{"id":18287,"date":"2016-04-16T08:31:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T12:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=18287"},"modified":"2016-04-16T16:11:40","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T20:11:40","slug":"extra-extra-a-review-of-ham-test-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/extra-extra-a-review-of-ham-test-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra, Extra! A review of Ham Test Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_20160414_173645413-001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday\u00a0night, I passed my Extra class ham radio license exam<\/a>\u00a0and–woo hoo!– I’m chuffed!<\/p>\n

The Extra class\u00a0is the highest class amateur radio license you can hold in the United States. I’ve put off studying for this test for more than 17 years.<\/p>\n

Why? Well, for one thing, I’m not an electronics engineer–indeed, I’ve never taken a formal course on electronics other than the practice study I did for my first three amateur radio licenses. The Extra exam is chock-full of formulas and electronics theory and it intimidated me for ages. Studying for it was…well…arduous.<\/p>\n

I did, however, enjoy\u00a0studying for my Technician, Novice and General exams. [Note that today there are only three license classes: Technician, General and Extra and no Morse Code requirement.]\u00a0Indeed, I learned a lot about circuits and radio wave propagation from those first exams. As soon as my daughters are old enough, I’ll teach them the Technician course work.<\/p>\n

What prompted me to study for my Extra license exam this month? I gave a presentation at the Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Club on April 4th–the president announced that the Extra class question pool was going through a major overhaul and I had already invested a few hours studying the current material.<\/p>\n

The current Extra class question pool is only valid until the end of June 2016.<\/p>\n

I made a decision that evening: it was time to buckle down and cram for this exam!<\/em> Especially since my radio club (the NCDXCC) was giving exams the following week.<\/p>\n

Studying<\/h2>\n

In the past, I used a combination of exam study guides published by the ARRL<\/a> and W5YI<\/a>, and free online practice exams provided by AA9PW<\/a>. The\u00a0combination worked\u00a0very well.<\/p>\n

With the Extra exam, however, I needed a method that was\u00a0more persistent and one that focused\u00a0on my weakest subjects.<\/p>\n

Enter Ham Test Online<\/h2>\n

\"HamTestOnline\"<\/a><\/p>\n

About this same time last<\/em> year (April 2015), I decided to invest in an online course called Ham Test Online<\/a> (HTO) with the idea that I could take the Extra exam at the 2015 Dayton Hamvention. That exam never happened because, in the build-up to the Dayton Hamvention, I had\u00a0very little<\/em> free time to study. Indeed, the same\u00a0was true this month, but I fit study and practice time in every spare moment I had to get the exam in the books by the\u00a0club meeting.<\/p>\n

\"HamTestOnline-QuestionOptions\"<\/a>

Typical Ham Test Online study screen.<\/p><\/div>\n

According to HTO, I spent a total of roughly 30 hours studying for the Extra exam in total–at least 28 of those hours were within a one week period of time. I wouldn’t recommend this level of cramming for anyone else.<\/p>\n

HTO advises\u00a0that setting aside only one hour of study per day will have you in good shape\u00a0to take the Extra exam in about one month. That is a much more reasonable timeline.<\/p>\n

\"Ham<\/a>

Ham Test online shows you, at a glance, your weakest\/strongest subjects and topics you have yet to cover. (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

In short: I am very impressed with Ham Test Online.<\/strong> It was worth every penny to have a dedicated tutorial system that was persistent in noting and repeating\u00a0my weakest subjects.<\/p>\n

It’s actually a very simple website and, fortunately, was usable via my Moto X smart phone’s Chrome web browser. \u00a0This meant that when I was waiting for my kids in the doctor’s office or parking lot, I could study or even take a practice test without needing a PC.<\/p>\n

\"HTO<\/a>

HTO keeps track of your practice exam results and notes any missed questions for review later. Keep in mind that you only need a 75% score or higher to pass the test. I felt comfortable taking the test with scores in the 85% range. (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

Indeed, at any given time, I had HTO running in a web browser session on my shack PC, my MacBook, my iPad and my smart phone–they all worked in symphony, picking up the last session\/topic from the device I was last using.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

Here are a few notes I took while using Ham Test Online:<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n