the first place?”
Why did they include basic principles of ecology in the real estate brokers exam?
Here are two reasons:
1. The RESA Law IRR includes basic principles of ecology
Basic principles of ecology is included in the coverage for the real estate brokers exam as per Section 13 (c) of the approved and published IRR of RA 9646, otherwise known as the RESA Law. I have quoted Section 13 (c) below:
(c) For real estate brokers
- Fundamentals of property ownership;
- Code of ethics and responsibilities;
- Legal requirements for real estate service practice;
- Real estate brokerage practice;
- Subdivision development;
- Condominium concept and other types of real estate holdings;
- Real estate finance and economics;
- Basic principles of ecology;
- Urban and rural land use;
- Planning, development and zoning;
- Legal aspect of sale, mortgage and lease;
- Documentation and registration;
- Real property laws and taxation; and
- Any other subjects as may be determined by the Board.
2. The Table Of Specifications (TOS) includes basic principles of ecology
The TOS In Professional Practice which can be found in PRBRES Resolution No. 4 Series of 2011, indicates that there shall be 33 questions pertaining to basic principles of ecology, as seen below(in red)
TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
WEIGHT – 50%
NO. OF ITEMS – 200
SCOPE: Weight No. of Items Level of Difficulty Easy Items Moderate Items Difficulty Items K C Ap An S E 1. Name, discuss, apply and appraise theReal Estate Brokerage Practice 8.00% 33 7 7 14 5 2. Recall, describe, compute/illustrate, calculate Real Estate Finance and Economics 8.00% 33 7 7 14 5 3. State, discuss, illustrate, differentiateUrban and Land Use 8.00% 33 7 7 14 5 4. Recognize, locate, identify, prepare and examine the Planning, Development, and Zoning of Properties 8.00% 33 7 7 14 5 5. State, translate, interpret and analyze the Basic Principle of Ecology 8.00% 33 7 7 14 5 6. Recall, explain, use analyze the Basic Appraisal for Real Brokers 8.00% 33 7 7 14 5
Now what?
One question that comes to mind is “Was the TOS above really followed and did they only include 33 questions related to basic principles of ecology?”
Furthermore “In case there were too many questions pertaining to basic principles of ecology, what would the PRC or PRBRES do to correct this?”
Actually there are a lot more questions that come to mind but I’ll leave it at that for now.
If you took the exam as part of your plans to go into real estate investing, just go ahead. You can still become a real estate investor, whether you pass or not. Check this out: 4 perfectly legal ways to be a real estate investor with the RESA Law
One thing’s for sure, it would not hurt to pray and hope for the best as we all wait until the March 27, 2011 real estate brokers exam results are released.
If you have your own questions or comments about the brokers exam, then please go ahead and leave a comment below.
Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
DTI Real Estate Broker License #: 20056 (PRC registration number to follow)
Blog: https://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
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Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.
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hi sir what review center do you suggest for the nxt real estate broker exam this coming march. thanks.
check if the land is alienable and may be titled. if yes, has the land been in notorious possession for at least 30 years? if yes, go to the register of deeds and have it recorded. i think you also have to have it surveyed by municipal surveyors or geodetic engineers, i’m just not sure which should be done first.
From the Public Land Act:
“Any citizen of the Philippines, occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such lands or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been perfected or completed, may apply with the RTC of the province where the land is located for confirmation of his/her claim and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor under the Property Registration Decree. Such applicants must by themselves or through their predecessors in interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of alienable and disposable agricultural lands of the public domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership, since 12 June 1945, except when prevented by war or force majeure, shall be conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions essential to a Government grant. At present, such applications for judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles must be filed prior to 31 December 2020; and must cover an area of up to 12 hectares only.”
please verify my post, that’s what i remember from the 120 cpe units…
Jay, hello. Although this has nothing to do with the recent exam..may I ask, what if i buy a property that is “rights only”..how can I convert this one to a TCT?….hope to hear from you asap…. thanks so much….
I wasn’t expecting a lot of ecology questions too but still grateful I made it, glory to God! Thanks to my family and friends who prayed for me.Also, thanks to Atty. Ariel Martinez (our instructor) and the officers and staff of PASIG-PAREB for equipping me to pass it!
I’m one of those who did not expect to pass the exam. But I made it with the thought that it was miracle.
First it was so boring….I expected computations especially in the Professional Practice subject like taxation, financing, Maceda law and PD957. But to our dismay, we were instead asked about organism, diversity, predator, prey, etc that were not relevant to our practice. Is that how the examiners define “Professional Practice” in real estate brokerage? Yes the type of exam and even the questionnaires reflected the unpreparedness of the examiners. Hope they will learn from this.
Many indeed complained as regards the contents and the questions that were given in the examination. Only few expected to pass because of the degree of difficulty. But when the result was realeased, 66.88 % (3,185 out og 4,762) passed. This is much better than the passing percentage when the DTI is the one administering the test. I can only propound two (2) reasons for this: 1) The crop of examinees who took the March 27 board is much better; 2) The passing mark was lowered to cushion the adverse effects of the seemingly irrelevant, yet hard questions. This is just the initial venture of the PRC; and I am sure improvement is afoot.
By the way, my daughter is one of the passers. She felt frustrated after the exam; and she was at a loss. Her self-assessment of passing is mediocre. We entrusted everything to the Lord and we were amply rewarded.
Congratulations to your daughter! God really provides!
Excellent points! In addition, maybe having 120 units meant more time to absorb the topics discussed, hence the high passing rate.
Yup, this is the first and lessons should be learned so the next exam will be improved.
I just learned today that I passed the 2011 real estate board exam by some miracle, considering a lot that appeared in the exam were not part of my review. Too many Ecology questions and those on indigenous people (which had a repeat question btw), were among the topics that stumped me.
This is my first time to take a PRC board exam and while I’m grateful I passed, I was also quite disappointed to see that the exam seems to have been poorly prepared. A lot of typos, wrong spelling/grammar, repeat questions, and non-compliance with the TOS. Is this what they mean by professionalizing the service?
Congratulations Nina! As for the typos, who knows, they might be “by design”, just to make it more difficult. Yes, I believe they should still check if there was indeed a non-compliance with the TOS and take necessary action.
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Hi sir!
Off-topic question, how was iBlog7? 😀
Hi Argel, unfortunately, I was not able to attend both days… sigh. 🙁
We had to finish moving our stuff to another place and it took so much longer than anticipated.
Jay, i do accept that ecology is a part of the exam and law, but it seems there was a wrong focus on the exam regarding ecology in brokerage practice. Why focus on biology part of ecology, rather than ask about environmental impact questions?
I couldn’t agree more. What the examiners should have focused on are the Ecology that matters to Real Estate. Instead on focusing on Communities, Food webs and Food chain, they should have tackled matters pertaining to the DENR. And why is it that there were not much questions about Pag-ibig etc? I guess only the PRBRES knows.
MarkDC
Very well said Mark, thanks for sharing! Are you serious there were no questions about Pag-IBIG at all? That’s strange.
Hi Vic, now this is what the examiners should keep in mind. The questions should be relevant to the brokerage practice, just like what you said “environmental impact questions”. Thanks for pointing this out!