Approximately 35% of candidates in the Estate Agents Qualifying Examinations and Salespersons Qualifying Examinations provided information with respect to their occupational background. For distribution please see above diagram.

A total of 4,383 candidates registered for the two levels of Salespersons Qualifying Examinations in the paper-based and computer-based formats in 2002. Of these 950 registered for the Estate Agents Qualifying Examination in the three paper-based examinations. The average pass rate was 67% for the Salespersons Qualifying Examination and 53.8% for the Estate Agents Qualifying Examination. In terms of candidates?educational background, over 60% of the candidates for the Salespersons Examination had attained Form 5 standard and about 16% were in possession of a first degree or above. The percentage of candidates for the Estate Agents Examination with a degree or above was as high as 47.6%. As the transition period had already concluded, all candidates for the Salespersons Examination had not been engaged in estate agency work before while there were close to 200 currently working in the profession who sat for the Estate Agents Examination.