Practice and exam technique

How these questions are built, and why the calculation ones are worth the most.

NMLS practice tests, used properlyUse practice tests to find gaps, not to learn material. Sit two full timed papers, review every wrong answer for why the distractor was wrong, and tre…
How NMLS questions are writtenMost questions are scenarios with four options, where the three wrong ones are each a specific, identifiable mistake: a neighboring rule, a reversed r…
How to eliminate wrong answersRemove options that answer a different transaction type, that reverse a known relationship, or that would require a rule you know does not apply. Two …
Timing the NMLS examYou have about 95 seconds a question. Recall items take under a minute and calculations take two to three, so the plan is to bank the cheap ones and f…
Why your practice score is misleadingPractice scores flatter you when the questions are untimed, repeated, drawn from a small bank, or weighted differently from the real paper. A full tim…
Reading the question stem properlyFive details decide which rule applies: purchase or refinance, first or subordinate lien, which loan program, where in the timeline, and whether the q…
The questions that trip people upRescission on a purchase, the lesser of price and value, which changes restart the three-day wait, net against gross income, the FHA and conventional …
A 120-question mock, walked throughSit it in one 190-minute block with no notes and no pausing. Review it the next day rather than immediately, classify every wrong answer by cause, and…
Practice questions: federal lawFederal law is 24 percent of the paper, roughly 29 questions. These four cover the areas that produce most of the wrong answers: servicing transfers, …
Practice questions: calculationsFour worked calculations covering the housing ratio, loan-to-value, discount points and an ARM adjustment. Each shows both the answer and the specific…
Practice questions: ethicsEthics is 18 percent of the paper and tests specific prohibitions rather than general judgment. These four cover steering, compensation, occupancy fra…
Practice questions: uniform state contentThe uniform state content is 11 percent of the paper and the most self-contained area. These four cover education hours, the licensed and registered d…
Free NMLS practice questionsFree banks are useful for familiarity and poor for measuring readiness, because they tend to be small, regulation-heavy and short on explanations. Jud…
Practice questions: origination activitiesOrigination activities is 27 percent of the paper and the largest single area. These four cover the application trigger, income analysis, underwriting…
Practice questions: general mortgage knowledgeGeneral mortgage knowledge is 20 percent of the paper. These four cover FHA down payment tiers, VA funding fees, mortgage insurance termination and th…