As a member of the Naltea Education Committee, I’d like to answer some of the concerns I’ve been reading about on SOT. 

 

1. Naltea will be offering the initial exam at the New Orleans conference. After that it will be offered at testing centers throughout the country.  We will do all that we can to make the process as convenient as possible.  We will not be offering online testing, as that constitutes an open book exam.  The certification test was not intended to be an open book exam.  Most state exams are administered at testing sites; our will be included among hundreds…GMAT, GRE, Real Estate Licensing Exams, Contractor Licensing Exams, SAT, etc. etc. etc.

 

2. Who will acknowledge the exam?  The title abstractor/examiner is the only person in the real estate transaction that does not require licensing.  Creating certification/designation with the ongoing educational requirements will be noticed and recognized in the industry.  As a matter of fact, certification or licensing is the industry standard for agents, brokers, attorneys, mortgage brokers, appraisers, surveyors…can anyone add more?  The abstractor is a professional, and by committing to the certification process, you are holding yourself to a higher standard.  It will be noticed.

 

3. Will it guarantee quality work?  I can’t answer that.  But it will be evidence of superior knowledge.  As some of my clients, peers and attorney’s will say, the more you know about abstracting/examining titles, the scarier it gets.  That’s a good thing.

 

4. The exam will be administered by the Naltea Education Committee for the duration of the conference.  The committee consists of three abstractors, two of which have been on the committee since its inception, and one real estate educator.  The abstractors on the committee have a nearly combined 60 or so years of experience as abstractors and/or title examiners.  We all have been very committed to this process and have contributed countless hours.  We have gone to great pains to guard the integrity of the exam and can only hope that you will trust our honor in the administration of the exam.  After the conference, we will turn the exam over to an independent testing organization and will no longer administer it. 

 

5. The exam is currently stored in a computerized testing format.  We will print out a hard copy with 100 questions out of the 285 we have entered.  They will be random, however every test will be the same at the conference.  Each question is worth 1 point.  A 75 is required to receive the NCA designation, a 90 is required to receive the NMA designation once additional requirements are met (see the Naltea website…submit a commercial search and letter of recommendation I believe).  The answers will be corrected through computer input.  We will not arbitrarily correct the exams by relying on our memories.  We're not that good.

 

6. The test will be sealed and one copy per person who has signed up for it will be brought to the conference.  If you want to take the test, please sign up in advance.  Unless the board directors otherwise, we will not have extra copies.

 

7. The questions are the work of the Education Committee.  Any questions provided from outside volunteers have been sufficiently reworded….if you provided questions, you won’t recognize which ones they were.  The members of the committee have actually sat for the entire exam (all 285 questions) at least once and have taken the 100-question exam at least once.  We have not been awarded any designations, however.  The Naltea board of directors will determine how, if or when the Education Committee members receive designation and what those requirements will be.  I will say that the requirements for designation increase each year over three years, so to deny the Education Committee members designation in a reasonable manner is to create a barrier that could be construed as an unfair punishment for all the work we’ve done.  However, if that is the price we pay…so be it.  At least we’ve done our part to strengthen the industry.

 

Finally, we’ve been working on this for over three years.  One test was already created and scrapped.  This is not going to be an easy exam.  You will be required to think.  There are some mathematical calculations within the 285 questions as well, so bring a calculator.  I have no idea what questions will be printed out; as I said earlier, they are chosen at random.  I know that once you have taken the exam, when you pass you will know you’ve accomplished a great thing.  It’s challenging.  It’s engaging.  It has information that you use everyday and information you don’t use but should know.  In my opinion, it’s equal to a University exam; graduate level at best, no less than undergrad level. 

 

I hope I’ve answered all your questions.  I’ll try to check back on SOT often over the next few weeks to see if you need to know anything else.

 

Thanks for your patience and your input.

 

Lynn Hammett

Member, Naltea Education Committee

 

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