I often get asked if I have a “No-Nonsense” study guide for the Extra Class test like my Tech and General Class study guides. While I still don’t have one—or anticipate having one in the future—here’s a way to use the materials that are already out there to mastering the material on the Extra Class test. Thanks to Mike, W2MJZ, for sharing this with us…….Dan
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Right up front… this is a very long article, and making it seem even worse, is that these days no one really likes to read anything which is too wordy. Most everyone is now conditioned to be spoon fed a steady diet of “little written sniglets” and web-speak. But there was no easy way that I could come up with, to give this topic a complete and careful explanation, with only one line bullets and short little talking points.
I would hope that if you are serious enough about passing your Extra Class Exam for the first time, or perhaps you are frustrated with one or more unsuccessful attempts at sitting for the exam, you might like to take the time to carefully examine this detailed log of my own experience. I have never seen the process which I describe here documented in any of the literature, and since it was successful in my own case, perhaps it just might be an unexplored path by which others might find similar success.
This Just In…
Yonkers, New York… In the early morning hours of Sunday December 6th, 2009, Michael J. Zydiak (W2MJZ) confidently walked into the Community Room of the Yonkers Police Department’s First Precinct. In front of him were seven (7) very serious minded VEs from the Yonkers Amateur Club. Presenting his original Amateur License and proper identification for inspection, a small fee, and a correctly filled out NCVEC Form 605, he was given a random selection of fifty (50) questions from the current 738 question Amateur Extra Class Question Pool, taken from a sealed envelope. After spending a total of twenty or thirty minutes to carefully circle the correct answers to the exam, it was handed in, and immediately reviewed by each of the seven VEs.
Yes… I have a real nice 1×3 call, thanks to the “Vanity Call Sign System”, just like my Elmer, Andy W2LHW (SK) had back in the early 1960’s when I first discovered radio. And yes, I aced my last ever Ham exam after spending an honest total of about sixty hours in preparation. And by-the-way, I’m quite certain that I could have easily aced all 738 questions on that December morning if it had been required. Perhaps you might like to know how I did it.
Now please note the following… If you are in a real hurry, and don’t have the time or interest to enjoy the reminiscing and “Ham Tail’s” of an “Almost Old Timer”, then please feel free to go directly down to the “Meat and Potatoes” sub-heading, and start learning how I aced my recent Amateur Extra Exam. However, please do note that if you don’t read all of my stuff in its entirety, you just might miss some little tidbit of motivation that just might help you to get you off your duff and pass your own very last Ham Radio exam.
That said… in retrospect, sixty hours was actually well beyond the time I really needed to prepare for the Extra Class Exam, since I really needed only thirty seven (37) correct answers to pass and not all Fifty (50). I perhaps needed to have spent only about thirty five or forty hours preparing to pass it. But… I did have my “Almost Old Timer” reputation to protect, and I didn’t really want to be taken down a few notches in front of the entire leadership of my own local “Yonkers Amateur Radio Club” if I had “had just gotten by” with less than fifty. (A club of which I still have a membership card dating back to the 1960’s knocking around somewhere in my way too cluttered, but way too under utilized shack.)
While I really hadn’t given the actual study and preparation process for my upgrade much of any thought, after speaking with a few hams afterwards, and receiving a few wide eyed “holy explicative deleteds”, I realized that my experience was not as commonplace as I might have first thought. So… after speaking with a few other very knowledgeable Hams, who are far more community minded than myself, it was suggested that it might be a good idea to share my experience and study method with everyone.
First off, and right up front, I must make this very serious “Almost Old Timer” comment… You don’t have to learn Morse Code (CW) any more as part of the exam process. The FCC took the CW requirements off the table a while ago, so there is absolutely no excuse what-so-ever why you can’t upgrade. (My own excuse was simply that I was way too busy working for a living, taking care of my family, working on my old house, collecting old cars, and pursuing way to many other activities over the last three decades, to have any time left for the hobby.)
However, it is of critical importance that while CW is no longer a licensing requirement, I am absolutely convinced that being proficient in CW is an essential and extremely critical survival skill, much like starting a campfire without matches, building a shelter with tree branches, or using the Sun to find your direction. (More on essential survival radio skills, and my own thoughts on fun/easy ways to learn the code in future posts.)
Myself, I am one of those very inactive “Almost Old Timers” who actually was tested back in the 1970’s at the FCC Offices on Varick Street in New York City (I was a late bloomer even back then.) While I really don’t remember anything at all about taking the written Technician Exam and its five WPM code test (too much collecting old cars affecting my brain cells I suspect), I will never forget the sheer terror of my thirteen WPM CW test for my General.
Sometime in the later 1970’s, I’m sitting in this very uncomfortable chair, with my #2 pencil in hand, with blank white paper in front of me, and I seem to even recall that the paper itself was some sort of actual FCC form. I wasn’t really ready at all for the test, as at that time I could barely keep up with the 13 WPM from W1AW on my very well worn HQ-129-X.
So out comes the code from the speaker, and I’m struggling to keep up with it, getting the characters about halfway written before the next letter came along… “oh no, my brain was melting”… and after about 40 seconds I was drowning in a sea of numbers, characters, prosigns and punctuation, my fingers couldn’t fly any faster, and my brain was starting to drop it all out the other side before I could grab on to it… (was that an “L” or an “F”!!!!!, was that an “S” or an “H”!!!!!) I was seconds away from crumbling to dust.
But, as fate would have it, the very nice, but totally bored FCC lady who was administering the test was walking around behind the test takers. She looked down at my very neat forty seconds or so of copy which I was printing and spacing very carefully, and she casually informed me that… “you’re done”… so I dropped my pencil in half a heartbeat, as I really was completely finished in more ways than one at that point; but she said I had passed the CW portion for my General.
Of course I still have lingering thoughts about the formal regulation at that time where one had to get a full minute of perfect copy, and I guess the nice FCC lady simply assumed that while it looked to her that I was having an easy time of it, and that the next ten seconds were not anything for her to worry about; if she had only kept quiet for another ten seconds, I would have been toast. But… she must have been dazzled with my neat printing, assumed that I was much better prepared than I really was, and she was unable to hear my brain frying out of control on overload. Lucky for me; and thank you so very much for the impatience of career Civil Servants.
But to bring this point home, to get licensed or to upgrade, you no longer have to crumple under the pressure of a formal CW exam ever again. Now you can simply start to enjoy developing this essential survival skill at your own comfortable pace when you finally come to your senses.
Now to quote a number of anonymous holders of the current General Ticket…”Oh nooooo!, that Extra Class Exam is way too hard…I couldn’t ever pass that exam in a million years!”
Rubbish!!!!!!…. Yes, I’ll say it again… Rubbish!!!!!!…. (I would say something else a bit stronger here, but this is a wholesome family website.)
Do Take Note of the Following…
They publish and freely distribute all of the exact questions, 738 in all, and all of the exact correct answers to the Extra Class Question Pool; fifty of which will be repeated exactly in the written exam the VE hands you, with at worst, a change in the order of the answers on your test sheet.
The VECs have weeded out and eliminated any imperfect or ambiguous questions and/or answers.
They even give you the exact wrong answers (actually called “distractors”), that are placed right alongside of those exact correct answers in order to… you guessed it… distract you. (But much more on this point later.)
You can bring along a simple calculator, which perhaps you might not even need, as there is only a moderate number of really scary math questions. (Remembering again that they give you every single one of the correct questions and answers to study beforehand.)
No longer are you herded in and out of some government holding pen by career Civil Service “professionals” who are simply counting the minutes until their lunch and/or break time. These days you take the exam in a comfortable and friendly environment, supervised by like-minded individuals who are very seriously interested in your success.
It’s “multiple guess” with only a total of four possible choices.
As there really isn’t even a fixed time limit set for the test, you could even spend a few hours taking the exam, but you really shouldn’t need more than forty or fifty minutes, and even that’s stretching it.
And finally… even if you didn’t follow the “Meat and Potatoes” found below, and have somehow actually managed to fail the exam, you can simply pay another fee, and take another exam all over again, and again, and again, if you need to, as often as you wish, as long as you can keep coming up with another fee.
Wow!!!!!!! If you don’t already realize it, the current Amateur Radio exams and testing procedures are really a gift, and the only thing I could possibly think of that could have made my test taking experience a more pleasant and enjoyable event, would have been if they had served me a cold beer and a medium well burger with fries & coleslaw while I was taking the exam :)
Oh by-the-way, that gift mentioned above is worth perhaps forty to sixty billion dollars, which is a conservative low end estimate of what the entire Amateur Radio Frequency Spectrum would bring if it were auctioned off to the commercial interests.
But Now for a Serious Reality Check
As I wear my two fingers down to little stubs typing this document, so that you can breeze through your last Amateur Radio exam the very first time you take it; sitting right next to my laptop is a dog eared and worn copy of the ARRL Extra Class License Manual (Ninth Edition). On a number of occasions, when I was snowed in for a few days, or I was home from work with the flu, I had seriously attempted to carefully work though all of its four hundred seventy pages of pure, very well written, very well organized, highly detailed, technically perfect, fat. (That’s 470 very large pages after eliminating all of the blank and advertising pages.)
Yes I said it… well written fat; and… let me ruffle a few more feathers here… huge amounts of mostly unnecessary and unneeded fat; most of which in no way is directed specifically to accomplishing the singular task at hand… that of getting thirty seven or more correct answers out of fifty.
Let me quote from page 1-8, section 1.4, second paragraph of the ARRL Extra Class Manual:
This study guide will provide the necessary background and explanation for the answers to the exam questions. By learning this material, you will go beyond just learning the answers. You’ll understand the fundamentals behind them and this makes it easier to learn, remember and use what you know. This book also contains many useful facts and figures that you can use in your station and on the air.”
Well written, well punctuated, well structured, concise, absolutely 100% true in its description, and a representative paragraph of a superbly well researched work detailing with every single technical, regulatory and operational area from which the entire Amateur Extra Class question pool is based. But please, do send me a stinging barbed posting, if any of you out there have ever actually managed to wade through all of those four hundred and seventy pages in just a few weeks, and managed to retain enough of it to pass the extra exam on the first shot. I would be seriously impressed if you had.
But do please take note that the above quote states quite clearly that it goes beyond what is required!
Now this is going to rattle the cages of a few of you purists out there, but here’s some further serious reality check. You are not being tested by the VEs on what you know, rather, you are being tested only on how well you know the answers to a random subset of fifty (50) questions selected from a specific set of 738 questions in the VEC pool. That’s all, nothing more.
The bar that you have to get over to pass the Extra Exam was set at a very specific and well defined level. It is absolutely unnecessary for an individual to expend inordinate amounts of valuable time and effort in preparing to go much beyond that bar. Perhaps though, some of you really do have the time and desire to do so, and this is rather commendable and I seriously admire those of you who are so inclined.
However, any extra work that is performed in the course of preparing to take the Extra Class examination for the rest of us, will at best be only a time consuming distraction from the primary task at hand, which again is to simply get thirty seven or more correct answers circled on the answer sheet the very first time you attempt it.
I can already hear the murmurs of discontent from the purists out there who will most certainly point out in sharply worded posts, as to how detrimental and destructive my thoughts are to the integrity of the hobby, or raise issues of the need for personal growth and self improvement, or go on about the technical standards which need be maintained, or perhaps even express thoughts over the preparation required to assume the roll of world wide ambassadors for the hobby.
And of course, there will also be the sad and quite melancholy thoughts which will be expressed over how much the hobby has changed from the “good old days”… rubbish… get over it… These are the “good old days” and please do try and remember that it’s a fascinating fun hobby, and not a calling to some more serious religious vocation.
Sorry, but the rules have been clearly formulated and set in place. The test taker needs only to be focused on an honest and above board process of learning all of the questions and their answers in the pool beforehand, and then pulling fifty of those answers out of their head in order to be able to circle the correct answers, nothing more.
There aren’t any requirements in place for any sort of prerequisite preparation in order to take the Amateur Extra exam, and there are no retesting or proficiency requirements anytime in the future. So any method by which an individual can honestly get to the magic thirty seven (37) is fair, good, noble, and pure of heart, and only needs to be done once. And of course, your passing of the exam helps to sustain and grow our hobby no matter what the purists might have to say about it.
So grasshopper… let me guide you on to the path of true Extra Class test taking enlightenment.
First and right up front, if you were to download the current Extra Pool right off of the internet, and attempt to simply memorize the answers to the 738 questions, unless you had a “one read only”, perfect, photographic memory, you are going to gag as your brain turns into dry dust from the absolute sterile boredom of such a task. The questions in themselves are ordinary, rather short, simple, and more importantly, the raw consecutively numbered download is somewhat random, and is definitely not ordered in a well thought out logical sequence as to topics and specialized areas of interest. Pure rote memorization doesn’t work, especially with 738 questions, so don’t even waste your time going down that path.
What you really need are simplified, “short and sweet” study guides with extremely concise explanations for each individual question in the pool, and of equal importance, all of those 738 questions need to be carefully regrouped and reordered according to their topic and specialized area of interest.
Further, one needs a methodology and process by which one can easily, most efficiently, and continuously, separate out the questions and answers that you already know, the questions and answers that you need to read only once or twice to know, the questions and answers that may need a bit of serious study, and the questions and answers that would have seriously talented RF engineers flipping through the pages of some reference book, in order to refresh their own memories.
Finally…The Real “Meat and Potatoes”
Step One: Get your hands on Gordon West’s Extra Class Study Guide (Fifth Edition), which covers the current Extra Class Question Pool which expires on June 30, 2012. I found that the Gordon West book had elegantly concise explanations to each and every one of the questions. He has also reordered the entire Extra Class question pool into very logical chapters and individual topics, so that all of the questions on the same topic are grouped together along with just enough interesting, light and playful commentary to hold your interest.
Step Two: As will be pointed out again later in this article, at all costs, one needs to avoid concentrating on the wrong answers (which are most correctly labeled by the exam writers as “distractors”). Along those very lines, there is a superbly written and elegantly simple study guide to the Extra Class examination (remembering that the simplest solutions are most always the best solution). This study guide was written and made freely available on the internet by Jack Tiley AD7FO, and will also become out-of-date on June 30 2012.
While I am not one to casually toss praise, Jack came up with something superb, but a diamond in the rough which I didn’t really appreciate and fully grasp the significance of, until I was slogging through the “distractors” for a while. Jack has created a very unique and highly useful Extra Class study guide, and I will quote Jack directly here…
All question answers have been re-written as a true statement and the other choices are not shown. Studying in this way will help you identify the correct answer and avoids the confusion of having studied both the correct and incorrect answers when you sit down and take the exam.” (End of Quote.) Trust me… as one who has carefully gone through the entire question pool very thoroughly, it’s the distractors that cloud your judgement to a much greater degree than the easier judgement needed to simply recall the correct answer without distraction.
I will also point out that Jack’s work offers extremely concise well written explanations, but only when he thinks they are really needed. The work is arranged in the original numerical order of the VEC question pool, and the bulk of it is in the form of simple and straight forward, declarative sentences. Many of the questions have their own clever, colorful, detailed, and well thought out graphics to help burn the correct answer on to your brain cells; along with clean, neat, step-by-step calculations for the entire group of mathematically based questions.
Step Three: It is the critical time saver for you to be able to precisely separate out that which you already know from that which you don’t, as well as an ongoing process of what you are easily absorbing with only moderate effort. You also need to precisely identify those questions which are the really nasty time consuming “pigs”, which are a serious road block to your success if not dealt with correctly.
To that end, the ARRL Publications Department has made available a set of 5.5″ x 2.75″ cards with each individual question from the Extra Class Question Pool printed on the front of the card, along with the four A, B, C & D choices. And on the back of the card you will find the correct answer.
Step Four: Here’s the key to it all… you need to rearrange the ARRL Card Deck into a more logical order, where all of the distinct areas of study, and the sub-topics found within those areas of study are logically grouped together. This is the essential component of the process where the formidable number of questions, 738 in all, will be quickly and continually whittled down into a manageable and much much smaller number of problematic questions.
That well thought out order is found in the Gordon West book, where the individual subject areas of study are separated into sixteen distinct individual chapters, and these chapters are in turn carefully ordered into all of the specific specialized topics. It is this reordering of the ARRL “card deck”, along with the concise explanations found for each question in the Gordon West book, which will get you quickly and confidently into that chair in front of the VEs.
In addition, as much as it seems to contradict “the way we have always have done it in the past”, it is the complete elimination of studying the “distractors” (wrong answers), championed by Jack Tiley AD7FO, that works so very well in practice, and negates some of our older and and less effective techniques for studying for the Amateur exams… making Jack’s more simplified approach quite cutting edge.
Of course, I must confess here that I did something quite improper which could possibly land me into copyright hell. Jack arranged his work in the original numerical order of the 738 question pool. However, I spent an extremely long day cutting and pasting Jack Tiley’s entire work into my own word processor, and then rearranging it into the very same order of my rearranged ARRL card deck, which in turn follows the logical order of questions found in the Gordon West book.
But please, and I’m serious here, do not ask me for a copy. It was a “cut and steal” that I created only for my own personal use with words which belong to Jack, and the very logical order of the questions which belong to Gordon. (But there is nothing that I can think of which would stop any individual on their own from spending a day doing the very same “clip and steal” that I did.)
After I had read the Gordon West book carefully cover-to-cover in about a week, it was readily apparent that the best approach was a selective attack on the individual chapters, in the order of their perceived difficulty (again there are sixteen chapters in all). I worked on the easiest chapters first, then progressed forward through the chapters in my own chosen order of increasing difficulty. I finally finished up doing the most difficult chapters of the book right at the very end.
After rearranging the ARRL “card deck” into the specific order of the chapters I was reading and the sub-topics within those chapters, it is then quite easy to work in parallel with the well organized material found in the Gordon West book. I found that working with each single chapter of the Gordon West book, as a completely separate and fully independent entity, was the fastest and most efficient approach I could come up with.
Depending on your own background and experience, you will probably find a number of the book’s chapters, cut & dried and quite easy to absorb. And most importantly, as you flip through the corresponding “cards” of each particular chapter you are studying, perhaps even after just a few flips, the correct answers should start to jump out at you before you completely finish reading the question and look at all of the answers.
I found it very beneficial when going through the Gordon West book chapters to use coded colored rubber bands on the separated sections of the “card deck” to keep track of my progress. I also found it very beneficial to use a series of stick-on Avery color coded round dots to keep track of completely “done cards” within each chapter, those cards which were mildly problematic, as well as the small group of cards that were highly problematic. But again, the paralleled card stack is an extremely quick means by which one can continuously keep track of your real and very fast progress.
The reasoning is this, the questions that are found in the chapters that you are most comfortable with will more easily stick in your brain for a longer length of time. The extremely difficult chapters from your own perspective, even after you have drilled the correct answers into your head, will last for only a shorter amount of time. Thus, you want to do the really hard stuff at the very end so it is are fresh in your mind when you take the exam, and the easier stuff from early on in the process simply comes along for the ride.
With these three tools, one can easily master each independent chapter’s questions and to quickly eliminate any further time wasting study of the “done” questions as one moves along in the study process.
The “card sort” is a dynamic continuous process as you systematically go through each individual chapter’s separate “card pile”, whittling down the cards from each of the individual chapters into a larger and larger permanent “done” pile each day. You are only concentrating on the cards which you are having trouble with at that particular moment. Again, once you have a card “done”, we don’t have to waste any more serious effort on it, and we simply relegate it to a once a day “daily flip” to keep what we now know, fresh in our brain.
Progress is measured by the daily read of one or more specific chapters (once again with the chapters ordered in your very own perceived order of difficulty), along with a continuous card-by-card self testing of the questions of that particular chapter in their specific fixed order. Thus we are able to get continuous feedback on what has been burnt well into our brain, and what still needs to be worked on. When you have the current chapter down cold, put the whole thing into the “done” pile, in correct topic order, and go on to the next somewhat harder chapter of your choosing.
By doing the easier chapters up front, and leaving the difficult chapters for last, one is able to get the bulk of the questions out of the way for good. Once you have a chapter down cold, you don’t have to read it ever again, and you only have to run through your ever expanding completed chapters in the “done deck” once a day to keep what you have previously learned fresh in your head.
Over the course of a few weeks you will be creating a well ordered stack of “done cards” in nearly the exact order of your own self-determined order of difficulty The key to keeping the questions and answers fresh in your head is to, first thing in the morning or last thing at night, go through all of the “done cards” of the chapters that you have already completed. Again, you really only have to do that once a day, with only the cards from the chapters you have completed. But after two or three weeks, you should have gone through all of the chapters, and hopefully, you are simply flipping the entire set cards once each day, to keep it all fresh in your head until exam day. (It does take about two and a half hours to flip all 738 cards at the very end of your studying.
I would think that most everyone who implements this process, since you are doing the easiest questions at the beginning, will be quickly creating a big pile of “done cards” which you will have down cold.
It is through the daily card flip of the “done cards”, where you will find that your brain quickly starts to skim right over reading the entire question completely, and the answer simply pops into your head before you even finished reading the question without even really looking at the other three wrong answers. (An old Jedi mind trick.)
And while you might be tempted not to even flip over each and every card in your daily “card flip” to see if you are correct, force yourself do it anyway. I can’t impress upon you enough, that you must concentrate fully on the correct answers and give no thought what-so-ever to the “distractors”. (It is really the single most important thing that I can teach you in studying for the exam.)
And finally, after perhaps a few weeks of “done card” flipping, you will find that for majority of all of the questions, you will reach a point where you could cover up all of the answers and the right answer will still simply pop into your head. That’s what you are really after, not rote memorization at all, but a simple and reliable association of the correct answer to the question, without even having to see any of the four choices. (Which is why Jack Tiley’s distractor-less text is such a valuable study tool.)
It is really a ridiculously simple process, but as I noted previously, it is the simplest solutions which are usually the most effective. But now lets go and look at the other side of the “card deck”, so-to-speak, which you may or may not have even thought about.
So many of the questions in the pool are notably repetitive, and in so many cases, when you learn one question you have probably learned the answers to two or three other very similar questions in that same chapter as well. There are patterns, there are repetitions, there are questions which mirror other questions, there are noticeable similarities in groups of answers, there are questions which while worded differently, are asking the very same thing. And because you have have ordered your own “card deck” so very carefully, all sorts of patterns and similarities will quickly make themselves apparent to you. (Actually, it is more like they will jump up and bite you as you master your “card deck”.)
(As one single example of any number of patterns and similarities I uncovered in my study of the Extra Class Question Pool… for about six or so questions (I’m way too lazy to go back and get the exact number), it’s always the FCC that’s in charge, or the FCC and the FAA are the responsible authorities, NOBODY ELSE. So now you can put all of those worded differently, but related questions into the “done pile”.)
In addition, in the Gordon West book there are a large number of great hints and tricks that are given to help you more easily commit many of the seriously challenging ideas to memory. (I must give credit here to “ELI the ICE Elmer” who came to my rescue in keeping the phasing questions straight in my head.)
But of course, saving the worst for last, their are also the “Pigs With Sharp Fangs from Extra Class Hell” questions…
And once again, unless you have the blessing and/or curse of an actual true “one read only” perfect photographic memory, as you progress through the chapters, you will be placing more than a few big, red, one inch round Avery stick-on dots on to those particularly nasty cards with the really horrid questions, that you haven’t been able to comfortably grasp at all.
For me it was the twelve or so Polar Coordinate questions, a smattering of the other complex mathematical questions, and a number of the really stupid stuff that I kept reversing in my head such as pre-emphasis and de-emphasis, and which way the parallel and series circuits functioned at passing or rejecting RF power. (too much old car collecting in my wild youth).
There are a number questions in the pool that require a serious understanding of rather complex mathematical concepts along with required multi-step formulas to solve them… “Pigs With Sharp Fangs”, that most of us really dread. Of course these mathematical questions are certainly doable and fully understandable with varying degrees of careful attention, serious investments in time, perhaps reflection back to the high school and college math courses which most every one of you despised, and some really intense study and review. (Yuck)
But the good news is that there are not a really huge number of those questions in the pool, and if you absolutely positively lack the background and/or mindset, one could actually chose not to even bother with them, but only if one is really strong enough in most all the other topics. A passing grade of thirty seven is still within reasonable reach, even if you don’t have each and every question down cold.
Myself, I really didn’t wish to go back and relearn high school math from over four decades ago, but I really wanted to ace the exam. So after about the second week I had completely separated out about fifty (50) or sixty (60) questions that I was not at all comfortable with. But on the other hand, I had a big fat grin on my face as after only forty hours of comfortable study, I had at least 678 of those cards down cold, and I could answer most all those 678 questions without even looking at any of the answers during my morning card flip.
While again I’ll point out that blind rote memorization of the entire 738 question pool is a completely foolish endeavor, there is however just a wee bit of wiggle room here. Let me explain…
- If you only had one single card out of the 738 where you could not fully grasp the core concept, terminology or the mathematical process, you could probably simply memorize that one question and answer in about one or two minutes.
- If you had ten of those sort of questions, perhaps it might take you the whole day to go back and review the material, and get those questions down cold.
- If at the end of the chapter by chapter process you had fifty or sixty “Pigs With Sharp Fangs” in the “Pig Pen”, it would take about a week of not too difficult effort to zero in on them; while of course still flipping the rest of the “done cards” daily, to keep all of those other easy answers fresh in your brain. (This is my very own first hand experience.)
Your own ultimate success in passing the Extra Exam will vary inversely as a function of the size of your “Pig Pen”, as it is only logical that the larger your “Pig Pen” becomes, your probability of success will proportionally diminish.
For myself, flipping through about thirty rotten, wretched math questions like solving Polar Coordinates, and about thirty questions which included concepts which were somewhat obscure to me like Space Communications and the internal characteristics of the junctions of exotic components wasn’t too terribly bad at all. The number was manageable, and I had a huge amount of confidence in already having mastered the very large bulk of the questions in the “done pile”.
(On the exam itself, I do distantly remember that my own “Pigs with Fangs” were no more than about five or six of the questions of my randomly selected fifty. If I had skipped that last week of study, I still would have easily passed.)
And once again, even as I was working and focused on my own very “Pigs”, I was still flipping the entire “done” pile once a day, thus insuring a statistically based certainty of passing the exam, even if I had simply chosen to toss the “Pigs” into the shredder instead of smoking and then slicing them into bacon.
And again, as our system most efficiently took the “done cards” right off of the study table, for that small remaining number of “Pigs”, it did not seem to be that difficult nor time consuming a task to go back and even reread the concise explanations from both of the works that I have cited previously, and fully concentrate on only those specific questions for an additional week (twenty hours) of work.
That’s why doing the process in the “easy to hard direction” will maximize the probability of real success in the minimum time possible, with the ever increasing difficulty at the end of the process simply putting icing on the already well “done” cake.
So what are your real probabilities of success?
Actually if you follow my lead here, turn off the TV, and spend a few weeks at it, I suspect that your probabilities of success are quite good. If it hasn’t already been done somewhere on the internet, someday when I’m home sick with the flu or snowed in, I’ll crunch the numbers much more carefully and come up with more accurate probabilities. But here are some quick and very crude estimates of the probabilities of passing the Extra based on a range of honestly arrived at “Pig Pen” sizes.
For now we will have to assume an equal weighting for each and every question in the Extra Exam Question Pool (although the questions themselves actually have variable weightings). So with the required proportional selections from the various question pool sub-sections creating a balanced random selection of 50 questions, and considering the possibility of one good guess out of four for your particular “Pig Pen” and assuming you simply shredded your “Pigs”…
- 738 down cold… Ace
- 688 down cold… ~47 correct out of 50
- 638 down cold… ~44 correct out of 50
- 588 down cold… ~41 correct out of 50
- 538 down cold… ~39 correct out of 50
We start to close in statistically close to the passing grade of 37 (74%) as we approach the region of around the middle to lower 500’s of the total number of questions and answers that you have down cold. (But again, this is only a rough guesstimate, and your own results could vary significantly as a result of random chance.)
Again as noted before, I’m a perfectionist, so I really wanted to get a perfect score to sort of make up for all of the decades I was neglecting this fantastic hobby while I was “collecting old cars”. But if you follow my lead here and you have a more realistic set of expectations than myself, and can get within spitting distance to the middle or higher 600’s… as there is a mandated and well balanced selection from the pool of your particular fifty questions, a score of thirty seven or more is a very reasonable expectation to attain, and very doable with only a minimum amount of serious effort.
Footnote… I am still not really as active in the hobby and as well connected as I would like to be. I’m not even certain if any of what I have written will be of any real value to any one else who might actually be reading this. But I would love to have whatever feedback you might care to send along through this website, and if there was something that I didn’t explain well enough, or was still unclear to you, I would love to post any additional commentary as might be required, as my goal here is to make as many new Extras as possible before I run out of gas :)
(Angry purists are also welcomed to reply, most especially if they are still Generals, but they do so at their own serious risk and peril :)
Mike Zydiak W2MJZ
George says
What a GREAT read! THANK YOU so much for posting this – I really enjoyed! As a General considering upgrading to Extra, I read this article with gusto.
Paul says
Guy’s getting ready for the Extra test… or any ham test for that matter…..
try my tip.. it may be hard but it works…. get the book Gordon West is great…
NOW black out the wrong answers…. do not ever read the wrong answers…
NEVER>>> EVER…. do not take practice tests…..
never read the wrong answers…
when you take the test there will not be any confusion…
I have shared this tip with many and it works….
again it may be hard to not take a practice test….
but this works…
Paul [email protected]
Chris says
I was a Tech (N5ZVP) for the longest time until one year I decided to upgrade to Extra. I scheduled 20 minutes of personal time in the morning and the evening for the code and a hour every evening for hitting the manuals and the question pool. Two months later I walked out of a test session with a sweep of all tests and got myself a new call sign (WA5TT) as a reward. The 5WPM code was almost too slow for having been trained on the Koch method and compared to some of the professional tests I face for certification the question pools are very elementary.
I’m also not very active in the hobby due to time and financial constraints, but I encourage anyone with a desire to pursue the license up to Extra, it’s not that difficult.
Chris
Seth says
Mike,
I never did like being spoon-fed “little written sniglets” and web-speak, so I love this post. Just a great resource, thanks.
It’s perfect timing, too. I’m a complete newbie, I don’t even have my Tech license yet, but I started studying for it last week. Then an online acquaintance challenged me: He took his Tech, General, code, and Extra exams all on the same day, and passed them all on the first try (back when code was still required, naturally). Went so far as to call me a “wimp” for only studying for the Tech exam.
Well, I can’t let a challenge like that go unanswered!
I don’t know if I can match him, but I’m going to try studying for Tech and General at least. I have plenty of background in math and electronics, so I hope I have a little bit of an “edge” when it comes time to sit the exam. And in the meantime, I’m going to follow all of your great Extra advice and apply it to Tech and General as well.
Mike W2MJZ says
Seth…
I just happened upon your comment this morning, and of course I did have a big smile on my face as a result of your nice words. While I never even thought about the Technician or General Class licenses when I was putting together my Extra Class study guide, I can’t possibly think of any reason why it would not work just as well for those licenses. I even suspect that you will probably have an easier go of it as the question pools for those licenses are smaller than that of the Extra Class.
But I must give you some serious advice, as I have a wee bit more experience, and I do hold the rank of an “Almost Old Timer”.
Please do let that silly challenge go unanswered!!!!!
In a past life, I worked on huge multi-million dollar public safety radio communication projects, and sadly, I watched some of those projects become far too big to succeed as even after well over a hundred or so million dollars were spent, they would never even get close to finally reaching their original objectives and design goals. The projects were simply too large, and the goals that were set were far too ambitious to effectively manage and complete successfully in any reasonable amount of time.
(But of course, those in charge would be pushing us along, refusing to listen to reality, and just like your online friend, essentially calling is wimps in order to justify the huge expenditures, protect their political butts, satisfy their egos, and get themselves somehow to the ribbon cutting photo op in order to get all of the bad press off of their backs.)
What really works, and works so very simply and easily, is that if you have some grand expansive final goal in mind, get to that final goal through a series of smaller, independent, realistically achievable steps which provide you with useful, functional and fully operational subsets of the larger goal, which can then be easily combined into actually achieving that grand final goal.
You need to concentrate fully on the easiest possible path of your goal to obtain your Amateur Extra Class License. Attempting to combine that process into one single way too large an undertaking would probably cause you to perform a lot more unnecessary work, waste a lot more of your valuable time, and could possibly even discourage you if you don’t instill the needed confidence in yourself through the easily achievable steps along the way.
The goal here is not some sort of contest… the real goal is to simply to push a limited number of questions and their correct answers into your head, and then check those correct answers after the VE hands you the exam. Since the VE is not going to give you any discount on the fees if you do all three exams in the same sitting, there isn’t any positive benefit what-so-ever in attempting to do it all that once. (Game the system fully to your own advantage, and don’t add any unnecessary complexity or difficulty to the process.)
Now… if you really would like to absolutely zing your friend (as well as the rest of the Ham Radio World), turn brains into runny mush, and gleefully watch as mouths seem to move, but their aren’t any words coming out… do the following:
Order yourself an MFJ Pocket Morse Code Tutor. While you are waiting for the package, go on line and carefully read up on the Farnsworth method of learning morse code developed by Donald R. Farnsworth W6TTB (SK) in the 1950’s. (This is the fast lane method to get yourself up to twenty words a minute and beyond in the shortest time possible.) And, while you are at it you might as well read up on the Koch Method as well. Then, get your hands on an old dog eared copy of the “Second Class Radio Telephone Operators License Handbook” by Edward M. Knoll (you can find used copies cheap on Amazon).
The Second Class Radio Telegraphers license is now a completely obsolete relic of decades past when every large ocean going ship had a full time licensed CW operator aboard. While this is no longer the case, and most all of the infrastructure which supported the world wide Maritime CW network has been demolished, the FCC still offers the license, and the multipart Morse Code and technical examinations for this license can be taken through the VEC organizations which offer commercial professional licensing. Achieving this license, while not providing you with any possible chance of actual gainful employment, would none-the-less confer upon you perhaps the ultimate long term bragging rights in Ham Radio circles, and you could possibly shave off decades in your path to become an “Almost Old Timer” like myself :)
Since I passed my Extra, instead of taking my iPod on the train and subway for my hour and fifteen minute one way commute… listening to the old shows of Gene Sheppard K2ORS (SK)… I have been regularly plugged into my MFJ Pocket Morse Code Tutor and bopping to the rhythms of the sixteen and twenty word a minute CW speeds which I need to pass the perfect one minute of copy out of five that is required for the two separate second class CW tests. Just like the Amateur Radio exams, the entire pool of second class questions are available on the web for download. Of course, you must realize that the material is totally antique and completely obsolete, and is filled with old timer topics such as getters in tubes and Edison Cells. But… I actually find that this material is a lot easier to grasp than the Amateur Extra questions and answers.
Again, just as I noted in my original guide, if you have any questions at all, please do toss them out here for me to answer as Dan still has lots of space left on his servers :)
Mike W2MJZ
Steiph says
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the awesome info and I agree with your reply to Seth.
I recently decided that I wanted to get back into Ham radio. I had let my license expire, way back in the 70’s, an ancient time for most “newbies”. Last Feb. 2015 I sat for the Tech exam, after reading over the ARRL study guide for a couple days and passed handsomely. Since it was free, I also took the General – but missed one too many questions. Admittedly; I was ill prepared for that one. This past month June 2015 after listening to Gordo’s audio prep course and doing online flash cards I went for my General and missed 4. No it wasn’t perfect.. but I think I did rather well in any case.
Most word on the street is, “Stay down in the General’s seat for at least a year..” before taking the Extra. I tend to buck that sentiment and have always been a rebel. So, I’m just going to go for it and I figure by Sept. 2015 I should be sporting an “Extra Class” feather in my cap.
Looks to me like the Math will be my biggest challenge but I’m ready for it.
I got the latest and greatest Extra Class audio discs from Gordon via Amazon of course and I’ll probably go to the local HRO and see if they have the book. If not.. well back to Amazon then.
After that… I may just seek out that Second Class Radio Operator CW Certification.
Sounds like it might be a lot of fun.
Well, I’ve got a lot of ground to cover between now and then!
Thanks Again for the inspiration!!!
Wish me luck.
Zargon in Decatur GA
WB2PSB
Dan KB6NU says
Hey Zargon: I might suggest that you also get a copy of my No-Nonsense Extra Class Study Guide. Lots of folks have used it to get their Extra tickets. For a a more in-depth coverage of the math, I’d suggest the W5JCK Math Guide for Amateur Radio Extra Class Exam 2012-2016. That’s only 99 cents on Amazon.
Seth KJ6HZC says
Mike,
Wow, thanks for that long, thoughtful, well written reply to my reply!
You’ll notice that I now have a call sign next to my name. That’s right, I took and passed my Tech and General exams this past Saturday, and the FCC has already given me a call sign. I can’t believe how fast it was! Frankly, I was ready to wait many weeks for the paperwork to wind its way through the government bureaucracy, but it seems like that long wait is thankfully a thing of the past.
I did end up taking your good advice. After studying hard for Tech and General, I realized two things. First and foremost, the jump in material between Tech and General was pretty steep, and I knew that the jump between General and Extra was going to be even worse. And second, I only have a little Yaesu handheld! If I’m going to get an Extra, I should probably save up for some HF gear and use my General privileges first! :)
So I’m quite happy to be a General for now. I’ll be sticking to VHF+/UHF for a while until I get my feet wet and start to slowly get into the world of HF.
I’ve also started working on my CW. I admit I find it very difficult and slow to pick up an ear for the code. If I fall behind even one letter, I lose it and have to start all over again. I know it’s going to take a whole lot of practice before I’m comfortable copying anything real at 20WPM. And yet, I’m really attracted to it. It’s something I want to do well, so I know I’ll keep at it until I can keep up comfortably. And I love the idea of getting a 2nd Class Radiotelegraph Operator Certificate! I won’t even try until I’ve been working CW for a while, but I think it’s a wonderful goal.
Dan KB6NU says
Seth, the best practice is getting on the air and making contacts, so don’t worry about getting up to 20 wpm before you do so. Most CW contacts take place at speeds less than 20 wpm.
Mike W2MJZ says
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
I am so very very pleased to hear that you have passed both your Technician and General. Now please do heed Dan’s comment about getting on the air and making contacts.
Without a doubt, the easiest path to getting your code speed up is by going on the air and simply making contacts with all of the other slow coders out there who are most most eager to make new contacts. If you can manage to scrounge up a used HF rig somewhere, and can manage to throw some wire up in the air, you are right at the very beginning edge of a good number of years of ever better and better HF conditions as the sunspot numbers start to slowly increase.
When conditions make it far too difficult to make out a sideband signal of comparable strength, that unbelievably sophisticated biological computer located right between your ears can so very easily pull out all sorts of interesting CW DX right down near the noise level. What you will hopefully discover in time, is that with only modest power and a simple wire antenna, you can easily work the entire world with CW.
Again, congratulations…
Now… go join the league, join your local repeater organization, join your local general purpose ham radio club (and please do go to the meetings), and perhaps if you have some time to spare, please do show off the very best of our hobby by giving just a bit of your time to just a few of any number of public events in which the amateur radio community participates … and…. I do expect that by the time winter rolls around, you will have mentored (Elmered) at least one brand new ham :)
Mike W2MJZ
curtis says
Wow, this is a significant piece of information. I have utilized the method of ignoring the distractors, the wrong answers in the past but, did not think to apply the same technique to the amateur radio examinations…you awakened a dormant rabbit hole in my brain, thank you. This really made my day.
Mike W2MJZ says
You’re welcome :)
Richard Erickson says
A bit, hearty thank you for this site. I got the book, got the cards, and bore in. I kept the ARRL order and took the cards on one area at a time. Then I took many, many, many practice exams. I, too, felt like I could have taken on the entire massive pile of questions. In the end, I missed one; I had talked myself out of the correct answer over thinking. I did not think I could earn my extra until I found this site. My thanks.
Speedmaster says
Thanks very much for this post. I got my General a little over a year ago and figured I would never take a shot at Extra. But a few days ago I ordered the Gordon West book for Extra (I also bought the other two for Tech & General and loved them) and decided I would take a crack at it.
My 15 year old son got his Tech 2 years ago. And my 16 year old daughter got her Tech last week. So I guess I need to get cracking. :-)
The Extra question pool is a bit overwhelming. This post helps. Thanks!
David says
Just curious if you got your extra? I am using Wayne’s book as well and focusing only on the correct answers.
Kevin says
Dan,
Maybe you should update (remove) this page as it’s in the first paragraph – You do offer extra class study guides – and it’s wrong again in the meat & potatoes – the author points to the wrong Gordon West study guides (questions ending 2012).
Kevin
Billski k1wmt says
I passed my Extra this morning and stumbled on your diatribe tonight. Tech and General came rather easy for me, save for the arcane rules, due to my undergraduate engineering education. Extra was a heavier lift. I found the circuits stuff pretty recallable from 35 years ago, but the rules and RF stuff was new to me. I signed up for one of those $30 online programs that remembers your track record and repeats accordingly. It actually works a lot like your methods. That worked out pretty well for me. I actually (re) learned the material and can look at all the correct and incorrect problems quickly. Not bragging, just saying – I found that 25-50% of the wrong answers were so dumb and so wrong they were easily discountable. If you know the basics of circuits, you can completely avoid doing any sort of calculations. In a graph, capacitive is always below the line (negative), inductive above, resistance flat line. Resistance never goes negative. Series circuits typically have a higher impedance, parallel circuits are lower. With these basics, you pretty much have the point identified.
Greg Livingston says
How does the ARRL book compare with the Gordon West book? (I have the ARRL book). I’m going for the Extra, after having been licensed since 1969. de WA2EHV
Dan KB6NU says
To be honest, I’m not really sure. I’ve been concentrating on making my study guides as good as they can be and not really watching the “competition.” My guess, though, is that the ARRL study guide has more detailed explanations. Because the Extra Class exam covers so much material, though, it’s not like you’re getting a textbook in radio engineering. For really in-depth explanations of the topics, get a Handbook.
TONY says
What a great read this was, I have been doing the learn all the answers method as I did for the general, but it has been much more difficult, I think you have given me what I need to pass the extra exam. Thanks, I will post again when I’m an extra class, hopefully before field day 2015.
Dan KB6NU says
Good luck, Tony. It’s certainly doable, if you keep at it.
Ken KD6KGK says
Mike,
Great article. I just passed my General and am going for my Extra. You’ve provided some great tips (as well a some of the comments) and I’m confident I’ll pass.
I’m curious – how in the heck did you manage to pass? You like burgers more done than medium. Medium rare is the most you should ever cook them. :-)
Thanks again for the tips.
Mike Zydiak W2MJZ says
Oh my heavens!!!!
I just blundered across the Extra Class study guide process that I left here in April of 2010. Although there is a new question pool in place since I wrote that feature, everything else that I wrote should still be very appropriate.
Since I don’t have any more ham exams to study for, and sadly, the VE that was going to give me my Second Class Radio Telegraphers exam is now in assisted living… I’m simply left to work on some interesting ham radio projects in my spare time.
If anyone might be interested…
I’m completely rebuilding a 1989 Jeep Wrangler into a radio communications emergency response vehicle, as well as a mobile platform for tracking down radio interference problems.
I’m constructing a 3000 watt inverter (12 thousand watt intermittent) generator alternative, to power the refrigerators and heating system in my home in the event of power failures. It will be powered by the DC systems in my GMC pickup and my Jeep Wrangler.
I am utilizing some rather easy to implement “screen sharing” processes which will allow me to operate the three dedicated big bulky I7 PC laptops in my radio shack and lab, remotely, by a bunch of very light, easy to move around MacBook laptops over my high speed wireless network anywhere in my neighborhood.
Mike W2MJZ
P.S. KEN!!! As to my burgers, which I eat far too many of… I like them pink but not bloody… medium just to the well side.
Dan KB6NU says
As you can see, Mike, your advice has been quite popular. Thanks again!
James says
I am going to suggest to the VEC that math questions have random input numbers and only similar representative questions are in the pool to prevent people who have no interest in learning the material are exposed on the test as such.
Dan KB6NU says
It would be interesting to do this, but practically I don’t see the VECs doing this.
Bob, KG6AF says
I can guarantee you that the VECs won’t do this; for one thing, it’s illegal (97.523). But there is a group that can and does change the question pool: the NCVEC, a collaboration of all VECs, or at least as many as care to participate. They could, if they wanted, come up with, say, ten times as many math questions, just by varying the numerical values in each question. (There’s a lower bound to the number of questions in a pool, but no upper bound.) If you want to suggest this to them, the question pool committee’s email address is [email protected] . Or you could make the suggestion to your VEC’s representative(s) at the NCVEC.
Jim, AG5BL says
My goal was to gain mastery of the material to become a knowledgeable amateur radio operator, not to fake my way into passing the minimum 37 questions with the minimum effort possible. Nowhere is mentioned buying the ARRL license manuals and reading them. The test questions are really intended as a spot check that you have read all the material.
I studied the general and amateur extra ARRL license manuals thoroughly, read through all test questions in the included test pool section, and made heavy use of ARRL online practice exams. After one concentrated study month, I took all three exams (technician, general , amateur extra) in one sitting, and got perfect scores on all three. More importantly, by not taking short cuts, I actually understand the material, including doing the math and Smith charts. My background is EE.
I found the best way to study the questions was not to guess answers when doing ARRL online tests. The ARRL license manuals list the text section where the answer lies. Look up, read, and understand that material when stuck before moving to the next question. Guessing will only make you an expert at choosing wrong answers. Since the online tests present questions randomly, you can take them many times and not get thorough question coverage. Therefore go through all pool questions in the back of the ARRL license manuals, looking up answers you don’t know.
The multiple choice distraction answers have value. Look them up in the index or on the web if you don’t know what they are. You will have much better mastery of the material knowing what the right answer is, and why the other answers are wrong.
The ARRL license manuals are not perfect, and some of the text can be lacking. Searching online will provide better explanations and insight to those sections.
I also read FCC part 97 online since that is the definitive source. This helped in areas where I thought the ARRL license manuals were ambiguous in their definitions.
I did buy some outdated Gordon West books at a used book store, but didn’t like or use them much.
Now ask yourself what kind of ham would other hams want to be associated with:
A knowledgeable operator, or someone who just did the minimum to get the license?
Jim, AG5BL says
I’m going to add that I did a quick read through the No Nonsense Technician class License Study Guide by KB6NU and found it to be excellent and concise. I already had a 20 year old Radio Shack “Now You’re Talking” I bought used for $5 so I didn’t get the ARRL technician license manual. I bought the ARRL amateur extra license manual first and worked backwards through general. The ARRL general license manual I found fun to read. The ARRL AE license manual was tedious in some chapters, which I forced myself to finish. I did not read chapters in order. I recently bought the ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications, and note the ARRL AE license manual is a subset of that.
Carl Ingram says
Thank you! I memorized the Tech question pool in a few weeks. Passed with 100%. Took the General exam with no prep and barely passed. I really wanted to “learn” the Extra material but after reading this I’ve changed my mind. I’ll follow your advice, study the test and pass it. :) 73 from K0VWA.
George says
I’ll be taking the Extra exam the first time on Saturday. I have read the ARRL guide and used their question software. I agree that this would be too dry as you have mentioned to do without a guide. The math is an area where the written insight helps to make the examples practical. I have studied on nights and weekends. I am a CW enthusiast, think all HAM’s should know it, and look forward to some increased spectrum privileges. 73 KF5NRO SKCC#13863Tx5
Dan KB6NU says
Good luck on the test, George, and if you ever hear me on the air, please give me a call.
Rila says
I took my Extra Class exam today after 2 1/2 weeks of studying and passed with a 98% score. I found the exam very easy and finished it in 15 minutes or less. My exam had almost no math questions. My approach was go through the Gordon West manual and read all the questions and mark the correct answers and then go through it again and just read the correct answers. Then I took probably 200 or more practice exams. That way I just studied the ones I got wrong and didn’t have to studyin the ones I knew and got right. Worked for me.
Erik says
I just stumbled across this post. This morning, I took and passed the Amateur Extra exam with a score of 49 correct answers out of 50. They wouldn’t tell me what I got wrong, but that’s OK. I took the Technician test in February and General in March. I got 100% on both.
I’m an experienced test taker. Among many others, I passed a bar exam and I’m gearing up for the CPA exam later this year. I’m taking the GROL this summer. Here’s my approach.
First, the amateur radio exams are wonderful because you can read the entire test pool, along with the correct answers. You know exactly what will be on the test, which is a monstrous advantage to the test taker. Another monster advantage is that you can find free practice exams, with scoring, on the Internet. When you sit for any exam, it is critical that you repeatedly simulate the actual exam. You have to do this over and over until you are comfortable and know what to expect. Taking the actual exam becomes just like your established routine. You go in there and slay it, just like you have in practice.
I started by reading the ARRL manuals. I took them slow and made sure I understood all of the material. Then I started drilling the practice exams.
Every time I got a practice question wrong, I created a 3×5 card with the question on one side and the answer on the other. This is not just creating a practice tool. Sitting down and actually writing out the question and answer goes a long ways towards remembering it. It forces you to write and think, which is good for you. Also, this bypasses all of the material you retain from having read the manual.
Then you review your flashcards, take another practice exam, and make more cards. Keep repeating that.
When my practice exams start getting over 90%, I take out the flashcards I already know. That lets you cycle through the cards faster and take more practice exams. Once I start missing only one or two questions, I only do practice exams. Over and over until I either am hitting 100% or I run out of time before the exam.
I took all three exams and only missed one question in the Extra pool. Anyone can do this. It’s not a shortcut. You have to put in the time and you learn a lot. But it’s a method that practically guarantees that you will pass. If you want to pass an exam and are willing to put in the time, this method will get you through. I wanted to share in hopes this will help others. I’d like to see everyone who takes these exams pass. 73
Chris says
Wow, this sounds like a good idea. You said, thst reviewing the test questions, bypasses what has been read, in the material. It zeroes in on particular area, you mean; therefore, bypassing the extra stuff; you mean?
1. Read all the material.
2. Start taking tests, and writing down on a 3×5 flash cards, question on front, and ONLY the correct answer, on the back.
3. Review flash cards.
4. Do a test.
5. Repeat steps 2-5, until mastery or near mastery is reached.
Okay, I think I got it. Anything to add, that would make these steps, more effective, lol?
BTW, what is your call sign. I may be able to contact you, some day (legally) with that.
Thanks Erick
Chris
BTW, that’s pretty dope. An ATTORNEY AND an accountant, wow🔥 Glad you have the smarts and discipline, to pull that off. I’m impressed and I am glad for you!
Dave Chandler says
Well you definitely might have timed out the repeater more than once, with that being said it was well worth it. Thanks Dave 73