Yesterday, I received a phone call and it went similar to this…
Karen: Hello. This is Karen.
Caller: Is this Karen Climer?
Karen: Yes.
Caller: I am in a real estate class, and I don’t understand the material. I watched your real estate math videos and they made sense. Your videos say that you can help. I am scared to death about my class exam. Can you help me?
Karen: Where are you going to school?
Caller: Gold Coast School of Real Estate
Karen: When you don’t understand something in class, do you ask questions?
Caller: We aren’t allowed to ask questions.
Karen: You can’t ask questions?!
Caller: Well, we can type them in the chat, and then someone types back the answer. But the teacher keeps teaching so then I miss the next thing if I ask a question.
Karen: Hmm… Have you called the school and asked about tutoring?
Caller: They said they only offer tutoring after you have passed the class exam.
Karen: Well, I don’t have a copy of the Gold Coast class exam, so I don’t know exactly what’s on it. Every school creates their own exam. But I can tutor you on concepts. You just have to tell me what material you don’t understand. Are you interested in that?
I have been teaching real estate classes for 20 years. Throughout that time, I seen my share of excellent schools, average schools, and terrible schools. Likewise, I’ve seen plenty of great instructors and awful instructors. I’ve never seen a good instructor who doesn’t allow students to ask questions. In fact, the only reason I know that an instructor wouldn’t allow questions is that they aren’t confident in their ability to answer questions on the fly.
In my classroom, if you have a question, you can just shout out, “Karen, wait, I have a question…” I’ll stop and answer your question. I know other instructors who don’t like that approach. They want you to wait until the end of a section to ask questions. Nothing wrong with that – that’s just a different style. But to not allow students to ask questions verbally during a live classroom session, and to keep trucking along when someone doesn’t understand the material, something doesn’t seem right about that.
If you are attending a school that won’t answer your questions during class, call me about tutoring. I offer state exam tutoring in person in Orlando, Florida. If you have a few classmates that want to get together for tutoring, you can split the cost.
Please note that Karen Climer has no affiliation with Climer School of Real Estate. Her father, Ron Climer, sold Climer School of Real Estate in 2014. It has since been involved in several mergers and acquisitions and is owned by a large investment company. Karen owns Demetree School of Real Estate in Orlando, Florida.
