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The CE Shop Review
We analyze the major pros and cons of The CE Shop in this detailed review
Although The CE Shop is primarily known for their post-licensing and continued education courses, the company also offers pre-licensing courses and exam prep materials as well. In this article, we discuss the positives and negatives of their pre-licensing courses and how effective they are so you can quickly get an idea of whether The CE Shop is the right online real estate school for your needs and budget.
Given that this is a lengthy, detailed review, we’ve included jump-to links above for your convenience.
Video Review: CE Shop Real Estate Courses
In the video above, John from the Test Prep Insight team discusses the pros and cons of the real estate pre-licensing courses from The CE Shop. For more detail, be sure to continue reading our full written review below.
The CE Shop Cost & Course Options
As its name suggests, The CE Shop does indeed offer post-license and continuing education courses for real estate professionals. However, for the purposes of this review, we will be focusing on the company’s pre-licensing courses and exam prep materials.
For most states, The CE Shop offers four self-paced, on-demand packages to choose from:
Course Only: includes the pre-licensing course that fulfils your state requirements
Standard: also includes exam prep materials
Value: adds business building courses as well
Premium: everything listed above plus continuing education for after you pass your state exam
Obviously, the cost of the company’s packages vary by state and the number of pre-licensing course hours required, but luckily, all of the pre-licensing courses and exam prep materials from the CE Shop are very reasonably priced in comparison to other online real estate schools like AceableAgent and Colibri.
Example packages for California
For example, if you average the cost of the company’s standard packages for California and Florida, it comes out to around $200, whereas if you run the same calculation for say Kaplan or AceableAgent, it’s about $50 to $100 more.
That gives you an idea of how much cheaper the courses from The CE Shop are compared to others in the industry. Their courses are definitely near the more affordable end of the spectrum.
The CE Shop offers courses for over 40 different states
Plus, it’s worth mentioning that The CE Shop regularly offers sales and special promotions so be sure to check for coupon codes before buying. I usually see their packages discounted anywhere from 20 to 30% off.
What Our Team Likes About The CE Shop
Rather than waste your time covering a list of study materials and features that you likely already know about, let’s instead highlight what our team sees as the biggest strengths and weaknesses of The CE Shop courses.
At the end of the day, this will be more helpful for you to determine whether The CE Shop is the best online real estate school for you and your learning style.
Various Delivery Methods
Our team really likes how The CE Shop delivers their content in a variety of ways. Unlike a lot of other online real estate schools, which deliver their core educational content in a text-heavy format, The CE Shop does a great job of varying their delivery methods by frequently sprinkling in videos with funny cartoon animations as well as interactive quizzes.
Example video lesson from The CE Shop
In other words, when you click “next” within the lessons, you never know what’s coming. Sometimes it’s a brief text explanation, sometimes it’s a video, and sometimes it’s a practice question.
The company really keeps you guessing, which in my opinion, is a major positive. This keeps the learning experience fresh and engaging as opposed to falling into a repetitive, boring click, read and repeat pattern.
Example practice question from The CE Shop
Bottom line, if you are a visual learner, I think you’ll prefer the courses from The CE Shop as opposed to other online real estate schools (similar to the Kaplan Real Estate courses).
The company’s custom designed learning platform, which they call Leap 2.0 is clearly a highlight. It’s simple, intuitive and super easy-to-use. The dashboard clearly outlines all the different sections within your course, and it’s easy to check your progress.
A look inside The CE Shop learning platform
Plus, I like that within lessons, you can easily bookmark any explanation, video, or quiz to revisit later right from the dashboard, which is great for concepts and topics that you are struggling with. Overall, it’s just hard to find much to complain about when it comes to their digital platform.
High Pass Rates
The company’s pass rates are clearly a strength as well. On average, The CE Shop students boast a 64% pass rate, while the national average is 52%, so obviously the company is doing something right.
The numbers speak for themselves. I mean 12% higher than the national average is nothing to sneeze at. That’s a major advantage, which is probably why the company is confident enough to offer a pass guarantee (somewhat similar to Colibri Real Estate).
CE Shop students generally perform well on their state exams
Essentially, if you sign up for one of the company’s Standard, Value or Premium packages, they will reimburse you for the cost of your initial licensing exam if you fail and a retake is required.
Now to be clear, this guarantee is not available for all states, but still, it’s a nice insurance policy that many online real estate schools simply do not offer.
Exam Prep Guidance
Our team loves that after you complete your initial assessment exam, the company provides a clear, detailed breakdown of the topics and areas that you need to focus on moving forward. This will help guide your studies so you’re not wasting valuable time.
The CE Shop will help guide your studies
Plus, we also like that The CE Shop provides a checklist for you to complete to ensure you’re ready for test day. This helps keep you on-track and ensures you don’t pre-maturely take the exam and fail.
Excellent Customer Service
Lastly, we should highlight the company’s customer service. They really take it seriously. Representatives are available seven days per week via email, phone and live chat, which is awesome.
For reference, Colibri and Kaplan don’t even offer customer support seven days per week. Therefore, you have to hand it to The CE Shop, their team definitely goes above and beyond.
What Our Team Does NOT Like About The CE Shop
Now that we’ve covered the major pros of using The CE Shop to get your real estate license, let’s turn the tables and discuss the negatives. That way you have a fair, balanced view of what The CE Shop has to offer.
No Mobile App
Unfortunately, The CE Shop does not have a mobile app. Therefore, if you live a busy, hectic life, and you were hoping you could study away from home on your lunch break, between classes, or waiting for your kids to be done with soccer practice, then you may want to take this under consideration.
Now to be fair, the company’s website and Leap 2.0 learning platform that I mentioned earlier are mobile friendly obviously, but overall it’s just not as convenient as having a dedicated mobile app that you can easily pop open at a moment’s notice and knock out a lesson regardless of where you are.
No Live Classes
Unlike Colibri and Kaplan, The CE Shop does not offer any live class options, whether online or in-person. Instead, their courses are all self-paced and on-demand.
As such, if you’re not a self-starter, maybe you’re the type of person that needs the accountability and discipline that goes along with a live class schedule or you just prefer learning via live instruction so you can ask questions on the fly and mix it up with your peers, then The CE Shop may not the best option for you.
With that said, I should mention that for certain states, The CE Shop does offer weekly instructor led webinars for live Q&A, but at the end of the day, it’s just not the same as an organized class curriculum.
Verdict: Is The CE Shop Worth It?
Time to answer the big question – are the pre-licensing courses and exam prep materials from The CE Shop worth it?
Well, after using and reviewing the company’s courses and study materials, in my opinion, the answer is absolutely yes.
Sure, maybe there are more ideal choices out there if you absolutely need a mobile app in order to study on-the-go or you prefer learning via live classes; however if you do not fall into one of those buckets, then I think The CE Shop is an excellent choice.
Not only are their courses more affordable than most online real estate schools, but I also really like their Leap 2.0 learning platform, not to mention their engaging content that features a mix of text, videos, and interactive quizzes.
All in all, I just think the courses from The CE Shop are about the best in the entire industry, especially if you are looking for a self-paced course that you can complete on your time and at your own pace. In fact, The CE Shop takes the number 1 spot on our list of the best online real estate schools.
FAQ
Is The CE Shop legit?
Yes, The CE Shop is a reputable real estate education company. The company has a B+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Is The CE Shop accredited?
Yes, the courses from The CE Shop are accredited by ARELLO, the leader in real estate license education and training.
Is The CE Shop good?
Yes, the courses from The CE Shop are extremely good. Students who take CE Shop courses generally pass their state licensure exam.
How hard is The CE Shop final exam?
The final exam from The CE Shop is quite difficult. The company’s final practice test closely mimics the real exam in terms of length, and difficulty in order to prepare you for your big day.
