How we rank real estate courses
Some course rankings are built from marketing copy and affiliate rates. This one starts from the only independent measure that exists in this industry: pass rates published by state regulators, reporting on named schools.
What we rank on
| Factor | Weight | Where the data comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator-published pass rate | Heaviest | Texas and Colorado publish first-attempt rates by named school |
| State coverage | High | Each provider’s own state selector — pre-licensing approval is state by state |
| Guarantee terms | Medium | The provider’s own published terms, read in full rather than summarized |
| Delivery format | Medium | What is actually offered: self-paced, livestream, classroom, mobile |
| Price | Lowest | Checkout price for a named state, because prices are state-specific and promotional |
Price is weighted last deliberately. The state sets the required hours and the exam; the entry tier at every major provider satisfies that requirement. Beyond the cheapest compliant option, extra spending buys exam preparation and support, which is worth something to some candidates and nothing to others.
Why pass rates lead — and their limits
Texas publishes a first-attempt pass rate for every approved education provider, covering both exam portions, on a rolling 24-month window. Colorado publishes the same by school. No provider controls these numbers and no marketing department writes them, which makes them the closest thing to an independent audit this industry has.
They are not a controlled experiment, and we do not treat them as one. Providers serve different candidate mixes; a school attached to a university sees different students from a self-paced online product. Low-volume providers post volatile figures — a 21% rate on 121 candidates and a 65% rate on 8,516 are not equally meaningful. We look for a consistent rate across meaningful volume, and we publish the exam counts alongside every percentage so you can judge for yourself.
Texas requires this, in fact, and the rule is a fair one: the commission considers it misleading to advertise a pass rate without also showing the number of exams taken and passed, at the same size and prominence.
What we will not do
Two providers block automated access to their pricing. Rather than repeat a figure from a review site, we say the price is unverified and tell you to check at the checkout.
PrepAgent is owned by AceableAgent. Colibri's exam prep is CompuCram's product under a different name. Presenting those as independent options would be dishonest, so we say who owns what.
If a provider publishes its own pass rate and no regulator corroborates it, we do not rank on it. Self-reported figures are not comparable with regulator data and usually count different things.
No links on this site earn us a commission today, and commission has never changed a ranking and never will.
Common questions
Why does the cheapest course sometimes rank well?
Because the state, not the provider, sets what you must complete. If a cheap course is approved in your state and its students pass at a normal rate, it has done its job. We only rank a more expensive course above it where there is evidence the extra spending changes outcomes.
Do you buy the courses?
Where we can. But pre-licensing courses are state-specific and non-transferable, so buying every tier in every state is not possible. Where we have not used a product ourselves, we say so rather than implying hands-on testing we did not do.
How often is this updated?
Pass rate data is republished by the states on rolling windows, and prices change constantly with promotions. Every figure on these pages carries the date we verified it.