Ham Test Online study method

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Here is recommend if you use of HTOL, to study

1 Sign up for both Tech and General & Extra as it is the best value. Or Tech and Gen as a minimum.

2. Turn on just the Tech portion of the study guide and run that until you scores on the total are at 95% or more for the whole tech section.

3. Once # 2 is complete, turn on the General portion of the study guide. Have both Tech and General sections turned on.

4. Continue until you have 50% of the Gen material covered and sign up for an exam date at least 2-4 weeks out, depending on how much time you have to study and how fast you are learning the material. I am a mechanical engineer, so a lot of the basics were covered in my lower level engineering classes, although those were 35+ years ago

5. 2 weeks out from the test date AND assuming you now have 95% of the General class down(read:LEARNED), switch to taking the tests.

I alternated between the Tech and General tests on every other test. I used the "% question feature" and set all of the tests to be 25% of the most often asked questions and 75% of the most missed questions

I took probably 40 tests alternating between the Tech and Gen and can say i never failed any of those during the study time.

When i took the actual tests, i missed 3 on each of the tests. It probably took me 45 minutes to take both and that was going over each answer on the each test 3 times.

However YMMV

Now that i have my Gen class , i am slowly studying for the Extra. I have 1.5 yrs until my subscription runs out, so plenty of time.

[Rockntoy]

That sounds like a good game plan. I have already signed up on the HTOL, sorry I did not see where you are trying for a group discount. Studied 5 hours last night and will be hitting it about the same for a week or two then start trying to get a test date somewhere in the near future after that. I highly recommend this sight cause on the ones that you do not pay for only show a small sampling of what is on the test and then it is the easier questions only.

 Later , jim   

[idial1911]

That sounds like a good game plan. I have already signed up on the HTOL, sorry I did not see where you are trying for a group discount. Studied 5 hours last night and will be hitting it about the same for a week or two then start trying to get a test date somewhere in the near future after that. I highly recommend this sight cause on the ones that you do not pay for only show a small sampling of what is on the test and then it is the easier questions only.

 Later , jim   

Seriously consider doing technician and general in one sitting. There is a ton of overlap in the content..

[Rockntoy]

I,m going to give it a try for both.
 Brainwaves overload coming soon.
  Later, Jim

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Sorry the rat bastards at photobucket screwed me and wothout paying $300/year these images wont show. I will transfer them to,the galley her in a few days. Again sorry.

OK Here are a look at HTOL screens once you buy into the program.

You can see the different sections that you can turn on or off.  I started with the Tech only selected and studied until I have a 95% of the material learned. Then I turned on the General Section AND left the Tech selected as





Once I hit 95%+ Tech and General Learned, I Started taking actual exams.  There are several ways exams can present, truly random, focus on weak areas or unseen questions.

My exam was scheduled for 8/28 and the first test I took was 8/22.  DO NOT TRY TESTS TOO SOON.

As I progressed, I switch my method of questions to 25% of the MOST FREQ Asked questions and 75% of the MOST FREQ Missed questions.  I then alternated between the Tech and General tests for the rest of the time until 1 hour before my Exam session. 



The day of the Exam I went to a STARBUCKS and Had a Vente Latte and got good and buzzed before the test so I was ready 



As you can see using this method of study, I passed EVERY Sample TEST!!!!!
Now I am slowly  studying for my extra.

[Sacajawea]

This sounds like a good plan. I didn't have any choice on the "when" to take the test, and I'll focus and "git R done" if I have a deadline, too. It's been a year or more since I started this process, and a couple months since I started seriously studying. So, I'm running through the tech questions now - as you recommend.

More sticks in my head, than I believe. And the math - my bete noire - turns out to be simpler if I just look at the questions and read the answers and look at the question again. No "thinking" - i.e, "how do I do the math here". Getting way better %s that way.

I really like how the software keeps re-presenting questions I missed. It was mostly sloppy reading; moving too fast or a distraction. But that's OK too. The online format & presentation is helping - versus the 3 different ways of saying the same thing in AARL book, flipping to the back to look at questions, and flipping to the answers - sigh. We're all different, I don't have the patience for that and the running % for correct answers for the session works well at motivating my competive nature.

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I told you the best way to do it a while ago........   It was like we were married 

I get the same response on this end. You will do fine. Just follow this method and you will pass.  Do both tech and Gen so we can talk to each other from AZ. 

[Tevin]

My buddy is in the process of getting his ticket and is using HTOL. He let me play around in it and see what it was all about.

The results they get with almost everyone passing on the first try are hard to argue with. In that regard HTOL is very effective.

The main criticism I have is that there is very little actual instruction. Basically, they spit questions at you over and over until you memorize the answers without necessarily knowing how to arrive at that answer. This is fine if you only want to squeak past a test and get it over with, no so good if you want to actually learn the material.

I also do not agree with the wording of some of the questions and their corresponding answers, but I don't blame HTOL for that. Good or bad, they have to work with the FCC question pool.

[Sacajawea]

Tevin, I kinda HAVE to know the "why" behind things otherwise my brain will refuse to simply "accept" the Q&A format and also refuse to go on to other info, until I understand it and why it's important to the application at hand. So while I almost threw the AARL book across the room a couple times, fighting my way through those first couple chapters were important for me. Last time I heard about Ohm's law, would've been 1986 or 7. And I didn't bother engraving it on a retrievable track in the ole brain at that time.

But I have a few tricks to outsmart some of those "old dog" mental habits.

AD: I'm sorry -- I'm one of those "difficult" women when it comes to taking direction. Self-taught in a lot of ways, "I'd rather do it myself" - even if I fail, do it wrong, and learn the hard way. Which is why hubs insisted I learn basic pistol shooting from someone else.

 

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Tevin

I agree on the learning part of HTOL.  I have found While I got some fundamental concepts HTOL from the most all of the real learning came after I started working with the actual radio and from all of the manuals I bought and read the material at the same time I was working HTOL. 

SAC

I know your type, I am married to the same type.  I was just pushing you so that you make the effort.  Running a HF radio near saltwater app an give you a big advantage in propagation. 

[W.Lynn]

Learning happens when you open google or wiki, search for more information, and read until it makes sense.  Then if you have someone you can call who's been prodding you to study, you do so - and talk to them about what you were reading.

Study of any subject should include many sources, not stripped-down minimums.

[Tevin]

Learning happens when you open google or wiki, search for more information, and read until it makes sense.  Then if you have someone you can call who's been prodding you to study, you do so - and talk to them about what you were reading.

Study of any subject should include many sources, not stripped-down minimums.

Reading and studying has its place, but there is no substitute for actually doing it. That's why I don't have any respect for the amateur licensing system anymore. Memorize the answers to a few dozen questions and you're in. One can become a radio operator without actually operating a radio. Luckily, training for airline pilots does not follow this same theory of instruction.

I've had a ham ticket since 1982. It took me three full years to make General. Three years of reading, operating radio, wrenching on equipment, and climbing out on the roof to set up antennas I made myself. Most of them did not work. I made more antennas. I burned out countless electronic components. Eventually I started getting the hang of it. And even then I still considered myself a newb.

The other day I came across an internet discussion where two guys were congratulating each other on "making it to the top of Mount Olympus" (as they worded it) by "earning" their Extra ticket. And they did it all with just a few weekends of study! Yippee! It amused me. Some of us reach the top of Mount Olympus by climbing it ourselves; others get there in a helicopter. 

Instead of stewing in resentment over a system that I don't control, I decided years ago that when new hams approach me, I'll send them down one of the two following paths:

If they show some level of humility and indicate a willingness to learn, then I bust my ass to help them even though there's quite a bit I don't know myself. They don't control the system either so I'm not going to hold it against them simply because they followed the rules, and the rules were easy.

If they think they are on "Mount Olympus" or give the slightest hint of having reached the pinnacle of ham radio enlightenment, I wish them well and cut them loose. They don't need me; I defer to their deep wisdom gained from weeks of non-radio operating experience.

"The difference between the master and the student is that the master has failed more times than the student has even tried."

Good luck to everyone looking to get into ham. Once you are there, choose your path carefully.

[spacecase0]

Tevin,
I have lots of Extra class people ask me questions because they can't do radio things, and I am only a General,
at this point I just think it is funny
I help out whoever I can regardless of what tests they have passed, at least I know the tests don't mean much anymore

I think there are still books out there that teach how the radios really work without even having the test questions in the book

[Tevin]

Tevin,
I have lots of Extra class people ask me questions because they can't do radio things, and I am only a General,
at this point I just think it is funny
I help out whoever I can regardless of what tests they have passed, at least I know the tests don't mean much anymore

I think there are still books out there that teach how the radios really work without even having the test questions in the book

I think it's funny too. And a little pathetic and sad. But I will help anyone as long as they don't have an attitude.

A recently-licensed Extra once asked me what he has to do to be really good at radio. I was too polite to tell him that there was a time when being an Extra meant you already were really good at radio.

I almost never voluntarily disclose my license class. Its not in any of my on line profiles except where it's required and I don't mention it on the air. It does not matter in regards to my personal knowledge base and I feel no need to prove anything. I even still have the original 2x3 call I was given as a Novice. No one who has been in the hobby since the time when having a 1x2 or 2x1 call was a status symbol is impressed by them anymore.

Back in the day there was a guy named Dick Bash who wrote a series of amateur radio training books that at the time were very controversial because they very accurately mirrored what was on the test but did not give away answers to individual questions. He was celebrity, and the talk of the ham world for many years. He even got some unwanted attention from the FCC. Some blame Bash (or give him credit) for letting the genie out of the bottle and inciting the creampuff system we have now. 

[dangerdan]

I read the ARRL manuals  ,took practice tests on line until I aced them every time .
With a background in electronics/electrical ,I knew a lot of the information from schooling 30 years before .

Taking the test was a bit nerve racking until I opened the test book .
Aced Tech and General ,then spent another two months studying for extra.(missed a couple on that test).

I spent a year studying more before I went on HF ,built my antennas and station .

Just because you pass a test or three ,only means you have the right to keep on learning with real practice .

Keep on with your efforts . Relax during the testing (VE want you to pass ) you will do fine .

DD