Preparing for Your Exam
Find the Resources That Work for You
There are many ways to study for your exam including:
- online tools like HamStudy.org
- books like the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual for the Technician Exam
- videos like those from Ham Radio Crash Course
- in-person classes when available
Of course, different approaches work better for different people, but how do you know which will be right for you?
A quick conversation with folks from a local club can help you find an approach that fits how you learn best, and it will get you plugged in with some of the people you'll be speaking to over the airwaves.
For example, the Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club (SCCARC) has weekly informal, in-person events you can join. Have a cup of coffee and get some tips! You don't need to be a ham to join.
See Every Question Before Exam Day
Some practical advice
Ham radio exams are built by selecting questions at random from a published pool (see details below). Each exam only includes a small subset of questions. That means it’s possible to take lots of practice tests and still not run across every question that might appear on your real exam.
A great way to avoid surprises is to use the Study Mode on HamStudy.org. Study Mode keeps track of which questions you’ve already seen and gradually introduces the rest of the pool. It also measures your aptitude so you can see how well you’re doing as you go.
A simple rule of thumb: make sure you’ve seen 100% of the questions and that your aptitude score is at least 80-85%. When you reach that point, you’ve covered everything that could appear on your exam and you can walk into your session with confidence.
Want more tips? Here are a few more directly from HamStudy.
- Use practice tests as a progress gauge, not as a study tool. When you finish the test you can see where you missed the most questions, so focus on that subelement for a while. Rinse and repeat.
- Don’t underestimate how useful reading the questions can be. That’s why Study Mode is there, and you can click “Hide Distractors” in the top right corner to hide all but the correct answer.
- Flash cards can get tedious after a while; break the monotony by reading questions and taking a practice exam now and again. It can also help to select a specific subelement to study.
SURF Exams is not affiliated with HamStudy, but we've found it to be an effective (and free) tool to help you prepare.
The exam questions
Your exam will be created randomly from a publicly available pool of questions developed by the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC). The pools are quite large, but your exam will contain only 35 questions (50 for the Amateur Extra license). The question pools are normally updated every 4 years:
- Technician: (400+ questions) The current pool is valid through June 30, 2026. A new pool will be active on July 1.
- General Class pool: (400+ questions) The current pool is valid through June 30, 2027. A new pool will be active on July 1.
- Amateur Extra Class pool: (600+ questions) The current pool is valid through June 30, 2028. A new pool will be active on July 1.
The question pools are available at many sites online, and an authoritative copy can always be found at the NCVEC site.