Batch 93 Learner

First and foremost allow me to express my appreciation for the guidance from all Pioneer lecturers, without the given support I would almost certainly not able to pass the exams on my first attempt.

Below are my thoughts on what it took me to pass the 2 exam papers on the first attempt.

1. Time management. As a working adult, in particular those with family, one will face difficulty finding time to prepare for the exam. However, I believe with enough determination, you'll somehow optimise your daily schedule to slot in enough time for revision. I did the online revision, read LG, property news, circulars and FAQs from various govt agencies on my mobile phone whenever I'm not doing anything productive (i.e. taking mrt, lunch time at work, queuing to order from my favourite chicken rice stall, study on my mobile instead of playing mahjong during CNY party, queuing at NTUC etc). Secondly, I actively manage my workload in my day job to buy enough time for revision (i.e. Delegate time consuming tasks to other colleagues, re-negotiating date lines etc). In addition, I temporary trim off some of my daily inefficient time usage (i.e. eat fast food instead of chi char, trimmed laundry schedule to once a week, go running around my block instead of commuting to the gym). Time saved from all these petty daily tasks will add up and frees up significant time for your revisions.

2. Study group. Me and a few bunch of us from batch 93 formed a study group by week 3. On hindsight, I wished it was formed on week 1! I guess most of us from batch 93 are a bit shy lol. Anyway, I always tried to be the 'lecturer' during our weekly study session, during which we went through the course material and test our understanding on each topics. Having a study group can easily reveal your weaknesses and strengths. If I am unable to explain a concept simple enough for a layman to understand or I am unable to provide an acceptable explanation to the questions posed by my team members, means my foundation for that topic is shaky. This points me to the weaker topics I should be focusing on and led to better utilisation of my precious time for self revision.

3. Discipline and dedication. If you have dedicated your weekends for revisions, you jolly well stick to it! I even had a online conference (via teamviewer) study session with my study group when I was back in my hometown in KL during the CNY festive season. On weekends where I'm in Singapore, I will reach library by 8:30am (or NUS Utown, which has a nice environment) sharp and often only leave after dinner. I have set targets on how much material to cover for each study days and always endeavour to hit it every time. I find studying outside useful as comfort in your own home is too much of a distraction.

4. Understand, not memorise! Unlike the online practice questions, actual exam questions are very application based, with real life examples. These questions are often indirect and will contain many irrelevant information to confuse you. With strong grasp of the underlying concepts, you'll be able to identify the intent of the question, filter out the unnecessary details and choose the right answer. In addition, some questions are designed to test your understanding on a few topics simultaneously. Ability to cross-link several topics together is a huge advantage.

5. Notes on each Competency Unit (CU). I spent a lot more time on CU4 than CU3 & CU1 because CU4 is a much broader chapter. CU2 on the other hand is mainly focused on law concepts and the speed which each individual can understand varies. Basically each CU is not equal, one should not divide the time equally for all the CUs. 

6. Remembering everything. Pioneer summary slides are extremely helpful during the last phase of your revision. It provides a concise summary and highlights the core components you need to remember. I draw some of my own charts to help with my memorising work. I also find it helpful to remember many key concepts by consulting my RES friends for real life examples on the process and dilemma they faced during the course of performing estate agency work.

7. Online practice questions. The main thing I wish to bring up is that you should complete your online practice questions ASAP. The server will likely jam up due to many users trying to complete their online self assessments at the very last minute. Do save a copy of the questions in pdf on your computer and phone so that you can revise even if the server went down. If you are running short of time, you can read through the questions that you answered wrongly and figure out the reason behind the mistake.

8. Be resourceful! Depending on the LG alone is not enough to pass the exam, you need to read the latest circulars, CEA disciplinary actions, FAQs from various govt agencies and property news (btw you can set your RSS news feed to property so that your phone will automatically fetch property news for you, therefore saving a bit of time). To be frank I lost a few precious marks because I didn't have enough time to read everything.

Thanks again to all the Pioneer lecturers for the effort to get everyone to pass the exams. They are very experienced lecturers with real world experience, humble and willing to share knowledge. To all future batch learners, confidence comes with adequate preparation, so please prepare early!

Yours faithfully,
Tee Min Yean
Class 93 learner