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AceableAgent vs Kaplan Real Estate
Determine which online real estate school is right for you between Aceable Agent and Kaplan
The first decision aspiring real estate professionals need to make is how and where they will complete their required pre-licensing credit hours. From there, you can begin studying for your national and state licensing exams. But with so many real estate schools to choose from, how do you decide which one to go with? In this comparison, we analyze the major pros and cons of two of the most popular choices available (AceableAgent and Kaplan) to hopefully make your decision a little easier.
Given that this is a lengthy, detailed comparison, we’ve included jump-to links above for your convenience.
Video Review: Kaplan Or Aceable Agent?
In the video above, John from the TPI team compares the pros and cons of the real estate pre-licensing courses and exam prep materials from Kaplan and AceableAgent. For more information regarding these companies, continue reading our full, written comparison below.
Reasons To Choose AceableAgent For Your Real Estate Education
To keep this comparison actually helpful for you, we are going to focus on the major differences between these two companies, and where we see each of them having an advantage over the other. With that in mind, let’s start with AceableAgent – our team has them winning in four key areas.
Affordable Course Options
First, AceableAgent gets the win in terms of cost. To be clear, pricing between these two companies is close, and it does vary by state, but for the most part, AceableAgent seems to be the more the affordable option.
For example, in California, the most popular pre-licensing and exam prep package from AceableAgent costs around $300, whereas the corresponding package from Kaplan is priced closer to $400.
It varies quite a bit depending on your state, and the specific package you’re considering, but generally speaking, you’ll likely save around $50 to $100 by going with AceableAgent.
Ideal For Auditory Learners
The next advantage for AceableAgent is that their lessons are better suited for auditory learners. To be clear, AceableAgent does incorporate video into its curriculum occasionally, but the vast majority of their lessons are audio-based.
How it works is that for any text displayed within lessons, AceableAgent provides audio narration. That way you don’t have to spend hours reading. You can sit back, relax, and just listen (sort of like a podcast).
Example lesson from AceableAgent
Plus, the narrator is actually pretty good. It’s not just some computerized voice reading the text in a monotone manner. This is a real person who uses inflection, pauses, volume, and tone to help you understand the material.
Bottom line, if you’re not big on reading or you simply process information best through auditory means, then AceableAgent should be a good match for your preferred learning style.
The next win for AceableAgent is the fact they offer a mobile app, whereas Kaplan does not. To be clear, it’s not just some haphazard app used for marketing purposes, this thing is legit.
The app is modern, sleek, and intuitive. Needless to say, if you’re a full-time professional/student, or you’re a busy mom or dad trying to study on your lunch break or while you’re waiting to pickup your kids from pre-school, then AceableAgent is an excellent option.
The AceableAgent mobile app is awesome
AceableAgent is likely the best online real estate school for individuals who need to study on-the-go.
AceableAgent also offers the better guarantee between the two companies. Essentially, how it works is that if you sign up for one of AceableAgent’s courses, finish all the hours required within the course, and then somehow do not pass your licensing exam after three attempts, then the company will refund your money.
Kaplan, on the other hand, does not offer a formal pass guarantee. Instead, they offer what they call a PassProtection Retake policy, meaning if you do not pass, you can retake the course, but you will not be reimbursed.
Reasons To Choose Kaplan For Your Real Estate Education
Let’s reverse course here and talk about Kaplan now. Our team has them beating AceableAgent in five categories.
Ideal For Visual Learners
While Aceable gets the edge when it comes to auditory learners, we give the win to Kaplan when it comes to visual learners, and that’s because the vast majority of their curriculum is delivered through video lessons.
Example lesson from Kaplan
In each lesson, an instructor appears on-screen, and as they present the material, the digital whiteboard behind them updates with notes, graphics, and examples.
Plus, the Kaplan instructors themselves are fantastic. Our team was expecting some boring, stodgy professor that simply reads from a teleprompter in a monotone voice, but luckily we were proved incorrect.
The instructors are energetic, enthusiastic, and do a great job of breaking down boring, complex information into digestible chunks.
Bottom line, if you comprehend information best through guided visual instruction and graphics, then Kaplan should be a good match for your learning style (unlike Real Estate U and Colibri).
Live Classes
The next win for Kaplan is the fact they offer live classes, whereas AceableAgent does not. Therefore, if you’re the type of student who prefers learning in a classroom setting so you can connect with your peers and ask the instructor questions on the spot, or you simply want a live class schedule to help keep yourself disciplined and on-track, then Kaplan is the clear choice between the two.
Also, as with the company’s on-demand video lessons, our team found the live Kaplan instructors to be just as insightful and engaging.
The Kaplan instructors are very engaging
Plus, the Kaplan live classes are fairly affordable. For example, in Minnesota, the company’s live online class package is only about $50 more than their standard on-demand course, so it likely won’t break the bank if you do indeed want live instruction.
Kaplan allows you to take notes directly within their learning platform. How it works is that while you’re watching one of Kaplan’s videos, if you don’t understand a particular topic or you have a question that you would like to get answered later, simply click the bookmark feature and you can type as many notes or reminders as you’d like.
Then from the main Kaplan dashboard, you can see all of your bookmarks and easily review your notes whenever you’d like.
Kaplan makes it easy to take notes
Now for comparison purposes, it’s worth noting that AceableAgent does not offer this type of feature or tool. Instead, you are forced to take notes yourself in a separate word document or notebook, which is obviously not ideal.
Custom Quiz Generator
It’s also worth highlighting Kaplan’s custom quiz generator, which is a super valuable resource to have when preparing for your national and state licensing exams.
Kaplan basically gives you the opportunity to create your own practice question sets based on a number of factors such as the topics you want to concentrate on, the number and types of questions you want practice with, whether you want to time yourself to simulated exam like conditions, etc.
Kaplan’s custom quiz tool
Overall, it’s just an extremely helpful tool to help students really hone in and improve in the areas where they don’t feel as confident.
Courses For More States
The last win for Kaplan is pretty simple – they cover more states than AceableAgent.
Last we checked, AceableAgent only offers pre-licensing courses for 14 states, whereas Kaplan covers more than 40.
Therefore, before you proceed any further, you may want to double check and make sure AceableAgent actually offers pre-licensing courses and exam prep resources for your specific state.
It is finally time to address the elephant in the room – should you go with Kaplan or AceableAgent to become a licensed real estate professional?
Well, after using and reviewing both company’s courses, the answer is somewhat split. In other words, there’s no distinct winner. Instead, the choice here really depends on your budget and learning style.
First, if money is tight and you want to save every dollar you can, then AceableAgent is likely going to be the more attractive option for you, though do keep in mind that pricing varies by state and how many credit hours are required.
Now if money is not a concern, our team recommends going with AceableAgent if you’re more of an auditory learner, and Kaplan if you’re more of a visual learner. Alternatively, if you just prefer learning in a live classroom environment, then Kaplan is once again the answer.
Pricing and lesson format are the two biggest differences between AceableAgent and Kaplan. The AceableAgent courses are more affordable on average and skew more towards auditory learners, whereas the Kaplan lessons favor visual learners.
Which is better - AceableAgent or Kaplan?
The real estate courses from both companies rate out extremely high. The decision as to which one to choose ultimately boils down to your preferred learning method. Read our full comparison to find out which real estate school is the best fit for you.
Is AceableAgent cheaper than Kaplan Real Estate?
Yes, in most states, the courses from AceableAgent are cheaper than Kaplan. However, keep in mind that both companies regularly offer sales and discounts.
