Tag: examtools.org

License exam(s) passed!

~ Josh, K6KNX ~ Leave a comment

I took my amateur radio license exams for the Technician and General class licenses today through the W5YI Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) organization. It was about as painless as taking a test could be. The coordinator emailed me ahead of time wth the exact procedures to be followed, Zoom meeting info, and so forth.

At the appointed hour, I logged into the Zoom meeting and waited. They schedule several examinees for the same time period, but each is handled in turn, so I waited for about 15-20 minutes until it was my turn. Once the VEs let me into the Zoom virtual conference room, I was asked to pan and tilt my laptop around the room I was in (I used my living room) to prove that there were no study materials, other people, etc that could compromise the test. The guys were thorough, even asking me to show them a few areas a second time, so they could be sure there were no relevant materials in view.

I then screen shared my desktop, so the VEs could verify that I had no exam materials or other windows open on my desktop. They then got me logged in to the ExamTools website and authorized the exam.

I studied with HamStudy.org, which is associated with ExamTools, so the interface looked pretty much identical. Taking the actual exam felt just like the dozen or so practice exams I took on HamStudy. I passed the Technician exam with ease. As with all ham radio exams, passing one element allows you take the next element at no additional cost. studied for the General class test, so I happily had the VEs load up that exam. Fortunately, I also passed that one with relative ease. After a brief round of congratulations from the VEs, I logged off.

A couple hours later, I received my Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) from the coordinating VE:

Now the waiting games begins. W5YI VEC will electronically send the successful examination to the FCC for my license to be issued, but I can’t operate until it posts on the FCC’s Universal Licensing System, or ULS.

Waiting, waiting… More to come.

HamStudy.org to study for the amateur radio license exams

~ Josh, K6KNX ~ Leave a comment

The license exams for amateur radio licenses aren’t open book, but the question pools are public. The question pools are decided upon by the Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs), revised every few years, and published on the internet. Nothing on any of the exams should be a surprise.

Some people buy the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) books for each license class and actually learn all the material. Some people learn a fair amount of material in the question pools, memorize enough of the answers, and still pass the tests. The latter approach works well for the Technician and General class tests, with question pools around 400 questions each. I’m not sure it’d work for the Extra class test.

HamStudy.org is an excellent resource. The website allows users to read the question pools and answers, quiz themselves flashcard style (with an “Explain” button if you want to learn more about a particular answer) and even take full-length practice tests. HamStudy.org also has a mobile app, so you can study and take practice tests anywhere.

The website and app even track how many questions you’ve seen in a given pool and your “aptitude,” or the percentage that you tend to answer correctly. Since these values are cumulative, you can even temporarily “reset” your history to do a study session as if you were brand new, which gives you a much more accurate aptitude measurement, since you aren’t fighting against all the wrong answers you gave when you started.

My plan is to study and do practice exams for the Technician question pool until I’m passing those practice exams in the high 90% range, and then start on the General-class pool, with an occasional foray back into the Tech practice exams just to stay sharp. Once I can pass both practice exams on a consistent basis with 90%+ score, I’ll try and get into a remote format test, since I don’t anticipate this COVID lockdown ending any time soon.

(Follow up postscript: the benefit to using HamStudy.org (or the HamStudy app) and then testing with W5YI (or anyone else using the ExamTools.org site for testing) is that the interface will look very similar. The exam will feel like just another practice exam.)