Training

The practice exam is designed to give candidates a feeling for the format and style of test questions and the breadth of the subject matter in the test (90 questions that are not broken into smaller stand-alone sections). It is delivered in a similar format to the certification exam. The practice exam does not provide numeric scoring because performance on the practice exam does not guarantee passing results on the certification exam.

Following completion of the practice exam, candidates receive a performance report with recommended areas for improvement. The recommendations are based on how well candidates perform in each content area of the examination:

• Areas in which candidates perform well receive feedback that some additional review is recommended for continued success;

• Areas in which performance was marginal receive feedback that additional study is needed for moderate improvement; and

• Areas in which performance was weak receive feedback that significant study is needed for considerable improvement. 

The practice exam is free and accesible in both English and Spanish. You may take the practice exam as many times as you would like.

You do not need to be a housing counselor to take the practice exam; it is available to anyone who creates a HUDHousingCounselors.com account.

To access the practice exam, you must be signed into your account on HUDHousingCounselors.com.

Once you are signed in, click on the “Training Center” button on the home page, then click on “Take Practice Exam.” If you are already signed in, you can access the Take Practice Exam launch page directly.

Completion of training is optional and is not required to become certified. However, to increase certification exam passing rates, candidates are highly encouraged to study the course content.

To access the training, you must be signed into your account on HUDHousingCounselors.com. 

Once you are signed in, select “Training Center” at the top of the page. If you are already signed in, you can access the Training Center launch page directly.

Training is available to anyone who creates an account. You can choose from two study methods: an interactive online training course or a downloadable Study Guide in PDF format. 

Training materials include correct answers and corresponding explanations for knowledge checks. The online training provides feedback onscreen for incorrect answers submitted. The Study Guide provides the same feedback at the end of each module. 

The Knowledge Assessment, unlike the HUD Housing Counselors Certification Exam, poses questions at three levels of difficulty. By reviewing the results of this type of test, learners can assess their knowledge and focus their studies where there may be knowledge gaps. Within each level of difficulty, performance on questions answered correctly determines the feedback provided. 

After completing the assessment, each test taker receives personalized feedback via email that identifies correct and incorrect answers and areas of strength and weakness. The feedback also points to specific HUD Housing Counselors Study Guide module page numbers for further study. Test taker results are also accessible via the User Profile. However, each new attempt overwrites the results of the previous attempt, so only the most recent Knowledge Assessment results are accessible via the User Profile. 

While reviewing the results, test takers should note that the responses highlighted in green are the correct responses. Questions are marked Incorrect when the test taker selected an alternative response to the one highlighted in green. The selection made by the test taker is not identified in the results.