I took the Real Estate Principles course some time ago, when school was called Anthony Schools. Place has been there since the 1960s. Anthony Schools was then taken over by Kaplan. Yet the format is much the same. What some people don't realize when taking courses at professional schools like Kaplan and others, the curriculum is very focused and course work is condensed. Or as some will say, "accelerated." That means that you as a student have to be motivated to learn and complete the course. In some ways courses like these are similar to summer school sessions. In terms of the subject of real estate, it is not as easy as it may seem. Kaplan and other schools work to prepare people for the state exam. Yet, to grasp many of the details and particulars in real estate that may require more study and time. And taking the state exam, a person may have to take it more than once to pass. It is tricky, there are lots of questions on the DRE state exam that are written in such a way that one has to really think and read it over, before answering. I enjoyed my classes at Anthony (now Kaplan) there on 19th Ave. The instructor was helpful and professional. I recall the instructor and staff did as much as they could to help a student do well. Yet, as I said the program there is designed to be condensed/accelerated. If that is something that is not a good approach for someone just learning the concepts of real estate principles and concepts then I recommend City College of San Francisco. The classes are stretched out in a semester/term format and instructors can spend a bit more time going over material. I have taken courses in Real Estate at City College that is how I know. I found that taking Real Estate courses in a college setting is often better because the condensed/accelerated format of professional schools are not able to spend any extra time with students. One has to not only be really motivated as a student, but like learning at an accelerated pace. Even with that said, I think that even those people that learn well in the pace and setting at a professional school like Anthony (Kaplan) will find that Real Estate school is not as easy as it might seem. There is a lot of information to cover, with various details, and to really do well on the exam, extra time and focus is needed to study. read more

Worst real estate school there is. If you try to call for support they answer from another state and wont help. There curriculum pertains to Minnesota real estate which is completely different from CA. If you email support they take 3 days to answer. There dashboard when taking coarses online is completely confusing. They even told me they would do all the paperwork with DRE when complete and they wont. read more

It used to be good 15 years ago. Now it couldn't be worse. Outdated information, unreliable to prepare for exams if you want to give the right answer. read more

I've used Kaplan maybe 3 times for RE Continuing Ed. This is the first time their customer service is missing. I went to take the 9 hour Survey course and was told I needed to email the instructor with a short essay. I sent it the same day. Was told It passed and I needed to wait for a pass code. One day, two days, three days, and I'm almost positive more and NO response. I have no confidence in them now. read more

It's not a school. They take your money and give you books. And tell you where to take the test. You will buy 8 books only use 2 . No teacher or class. Just a confusing syllabus that does correlate with anything. if you need help you call customer service line. Someone that is at home that knows nothing about your career or you will be giving you directions. You are lucky if you get someone that is kind. Most are rude or have children screaming in your ear. I have cried many times over this school. I have been bullied bye many of the staff that is customer service. I feel so sad that my steps for my dreams are being held up , due to this school. It look very legit but is poorly ran. And that's an understatement. Don't walk RUN from this school. I was in Real estate read more

If you are looking to get a Real Estate Agent and/or Brokers license and need help passing the state exam, Kaplan is for you. I registered for the Real Estate Principles class (package) through Kaplan and am scheduled to take my state exam for the Agent license in a week. I feel very confident that I will pass the state exam on my first shot. $439 will get you the class (counts for 45 credit hours), your textbook, workbook for class, an exam prep book, a powertest book and two cd-roms (one with definitions and one for the powertest booklet). This price also includes a 2-day live (in a classroom setting) review to help you better prepare for taking the state exam. The cool thing about Kaplan's program is if you miss a class, no problem. You can easily sit in on any classes you miss. Or better yet, if you go through all of the classes and still don't feel like you are ready to take the state exam, you can take the classes over again, for as many times as you like, free of charge. It's all included in the package price. The instructors are energetic and knowledgable on how best to approach the state exam and provide insightful light on the industry itself. The only downfall was with the actual location on 19th Street. It's relatively easy to get here by MUNI. There was limited parking (unless you find parking on the street). You really have to watch where you park or other tenants in the building will tow your car. Also, the selection and the actual vending machines sucked and sometimes don't work. You can be here for four-hour periods at a time so bring food and snacks with you. There aren't a lot of food options in this area that are close by. Kaplan was perfect for helping me feel confident to take the state exam to get my agent license. But just know that once you pass the agent state exam, your license will only be conditional. You have to take 2 more classes within 18 months to make your license conditional. If you plan on continuing your education in this field and want to go for your brokers license too, I recommend taking the rest of your classes through City College. Classes are only $20 a unit there. Kaplan will help you pass the state exam. Go elsewhere for the rest of your education. **Update: As of August 20th, I passed my salespersons exam. I honestly don't think I could have done it without Kaplan. Two words for you: Power Tests!! read more

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DO NOT SIGN UP! Seem desperate for funds. And do-not honor there agreement. I signed up for a course package on a Thursday Evening. Discovered news on Friday evening not going to be able to participate in class. Read the cancellation policy. Can cancel within 5 days.You can not cancel via email. You can not reach the office on weekends. Can not communicate to cancel. I called 1st thing Monday morning. Spoke to Michelle. Front desk. Tried to cancel. "Boy it was like pulling teeth" Received 3 phone calls trying to get me to keep funds in place for future use. I said No Thank You. Last phone call comes in stating they have to charge me a $20 processing fee for each course. when you purchase a package. So what exactly did they process over the weekend? Was ok with that but then bam -Deduct $100 for each course in the package. Then get another call telling me the already sent my books & they are non-returnable. BS! I will dispute charge with my CC company. Be aware-a school/busines like this seems shady if they have to respond this way. read more

I am a current student in the online course for California Real Estate Broker Renewal and I have to say "good luck getting logged in". Last night I could not get a "socket" and I have now been waiting for a "socket" for over an hour. Either their IT department is a total disaster or they have failed to increase their online access space to meet their student requirements. It is Thursday and I have set aside my day to get my tests take - but..... there is no access for me. Appears they are selling without serving. read more

I did the online course work and I would never ever recommend it to anyone! The instructors teach the course work in the same manner you would teach a child how to operate finger paints. The online materials are also incredibly glitchy and probably could have been designed better by a monkey randomly slapping a computer keyboard. The business hours 'help line' was actually just a machine that told you to send an email to them and that they would get back to you in 24 hours, and on top of that it takes 3 to 4 business days for them to just forward an email that says you have completed the course work. DO NOT USE KAPLAN. It is far more expensive than other online classes and is just ridiculous to use! read more

I would give ZERO stars if an option! I paid for class and the books. They shipped to me where i was receiving them AFTER class starts and AFTER actually taking the test. I called to get expedited, they were very RUDE. Offered to send new set for additonal $68 plus i would have to pay a $20 restock fee plus both way shipping on the original set. Spoke with cust serv rep and the supervisor, both very RUDE, unhelpful and they could care less. Hoping the live class is better. I wont have books or the advantage to have prepared. STAY AWAY from Kaplan. read more

I signed up for the Kaplan home study course for my California agent's license and everything was delivery quickly to my home. This got me three books to study with answer keys in the back of the first two. The third one has no answer key so I had to ask for it- Even though they knew it was missing. In my various calls to get questions answered, I found customer support to be VERY helpful. At this point, they have a 3 star rating. After completing the home study course and taking the online open book exams to qualify for the state license exam, I signed up for the California Real Estate Agent Drill and Practice QBank. This is a series of 50 question practice exams pulled from a databank of about 800 questions Kaplan expects to be on the state exam. Clearly, nobody at Kaplan edited these questions as there are typos and often the answer explanation does not match the question and sometimes even the math is wrong in the answer. I'd rate this Practice Qbank package a 2 star. I spend the 2 weeks prior to my exam taking multiple tests every day until I had experienced all their questions and was getting in the 90's on the exams. I thought I was VERY prepared for the exam. Boy, was I surprised. Only about 10 of the 150 state exam questions even looked REMOTELY familiar and I spent the last two weeks studying this stuff thinking it would prepare me and it was a complete waste of time. Rating 1 star. I passed the exam- but me thinks only a 2 star for Kaplan. read more

I had an amazing class experience here and would highly recommend the live classes for those new to real estate. I have now been in the business over a decade and will always remember that Kaplan was the best! read more

This place is so unorganized it's mind boggling. They have no idea what they are talking about. Nor do they know how to speak with customers. Every single person I've talked to has an attitude with a snob-like personality. It's so disgusting it turns me off from my course even. Please do yourself a favor and research other schools before committing to such circus. read more

I would never go to Kaplan. There cram course offered nothing about test taking strategies. The teacher began by saying, "if you are looking for tricks on how to pass the exam, then you came to the wrong place, those places are scam artists" I was thinking, ya, that is exactly what I was looking for. The teacher went on and on talking about stuff that was not relevant to the exam! I went to another place, and they did give tricks to pass the exam and keywords to look for. Kaplan was terrible, its nothing more than a big company trying to get your money, Do not be fooled by the big name, that just means that they do a million things and focusing on the exam is the least of there concern. read more

Yes and no, i wish there was a 2.5 stars. the class is fast and you have to learn a lot in a short time. but dont worry, even if you dont learn it. the test are all open book and u pass even if you dont know the stuff. good and bad. if you are there to learn, forget it. take a slower course. if you just want the "pass" so u can get you lic. then this is the place for you read more

The first set of books I received from my Illinois real estate home study course where riddled with mistakes and incorrect information, I failed 2 exams then I started cross-referencing the text books, notified the admin and then I was given the 8th edition at no cost but, I am still wondering the validity. I am frustrated with the waste of time :-( read more

very disappointed !!! I purchased the NMLS 20HR FL-OFR SAFE Comprehensive along with prep-test Exam. I studied very hard, I passed the course test with 88%, I practiced all the practice exams till I reached more than 90% in all the areas of the exam But unfortunately when I went for the state exam, half of the questions were about subjects were not even mentioned in the course itself!! or in the prep exam questions at all! there was no interaction at all with the instructor, I was the one sent to him an email on the third day of the course asking if everything is ok and if I am missing anything? and he replied that he will check and gets back to me and never did! I failed this time because I had to guess the answers for more than half of the test and I had to purchase another prep exams practice from somewhere else and you know what I see the questions that I had on the exam!! I really feel that I deserve my money back! I purchased another prep exam practice and I have to pay another $110 for the state exam plus the time I wasted practicing Kaplan prep exam that is missing most of the major and important questions that should be practiced. VERY BAD NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL. read more

By reading all the previous posts, I feel reluctant to go to this college. I want to the point instruction with no distractions about other issues. I sure do not want to freeze to death trying to study either. With this company, Kaplan, buying up all the real estate schools in the area, their competition, it seems like they would make enough money to do it correctly. read more

Horrible!! The questions dont match the reading material. They play too many matching games that are useless and have no point. Its like a kinder gardener put these materials together. You can skip through things you want, the MCE is not just reported, you have to print and sign a sheet then scan it back or mail it. Its just a pain in the butt and frustrating to use. Spend some more money and go to Champions, this place is just bad. They just dont know how to run a school read more

This school is the worst. Their national part was on point though, they did do a great job of that which is the biggest part of the exam. But their state portion was really bad. They gave incorrect information, they even admitted through emails to me that I was right they only update their info every two years. They did say that that's why they have the live classes that are only once a week to give updates but they don't tell you what us updated so when you go back to study your books your studying the wrong info. I passed the national the first time. But I flunked the state part using their material twice. So I was so upset crying and confused so I contacted champions school of real estate told them what was going on, they suggested I purchase their study material which I did and only had a week to study it and I passed! I thanked all of the people at champions personally by email. They were so understanding when i called them. So not only did I pay Kaplan for the class but I spent 205 for the first test another 50 for the second test then an extra 150 or 120 I think it was for champions study material. When I contacted Kaplan they only refunded me 150 bucks. I've saved all their emails regarding this. If your going to use a school for real estate please use champions they really are on top of it! I don't want anyone else to go through what I did, its not even really about the money but Kaplan was in the wrong and admitted it. I don't normally care to give anyone bad reviews but I went through a lot and like I said I don't want anyone else to go through what I did. Changing careers should be exciting not so stressful. Hope this helps. read more

Kaplan Online school is the worst school imaginable. The textbooks dont match up to the workbooks, and the customer service don't understand anything you ask. DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL. Complete waste of money read more

I signed up for a Broker's Crash Course to take place the weekend of my Tuesday exam. The class was fairly easy to sign up for (1 star), and they held a class in San Francisco which is way closer to home than Chamberlain's class in Campbell (another star). That's where my joy ends. Well, with the exception of the very delightful Bob Shelton who was the instructor. He's a tiny bit chatty on some issues that are not specific to exam prep, and at times I felt like I was in a Real Estate Practice course, learning basic RE information, rather than an exam prep for the Broker's exam. It also wasn't very clear which prep work was specific for the salespersons exam vs. the brokers exam. The class is a combo course, which is not what I expected. I was sent a few text books and a cd, but three of the four items were for salesperson exam, so I didn't bother even opening the package. Apparently, we're supposed to know to do all of the course work for the salesperson and the brokers prior to class, or at least have a couple of weeks between the course and the test date to do the course work. Because of this, I went in to the class and scored a 44% on the pre-test. However, just with the course work, I scored a 64% at the post-test. There just wasn't enough time to do all the course work before my exam, so now I'm sitting here fretting that I may not have passed. I take some of the blame, but Kaplan/Anthony should have provided clear instructions. So here's the big joke of the day. The classroom was absolutely freezing, and everyone had to wear their winter coats, some with hats and gloves during the two 9-5 days, which is ridiculous. Poor Bob kept trying to fix the heater to no avail. One lady even got a blanket out of her car and wrapped it around herself to stay warm. Also, it's out on 19th Ave, and the single paned windows...well, we may as well have been taking a class out on the curb because it was so noisy. Parking is only on the street, so if you're lucky enough to find a spot on 19th Ave, you need to straddle your car on the curb or your mirrors will get shorn off. There are two ladies bathrooms in the building; a small one that is always locked on the first floor, and a handicapped one on the 2nd floor. No elevator. Not sure how the handicapped are supposed to get up to the 2nd floor, and I would have appreciated the elevator being 6 months pregnant with twins. By the time we left on Sunday, the lights in the common area of the building had been turned off (they're on a timer, and they're controlled by the management), so pregnant me had to navigate stairs and work my way out the front door in the dark. If I don't pass the test, I'll take another crash course, but not with Kaplan/Anthony, unless the location is different. read more

They don't mention to you if you have XP for an operating system that your screwed.. The tests are timed ok, but with kaplans program there is a series of tabs you have to close before answering each and every question, so the bottom line is if they give you 30 minutes to do the test in reality you only have 20????! they say there technical dept is working on it, for three weeks?????? read more

Stay Away!!!!!The Kaplan online school for Mortgage is a disaster. I have taken numerous online courses for other schools, college, Real Estate, Inspections and work and this has been one of the worst if not thee worst. The structure is horrible. Very important information which is needed for discussions or "field Trips" is not given. The instructors answers to questions, we are suppose to answer, include good information that you WILL NOT find in the previous material. Some very good material is missing and all they are doing is cutting and pasting government forms, and information with little to no elaboration, examples, interactive material (missing). Forms that they provide are blank and do not provide any input or explanation of sections. One question referred to a SECTION IX (9) in form 1033 for a loan, but the form 1033 they provide is updated and there is no section 9, it only went to eight which did not cover the question or relate. There are dozens of issues and this is just one example. There are also serious technical glitches in the system that either cause you to lose your entered answers, have to redo a quiz or test or sit and wait for a page to timeout so you can move on. Tech is "supposedly" aware of the issue, but they have not fixed it all week. Find someone else you will be disappointed, trust me.. read more

Several years ago I took Kaplan for my Stockbrokers license which worked out well. As time progressed I used Kaplan for Health, Life, VA license and Financial Advisor license. Moving to AZ a job opening requested me to have also a P&C license. Of course I went online paid for Kaplan and proceeded to waste both time and money with extremely obsolete information. The course had at least one hundred and fifty pages of, "certification", five hundred pages of study and an additional one hundred pages of state law. ??? WTF, Their idea of certification almost looked like someone's fifth grader wrote it and included some really stupid online matching games. Strapped for time I needed some verification of some really horrible answers on some of their outdated questions. This program did not offer a phone number to call only a link. The horrible service people sent me some bullshit five days later. I hated this course and signed up for Testeachers. About one hundred and thirty pages passed the exam with flying colors. Testeachers had all explanations queued up on all unit and test exam so I could see immediately what I did right or wrong with one click of a tab on the exam. read more