The best way, in my experience, to study for and pass your FCC Amateur Radio (Ham) exam is to use the following method to memorize and understand the material.
Hamstudy.org website and App
My personal recommendation is to use Hamstudy.org, which is free online, or available on your smartphone for a small fee. I highly recommend the the hamstudy.org app on your smartphone since you will be more likely to study more since most people always have their phone with them, and I love the app on the iPhone.
Using the Hamstudy App
I recommend that once you have the Hamstudy app, or are on the hamstudy website, you DO NOT try to guess the answers, or even read all the possible answers. I recommend you select the Technician (or other) section, choose that you are studying by the Question Pool Order (default), select Let’s Go!, then click Read. Once in Read mode, click the subelement you want to start with, and then go to the top right-hand corner to select your options. In options, make sure you turn on hide distractors. This will hide all of the WRONG answers. Then, go through the pool reading ONLY the question, and the CORRECT answer. If you do not understand why an answer is correct, click on the word Explain in the top right-hand corner of the question, and it will explain it. Some explanations include hints or tips on how to remember the correct answer that may help.
After you can get to the point where you know the correct answer as you are reading the questions, you can try Study mode and see how you do. In Study mode, you will be presented with the question and all of the possible answers. In this mode, if you read a question but don’t immediately KNOW the answer, click the words I don’t know at the top righthand corner of the question, and it will highlight the correct answer. Once you click I don’t know and it highlights the correct answer, the top righthand corner will now display the Explain option so you can find out why that is the correct (or most correct) answer.
Study mode will keep track of the questions you have gotten correct, and those you have missed so you can se what percentage of the material you have mastered. If you answer a question incorrectly, the app will give you that same question again soon, usually within 5 or so questions, so you can try to answer it correctly. This is done to help keep the correct answer fresh in your mind, and to reinforce the correct answer in your memory. This is an EXCELLENT way to study and learn, and kudos to them for using this cognitive refresh technique.
- Pick an area for study, and stay in that section until you are scoring 80% or better for overall knowledge.
- Once you master a section, move to another section, and repeat step 1.
- If you get bogged down, or bored, take a break, or move to another section and come back to the boring or hard section later when your mind is fresh.
- Study until you can pass the practice test for each section with an 85% or better score. You need 74% to pass, so you shouldn’t have any issues if you score an 85 or better for each section since that only leaves 15% of the questions from that section as “unknown”, and you only have a 10% chance of each question appearing on the exam. Even then, you have a 1 in 4 chance of guessing the correct answer even if you don’t remember the answer. So put all those percentages together, and it’s… hmmm, carry the 3, divide by the coefficient of the sine, divided by the speed of smell… well, you have a pretty good chance of passing.
YouTube
There are a lot of great YouTube channels and creators who can help you understand the information on the test. I personally can recommend the following channels as being run by great Hams who know what they are talking about, and who put out excellent and informative content.
Ham Radio Crash Course (HRCC) – Josh (KI6NAZ) has a TON of videos on just about anything to do with Amateur Radio. I like his content, he seems like a great guy, and he doesn’t play sides when it comes to gear. He tells you what he likes, what he doesn’t, and lets the chips fall where they may.
W4EEY – Gary (W4EEY) has a lot of great information, but for those of you getting started, I strongly recommend you watch his playlist on the 2023 Technician Exam Class. It does a great job of explaining a lot of the concepts, and he keeps it interesting.
DX Commander – Callum (M0MCX) is a WEALTH of knowledge about antennas, coax, and all things amateur radio, as well as an all-around great guy. His company makes their namesake, the famous DX Commander antennas, and his content is top notch. You can learn a lot from him, especially once you have a basic understanding of Amateur Radio.
KB9VBR Antennas – Michael (KB9VBR)
K6ARK Portable Radio – Adam (K6ARK)
Some of the pages on this site are currently a work in progress. These pages are not hidden in case some of the information on them is useful as a starting point to someone. Keep checking back for more information as I have time to update and author more pages.