I took the Amateur Extra exam on Tuesday night and passed with a 48/50!
Like previous exams, I used the ARRL spiral-bound books as well as HamStudy.org.
The Amateur Extra was a little tougher because not everything was straightforward and there were new electronics concepts as well as stuff I forgot when I was in college.
The other reason it was difficult studying was because the question pool was so large so it took a lot of time to review all the questions over and over. As usual, after I went thru all the questions once in the book, I did countless practice tests at HamStudy.org and passed every time with an average of 85%. This made me nervous because in previous practice tests, I’ve usually passed getting only 1-2 wrong. And on both the the real exams I’ve gotten 100% on Technician and General.
My exam was set to happen on Sunday in Denver. They ended up canceling that because of COVID issues with the space so I hemmed and hawed and pulled the trigger to take it – if I pass, I pass, if not then I’d watch all of Dave Casler’s videos while I took more exams.
Just like similar med school tests where you had the question/answer pool, I don’t like memorizing things that I don’t comprehend. That’s cheating. They’re not testing your ability to memorize questions and answers and to use mnemonic devices to pick the right answer. They’re trying to test your knowledge on the subject which is the requirement for operating a radio.
Anyway so I took the exam online cramped in our power room and ended up getting the highest score I have on any Extra exam I’ve taken – 96% (2 wrong). I thought I would get about 5 wrong but I guess I made good enough guesses on some questions that I don’t recall ever seeing before.
Maybe I actually knew the material?
So now comes the arduous task of getting a shorter vanity call sign. I’m kind of hooked on my current call sign – KF0BBY. Alas, its a rite of passage to get your Extra and get a short call sign to let everyone else know that I’m a Dr. Smarty Pants, I guess 😉
I’m mostly excited of obtaining my Amateur Extra because
- I don’t have to worry about where I tune on the band and
- Greater  ability to talk to DX countries that DX on frequencies not available to US Generals.
73
