The exam’s sole purpose is to evaluate whether or not candidates possess the minimally required knowledge and skills necessary to practice safely and establish public trust. Therefore, the exam contains questions and content that are representative of actual job performance and test on those content areas at the minimally competent level.
This content was the result of a thorough job analysis studies and subject matter expert panels to evaluate the appropriateness and difficulty level of that content. The exams are not meant to be a “capstone” exam for their education courses and are not directly linked to course content.
New Exam Content Outline (ECO)
As of January 1, 2022, there is a new Exam Content Outline (ECO) for all exams with the following changes. These Exam Content Outlines are revised based on job analyses surveys that let the AQB know what appraisers are doing in the field. Therefore, the changes to the ECO (listed below) should be more in line with appraiser work and education.
In order to effectively study for these topics, you can use the resources listed on this page, search for these topics, study the topics, and be sure to know how to apply each topic in your appraisal practice (with real world scenarios).
Changes to the ECO:
- There are several small percentage changes from the 2015 outline.
- The new ECO further breaks down the following main categories:
- “Reconciliation of Value Indications,” content area 7, now has one subtopic:
- Reconciliation of Approaches to Value
- “Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice,” content area 8, now has 13 subtopics:
- Definitions and Preamble
- Ethics Rule
- Record Keeping Rule
- Competency Rule
- Scope of Work Rule
- Jurisdictional Exception Rule
- Standard 1
- Standard 2
- Standard 3
- Standard 4
- USPAP Advisory Opinions and FAQs
- Extraordinary Assumption
- Hypothetical Condition
- In the 2022 ECO there are two new sections (with their own subsections):
- Emerging Appraisal Methods
- Application of Online Property Information Database and Technological Tools
- Appropriate Use and Limitations of the Hybrid/Bifurcated Appraisal Method
- Use and Limitations of Automated Valuation Methods
- Appraisal Statistical Methods
- Statistical Measures of Central Tendency
- Statistical Measures of Variation
- Inferential Statistical Techniques Used in Appraising