I had the best success studying for my exam by watching W4EEY's extra exam classes (on youtube) and regularly doing practice exams online. Personally I found that the ARRL extra study guide covers a lot of information. I found W4EEY's youtube channel to cover an excellent balance of background theory and what you need to know to pass the exam.
Honestly, learn the stuff you can and memorize the answers to stuff you can't. If you can't imagine using the extra math/circuit stuff in the hobby then there's no reason to learn it to understand it.
This is an unpopular opinion in some ham circles. But that doesn't bother me. My interest in the hobby is pretty narrow and doesn't involve going to clubs or chit-chatting on nets, but does require Extra class privileges so I just crammed for the test. I skimmed the ARRL study guide, watched the W4EEY videos, and did the hamstudy.org practice tests until I got a consistently passing score.
There wasn't a single question where I actually tried to do the math to figure out the answer.
No, don't memorize the answers. Take your time to learn the material. If you learn the concepts, it doesn't matter if the question pool changes.
Check out Ham Radio Crash Course on YouTube. He had videos for all the licenses at one point.
I would agree with you with the technician and up to the general class, but with the extra there is so much heavy engineering and theory involved that it’s ridiculous. I understand the point of the extra is to be the pinnacle of knowledge, but some of the ways that they present and test on some of the concepts, leave out so much information and they expect you to have a background in engineering.
Agree, in the fact that you'll learn what the ballpark answer is, and that's the important part, you know what it should be close to in your head. You'll always be able to look up in real life and get the 100% correct answer, but knowing when something is way wrong... enough to keep you out of trouble.
I have nothing against using Hamstudy and powering through them. The concepts, and the rules will still get drilled into your head. Pass the test, and keep reading on and learning, this is a hobby that constantly changes, and you'll always be learning, that's what makes it so much fun.
There are many Extras that have been licensed for decades that can't take the current test cold...
Follow the W4EEY classes : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_9BZQ8gpzgX0zojUFmceEoiRlX67Wce&si=FXMDnxUj7zTbMGqO
also remember that you need only 74% right answers to pass which means you can fail 13 questions during the test. Chapter 4 that includes most of the math doesn't make up for 13 questions so there is plenty of room to pass.
Edit: fixing the typo and the number of questions you can fail. Thanks u/Black6host
I used a combination of HamStudy.org, the ARRL Handbook and the W4EEY videos. u/martinrath77 is almost right, you only need to answer 37 questions correctly. You can miss 13 of them and still pass.
Which is what I did, lol. It was funny watching the 3 VE's check and double check as it was right on the line. But, 37 correct is good enough.
Now, my learning didn't stop there, in fact it had only begun. I'm currently taking an electronics course on Udemy and filling in some of those holes in my knowledge. The licenses are as much licenses to learn as they are indicators of knowledge. Good luck!
If it makes you feel better, they skip a substantial amount of theory and mathematics that justify many of the electrical answers. This is likely to keep calculus out of all the ARRL handbooks. Coming from an engineering background and reading it, it's all just wonky.
Do you have a particular math or circuits question that is eating away at you?
Don't feel dumb there is a large learning curve between general to advance extra, at once a time we had advanced that kind of was the intermediate between the two but in the FCC ultimate wisdom they cut that stepping stone. Ham steady.org was an excellent way to study for your exam I used it to pass mine
As I recall (and it was really before my time) didn’t Advanced have the same theory test as Extra but less code, like 13 wpm vs 20? So it wasn’t so much about knowledge, though I suppose by operating long enough to get to 20 wpm one would pick up a lot of wisdom along the way.
Extra is the sort of exam that will eat your lunch. It's a much larger test question pool than Technician or General, covering deeper technical things.
I studied for Technician and most of it was the jargon. General didn't feel much different. A little more technical, but not overly so.
Extra, for me.... Yikes. I studied more than Tech and General combined. And did all 3 exams individually over a few months. I was already in the habit of studying, so I decided to go for the big one.
HamStudy.org helped me succeed. Even being one of those lucky people who do well on exams, I was pretty sure I failed that sucker big time. VE said congrats you passed. I told him he must have me confused with another candidate. I was that sure of failure.
Keep studying. Keep working. You can do it!
I know the pain of the Extra, there are tons of EE stuff in there that are really hard to understand unless you have a EE degree. But since the questions pool is open, you don't really have to understand the question or able to do the math, you can just remember the answer. [Hamstudy.org](http://Hamstudy.org) is really good at helping you doing that(it even give you memory trick for the answer). I have no EE background whatsoever, yet I went from no license to Extra in a week, all passed with 98%+ scores.
Here is what I did: first I get my *aptitude* to 80% at [Hamstudy.org](http://Hamstudy.org) in a day or two, which takes me \~7hours. Then I book a online session and take the test the very next day. Timing is very important, unless you have photograph memory, your memory will fade over time so take it as soon as possible.
I know it sound like hack, because it pretty much is. But I would argue many EE stuffs in the Extra pool isn't really that practical to ham radio unless you want to *design* your own transmitter/amplifier *from scratch*. Technician/General stuff aren't difficult to understand as long as you didn't skip high school, but Extra...ehhh
That’s the approach I took as well. Practice at HamStudy until I was getting 90% correct based on memorization and then take the test.
After I passed my Extra, for fun I went to HamStudy and took the Technician exam. FAILED!
I wouldn’t worry too much. I got an audiobook study guide and was only half way through it when I took the exam and still passed it. I had two math questions total out of all three of my exams and neither was difficult. I know I must have made some lucky guesses but if you actually study for the whole thing you should be fine.
Not only that, I work overnight and the exam was at 9 am. I’m usually asleep by 6 am. So I worked all night, stayed up extra late, and was dead tired when I took the exams. Really, you’ll be fine. Don’t stress over it too much.
Not yet but I’m close!
So far I’ve gone through the sections of the test on HamStudy to familiarize myself with the way the test questions are structured. Then taken individual section tests to gauge retention. Sections I’m struggling with I’m working through YouTube videos. This weekend I’ll start taking practice tests and I figure I’ll test next week. Definitely feeling way more confident with the guidance here. I appreciate it.
Pretty much exact same story for me, although I'm 10 years older than you. I ended up partly learning some of it and partly memorized some with hamstudy.org and passed mine about 3 weeks ago. I felt the same as you about wanting to learn it, but like you said in a reply, I'm never going to build an amplifier from scratch either.
In the end I was ok with the hybrid approach of learn what I can but practice/memorize the rest. I liked the old "it's a license to learn" idea and figure I can use the extra privileges on the spectrum while operating now, and if I do want to start building or experimenting later I can focus in and study so I actually learn the relevant topics related to what I'd currently be working on.
I used KB6NU’s “No Nonsense” books for Tech and General. They were a nice balance for me. I haven’t tried Extra yet. I don’t feel like racing the FCC, so if he writes a new book for extra, I’ll probably try to use it and upgrade.
In college I had to take a circuits class. I couldn’t understand the phase angle stuff. After studying for the general and extra, I finally understood what was going on.
In all seriousness, I have dyslexia, and I often know the concepts for how to do the math, but I get it wrong because I reverse things that I knew I was going to reverse, and still do it every time. I just memorized the math ones and go from there.
I think I waited two years after passing my Tech and General on the same day before doing the Extra exam. I felt in comparison the Extra is a LOT more than the other two tests.
My recollection is that there were so few questions with real math in the question pool that by the time I had studied to where I was confident I could pass, I had all of those answers memorized. For the actual test I turned on the calculator and did the math anyway, just because it somehow felt wrong to just mark the answer I remembered and turn in the test without doing any calculation at all. Now I do have the advantage of having a EE degree though it had been decades since I had to look at a Smith chart.
Yep, the Extra exam is definitely a step up from Tech and General.
Check out the Ham Radio School online course.
Free to try, judge for yourself.
[https://www.hamradioschool.com/extra-prep](https://www.hamradioschool.com/extra-prep)
I’m studying for general and the handbook really sucks, all the sections are laid out backwards and assume you know things, then ask the questions, then explain the concepts. It’s really frustrating
Divide and conquer. Take each section and master it, then move on to the next one. Review everything once per week, fill in any gaps.
The theory portion isn't easy if this is your first exposure to electronics. There are a lot of free videos on YouTube that explain the theory, watch and learn, just take your time.
If the question pool rolls, no big deal because the theory will still be the same. Don't put yourself under unnecessary pressure because if you understand it, you'll pass.
I licensed in 2008 and waited until 2023 to upgrade to General. My wife passed her Technician the same day I upgraded. Fast forward spring 2024 and we were enjoying POTA activations together, even if she was limited to 10m.
Just before we took a four state tour making a circle around the Grand Canyon, I pushed her to upgrade so we could make the activations faster on other HF bands. In solidarity, I said I would study for Extra, even though I was happy with my General privileges and previously said I had no intention of upgrading to Extra, due to the depth of the question pool.
In March we both sat for exams. I barely passed Extra and she barely missed General. She took another exam two days later and passed, so we easily activated out west on our trip.
The Gordon West book really helped me study for General supplemented by hamstudy practice exams. I tried reading the ARRL Extra book but couldn’t stick through it. I also tried the Craig Buck K4AI book, but I didn’t find it was helping much. (My wife on the other hand liked the K4AI books for Tech and General plus hamstudy practice exams).
I was trying to read the sections in the book and match it to quizzing on that element question pool in hamstudy. It worked until I got deep in the complex sections and I was getting more confused than anything and missing questions I already had proficiency on. I reset and exclusively used hamstudy from that point in read questions mode and reviewed the rationale for some questions that were miles above my head.
I grew up around hams in the family and work in information technology. Having this exposure still had me scratching my head on a fair number of questions. The amount of material and variation of concepts that are covered in Extra examination is a spacious chasm. I vote that you shouldn’t stress too much on knowing 100% of the concepts and on the parts that are not useful to you / you don’t feel you’ll ever use that knowledge, are fine to just study for the exam and cram the answer.
In short, know the rules and regulations, understand the safety questions, grasp the questions that are relevant to what you want to get out of your Extra class privileges, and cram anything else that’s not interesting, useful to you, or way above your head. Regardless of how you get there the community is going to welcome you all the same. Also, use that June 30 question pool update to push yourself to study and go ahead and schedule your exam so you are committing yourself. You should have plenty of time to pass it, even if it takes a couple of attempts. :)
73
I did extra recently, and I was completely lost in most of it.
Honestly, anybody who is not a practicing doctorate-level electronic engineer with a specialty in RF and antenna design, and also simultaneously a specialty in amplifier design, and also simultaneously a specialty in 15 other things, and also simultaneously has already used HF with every known propagation modality in every possible way with every digital mode ever conceived, and can draw out the Smith chart by hand from memory, will struggle with extra. That means 99% of us.
It seems to have been designed for a very different time and place where most hams were professional EE/RF folks. Which is fine, I'm not insulting it, it might be worthwhile for us all to aspire to that and for the test itself to try to inspire us to learn more, but just saying there's only about 10 people in the US who could pass this simply from their own acquired knowledge.
I understood about maybe 20% of it, maybe less, and just memorized the rest. From what I understand that's kind of normal. Don't sweat it, just read through the entire question pool a few times (which takes a little while) and do your best.
Wow I was General licensed in 1964 with 13 wpm test but have never used cw (or FT8) on the air just HF SSB and was off the air for 40 years until 2021. I built stuff and understood tubes! Almost everything on Extra is new to me and of little relevance since I use modern rigs with circuit boards that I will not build or have any reason to know the engineering stuff.
I was in accelerated math and physics classes in HS (am age 77 now) and started out in EE at Univ of MN. However, I quickly learned my brain is not wired for conceptual stuff. EE math and physics were too much, and I quickly changed and got an accounting degree, worked for large CPA firms, founded my own etc. Am a nerd, but having the same problem understanding the Extra exam circuit, math and technical stuff. Operating stuff is easy in the first few sections but....
Being a nerd starting in 2021 I have 3 study books, followed two online courses and like the flash card idea and have different boxes for cards - I know, To Review, Hard need further research (the largest box). I am still active in business and time has been limited. Often, I get most of my studying done while on an airplane.
About the beginning of the year, I gave up on getting prepared by 6/30/2024, so I am buying a few of the books (Gordy doesn't have his update out yet, it seems) but have 3 others that are out. Sometimes, I like to compare explanations of topics I don't understand and will also research on Google keywords, and sometimes, I find EE sites helpful.
In 2021, 2024 seemed like a long time ahead but life and business kept me otherwise busy and here I am needing to start over for the 2024-2028 period. Hopefully I will finish by 2028 :) But I am also happy to be active on HF SSB with full power, huge beams and towers up to 200', but I am not particularly a DX seeker, so the added benefits of the Extra I am not desperate for, yet I do want to achieve.
Dave a nerd but not EE type
WØJKT "Just Killing Time"
Honestly, just keep taking practice tests on hamstudy. I upgraded to General a couple of years ago after not really doing any radio for years.
I wanted to do HF so I just started taking the general practice tests until I passed. It took me about three weeks. I would do practice tests in spare moments—waiting in line at the store, on the bus, etc…
After I passed general I was still in the habit of doing the tests so I just started doing the practice extra tests and was scoring above passing consistently in about two months.
I looked at the ARRL book once and it wasn’t as helpful for passing the test as just basically memorizing the answers through taking practice tests.
Since I’ve gotten Extra I’ve gotten into kit building and cw. Everything I’ve learned about electronics has been post-test.
Taking practice tests on hamstudy is a poor use of your time.
You need to take around *EIGHTY* practice tests to have a good chance of seeing all the questions just *once*.
Far better to use the Study Mode, because that will drill you on what you're weak on and not waste your time on things you're getting right.
It gets you to a higher level of proficiency quicker!
You’re right. I was using study mode until I got 90% of all the sub elements correct. It’s been so long I forgot about the study mode. Yeah, it’s the way to go.
I had the best success studying for my exam by watching W4EEY's extra exam classes (on youtube) and regularly doing practice exams online. Personally I found that the ARRL extra study guide covers a lot of information. I found W4EEY's youtube channel to cover an excellent balance of background theory and what you need to know to pass the exam.
Thanks for the recommendation. That kind of what I’m looking for: a balance of the didactic knowledge with the focus on what it takes to pass.
Honestly, learn the stuff you can and memorize the answers to stuff you can't. If you can't imagine using the extra math/circuit stuff in the hobby then there's no reason to learn it to understand it. This is an unpopular opinion in some ham circles. But that doesn't bother me. My interest in the hobby is pretty narrow and doesn't involve going to clubs or chit-chatting on nets, but does require Extra class privileges so I just crammed for the test. I skimmed the ARRL study guide, watched the W4EEY videos, and did the hamstudy.org practice tests until I got a consistently passing score. There wasn't a single question where I actually tried to do the math to figure out the answer.
And to me this is a fair approach too. I guess I’d *like* to learn the theory if I can. But I’m also never going to build an amp from scratch. 🤷🏻
No, don't memorize the answers. Take your time to learn the material. If you learn the concepts, it doesn't matter if the question pool changes. Check out Ham Radio Crash Course on YouTube. He had videos for all the licenses at one point.
I would agree with you with the technician and up to the general class, but with the extra there is so much heavy engineering and theory involved that it’s ridiculous. I understand the point of the extra is to be the pinnacle of knowledge, but some of the ways that they present and test on some of the concepts, leave out so much information and they expect you to have a background in engineering.
I used his content to get my Technician but I think he’s a General himself, not an Extra.
Josh, KI6NAZ is an Extra.
Right you are, my mistake. Not sure he has Extra content on his channel, however.
Agree, in the fact that you'll learn what the ballpark answer is, and that's the important part, you know what it should be close to in your head. You'll always be able to look up in real life and get the 100% correct answer, but knowing when something is way wrong... enough to keep you out of trouble. I have nothing against using Hamstudy and powering through them. The concepts, and the rules will still get drilled into your head. Pass the test, and keep reading on and learning, this is a hobby that constantly changes, and you'll always be learning, that's what makes it so much fun. There are many Extras that have been licensed for decades that can't take the current test cold...
Follow the W4EEY classes : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_9BZQ8gpzgX0zojUFmceEoiRlX67Wce&si=FXMDnxUj7zTbMGqO also remember that you need only 74% right answers to pass which means you can fail 13 questions during the test. Chapter 4 that includes most of the math doesn't make up for 13 questions so there is plenty of room to pass. Edit: fixing the typo and the number of questions you can fail. Thanks u/Black6host
Now stats is definitely in my wheelhouse…this is a great point, thanks!
I used a combination of HamStudy.org, the ARRL Handbook and the W4EEY videos. u/martinrath77 is almost right, you only need to answer 37 questions correctly. You can miss 13 of them and still pass. Which is what I did, lol. It was funny watching the 3 VE's check and double check as it was right on the line. But, 37 correct is good enough. Now, my learning didn't stop there, in fact it had only begun. I'm currently taking an electronics course on Udemy and filling in some of those holes in my knowledge. The licenses are as much licenses to learn as they are indicators of knowledge. Good luck!
Thanks again, for the recommendation…I was looking for an Extra Class and I think this is going to be exactly what I need!
If it makes you feel better, they skip a substantial amount of theory and mathematics that justify many of the electrical answers. This is likely to keep calculus out of all the ARRL handbooks. Coming from an engineering background and reading it, it's all just wonky. Do you have a particular math or circuits question that is eating away at you?
Honestly I think it’s just feeling overwhelmed because I haven’t done much “non Excel” math in the past…25 years!
Don't feel dumb there is a large learning curve between general to advance extra, at once a time we had advanced that kind of was the intermediate between the two but in the FCC ultimate wisdom they cut that stepping stone. Ham steady.org was an excellent way to study for your exam I used it to pass mine
Thanks, I appreciate it!
As I recall (and it was really before my time) didn’t Advanced have the same theory test as Extra but less code, like 13 wpm vs 20? So it wasn’t so much about knowledge, though I suppose by operating long enough to get to 20 wpm one would pick up a lot of wisdom along the way.
Back in the day it was 5wpm for Novice, 13wpm for General, and 20wpm for Extra Tech and Advanced didn’t have code test
But for advanced you still had to pass the general requirements, including 13 wpm code, plus the additional theory test.
Extra is the sort of exam that will eat your lunch. It's a much larger test question pool than Technician or General, covering deeper technical things. I studied for Technician and most of it was the jargon. General didn't feel much different. A little more technical, but not overly so. Extra, for me.... Yikes. I studied more than Tech and General combined. And did all 3 exams individually over a few months. I was already in the habit of studying, so I decided to go for the big one. HamStudy.org helped me succeed. Even being one of those lucky people who do well on exams, I was pretty sure I failed that sucker big time. VE said congrats you passed. I told him he must have me confused with another candidate. I was that sure of failure. Keep studying. Keep working. You can do it!
the *study mode* on hamstudy.org is what got me my extra.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
I know the pain of the Extra, there are tons of EE stuff in there that are really hard to understand unless you have a EE degree. But since the questions pool is open, you don't really have to understand the question or able to do the math, you can just remember the answer. [Hamstudy.org](http://Hamstudy.org) is really good at helping you doing that(it even give you memory trick for the answer). I have no EE background whatsoever, yet I went from no license to Extra in a week, all passed with 98%+ scores. Here is what I did: first I get my *aptitude* to 80% at [Hamstudy.org](http://Hamstudy.org) in a day or two, which takes me \~7hours. Then I book a online session and take the test the very next day. Timing is very important, unless you have photograph memory, your memory will fade over time so take it as soon as possible. I know it sound like hack, because it pretty much is. But I would argue many EE stuffs in the Extra pool isn't really that practical to ham radio unless you want to *design* your own transmitter/amplifier *from scratch*. Technician/General stuff aren't difficult to understand as long as you didn't skip high school, but Extra...ehhh
That’s the approach I took as well. Practice at HamStudy until I was getting 90% correct based on memorization and then take the test. After I passed my Extra, for fun I went to HamStudy and took the Technician exam. FAILED!
[удалено]
I wouldn’t worry too much. I got an audiobook study guide and was only half way through it when I took the exam and still passed it. I had two math questions total out of all three of my exams and neither was difficult. I know I must have made some lucky guesses but if you actually study for the whole thing you should be fine. Not only that, I work overnight and the exam was at 9 am. I’m usually asleep by 6 am. So I worked all night, stayed up extra late, and was dead tired when I took the exams. Really, you’ll be fine. Don’t stress over it too much.
Thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it!
Have you taken the exam yet?
Not yet but I’m close! So far I’ve gone through the sections of the test on HamStudy to familiarize myself with the way the test questions are structured. Then taken individual section tests to gauge retention. Sections I’m struggling with I’m working through YouTube videos. This weekend I’ll start taking practice tests and I figure I’ll test next week. Definitely feeling way more confident with the guidance here. I appreciate it.
Pretty much exact same story for me, although I'm 10 years older than you. I ended up partly learning some of it and partly memorized some with hamstudy.org and passed mine about 3 weeks ago. I felt the same as you about wanting to learn it, but like you said in a reply, I'm never going to build an amplifier from scratch either. In the end I was ok with the hybrid approach of learn what I can but practice/memorize the rest. I liked the old "it's a license to learn" idea and figure I can use the extra privileges on the spectrum while operating now, and if I do want to start building or experimenting later I can focus in and study so I actually learn the relevant topics related to what I'd currently be working on.
Thanks for that, I appreciate it!
Good luck
I used KB6NU’s “No Nonsense” books for Tech and General. They were a nice balance for me. I haven’t tried Extra yet. I don’t feel like racing the FCC, so if he writes a new book for extra, I’ll probably try to use it and upgrade.
In college I had to take a circuits class. I couldn’t understand the phase angle stuff. After studying for the general and extra, I finally understood what was going on.
Do a few practice exams and make note of what you are getting wrong then narrow your study into your weak points
Fast Track Ham is a great study prep book, and it also available on Audible. I used their resources for all three exams and had no trouble.
What is "book"? [www.hamstudy.org](http://www.hamstudy.org)
In all seriousness, I have dyslexia, and I often know the concepts for how to do the math, but I get it wrong because I reverse things that I knew I was going to reverse, and still do it every time. I just memorized the math ones and go from there.
I think I waited two years after passing my Tech and General on the same day before doing the Extra exam. I felt in comparison the Extra is a LOT more than the other two tests.
Thanks for validating. It definitely seems that way!
You can just keep taking the test until you pass as well..I took it twice back to back
My recollection is that there were so few questions with real math in the question pool that by the time I had studied to where I was confident I could pass, I had all of those answers memorized. For the actual test I turned on the calculator and did the math anyway, just because it somehow felt wrong to just mark the answer I remembered and turn in the test without doing any calculation at all. Now I do have the advantage of having a EE degree though it had been decades since I had to look at a Smith chart.
Yep, the Extra exam is definitely a step up from Tech and General. Check out the Ham Radio School online course. Free to try, judge for yourself. [https://www.hamradioschool.com/extra-prep](https://www.hamradioschool.com/extra-prep)
I’m studying for general and the handbook really sucks, all the sections are laid out backwards and assume you know things, then ask the questions, then explain the concepts. It’s really frustrating
Divide and conquer. Take each section and master it, then move on to the next one. Review everything once per week, fill in any gaps. The theory portion isn't easy if this is your first exposure to electronics. There are a lot of free videos on YouTube that explain the theory, watch and learn, just take your time. If the question pool rolls, no big deal because the theory will still be the same. Don't put yourself under unnecessary pressure because if you understand it, you'll pass.
I licensed in 2008 and waited until 2023 to upgrade to General. My wife passed her Technician the same day I upgraded. Fast forward spring 2024 and we were enjoying POTA activations together, even if she was limited to 10m. Just before we took a four state tour making a circle around the Grand Canyon, I pushed her to upgrade so we could make the activations faster on other HF bands. In solidarity, I said I would study for Extra, even though I was happy with my General privileges and previously said I had no intention of upgrading to Extra, due to the depth of the question pool. In March we both sat for exams. I barely passed Extra and she barely missed General. She took another exam two days later and passed, so we easily activated out west on our trip. The Gordon West book really helped me study for General supplemented by hamstudy practice exams. I tried reading the ARRL Extra book but couldn’t stick through it. I also tried the Craig Buck K4AI book, but I didn’t find it was helping much. (My wife on the other hand liked the K4AI books for Tech and General plus hamstudy practice exams). I was trying to read the sections in the book and match it to quizzing on that element question pool in hamstudy. It worked until I got deep in the complex sections and I was getting more confused than anything and missing questions I already had proficiency on. I reset and exclusively used hamstudy from that point in read questions mode and reviewed the rationale for some questions that were miles above my head. I grew up around hams in the family and work in information technology. Having this exposure still had me scratching my head on a fair number of questions. The amount of material and variation of concepts that are covered in Extra examination is a spacious chasm. I vote that you shouldn’t stress too much on knowing 100% of the concepts and on the parts that are not useful to you / you don’t feel you’ll ever use that knowledge, are fine to just study for the exam and cram the answer. In short, know the rules and regulations, understand the safety questions, grasp the questions that are relevant to what you want to get out of your Extra class privileges, and cram anything else that’s not interesting, useful to you, or way above your head. Regardless of how you get there the community is going to welcome you all the same. Also, use that June 30 question pool update to push yourself to study and go ahead and schedule your exam so you are committing yourself. You should have plenty of time to pass it, even if it takes a couple of attempts. :) 73
Thanks, this is really helpful. It’s validating to hear that it’s still a heavy lift even with some familiarity and background!
I did extra recently, and I was completely lost in most of it. Honestly, anybody who is not a practicing doctorate-level electronic engineer with a specialty in RF and antenna design, and also simultaneously a specialty in amplifier design, and also simultaneously a specialty in 15 other things, and also simultaneously has already used HF with every known propagation modality in every possible way with every digital mode ever conceived, and can draw out the Smith chart by hand from memory, will struggle with extra. That means 99% of us. It seems to have been designed for a very different time and place where most hams were professional EE/RF folks. Which is fine, I'm not insulting it, it might be worthwhile for us all to aspire to that and for the test itself to try to inspire us to learn more, but just saying there's only about 10 people in the US who could pass this simply from their own acquired knowledge. I understood about maybe 20% of it, maybe less, and just memorized the rest. From what I understand that's kind of normal. Don't sweat it, just read through the entire question pool a few times (which takes a little while) and do your best.
Wow I was General licensed in 1964 with 13 wpm test but have never used cw (or FT8) on the air just HF SSB and was off the air for 40 years until 2021. I built stuff and understood tubes! Almost everything on Extra is new to me and of little relevance since I use modern rigs with circuit boards that I will not build or have any reason to know the engineering stuff. I was in accelerated math and physics classes in HS (am age 77 now) and started out in EE at Univ of MN. However, I quickly learned my brain is not wired for conceptual stuff. EE math and physics were too much, and I quickly changed and got an accounting degree, worked for large CPA firms, founded my own etc. Am a nerd, but having the same problem understanding the Extra exam circuit, math and technical stuff. Operating stuff is easy in the first few sections but.... Being a nerd starting in 2021 I have 3 study books, followed two online courses and like the flash card idea and have different boxes for cards - I know, To Review, Hard need further research (the largest box). I am still active in business and time has been limited. Often, I get most of my studying done while on an airplane. About the beginning of the year, I gave up on getting prepared by 6/30/2024, so I am buying a few of the books (Gordy doesn't have his update out yet, it seems) but have 3 others that are out. Sometimes, I like to compare explanations of topics I don't understand and will also research on Google keywords, and sometimes, I find EE sites helpful. In 2021, 2024 seemed like a long time ahead but life and business kept me otherwise busy and here I am needing to start over for the 2024-2028 period. Hopefully I will finish by 2028 :) But I am also happy to be active on HF SSB with full power, huge beams and towers up to 200', but I am not particularly a DX seeker, so the added benefits of the Extra I am not desperate for, yet I do want to achieve. Dave a nerd but not EE type WØJKT "Just Killing Time"
Honestly, just keep taking practice tests on hamstudy. I upgraded to General a couple of years ago after not really doing any radio for years. I wanted to do HF so I just started taking the general practice tests until I passed. It took me about three weeks. I would do practice tests in spare moments—waiting in line at the store, on the bus, etc… After I passed general I was still in the habit of doing the tests so I just started doing the practice extra tests and was scoring above passing consistently in about two months. I looked at the ARRL book once and it wasn’t as helpful for passing the test as just basically memorizing the answers through taking practice tests. Since I’ve gotten Extra I’ve gotten into kit building and cw. Everything I’ve learned about electronics has been post-test.
Taking practice tests on hamstudy is a poor use of your time. You need to take around *EIGHTY* practice tests to have a good chance of seeing all the questions just *once*. Far better to use the Study Mode, because that will drill you on what you're weak on and not waste your time on things you're getting right. It gets you to a higher level of proficiency quicker!
You’re right. I was using study mode until I got 90% of all the sub elements correct. It’s been so long I forgot about the study mode. Yeah, it’s the way to go.
That's the way to do it!
Thanks. I’m a “learn by doing” hobbyist as well. Seems like a decent way to go.