Appraisers' Free Forum

Most old hands already know this, so I'll talk to the relative newbies.

Many people get test anxiety--that terrifying brain lock-up that won't let you figure out how to clear your calculator, or you can't remember the answer to "First Name" on the answer sheet. A little non-subject-matter preparation can ease this pain somewhat. I've got a theory that this stems from the "grade-point average" system we encounter in school. In the adult world, 75% is a passing score on most tests, and you don't get extra credit for making an "A." So we want to take our adult tests to assure that we get a passing grade, but we're not shooting for 100%.

First of all, we are usually told the number of questions on the test. If we're not also told the "pass point," that information is usually obtainable. For example, there are 100 questions on the test, and your minimum passing score must be 75. Okay, you know you can miss 25 questions and still pass. So leave yourself a buffer: shoot for 80-85 questions correct.

Most all tests are four-question multiple choice. Therefore, by random chance you should be able to guess 25 of the questions. You'd have to be a real expert in order to score zero deliberately. So begin by answering all the easy ones. Go through the test and read only the last sentence in each question. If it asks for a quantity (E.g., "What is the value of the property?"), mark the question and skip it, even if you know how to do it. If it asks for anything else read the question and answer it if possible; skip any that require a lot of thought or complex decision making.

Okay, it's a 50-question test, three hours allowed, and you've got 28 answered in the first 25-30 minutes. For a score of 80, you need only twelve more. Go through the marked questions looking for the easiest ones, and answer those. Reject any that are complex or which involve a lot of work--again, mark and reject even if you know how to do them. Your goal is 40 correct answers, and you don't want to work any harder than you have to. Chances are that this process will result in reducing the unanswered questions by half. Let's see...22 questions reduced by half leaves us with 39 answered, eleven to go. We've got the test passed if all of the answers are right, but we need at least one more for the 80% target score. Find the least complex one, and work that. Satisfied with the answer? Okay, you're home free. You should now have at least 75% right, and maybe even 80%. (You can miss two of the ones you've already got and still pass. Minimum score is 38 questions.)

The other ten questions are insurance. You don't care whether you get them right or not, but you'll do the best you can. (Hell, you should get two more right if you choose answers at random). The reason I shoot for, say, 5 points over minimum is purely for insurance. Most tests these days have distractor answers available, and these can trip you up. So you may *not* have 40 correct answers, despite feeling comfortable with the ones you gave. Allow room for a mistake or two.

You'll answer all 50 questions as best you can, but once you've finished the first 40, you're just paying an insurance premium. When you encounter one like, "The purchase price was $250,000. Income and value are anticipated to increase 4%/year over the five-year holding period. What is the required yield rate?" ... and you can't remember how to calculate a yield rate based on the information given ... no need for panic. Just make your best guess, and go on to the next question.

When you know you've got the test made, what you can't remember isn't nearly as likely to cause a brain freeze. Instead, these things are either promptly discarded (guessed at), or if you're not in a hurry, they provide bubble gum for the mind. Another thing for which I use this system is to be able to discard questions that are too much work for their point value. I'll do them if I feel marginal about how I've done so far, but if I'm reasonably confident, I ain't doing all that work unless the fee (point value) is worth the effort.

Remember, any score over 75 is wasted effort. State boards don't keep a grade-point average on you.