INSTRUCTIONS for the MacIntosh Real Estate School

Transcription

1 Approved and Regulated by the Colorado Department of Higher Education Private Occupational School Board INSTRUCTIONS for the MacIntosh Real Estate School COLORADO ASSOCIATE BROKER S LICENSE 168-hr EDUCATION PROGRAM Volume 24 (2016) MacIntosh Real Estate School W. 61 st Pl., Arvada, CO (303) internet: info@macrealestate.com All materials, tests and web pages 2016 Millenium Three, Inc., and MacIntosh Real Estate School Any unauthorized use or duplication without express written authorization is strictly prohibited by law.

2 2

3 REQUIREMENTS FOR A REC-33 CERTIFICATION OF COMPLETION This is what you are required to do within the 8-month Completion Deadline to get your Certification for the Colorado Real Estate Commission: SUBMIT TO MACINTOSH REAL ESTATE SCHOOL NINE (9) EXAMS WITH A SCORE OF 75% OR BETTER (THROUGH THE TESTING WEBSITE) HERE ARE THE NINE EXAMS YOU MUST PASS : 1) INSTRUCTIONS QUIZ - 10 Questions 2) REAL ESTATE LAW AND PRACTICE ( Uniform Course ) 48 credit hrs / Exam: 160 Questions 3) COLORADO CONTRACTS and REGULATIONS ( Colorado Course ) 48 credit hrs / Exam: 160 Questions 4) COLORADO CLOSINGS - 24 credit hrs. / Exam: 80 Questions 5) RECORDKEEPING and TRUST ACCOUNTS - 8 credit hrs. / Exam: 20 Questions 6) PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - 32 credit hrs. / Exam: 50 Questions 7) CURRENT LEGAL ISSUES - 8 credit hrs. / Exam: 20 Questions 8) UNIFORM PREP EXAM 9) COLORADO PREP EXAM All of these exams must be submitted to MacIntosh Real Estate School through our testing website with a passing score of 75% or better within the 8-month Enrollment Deadline for a REC-33 to be issued. 3

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS The LICENSE REQUIREMENTS The MACINTOSH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM What to do to PASS THE COURSES STUDYING ON YOUR COMPUTER Accessing the Online Study Materials Chapter Text The ONLINE Q&As AND FAQs - USE THEM! THE STUDY PROCESS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AND DO Test-Taking Technique Courses to Pass License Exam Chapter Short Answer Questions Chapter Quiz Questions Quizzes Supplement the Text If I m not memorizing, how will I know I m ready for the License Exams?.. 11 CO Final tests on Uniform Material Forms and Contracts Math Closings PREPARING for the STATE LICENSE EXAM The Online Prep Exams Focus of the 2 Parts of License Exam Fingerprints and Background Check E-BOOK NOTE-TAKING TUTORIAL Taking Notes With the new Adobe Acrobat XI Short-Answer Exercises And Chapter Quizzes TAKING YOUR FINAL EXAMS ON THE INTERNET CATALOG (Includes details about SCHEDULING YOUR LICENSE EXAM) Fingerprints & Background Checks, Notice COURSE REQUIREMENTS for each of the SIX COURSES BUBBLE SHEETS for FINAL EXAMS PSI (License Exam) CANDIDATE BULLETIN REAL ESTATE DICTIONARY with TOPIC INDEX (what chapters to find topics) UNIFORM TOPICS and TERMS COLORADO TOPICS and TERMS

5 MacIntosh Real Estate School INSTRUCTIONS YOU MUST READ THE INSTRUCTIONS PRIOR TO STARTING THE COURSEWORK AND PASS THE INSTRUCTIONS QUIZ ON THE ONLINE TESTING WEBSITE. These Instructions tell you what to do for this Educational Program and the State License Exam. LICENSE REQUIREMENTS 1) The Colorado Real Estate Commission requires passage of six courses (comprising 168 hours of credit) from a state certified school, such as MacIntosh Real Estate School. New applicants for a Broker's License must take and pass the following course requirements: 48 hours in Real Estate Law and Practice 48 hours in Colorado Contracts and Regulations 24 hours in Real Estate Closings 8 hours in Trust Accounts and Record Keeping 8 hours in Current Legal Issues 32 hours in Practical Applications 2) Following passage of the 6 courses, all license candidates must pass the entire broker license exam consisting of two sections, the "General" or National (commonly referred-to as the "Uniform",) and the "Colorado" exam. The exams are administered at one of the testing centers located throughout the state. THE MACINTOSH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM As outlined above, to receive an Associate Broker's license, the Commission requires license candidates to pass 168 hours (6 courses) and pass both parts of the difficult state license exam at a Colorado testing center run by a company called PSI. The Mac is unique among Colorado schools in that we have designed the course work to provide our students with hundreds of test questions that reproduce those found on the license exam: Same style, same tricks, same difficulty-level, etc. In other words, we are preparing you for the license exam while you are studying the courses. 5

6 Since the questions on the license exams are tricky and can be frustrating and our questions reproduce those on the license exam you may find some of the Mac s test questions similarly trying. Don t worry! With your diligence, and our comprehensive program the Mac will help you through the process every step of the way. By carefully reading and following these Instructions, we will get through this process together and soon you will have your license and be well on your way to establishing a new career as a Colorado Real Estate Agent. The Mac course work is especially designed for our students to complete the educational requirements for brokerage licensure at home and on your own schedule. The study program you will receive contain all the information and study materials you will need to prepare for the CO License Exam. Please note: This course work is designed for, and you have enrolled in a home-study, correspondence course. Given the nature of the Licensee Examination and the 168-hours of Real Estate Commission-required education, it is essential that the student diligently read all text and complete all interactive exercises in the prescribed manner, to ensure maximum exposure to both the testing methodology and the topics found on the Colorado Real Estate Exam. TO PASS THESE COURSES - THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: The Mac will certify fulfillment of the educational requirements when you: 1) Submit, with a passing score of 75% or greater, answers to the Instructions Quiz and Six Final Examinations, which correspond with the six separate courses required; and 2) Taken and passed the two required school Prep Exams. No other material need be returned to the MacIntosh Real Estate School. Complete (on your computer or in the books) but do not submit any of the Chapter fill-in-the-blank (shortanswer) exercises or quizzes. Submit only the Final Exams at the end of each of the six interactive courses (Plus Instructions Exam & two Prep Exams at end) - through our online testing system You should treat every exam as open book : You are encouraged and expected to research all questions and answers in the text. It s the best way to learn and retain all the information necessary that must be committed to memory and applied on the license exam. Prior to submitting them on our website, save them to your computer and choose your answers by highlighting them (described below). Or print out the bubble sheets and mark your answers on the paper. That way, you will have a record of your intended answers (in case you fail and need to take the test again) but will have them for future reference. After completing the final exams and verifying 6 your answers before submitting on your computer, you must submit the answers through our secure testing website. (Follow the instructions, below, under Submitting Your Tests Online.)

7 STUDYING ON YOUR COMPUTER using the MAC ebook MATERIALS Accessing and Using the Online Study Materials Following Enrollment, you will be ed your Student Number and Password. You will then be required to pass a 10-question Quiz upon completion of these Instructions. This preliminary online quiz is intended to gauge your understanding of the topics herein, to introduce you to the exam-submission process, and to allow you access to links to the online study materials to download and use on your laptop or PC. This test is simple if you read the Instructions and find the answers. It is not a gimmee, however: Just like the license exams and our final exams, you can t simply guess or use common sense. Again, just like the license exams the answer that seems obvious, is often an incorrect answer. Upon successful passage of any test, the Results screen for that test will provide you with important links to access and download the ebook (Adobe Acrobat Reader) pdfs for the next course. For example, when you pass the Instructions exam, on the RESULTS PAGE you will be provided the links for the first, Uniform Law and Practice course. Remember this for the future, as you will need to refer to these Instructions for later courses, and for the process of Preparing for and Scheduling your license exam. When you click the link for the Uniform Course Materials in the Student Login- Instructions Exam page, the Gateway Page for the Uniform Course will appear in your browser. Bookmark this page in your browser, as you will be using it for every chapter, quiz, etc., in the Uniform course. Use these links for each section including each course s open-book final exam downloading ( Save As ) them to a folder on your computer desktop to save your progress and access later. Chapter Text Each course is divided into Chapters that detail one of the fundamental topics that you will need to know and understand - to pass the final exam (= credit for that course) and to pass the state license exam. Naturally, the text of that topic comes first, starting with Chapter 1 ("Contracts") - One of the most important aspects in any industry, especially real estate. Each chapter contains all the concepts the Real Estate Commission expects licensees to know, with important keywords highlighted in bold or italicized. Highlighted terms are those most likely to be tested on the license exam, and are defined in the chapter as well as the Real Estate Glossary (Dictionary) included in the printed Instructions booklet (Premier Package) or pdf ebook (Premier and Deluxe Packages). 7

8 By using the many tools available when you open these section in Adobe Acrobat Reader your laptop or PC, you can highlight text and 8 take notes right on the page. See below for the full e-reader Tutorial on taking notes and completing online exercises. Note that as you study in the interactive Chapters and Exercise Answers you will often see an orange-and-black icon next to a passage, with the letters Q&A within the box. Clicking this icon will open a page in your web browser, linking directly to one or more Answers to Questions about that particular topic. This can be a valuable resource in translating certain important real estate concepts into plain English and explaining how these concepts may affect you in the real life business of real estate. USING THE Q&As WHILE STUDYING: YOU MAY HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MATERIALS and QUIZZES! The Materials and Quizzes are tricky, some things may not make sense, and certainly might not fit in with your understanding of how the real world works. The trickier and less conventional something is, the more likely it will be tested on the State License Exam. That is why we have extensive online resources (the Q&As ) that have compiled every unique question we have been asked, and the explanations given. You were given this link in the confirmation when you enrolled, and you should be accessing it as soon as you start studying Chapter 1. The first time you find yourself scratching your head and thinking, That can t be! go to the online Uniform Q&A, either by clicking the Q&A symbol, or this link: The Uniform, Colorado and Closings courses all have detailed Q&A pages (because they are the most difficult and students have many questions about them as they are studying.) Use them! Make life easier on yourself! After you pass each of the six final exams and each of the two Prep Exams, the online results will give you a link to the FAQ for that exam. These online FAQ resources are even more detailed, as they respond to questions that previous students have had about the test questions. One student who passed the license exam with extremely high scores recently commented to us, Your course was great, the FAQs is actually where I learned the most because of your explanations.

9 THE STUDY PROCESS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW and DO Test-taking Technique - The Process of Elimination Naturally, the license exam tests on your knowledge of key facts in the curriculum. But that is not the only thing it tests, and why rote memorization is insufficient for passing the license exam. Every question tests your critical thinking - posing a tricky situation that has no perfect answer and testing your ability to determine the best possible choice of action. (Just like real life!) So it is essential to understand this from the start and be able to recognize the tricks of the state exam. With that in mind, the Mac final exams have the same kinds of tricks that you will find on the state license exam. Although the Mac final exam questions are similar to those on the state license exam, you will also see many variations on similar questions. Therefore, it would be a mistake to approach them with designs on simply memorizing. The purpose of these questions is to: 1) accustom the student to the types (and tricks ) of questions you will get on the state license exam, and 2) demonstrate the focus of the questions on the state license exam. For instance, both the Mac Uniform and that part of the state license exam focus heavily on major topics such as Fair Housing, Finance, Contracts and Agency, but not so much on minor topics such as Legal Descriptions and Water Rights. However, do not entirely neglect these topics in your studies, because there is always the possibility of one or two questions on the state license exam. You must learn to read every question carefully. This may seem obvious, but fatigue and impatience has led to failure for many a test-taker. Aspects often overlooked are wording such as All of the following are true, except and questions that seem to be talking about, say, Agency, but the answers all seem to deal with Contracts. Most importantly, you must avoid the natural tendency to pick an answer you think is correct. It can be a frustrating concept to master, but you must instead learn to eliminate the incorrect answers, one-by-one, until hopefully you are left with one answer. If you are left with two answers, then there is some phrase or tricky wording in the question and/or one of the answers that makes it less false than the other answer... making it the best answer. You may find that the wording of that particular choice isn't necessarily the textbook-best answer. The best, or perfectly correct answer is the one you'd find in our text - but often you aren't even given that choice in a particular question! This technique will help avoid that problem 9

10 The way to eliminate incorrect answers is by treating each answer as a true/false question unto itself. For example, answer a, based on its wording, might be a little true, answer b might be a little false, answer c might be very false and answer d might be a little true. So eliminate b and c, and you are left with a and d. Obviously, they can t both be the correct answer so you need to look at the wording of the question and the remaining two answers to determine which one is a little more true. Courses You Must Master to Pass the State License Exam Whether you are studying on your computer or tablet with our ebook program or using our specialized text and workbooks, the Mac study program is divided into sections that correspond with both the 168 hours of required educational course work, and the material which will appear on the State License Examination. The first four courses of the MacIntosh Real Estate School program - Uniform, Colorado, Closings and Record Keeping - contain the material that will appear on the license exam that you will take at one of the PSI testing centers located throughout Colorado, after completing the educational requirements. (The remaining two courses Practical Applications and Current Legal Issues are more practical in their approach, which is not the focus of the license exam. Therefore, the student should focus on those first four courses to learn what is tested on the broker s test, and gain as much practice as possible on the questions that appear on the difficult license exams.) Chapter Short Answer Questions Though the Real Estate Commission has a long list of concepts it wants you to master - not every topic is of equal weight for the course requirements (and therefore the final exam). They are also of varying importance on the license exam. The short-answer question exercises following the text of every chapter focuses on the important concepts and helps translate them from "legalese" into plain English. These are exercises, and not tests; you are not expected to have memorized everything in the chapter after one reading. Instead, the idea is to better learn and understand the important information by reviewing the chapter to find the key phrases and concepts to fill in the blanks. And to help you absorb these important concepts - we provide you with the answers at the end of each chapter. (See below.) You will NOT submit or otherwise "turn in" any of these exercises to the School. 10

11 Chapter Quiz Questions Each chapter has an extensive Quiz, which continues to focus on important topics from the text and gives you actual examples of the tricky license exam questions. As with the short-answer questions, your answers are not to be submitted to the school. The answers to all the Short-Answer and Quiz questions are all right there at the end of each chapter. It's not "cheating" to look at the answers if you're stuck: After all, the purpose of the Short-Answer and Quiz questions is not so much to test your ability to memorize but rather to reinforce the important concepts and prepare you for the questions that will appear on the license exam. It is okay if your quiz scores are low to begin with! Remember, these are not tests of your ability to memorize they are simply another way to help you learn the important concepts and become accustomed to the testing methodology of the state license exam. Don t get discouraged; it will all come together! Quizzes & Short-Answer Sections supplement information covered in text The chapter short-answer questions and quizzes are meant to be instructional and self-evaluation tools, to inform the student as to not only what the Real Estate Commission expects the student to be proficient, but also what might be tested on the state exam. As such, the short answer and quiz questions are not necessarily mirror images of the text, and occasionally present new information, or a different angle than the preceding information. Don t worry you aren t missing anything: This Mac teaching technique is designed to provide examples of 1) different versions of state license exam questions, and 2) differing terminology for things that are defined in the text. Also, an integral part of this program is to accustom the student to the focus and types of questions that appear on the state license exam: Answers will either be similar to definitions you've learned (the state license exam specifically devises questions so the answers will not be exactly the same as the definitions in standard texts) or they will be nonsense or non-existent answers. FINAL EXAMS and PREP EXAMS: If I m not memorizing, how will I know I m ready for the License Exams? Just like with the Chapter Short-answer exercises and Quizzes, on the Final Exams you are not expected to get 100% from memory. Again, the point is not to memorize everything. The point is to understand the concept and apply them to the types of questions that the license exam will ask: The tricky wording, the nonsense answers, etc. 11

12 This is why our final exams are all open-book: You will learn and understand the information more, if you are able to find the appropriate parts of the text. Do not treat the finals as a test of your memorization skills. Instead, you are supposed to use them as another tool to improve your comprehension and ability to find and apply the correct concepts to a new situation (question). So if you ask, when will I know I am ready to sit for the license exam?, that is the point of our extensive Prep Exams. The Preps (at the very end, after you have passed all 6 course finals) are intended as an assessment of how much you remember and understand, what are your weak and strong areas, and what you need to work on before you make your license exam appointment. It also gives you 340 new questions directly from versions of the license exams that other students have recently taken so that you will have a good idea of many of the actions questions you will see. In other words, you will know when you ll be ready to test when you finish the MacIntosh program: We ve walked you through every step of the process, given you all the tools and taught you how to use them. As long as you haven t taken any short-cuts along the way, you should be well-prepared to pass the first time. COLORADO FINAL EXAM: It tests on some material in Uniform Course Most of the chapters in the "Uniform" course contain some information on the Colorado "version" of that topic. Usually, the last text piece of these chapters contain the Colorado information that you need to "compare and contrast" with the common law. So, for instance, Colorado Contracts considerations are thoroughly covered in Chapter 1 (Contracts), and Colorado Foreclosures are completely covered in Chapter 10 (Liens and Encumbrances) of the Uniform section. You will find all the information on these topics tested on the Colorado portion of the state license exam, in those final sections of each Uniform chapter. Other Uniform topics and chapters that are very specifically tested on the Colorado portion of the license exam include Agency (Chapter 2), and Fair Housing (Chapter 6). Simply put: The Uniform exam will not test on Colorado-specific information. However, the Colorado exam will certainly test on some information that is found in the Uniform course. Therefore, you will find in the Uniform book information necessary to answer many Colorado exam questions. You should plan on studying the Colorado-specific information in the Uniform course in your preparations for the Colorado final exam and Colorado portion of the State License Exam. When 12

13 taking the Colorado final exam, remember to refer to those Uniform chapters for information necessary to successfully answer some questions. Forms and Contracts The Colorado Contracts and Regulations ( Colorado ) course concentrates heavily on the approved forms required by Colorado law. Like the license exam itself, particular emphasis is placed on the Contract to Buy and Sell, the Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement, and the Licensee Buy-Out Agreement. Copies of these contracts are contained in the Colorado book, in the form of "problems" which take the student from the listing process, the counterproposals, the signing of the Sales contract, and the Amendments. You will be tested extensively on both the exact wording of these three forms as well the list of Commission-required forms at the beginning of Chapter 21. It is vitally important for the student to be thoroughly familiar with the forms provided, and to know how license law and regulations relate to them. Rule E is also particularly significant. At least two-thirds of the Colorado exam will relate to these Forms, the License Law, and Rules & Regulations. Math Approximately six to eight questions on the Uniform portion of the state exam will involve "math". The majority of these questions are related to Finance topics (such as calculating an interest rate) or are actually Agency-related questions, (such as calculating a broker s commission). Math questions such as calculation of the area of a parcel, loan payment calculation, or agent commission only appear on the Uniform section of the state license exam. However, closings -type questions (such as debits and credits, or prorations) will be included in either the Uniform or Colorado portions of the state license exam. As for Math questions, there are only Closings proration questions on the Colorado portion of the License Exam. Chapter 11 (property management math) and Chapter 13 in the Uniform course will provide you with many examples of these types of math questions. Ch. 13 will provide hints about what is important to know, and one simple method for solving for an unknown which should help you answer some of the most difficult questions on the license exam. You are not expected to memorize formulas, and referring to any outside sources will only provide distraction and waste your valuable time so you are strongly advised to focus only on the Math in these chapters in your preparation for the license exam. 13

14 Closings You will be given anywhere from five to ten closings -type questions on the Colorado part of the state license exam. To correctly answer these questions, you will need to master the methodology in the Closings course for calculating prorations and placing items in the correct columns (debit or credit, buyer or seller, etc). To do this, the Closings course will provide you with introductory materials which describe these techniques, as well as some example worksheets. After studying the example worksheets, the student will be expected to complete seven settlement sheet problems, each based on a specific set of instructions. The first closing problem is a continuation of the "Swan selling to Hopper" contract problem for Chapter 21 in the Colorado course. Several Assumption and New Loan closing scenarios and worksheet problems round out the introductory examples. None of these materials is to be returned to the School, and answers are given following each form and the closing problem. You will then find three final closing problems at the conclusion of the Closings course (one Sale with New Loan, and two Assumptions). The answer keys are not given for these three closing worksheets, as they comprise the final exam for the 24-hour Closings course. You will also be required to answer correctly 13 individual questions at the end of the Closings Final Exam where the facts are not associated with any worksheet figures. These questions accurately reproduce the types of questions on the license exam, so your performance on this part of the Closings exam will reflect your likely showing on that test. As mentioned above, you will be provided with several demonstrations of closing worksheets and four practice problems to study and complete before the final exam. All these and similar items given in all these closings problems are fair game for the closings questions on the state license exam. These questions may involve items that would appear on any type of closing worksheet: New Loan, Assumption, Seller Carry-back, etc. You are strongly warned that it is a waste of your valuable time to try to memorize the figures and columns they appeared on the provided problems, because you will not get those exact facts and calculations on license exam questions. Since the range of items is truly unlimited, you will need to understand what a debit or credit is, and why they appear in certain columns, and how to apply them to any question. This technique is explored in much more depth in the Closings course material. 14

15 The blank closing worksheets are reproduced in the Closings materials, following each of the seven closing problems to be completed. It can be difficult to follow the instructions and transfer the numbers from each Problem s instructions to the blank worksheets bound into the volumes. Therefore, the blank worksheets for the three Final Exam Closing Problems will also be reproduced in the bubble sheet section following this Instruction text. To facilitate the process of completing the worksheets, the student is advised to complete the Closings problems either within this book, or carefully tear/slice out the blank worksheets prior to entering figures. PREPARING for the STATE LICENSE EXAM The Online Prep exams Preparation for the State License Exam Following successful passage of the six required courses and final exams, you will be given access and will be expected to take and pass the MacIntosh online "Prep" Exams, on the same website Student Testing page as the final exams. These are assessment tests in which the format and questions are very similar to the Colorado State License Exam (same difficulty-level of questions, same wording, difficult closing questions, etc.). The Prep exams are designed to simulate the not only the questions and difficulty-level, but also the actual procedure of taking the state license exam. the Prep Exams are not printed in the materials and may only be taken through our online testing website. Unlike each course final exam - we advise you not to "study" or otherwise prepare for the Prep Exams - and you should not take the time to look up the answers. You should set aside an hour or two for each of the (lengthy) Prep Exams, and answer the questions "cold" - with no preparation. Be very careful as you are taking each test and carefully consider each question and each of the 4 answers to each question (eliminating the "worst" choices, the process of elimination, etc.) before choosing an answer. This does not mean, however, that students will be given the results upon putting in minimal effort, or skipping the Prep Exams altogether. Although the passing requirements are less rigorous, you will still be required to devote appropriate effort to the Prep Exams and demonstrate a certain mastery of the topics required by the Colorado Real Estate Commission to pass the MacIntosh prelicense program. If you do not pass the first time, you will be given an opportunity to re-take, but only after 48 hours; at that time, you should then go ahead and research your answers in the materials. 15

16 Upon passing the prep exams, in the results (which include your scores and the correct answers) you will also receive links to our online FAQ pages that answer questions and identify the source or reasoning behind the answers. You should study the online FAQs carefully, because these are the same types of questions that appear on the license exam. Upon completion of the Prep Exams, the Director of MacIntosh Real Estate School will the Certificate of Eligibility that the R/E Commission requires before you will be allowed to schedule your state license exam appointment. This Certification will be ed in Adobe Acrobat Reader (pdf) form, and must be printed and presented at the testing center. We will also to you the REC-33 Certificate of Completion you will later need to submit with your license application to the Real Estate Commission. Please note that the requirements detailed in this section are subject to change, as the Real Estate Commission periodically modifies the pre-requisites, structure, and questions on the license exam. The results of all exams will be deleted from our servers approximately six months after the student submits the final ( Colorado ) Prep Exam. Therefore, if you are not planning on taking the State License Exam for six months or more, you should print the exam results or take other steps to electronically preserve them. (i.e., save the webpage on your computer.) The Focus of the Two Parts of the State License Exam For additional information on the likely percentage of questions on the state licensee exam on any given topic, please refer to the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin which is reproduced in the printed version of the Instructions book (Premier Package) and a link to which is located at the top of the Uniform Materials link Gateway Page upon passage of the initial Instructions Exam. The Uniform portion of the state exam concentrates on "national" or "uniform" real estate law - law that is the same or similar all over the United States. Any "uniform" issue that is tested on the Uniform portion is unlikely to appear on the Colorado portion. The Colorado portion focuses on the exact wording of the Colorado Contracts, License Law and Regulations (as well as Closings and Record Keeping). Consequently, any questions on the Colorado Exam that deal with a topic already tested in the Uniform Exam, likely will deal with how Colorado is new, different, or unique. For example: The Uniform Exam will test you on "general" Agency Law, (Chapter 1 in your manual and workbook,) such as, "What is a principal or an agent," and "What are the duties of the agent to a principal?" The Colorado 16

17 Exam, however, will test you on Colorado s unique versions of Agency Law, such as, "What is a Transaction Broker in Colorado," and "What is a licensee's liability to a purchaser regarding revealing Stigmatized Properties?" Please remember that as you proceed through the Uniform course each chapter contains a great deal of information about the Colorado aspects of each particular law. For example, the Contracts Chapter (Ch. 1) starts with the basic ( Uniform ) Contract laws, and then moves into some specific ways that Colorado approaches real estate contracts. This is not an indicator that the Uniform portion of the state license exam will test on Colorado topics. This is, however, a warning that some of the information tested on our Colorado final exam, the Colorado portion of our Prep Exams and the Colorado portion of the state license exam will be found in Chapters 1 through 13 (the Uniform book). Fingerprints and Background Check Prior to submitting an application for a license each applicant shall submit a set of fingerprints to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of conducting a state and national fingerprint-based criminal history record check. Upon completion of the criminal history record check, the CBI will forward the results to the Colorado Real Estate Commission. You may have the fingerprints taken prior to taking the state exam, in order to minimize any delays during the CBI investigation. However, the applicant will not be notified of successful completion of the background check, nor if there are any problems with the fingerprint submission preventing completion of the check. You are advised to call the Commission at approximately 2 to 6 weeks after submitting your fingerprints to ensure there are not problems. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charges $39.50 to conduct the criminal history check. (The cost is subject to change without notice. Contact the CBI to verify cost: ) The CBI does not accept personal checks. Payment can be made (payable to CBI) by Money Order, Cash, Visa, MasterCard, and Cashier Check. Company checks are also accepted. Fingerprint providers may charge a fee (in addition to the fee payable to CBI). The PSI testing center (currently) charges $20 to take the fingerprints electronically and transmit them directly to the CBI. (The cost is subject to change without notice.) MacIntosh Real Estate School does not recommend using PSI, due t issues with electronic submission failure rate. You may also set an appointment with your local Sheriff s or Police station for traditional fingerprinting on a FD-358 card For further information: 17

18 E-BOOK NOTE-TAKING TUTORIAL This is a quick tutorial of how to take full advantage of the exclusive and dynamic e-book course materials that MacIntosh Real Estate School has created for you. To use these e-books, the only program you need is the free Adobe Reader that is probably already on your computer that allows you to view pdf files. If you do not already have the Reader installed, please click this link or cut-andpaste into the address bar of your web browser, and follow the instructions for downloading and installing this versatile and easy-to-use program: (Note: For this school, you need only Acrobat Reader, so we recommend you uncheck any download offers for McAfee, etc.) Highlighting Text & Taking Notes This tutorial will show you how to highlight, underline, and use a variety of note styles right on your e-book. You can save this e-book and your notes onto your own computer for future reference. To open your e-book section, simply download it from our website. You were given access to the e-books when you enrolled for MacIntosh Real Estate School. Once the pdf e-book is downloaded to your computer, it should open when you double click on it. First we need to be sure that your comment toolbar is shown. It should look like this at the top of your Adobe Reader once your e-book is opened: If you do not see that last line (the comment toolbar), simply right click in an empty area of the top toolbar and click on Comment & Markup. This allows you to take notes onto your e-book. 18

19 If at any point you are missing a button on this comment toolbar, right click on the comment toolbar and select which button you want to show. For example, the underline button is not always shown. If you select underline on the list after you right click, the underline button will then be shown. You can also remove buttons that you do not want if it gets too cluttered. Highlighting: Highlighting allows you to select parts of the text that you feel are important and will need to refer to later. It will cover the words with yellow while still being able to read the words underneath. When you find a passage that you want to highlight, click on the highlight button on the toolbar. It is the button that looks like a yellow T with a marker on it. 19 Once you have clicked on this

20 button, move your cursor to the words that you want to highlight. Hold down your right mouse button while selecting the passage to highlight. To stop highlighting, simply click the highlight button again. Underlining: Underlining is similar to highlighting but does not stand out as much and can be more difficult to find later. However, some people are distracted, or just do not like, the yellow highlighting and prefer the underlining. To underline, click the underline button. It is a T in a green box with a green pencil over it. Once you have clicked on this button, move your cursor to the words that you want to underline. Hold down your right mouse button while selecting the passage to underline. To stop underlining, simply click the underline button again. Advanced: You can change the color of your highlighted text. After you highlight, right click on the highlighted area. Click on Properties and the Appearance tab. Here you can change the color and the opacity (darkness) of the highlighting. If you want all of your highlighting to be this color all the time, then click on the box that says Make Properties Default. Adding notes on the margin: The text has a notes area along the right margin. This is a great place to write your own thoughts, re-word the ideas in the text, or remind yourself of items. To type notes here, click on the text box button. It is a white square with lines on it. After you click on the text box button, move your cursor to the notes area of that page. Hold down the right mouse button and draw a square in that area. You can then begin typing your notes. The box will enlarge as you type if needed. Advanced: You can change the color of these notes. After you create a text box, right click on the box. Click on Properties and the Appearance tab. Here you can change the color of the text, color of box, and thickness of the line around the box. If you want all of your text boxes to be this color all the time, then click on the box that says Make Properties Default. Sticky Notes: Sticky notes allows you to place a note in a specific place on the page of the e-book. This note is hidden when it is not selected. You will know that a sticky note is there because it will show a yellow box. To create a sticky note, click on the sticky note button. Then click on the spot where you would like the sticky note to be. Caution: the yellow sticky note symbol may cover up a small area where it was placed. Type your note in the yellow box. To close the note, click on the little square minimize button at the top right of the 20

21 sticky note. To open the sticky note later, click on the yellow speech bubble that it leaves behind. Advanced: You can change the properties of your sticky note. For example, instead of a yellow speech bubble, you can change the icon to an arrow, a key, or one of several other items. To do this click on options at the top right of an open sticky note. Click Properties and then the Appearance tab. Choose the icon you want. You can even change the color. Click ok. If you want all of your sticky notes to be this color all the time, then click on the box that says Make Properties Default. Callout (note with pointer): This will create a note box with an arrow that points at a particular place in the text. This is good for short notes about a particular word, formula, or number. Click on the callout button. This looks like a red outlined box with a red arrow. Click on the place where you want the box to point. Then drag the cursor, with the right mouse button still pressed, to make your note box. Type your note in the box. Free Write: This allows you to write on the page as if you were holding a pencil. This is not usually good for taking precise notes, because unless you have a touchpad for your computer, it is difficult to handwrite with a mouse. It does allow you to circle items, add a picture, and other basic handwritten items. Click on the Pencil tool button. It looks just like a pencil. Once you click, you can begin drawing by clicking where you want to draw and holding down the right mouse button. Advanced: You can change the color of your drawing. After you highlight, right click on the drawing area. Click on Properties and the Appearance tab. Here you can change the color and the opacity (darkness) of the drawing. If you want all of your drawing to be this color all the time, then click on the box that says Make Properties Default. Look at all notes made in e-book: If you click on the Show button and then Show Comments List, all of the notes that you have made in this e-book will pop-up at the bottom of your page. We hope that you find these tools helpful and that you take full advantage of them. The more active you are in your learning, the more you are likely to remember and use later on the Colorado State License Exam and in your new career. 21

22 TOOL BARS AND CREATING A TEXT BOX (TAKING NOTES) WITH ADOBE ACROBAT XI and LATER VERSIONS On the right side, click on the Comment tab. Under Drawing Markups there is the button that allows you to create a text box. After selecting the text box button, move the mouse to where you want the box on the document. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the box to the preferred size. You can then type in the box. 22

23 FILLING-IN BLANKS FOR SHORT-ANSWER EXERCISES AND SELECTING ANSWERS IN CHAPTER QUIZZES Remember that each Chapter s exercises is not simple make-work : These are designed to focus you on the topics and information that the Real Estate Commission considers important. In other words, what they will test on the license exam. Along with careful reading of the text and proper not-taking, diligent completion of the short-answer questions will help you learn what is important and help you commit to memory vital test information. Short-Answer Questions: To fill in an answer-blank, simply type in the blank line, as shown. Each blank has an invisible field that will allow you to only type in the space allotted. (If you wish to highlight or take notes, simply follow the procedure described above.) Note that these exercises are not graded or otherwise indicate whether you have entered the correct answer. Similar to writing on a printed book, you should be checking your answers by downloading and referring to the Exercise Answers section. Quizzes: Chapter Quizzes are also vital tools in learning not only what is important for the license exams and real estate industry, but how it is tested. The license exams are extremely tricky, and the questions are likely much different (and more difficult) than you have probably seen before. Choosing an answer to a Quiz Question is as easy as highlighting it. 23

24 or circling it or typing X with the Typewriter Tool. Remember: The Chapter Short-Answer Exercises and Quizzes are never submitted to the school: These are self-paced and self-graded exercises, and you should be checking your answers by clicking the link on the Gateway webpage for the Chapter Exercise Answers. Whenever possible, you should also be clicking the Q&A icon: If you have an internet connection, this will automatically open the appropriate page on the website to a discussion of this particular topic or question. Remember that each course s Final Exam is always open book and can be accessed by clicking the appropriate link on each course s Gateway Page. After diligently researching in the course materials, you are encouraged and expected to keep track of your answers on the downloaded final exam pdf. (And/or on the printed test at the end of the course book, if you ordered the textbooks upon enrolling.) This way, you will spend only a few minutes online actually taking each final exam, because you will simply be transcribing your answers from the pdf version to the testing website. 24

25 TAKING YOUR FINAL EXAMS ON THE INTERNET MacIntosh Real Estate School gives students the ability to submit their final exams online. Doing so is relatively simple, but there are basic pre-requisites. 1. You must have internet. Access our website at 2. If you want to access our secure exam submission site, click the tab at the top labeled STUDENT LOGIN. You will be directed to a page where you will click a link to take you to the secure login site. 3. You must type in the student number and password that was ed to you immediately after enrollment. Then click the SUBMIT box below. You will be directed to the Tests Opening Page. 4. Once in the Tests Opening Page, you will see a list of all exams that must be taken (and passed), starting with the Practice exam, proceeding through the six required Final Exams, and ending with the Uniform and Colorado Prep Exams (if enrolled under the Deluxe or Premier Packages). a. You will only be allowed to take the tests in the correct order, starting with the brief Instructions Exam, and then the Uniform exam. Once you pass each exam, you will be allowed to move on to the next test. b. Upon passage of each exam, the next exam will be highlighted with an active link to the next exam for which you are eligible to take. c. Click the next exam link to be directed to the exam. This exam contains the same questions contained in your downloaded or printed materials. d. You will see the "a" "b" "c" "d" answers, each followed by dots or radio buttons. Select that radio button with your mouse pointer and click it. If, for instance, you like the first answer best (answer "a" on the written test,) simply click your pointer on that dot. You can choose any answer, but of course, only one answer per question. You can change your answers at any time (prior to clicking SUBMIT.) e. DO NOT STRIKE ENTER OR RETURN on your keyboard at any time. Doing so will submit the exam prematurely and result in a failing grade. f. DO NOT USE THE ARROW KEYS to try to move to a new question or page. (You will unintentionally change your answers!) To move the page or proceed to the next question, you must use either the Scroll Wheel on your mouse, the scroll bar on the right side of your screen, or even the space bar. g. Once you have completed the exam, follow the instructions at the bottom. In particular, review your answers. Failure to review all answers and verify that the intended choice will likely result in failing the exam. h. Click on SUBMIT. This will submit the answers to the School. 25

26 5. IF YOU PASS (with a score of 75% or better), you will be provided the results immediately. These results will give you the following information: Your score and percentage; An analysis of the topic areas in which you missed questions; A link to the online FAQ for this exam; All the questions, with the correct answers indicated with a red *; Your choice for each answe by a grey dot in the answer bubble ; A link to the online page with links to the next course s Study Materials. 6. IF YOU FAIL (score below 75%), you will not receive the correct answers to the exam, nor will you be told which questions you missed. You will be provided the score and some brief advice. a. You will not be allowed to re-take the exam for 48 hours. This time waiting for authorization would be best utilized by going back over the text and all the questions in preparation for the next test submission. b. At that time you will be allowed to re-take the exam. Follow the instructions above for accessing the exam site again and choosing the appropriate exam. c. If you fail any final exam a second time, you will receive an with specific instructions on how to proceed. You will be allowed to re-take that exam, but the instructions will differ depending on which exam it is. 7. You may return to the exam selection page or the main page of the website by clicking the links at the top of the exam results page. You may exit the exam at any time by clicking these links (or the < back button on your browser), but your exams will not be saved if you do so. Your answers will only be saved or submitted by clicking SUBMIT at the end of each exam. 8. The last two links on the Test Opening Page will be the two Prep Exams. Prior to scheduling your license exam appointment, you must take these two tests and obtain the minimum score to view the results and correct answers. 9. You may us at any time (info@macrealestate.com) with any questions you may have about the test, questions on the test, or general questions on the material or course procedure. Even though you are taking a correspondence course, we want you to always feel that there is someone there to help if you need it. GOOD LUCK! NOTE: The results of all exams will be deleted from our servers approximately six months after the student submits the Prep Exams. 26

27 Approved and Regulated by the Colorado Department of Higher Education Private Occupational School Board CATALOG including EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS, COURSE DESCRIPTION, LICENSE EXAM TESTING PROCEDURES COLORADO ASSOCIATE BROKER EDUCATION Real Estate Law and Practice (48 hours) Colorado Contracts & Regulations (48 hours) Closings (24 hours) Practical Applications (32 hours) Record Keeping & Trust Accounts (8 hours) Current Legal Issues (8 hours) Volume 24 (2016) W. 61 st Pl., Arvada, CO (303) visit our website at or us at 27

28 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Ownership and Faculty of the School Enrollment Procedures and Fees Prerequisites for Enrollment Fees Evaluation of Student Progress No Classroom Attendance Grading Policy Refund Policy Credit Card Chargebacks, Attorney Fees and Returned Checks. 32 Extension and Re-Enrollment Policy Postponement of Starting Date Transfer of Enrollment or Credits Grievance and Complaint Procedure Course Objective Previous Experience or Classes Placement Assistance Conduct and Termination Procedure Preparation for the State Examination Examination and Application Procedure Making Your Appointment Examination Fee What to Bring Special Services Fingerprints and Background Check Application Procedure Fingerprints and Background Check Bulletin Education Requirements Matrix (Individual Course Requirements) 28

29 OWNERSHIP AND FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL MacIntosh Real Estate School, is owned and operated by Millenium Three, Inc., a Colorado Corporation, incorporated in The School was originally known as Real Estate Prep, from 1960 through the 1980 s. The President of the Corporation and Director of the School is Bruce D. MacIntosh, Jr. Bruce is a Colorado native, has a B.A. from the University of Colorado and a Doctorate of Law from the University of Denver, and is a licensed attorney. He is also a licensed Colorado real estate broker, certified real estate instructor, and was an escrow agent for the largest Colorado title company. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of a Children s Literacy non-profit, and runs the largest annual consumer convention in the state of Colorado. The school is governed by the Colorado Department of Higher Education, Division of Private Occupational Schools. The program is approved Colorado Division of Private Occupational Schools and meets the all the state's requirements to obtain a real estate license. ENROLLMENT PROCEDURES AND FEES Pre-Requisites for Enrollment License Law requires an applicant for a real estate license to be 18 years old. This is not a requirement to attend the school. The Colorado Real Estate Commission requires a different number of courses, consisting of varying numbers of credit hours and courses. In addition to passing the entire broker exam, most new applicants for a Broker's License must take and pass the following course requirements: 48 hours in Real Estate Law and Practice 48 hours in Colorado Contracts and Regulations 8 hours in Trust Accounts and Record Keeping 8 hours in Current Legal Issues 24 hours in Real Estate Closings 32 hours in Practical Applications Licensed attorneys only need 12 hours in Trust Accounts, Record Keeping and Real Estate Closings, (as well as passing the Colorado portion of the broker's exams,) to become a broker. MacIntosh Real Estate School also offers this course. Please see the Real Estate Commission publication at the end of this Catalog for more details. Fees The fee for the initial 168 credit hour online/correspondence course and materials is $499 payable by credit card in advance of receiving the course materials, or Student Login information and interactive study links from the School. (The fee may be changed at any time, without notice.) Course materials (books) are non-refundable. Enrollment may be completed by paying the full cost of the tuition. Payment shall be made in full at the time of enrollment and registration. The real estate school will not issue to the Real Estate Commission a certification of Completion until tuition is paid 29

30 in full. Each course is self contained and is completed by self scheduled, correspondence study. EVALUATION OF STUDENT PROGRESS No Classroom Attendance: All students of the MacIntosh Real Estate School are enrolled as correspondence (home study) students. Therefore classroom attendance is neither available nor required. Grading Policy: Correspondence students must submit completed final exams for each course being taken (via the website.) For the Associate Broker curriculum, (168 hours) the student must submit six final exams with passing grades: one each for Real Estate Law and Practice, Colorado Contracts and Regulations, Trust Accounts and Record Keeping, Current Legal Issues, Real Estate Closings, and Practical Applications. Student must also pass two Prep Exams following the last final exam. Each final exam is automatically graded and the student is given the results immediately. All students must submit all completed exams by the end of the scheduled course work. In accordance of the requirements of the State Brokers examination, all students must pass each exam by at least 75%. A student's progress is considered unsatisfactory when the student is not progressing at a rate that corresponds with these requirements. All final exams are open-book and untimed, and students have been given the information and tools with which to successfully answer all questions correctly within the materials and online Q&A resources provided by the school. Therefore, students are expected to be able to reach the passing score for all tests with the appropriate amount of effort, within the allotted enrollment period. Nevertheless, should the student fail a particular exam, at the sole discretion of the school they may be given up to three chances to take and pass a course final exam. Should a student fail a final exam three times, they will be dismissed from that particular course and no credit will be granted. School will grant credit for any other course already passed, and reserves the right to allow or deny the student the opportunity to complete any remaining courses. REFUND POLICY MacIntosh Real Estate School, Inc. shall maintain a policy for the refund of tuition and fees, pursuant to C.R.S (2), as follows: A. Timing The basic course work (exclusive of the 12 hour "Attorney" course in Trust Accounts, Record Keeping, and Real Estate Closings, or any 72 hour or 120 hour configuration for out of state brokers) is designed to be completed in 168 hours, or for purposes of calculating the refund policy 42 4 hour sessions over approximately 10 weeks, as defined below under Evaluation of Student Progress. 30

31 (Exclusive of the following Refund Policy, please note that the actual completion time is automatically extended to 8 months.) Since MacIntosh Real Estate School offers only correspondence courses on an open (year-round) enrollment schedule, student progress for refund purposes is calculated based on time elapsed (number of days) since enrollment. The date of enrollment is based on the date of the contract, which is date student is accepted by the School. The official date of termination or withdrawal of a student shall be determined in the following manner: The date on which the school receives written notice of the Student's intention to discontinue the training program; or The date on which the student violates published school policy which provides for termination. B. Tuition Refund Schedule If a student discontinues training after enrollment, this refund schedule will be observed: A full refund of all monies paid if the applicant is not accepted by the school. A full refund of tuition and fees paid if the applicant withdraws within three days after signing and submitting the electronic contract or making an initial payment, provided that the applicant has not commenced training. A full refund of tuition and fees paid in the event that the school discontinues the course or program of education during a period of time within which a student could have reasonably completed the course (10 weeks, per Refund Policy calculation) except that this provision shall not apply in the event that the school ceases operation. If none of the above circumstances applies, a student withdrawing after date of enrollment is entitled to a refund of the following tuition fee: Within first 10% of program (one week) 90% less $100 cancelation charge After 10% but within first 25% of program (1 week to 2 1/2 weeks) 75% less $100 cancelation charge After 25% but within first 50% of program (2 1/2 weeks to 5 weeks) 50% less $100 cancelation charge After 50% but within first 75% of program (5 weeks to 7 1/2 weeks) 25% less $100 cancelation charge After 75% (after 7 1/2 weeks) No refund Cost of course materials (books) is non-refundable, except by written consent of the Director of the School. If arrangement is made to return books for a (partial) materials refund, the books must be postmarked within two weeks of the ed refund agreement from the school. Any marked books will be deducted accordingly from the $100 materials refund. Refund will be provided within 30 days of termination, or in the case of returned materials within 30 days of receipt of the books by the school. We recommend you send with some form of tracking. 31

32 The policy of granting of credit for previous training shall not impact refund policy. CREDIT CARD CHARGEBACKS, ATTORNEY FEES and RETURNED CHECKS MacIntosh Real Estate School will not be responsible for any personal decision of the student to discontinue the course, and is responsible only for the refund policy detailed herein and in the current course catalog, and required by the Rules of the Department of Regulatory Agencies and Colorado Department of Higher Education Private Occupation School Board. Student acknowledges that the credit card payment they are making is completely voluntary, and should they wish to withdraw they will do so within the refund period detailed in this agreement and by written ( ) notice to the school in a timely manner. Student acknowledges in advance that any later claim to their Credit Card Company that their voluntary charge was "unauthorized" would be false and therefore prohibited by law. Should the student file such a chargeback with their credit card issuer at any time, MRES will avail itself of all legal remedies, including but not limited to small claims court in the appropriate jurisdiction, and treble damages for fraud, conversion, and "friendly fraud". In the event this goes to collection, the student will be solely responsible for all attorney and collection fees. There will be a $20.00 check charge added to all returned checks. EXTENSION and RE-ENROLLMENT POLICY As stated above, the contractual Enrollment Period is based on eight (8) months following the date student is accepted by the School. This time period may be extended according to the following schedule and for the following fee(s), upon written request to the Director of the School. ( notice is sufficient, and shall be effective upon confirmation of receipt of said notice by return from the School.) This request must be received by the Director within the final 30 days of Student's 8 month expiration date. If the request is made earlier than the final month of Student's scheduled enrollment, no determination will be made. If the request is made after the expiration of the 8 month enrollment, but prior to the anniversary of Student's enrollment, Director will make a case by case determination, based on the above and below factors. The determination of the length of this extension will be at the sole discretion of the Director of the School, and shall be based on factors such as: 1) the extent of changes to the laws and forms that have occurred prior to, or will occur during the extension period, thereby necessitating changes to the School Materials the student originally received; 2) Student's progress through the School program since enrolling, including but not limited to passage of the six School Final and two Prep Exams. No additional fee shall be charged for the granting of said extension. 32

33 No extensions will be granted after the one year anniversary of Student's enrollment. However, Student will be allowed to re enroll at a reduced rate if written request is made after 8 months following enrollment, but prior to the two year anniversary of Student's enrollment. If request for extension is made after the two year anniversary of Student's enrollment, Student will be allowed to re enroll for the full tuition cost at that time. Upon receipt of the fee and a newly completed and signed enrollment agreement, student shall be provided a new student number and login information to the current online study and testing curriculum. There is no guarantee of credit granted for prior work or tests completed, and the re-enrolling student may be required to pass certain final exams again. POSTPONEMENT OF STARTING DATE Postponement of a starting date, whether at the request of the school or the student, requires a written agreement signed by the student and the school. The agreement must set forth: a) Whether the postponement is for the convenience of the school or the student, and: b) A deadline for the new start date, beyond which the start date will not be postponed. If the course is not commenced or the student fails to attend by the new start date set forth in the agreement, the student will be entitled to an appropriate refund of prepaid tuition and fees within 30 days of the deadline of the new start date set forth in the agreement, determined in accordance with the school's refund policy and all applicable laws and rules concerning the Private Occupational Education Act of TRANSFER OF ENROLLMENT or CREDITS Student's enrollment is non transferable. Once enrolled, the student may not sell or otherwise transfer their enrollment, materials, credits or fees, to any other person. School does not guarantee the transferability of its credits to any other institution unless there is a written agreement with another institution. GRIEVANCE and COMPLAINT PROCEDURE Students who have a grievance with the School must the Director at bruce@macrealestate.com. All correspondence will be addressed by the Director through return within five business days. Students who feel they have a complaint concerning any proprietary school may file a complaint online by contacting: Colorado Department of Higher Education Private Occupation School Board ( or calling There is a two year limitation on the Division taking action on student complaints. (Based on the Student's last date of attendance, determined by latest activity with the School such as enrollment date or testing during the 8 month term of enrollment.) 33

34 COURSE OBJECTIVE Program Objective: The program and individual course schedules give a basic overview of the real estate industry and provides all the necessary information to prepare the student to pass the Colorado Real Estate Brokers examinations administered by the Real Estate Commission's Testing Service (PSI). The student should expect to complete the correspondence course in approximately 10 weeks. The home study course work is designed to be completed according to the student's own schedule (4 hours per day, 4 days per week) at home. The six final exams must be taken at home and submitted to the school for credit. The final exams may be submitted only through our website. In order to pass each course, each student must receive passing (at least 75%) grades on that final exam. Certification of successful completion of the educational requirements will be given only if the above requirements are completed within eight (8) months following initial registration. An extension of this time period may be obtained by requesting this in writing by . PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OR CLASSES No credit is given for this course for partial completion of classes previously taken at another school or industry related experience. This policy shall not impact the above refund policy. PLACEMENT ASSISTANCE MacIntosh Real Estate School is not affiliated with any Real Estate Brokerages. In this way, we can assure the student the most accurate information and highest standards of integrity. Although employment of graduates is rarely a problem, there is no guarantee of placement. CONDUCT AND TERMINATION PROCEDURE A student may have his or her enrollment terminated by the MacIntosh Real Estate School, Inc. for non payment of tuition or books, or failure to complete the course in the allotted period of time as stated in our Attendance Policy, or for failing one or more course final exams (as detailed in Section X, "EVALUATION OF STUDENT PROGRESS", above.) The term of enrollment shall begin as of the commencement date on the contract. If a student is terminated for non payment of tuition, then upon completed payment of the fees for tuition and books, that student will be re admitted to the program. The reinstatement will be conditioned upon the eight month period as stated in the Attendance Policy. The enrollment period shall begin as of the commencement date on the contract. Students dismissed for failure to comply with accepted rules of school policy or course failure shall not be reinstated. PREPARATION FOR THE STATE EXAMINATION The state license exam is administered at a PSI testing center on a simplified personal computer (PC) with a large monitor. As the exam is entirely multiple- 34

35 choice, it is not necessary to have more than the basic skills of using a keyboard and mouse; the answers are chosen by clicking either a, b, c, d with the mouse. You will not need to bring a calculator for math problems, because the PC test platform will feature a four-function calculator (add, subtract, multiply and divide). There are no questions on either part of the real estate broker exam that require any more sophistication than that. Therefore, real estate broker candidates will not be allowed to use a calculator other than the one provided by PSI. The state license exam is comprised of two portions: the 80-question Uniform exam, and the 74-question Colorado-specific exam. The examinee is allotted approximately two hours to complete each part, for a total of 4 hours. The broker applicant must pass both portions of the exam, meaning that each examinee receive 75% on each test. If the examinee should pass only one of the exams, it will be necessary to make a new appointment to sit for the other exam again. Although the examinee will not need to take the other portion of the exam, (the one that was previously passed,) the examinee will still be required to pay another $85 testing fee. (Amount is subject to change with no notice.) The Uniform exam is first. You will be given two hours to complete this exam after you look at the first question on the monitor. If the examinee completes the Uniform exam before the allotted two hours has elapsed, they may go on to the second (Colorado) exam. However, the time remaining from the first exam will not be carried over to the second exam. If the examinee has not completed the Uniform exam by the end of the first two hours, the PC will automatically go on to the Colorado portion, and the Uniform portion automatically will be scored. You will not be able to return to that exam again. If you do not take the full two hours to complete each exam, you will be asked after the last question of each exam if you are sure that you do not want to return to the beginning (or elsewhere in that exam) to review your answers. If you answer that you are sure you are finished, the unit will "lock out" any further answers. It is strongly advised that after completing each exam, you return to the beginning and review each question and answer carefully. Frequently, questions are worded such that a careless first reading will mislead the examinee into believing the question means something that it doesn't. A careful review will ensure that confusingly worded questions are caught and answered properly. Additionally, the PC allows you to either mark or skip a question, and at almost any point in the exam, return to that question to review it. The student is encouraged to visit PSI s website and walk through their online exam tutorial: 35

36 The most important item to remember is to read each question very carefully, as well as all of the four possible answers. Whereas the old adage that your first impression often is correct, you cannot be sure that you have chosen the correct answer if you have not thoroughly considered each of the possibilities. All topics covered in the MacIntosh Real Estate School manuals are fair game for the exams. All quiz, final exam and Prep questions are designed to emulate the testing style - and in many cases are questions that have been reproduced from previous versions - of the actual state license exam. On any examination, there may be some new questions that are not scored. (Up to five for each of the Uniform and Colorado exams.) These are pretest items. They are used only to evaluate how the questions perform and will neither add to nor detract from your score. However, you will not be told which questions count and which do not. Additionally, these questions will not count against your time limits. You will receive your scores at the testing center immediately after you complete your examination and return to the reception area. You will receive a sheet verifying that you have passed, or if you have not received a passing score on both exams, the sheet will describe your strengths and weaknesses in the various topics. For those examinees who successfully pass both parts of the exam, the sheet will verify a passing score, (specific scores are not given on successfully passed tests,) and in the upper right-hand corner, will have the photograph that was taken at the time of registration prior to the exam. EXAMINATION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE Making your appointment Students may not schedule their License Exam Appointment before completing all testing requirements of MacIntosh Real Estate School, and receiving the Certificate of Eligibility to sit for the State License Exam. You must make an appointment at least three business days before the examination date you desire. To make a reservation for your real estate examination, call PSI, at: You may call the automated scheduling line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but if you wish to speak to a representative, you should call during business hours (Pacific time). As you follow the directions, you will be connected to the examination reservation operator. Be sure to have ready a piece of paper, a pencil and your social security number. You will be given a confirmation number. Write this number down and bring it with you to the exam center on the day of your test. Tests are typically administered six days per week, Monday through Saturday in Denver, except for nationally recognized holidays and holiday weekends. (Subject to change by PSI.) 36

37 The following is a list of the PSI testing centers, as of January 1, These locations are Subject to Change Without Notice: Consult the PSI website for locations. DENVER AREA E. Briarwood Ave., Ste. #125, Centennial, CO WHEAT RIDGE 4891 Independence St., Ste. 220 Wheat Ridge, CO PUEBLO 803 West 4th Street, #803S Pueblo, CO FORT COLLINS 3000 S. College Ave., Suite 206 Ft. Collins, CO GRAND JUNCTION 743 Horizon Court, #203 Grand Junction, CO DURANGO 799 East 3rd Street #3 Durango, CO COLORADO SPRINGS 5050 Edison Avenue, #121 Colorado Springs, CO OTHER LOCATIONS: Examination Fee The fee for sitting for the examination is $ (Subject to change without notice!) Payment method: All real estate candidates must pay for their exam at the time of registration. NO PAYMENT WILL BE HANDLED AT THE TEST CENTER. There will be four payment methods: 1.) By credit card or debit card at the time of online, telephone or fax registration. 2.) By credit card, cashiers check, money order, or company check by standard mail registration. (Cash or personal checks are not accepted.) If you are absent from your scheduled examination, you will be billed for two exams when you register again. If you plan on being absent from your scheduled testing date, you must cancel or reschedule at least two days in advance by 5:00 PM Pacific Time. At this point, you will be permitted to transfer 100% of the fees to a new date without penalty. If you call less than two business days prior to your test, you may reschedule with a penalty not to exceed the $85 re-exam fee. If you call on the scheduled day of your examination or afterwards, your fees will not be transferred to another day. More details as to what to bring, provision of Special Services, and other restrictions, may be found in the PSI Bulletin following the Catalog, below. Fingerprints and Background Check As described in the Fingerprint/Background Check Official Bulletin ( ), the applicant will be required to have fingerprints taken and submitted to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. This may be done at any time prior to application, but the sooner the better, because the Real Estate Commission will not process the license application until receiving a background check from the CBI, and delays could be up to FOUR months. 37

38 There are several methods described below for obtaining the fingerprints and transmitting them to the CBI, including electronically at a PSI testing center (for a $20 fingerprint fee, in addition to the $39.50 background check fee) at the time of successful passage of the licensee exam, or at any time prior (by appointment). MacIntosh Real Estate School does not recommend using PSI, as there have been issues with electronic submission failure rate, leading to delay in license application processing. You may also set an appointment with your local Sheriff's or Police station for traditional fingerprinting on a FD-358 card. Application Procedure and Real Estate Commission Licensing Requirements For the most up to date information about education and testing requirements, please access on the web: NOTICE from Colorado Real Estate Commission CONCERNING REQUIREMENTS FOR REAL ESTATE BROKER LICENSE APPLICANTS EFFECTIVE AUGUST 9, 2005 (Updated March 2014) Date: July 8, 2005 To: Real Estate Education Providers and Interested Parties From: The Colorado Real Estate Commission The following is important information regarding changes to the requirements for a real estate broker license: Who: All applicants who apply for a broker license on and after August 9, What: Effective August 9, 2005, prior to submitting an application for a license each applicant shall submit a set of fingerprints to the Colorado bureau of investigation. for the purpose of conducting a state and national fingerprint-based criminal history record check utilizing records of the Colorado bureau of investigation and the federal bureau of investigation. The applicant shall pay the fee established by the Colorado bureau of investigation for conducting the fingerprint-based criminal history record check to the bureau. Upon completion of the criminal history record check, the bureau shall forward the results to the real estate commission. (House Bill amending (1) (b) (I) C.R.S.) When: Beginning August 9, 2005 and within sufficient processing time prior to applying for a license. Cost: At the time of this notice, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charges $39.50 to conduct the criminal history check. The cost is subject to change. Contact the CBI to verify cost. The CBI phone number is The CBI does not accept personal checks. Payment can be made (payable to CBI) by Money Order, Cash, Visa, MasterCard, and Cashier Check. Company checks are also accepted. The providers of the fingerprinting process will charge a fee (in addition to the fee payable to CBI) that will vary depending on the method used. How: Fingerprints and identification information is submitted to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of conducting a state and national criminal history record check. The CBI only conducts the records search; they do not perform the fingerprinting process. You must utilize one of the following methods for the fingerprinting process and communication of information to the CBI: 38