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Tips for passing General and Technician tests

M

markhwebster

KF7NYH
Jan 22, 2011
5
0
11
I passed my Technician and General tests last night, scores of 96 and 100.

As a web designer, artist and climber, the electronic theory and math was quite a stretch for me. Technician wasn't too bad, but the first time I cracked open the General book, I freaked. Sooo many formulas. And the explanations are so foreign to anything I've ever known...initially it was hopeless trying to understand them. I mean...rectifiers, inverse voltages, capacitance versus inductance...sheesh.

The secret to my success was the low cost online learning tutorials. There are some that are completely free:

AA9PW FCC Exam Practice

where you can take practice tests, and those were good, but this one was the best: HamTestOnline™ - Ham Radio Exam Courses even though it cost a little bit.

That one is connected to a database, and each time you log in to your account it remembers you. It explains the theory, then asks you questions about it. If you blow an answer, it remembers, and relentlessly asks you the question over time until you have it nailed. Sort of like forgetting your wife's anniversary, she is gonna remind you about it for years. You can also take sample tests, and have it drill you on just your weak points, or true random.

I probably spent about 2 to 3 hours a night reading the books, and studying online, for about 2 weeks. Plus about 3 full weekend days. It's been raining, nothing else to do.

I did buy both of the ARRL books (technician and general) from my local ham club. By combining the books with the online testing resources, my knowledge grew quickly. I actually miss the challenge of gathering the knowledge, one question at a time. It's fun stuff, in a geeky sort of way. Guess I always wanted to take a class in electronics, but never had a reason until now.

But I'm done with that. Now I need to start hanging my dipole in my hundred foot fir trees, and hook up my new Yaesu ft-857.

See you guys on the air soon!
 

Congrats.....
I take my Tech test on the 19th,they want me to do the General also but math is not my strongest suit so I will take my time and take the General down the road,my ARRL level 1 book is getting its use and I also do the online tests now,the questions i get wrong i go back and read read read then do another test and repete,getting around the 90% area now so I feel good about doing the test nxt week but i will keep my nose in the book up to test time..
 
Having just taken the General, I would guess you could completely blow off all the complicated math questions and still pass. There were only 2 on my test. Most of it is semi common sense questions about radio theory and electronics, which are easier to learn. Really, don't let the math scare you. Skip 'em, or memorize the answers. All the questions are in the book...every one.

That said though, the math is only multiplication and division. If you can remember e = the square root of (p times r), and p = (e squared) divided by r, plus about four more even simpler ones: ohms law, etc, you can ace the math questions too.
 
I used hamtestonline and the three ARRL license manuals to study for the tests and passed all three in one sitting two and a half years ago. A good thing to do is visit the ARRL website and look for corrections to your license manual, there will be a URL in your license manual, my general manual had a misprint on PNP and NPN bipolar transistors and getting that question wrong on hamtest drove me nuts until I went to arrl.org/gclm and found that they acknowledged the error in that printing and you can also download a copy of the question pool that follow the chapters in the book instead of jumping between question pool sections
 
Congratulations,

Wait until you hit the extra, I am math stupid, took me quite awhile to figure it all out :headbang
 
For me it has been just the opposite, I know my electronics but don't have good memorization skills so the rules and regs have kept me from even trying since I figured I would never remember enough of them to get by. Contacted my local vec rep and am going to go for it in march or april finally.
 
Happy_Hamer said:
Congratulations,

Wait until you hit the extra, I am math stupid, took me quite awhile to figure it all out :headbang
Click to expand...

I could have never passed extra without the ARRL Extra Class License manual, there is some advanced math, theory, questions about almost everything related to amateur radio in the question pool, hamtestonline has some good pointers on how to remember a lot of things(USB is only commonly used below 9MHz on the 60M band) and there were some shortcuts on finding the resonant frequency of a RCL? circuit- I think the questions were all in picofarads and microhenries. Then they would tell you what the odds are of even seeing the math related questions on the test

I am not trying do discourage anyone from attempting the extra, it can be done with enough studying
 
Qwazyone said:
I could have never passed extra without the ARRL Extra Class License manual, there is some advanced math, theory, questions about almost everything related to amateur radio in the question pool, hamtestonline has some good pointers on how to remember a lot of things(USB is only commonly used below 9MHz on the 60M band) and there were some shortcuts on finding the resonant frequency of a RCL? circuit- I think the questions were all in picofarads and microhenries. Then they would tell you what the odds are of even seeing the math related questions on the test

I am not trying do discourage anyone from attempting the extra, it can be done with enough studying
Click to expand...

Qwazyone. I agree with you on this. Reading each of the books helped tremendously for me. The online practice tests were a great help as well. The math on the Extra can be challenging but it can be understood. I used a Scientific Calculator when I took mine using the Trig functions to figure the polar co-ordinate questions.

Ranger. Hit the General book some and do the practice tests before you go take your exam. I encourage you to go ahead and take the General after you pass the Technician. You might just pull it off and be pleasantly surprised if you pass. If you don't, chalk it up to experience and go back and get ready for the next go round. Also if you do pass the General you get a 2fer! Two tests for the price of one!

73

Wayne C.
 
At hamtestonline , as you work through reading all the info, then answering the questions, it tracks your progress. (Because you log in each time) it knows what you have problems with, whether it is math, or radio theory. And it drills you relentlessly on your weak points, while spending less time on the stuff you've got nailed. It displays your percentages of correct answers, and prompts you when you are ready to take a real test.

At that point, switch to taking practice tests (still at hamtestonline), and it will tell you whether you would have passed the real paper and pencil test. You can have it test you with all the questions focused on your weak areas, or a true random test.

I found it duplicated the real life experience perfectly. For the price, if you want a license, you can't go wrong.

On a side note, instead of a bunch of questions about electrical circuits on a radio I will never build, why aren't there questions about how to hang the famous "diplole" antenna on a fir tree, without breaking your back? I didn't realize just how far up one half of a 40 meter wavelength really was until I looked down from the top of the ladder.:blink:
 
EDUK8TR..I have tried a few General tests on Eham and really have not done that well heeheehee,I think if I had the ARRL Level 2 manual I could do better in this short amount of time but like you said,I'll never know if I don't try....Thanks.

PS,if I pass tech I just might say...Bring it on....
 
Congrats to you for passing. I have decided to start studying and will be taking my test in May. I too am using hamtestonline. until then it's 38LSB
 

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