Rant - Studying not going well for my General

[naysjp]

I'm at my wits end. I've been dedicating study time since February towards my General class ticket and I am still sucking at nailing decent practice test scores. I've tried ham study dot org, Ham 2.0 for the past week, I purchased the ham study dot org app so that I can study during laundry day and while waiting after my COVID shot. I'm still not anywhere near passing. I spent 3 hours last saturday studying. I'm running out of positive vibes. I studied more for this ticket than I did for my Technician ticket. That was go through questions and then take the test immediately. I had to take it twice but I passed. The frustration is real because I have put in more time on this test preparation. I've even tried focusing on the week areas. I was supposed to take this test March 27, then I postponed to the first weekend in April but I'm not ready. I'm home nursing a hurt shoulder so it's not like I'm working as of late. I'm not spending any more money on ham anything until I pass. I have enough study material I shouldn't have to buy "so and so's" study material. I'm at a loss.

 

[slomatt]

Sorry to hear about your frustrations with the General license test. Is there a specific category of questions you are consistently having a hard time with?

For what it's worth, I got my General license several years ago but realistically I've never really needed anything beyond a Technician license.

 

[ProtonDecay]

OK, iff you have mastered the material and what you need is just help with the questions there is always ankiweb.....

Again, once you have actually internalized the material - ankiweb is a mediocre substitute for actually understanding anything - but it is an excellent way to memorize huge amounts of material, and since the General test is from a list of known questions.....

 

[El-Dracho]

Sorry t o hear that you're frustrated with the learning progress.

I got my HAM license last year. For me, who has what I think is a good basic technical understanding, but no apprenticeship or even a degree in electrical engineering or physics, learning wasn't easy either. What helped me a lot was a classroom course.

don't know how you guys in North America are organized regarding this. We have the DARC in Germany as a kind of association or umbrella organization of radio amateurs and some of its local groups offer such classroom trainings. In addition with these local groups, there are always members on site who are happy to help beginners. Maybe there is something similar in your area? An amateur radio club with helpful members who can support a little?

 

[Flipper]

Try Eham.net and run thru the practice exams over and over until you memorize the answers. Don’t try to understand the material, 95% of the material you will never use, just memorize the answers. This is why Ham Radio has such a hard time getting new members. IMO the test should be geared towards learning the RULES and operation procedures, especially 2M, more than the importance of a Pi filter or the voltage drop across a resistor, basically a bunch of crap you are never going to use unless you are an electronic tech. Sounds like you are choking, calm down and the learning will come a lot easier. Unless your ready to drop over$1k to get into HF you probably will never use the General. Not too many people run HF overlanding.

 

[M Rose]

There are quite a few good YpuTube classes for getting your General. W4EEY does a great class as well as Ham Radio 2.0 and Ham Radio Crash corse.


HR2.0

HRCC

 

[Prerunner1982]

As slomatt said, what seems to be giving you the most problems?

 

[64Trvlr]

I tell the people that take my clubs Technician or General classes that in addition to the book go to either QRZ.com or ARRL.com and take the FREE practice tests over and over. Once they're in the 90% range the test is a piece of cake.

 

[naysjp]

Try Eham.net and run thru the practice exams over and over until you memorize the answers. Don’t try to understand the material, 95% of the material you will never use, just memorize the answers. This is why Ham Radio has such a hard time getting new members. IMO the test should be geared towards learning the RULES and operation procedures, especially 2M, more than the importance of a Pi filter or the voltage drop across a resistor, basically a bunch of crap you are never going to use unless you are an electronic tech. Sounds like you are choking, calm down and the learning will come a lot easier. Unless your ready to drop over$1k to get into HF you probably will never use the General. Not too many people run HF overlanding.

You are so correct. There are so many things like you described that I am never going to use. I think the test should be geared towards rules, operations which I do well on but this voltage stuff, Pi filter, position of the sun.

 

[naysjp]

Try Eham.net and run thru the practice exams over and over until you memorize the answers. Don’t try to understand the material, 95% of the material you will never use, just memorize the answers. This is why Ham Radio has such a hard time getting new members. IMO the test should be geared towards learning the RULES and operation procedures, especially 2M, more than the importance of a Pi filter or the voltage drop across a resistor, basically a bunch of crap you are never going to use unless you are an electronic tech. Sounds like you are choking, calm down and the learning will come a lot easier. Unless your ready to drop over$1k to get into HF you probably will never use the General. Not too many people run HF overlanding.

It's for home use as well. That was the purpose of getting the general.

 

[Prerunner1982]

I know you said you have used hamstudy.org, but how did you study?
I typically recommend doing the "Read Questions" section because it gives you only the question and the answer, wrong answers are subdued. Go through the question pool many times before even looking at a practice test. This way only the correct answers are in your mind so that when you take the practice (an ultimately the real) test the answers jump out at you. Now since you have probably already read the wrong answers many times this may or may not work for you but it may be worth a shot.

When I was studying for my Tech and General, I used free study guides from KB6NU. Unfortunately the General study guide is no longer free. They are a bit more than just questions and answers and go into a little more explanation. For the Extra, I used hamstudy.org.

Don't give up. Keep plugging away at it, if you step away and try to come back you will forget somethings.

"I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together."

 

[naysjp]

I know you said you have used hamstudy.org, but how did you study?
I typically recommend doing the "Read Questions" section because it gives you only the question and the answer, wrong answers are subdued. Go through the question pool many times before even looking at a practice test. This way only the correct answers are in your mind so that when you take the practice (an ultimately the real) test the answers jump out at you. Now since you have probably already read the wrong answers many times this may or may not work for you but it may be worth a shot.

When I was studying for my Tech and General, I used free study guides from KB6NU. Unfortunately the General study guide is no longer free. They are a bit more than just questions and answers and go into a little more explanation. For the Extra, I used hamstudy.org.

Don't give up. Keep plugging away at it, if you step away and try to come back you will forget somethings.

"I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together."

I read the question and the right answer only. I was doing that for the longest time. last weekend, I watched a livestream on Ham 2.0 whereas the guy had a powerpoint presentation and was reading statements and answers THEN he would have a quiz and I was answering the questions pretty good along with the other zoom participants. These were mainly the rules and procedures and some meter and band questions but after doing well, I thought I was up for a practice exam so I tried one and died on the sword with that exam. I gave up trying to learn the "why's" and just went for reading the question and the correct answer only. I'll chase theory(maybe) after i get the general ticket.

 

[M Rose]

Try Eham.net and run thru the practice exams over and over until you memorize the answers. Don’t try to understand the material, 95% of the material you will never use, just memorize the answers. This is why Ham Radio has such a hard time getting new members. IMO the test should be geared towards learning the RULES and operation procedures, especially 2M, more than the importance of a Pi filter or the voltage drop across a resistor, basically a bunch of crap you are never going to use unless you are an electronic tech. Sounds like you are choking, calm down and the learning will come a lot easier. Unless your ready to drop over$1k to get into HF you probably will never use the General. Not too many people run HF overlanding.

We need to get more people on to HF for Overlanding. But Just an FYI, Techs have phone privileges on the 10m band and CW privileges on 10, 15,

I read the question and the right answer only. I was doing that for the longest time. last weekend, I watched a livestream on Ham 2.0 whereas the guy had a powerpoint presentation and was reading statements and answers THEN he would have a quiz and I was answering the questions pretty good along with the other zoom participants. These were mainly the rules and procedures and some meter and band questions but after doing well, I thought I was up for a practice exam so I tried one and died on the sword with that exam. I gave up trying to learn the "why's" and just went for reading the question and the correct answer only. I'll chase theory(maybe) after i get the general ticket.

the theory comes with use... I just memorized the test pool for Tech and General... a feature I like about HamStudy.org was the ability to just study the answers I missed on the practice exams and the ability to see the highlighted (bold text) catch phrases in both the question and the answers. I got 95% on tech and 100% on General... missed extra by 1 question the first time I took the extra exam. I’m still studying for extra... and really need to hit the books hard this month and next. I want to be Extra Class by field day.

 

[Sparksalot]

Try Eham.net and run thru the practice exams over and over until you memorize the answers. Don’t try to understand the material, 95% of the material you will never use, just memorize the answers. This is why Ham Radio has such a hard time getting new members. IMO the test should be geared towards learning the RULES and operation procedures, especially 2M, more than the importance of a Pi filter or the voltage drop across a resistor, basically a bunch of crap you are never going to use unless you are an electronic tech. Sounds like you are choking, calm down and the learning will come a lot easier. Unless your ready to drop over$1k to get into HF you probably will never use the General. Not too many people run HF overlanding.

The RULES part is what technician is all about. Extra amplifies that a lot. General is mostly technical, on purpose.

the focus of technical issues goes back to the history of licensure. To ensure that hams had the knowledge to construct functional equipment which met regulatory requirements. The secondary function was a cadre of skilled people the military could call up that would know enough about their equipment to keep it running in less than ideal conditions.

as far as HF overlanding, why not. It’s pretty straightforward. I have a 10 meter antenna on mine much of the time. I have the ability to go all the way to 80 meters.

 

[Prerunner1982]

The RULES part is what technician is all about. Extra amplifies that a lot. General is mostly technical, on purpose.

Exactly. And just because it doesn't apply to "your" use case doesn't mean it's not relevant. As a ham "you" are allowed to build your own radio and 1500 watt amplifier, not only would the government like to see that you have some concept of the technical requirements but that you have the knowledge to not kill yourself, hurt others, or fry all electronic devices within a square mile radius. Ham radio is also about experimentation. There are sufficient other radio services available for those no interested in the technical aspect.

as far as HF overlanding, why not. It’s pretty straightforward. I have a 10 meter antenna on mine much of the time. I have the ability to go all the way to 80 meters.

Remote locations and ham radio just go together, throw in a contest where the point is to operate remotely/portable and it's right in our wheelhouse.

 

[Sparksalot]

Remote locations and ham radio just go together, throw in a contest where the point is to operate remotely/portable and it's right in our wheelhouse.

Ha! Yes they do. I was camping in May a few years ago. Using an Elecraft K2 at 15 watts on battery power. My antenna was a Hustler mobile with a suite of resonators. It was ground mounted on a stake with a single counterpoise.

I busted through a pileup on 20 meters to work W9IMS. The operator was stunned when I told him my setup.

for those who don’t know. The Elecraft K2 is an HF radio you build yourself. Also W9IMS is the club ham station at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Ha! Yes they do. I was camping in May a few years ago. Using an Elecraft K2 at 15 watts on battery power. My antenna was a Hustler mobile with a suite of resonators. It was ground mounted on a stake with a single counterpoise.

I busted through a pileup on 20 meters to work W9IMS. The operator was stunned when I told him my setup.

for those who don’t know. The Elecraft K2 is an HF radio you build yourself. Also W9IMS is the club ham station at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Worked W9IMS clean sweep (all 3 races) while mobile a few years ago. nice QSL cards and certificate. Of course I did it on 100 watts. lol

 

[M Rose]

I broke through to KA6LMS-5 a week or so ago on 15 watts... that was a lot of fun.

This summer’s adventures for me is all about finding remote places to contest from. I also have a couple of SOTA/POTA adventures lined out as well...

 

[2xAGM114]

Try Eham.net and run thru the practice exams over and over until you memorize the answers. Don’t try to understand the material, 95% of the material you will never use, just memorize the answers.

Shack. I used the same last year for both Tech and Gen. Repetition is key, comprehension to a lesser extent. I developed little mnemonics to help me remember the correct answer. Getting the General is a rite of passage and worth the pain. Don't quit, it's not a hard test.

 

[64Trvlr]

I'm at my wits end. I've been dedicating study time since February towards my General class ticket and I am still sucking at nailing decent practice test scores.

I'm not spending any more money on ham anything until I pass. I have enough study material I shouldn't have to buy "so and so's" study material. I'm at a loss.

I had one gal in my Tech class with the same problem. After trying all kinds of things I finally suggested that she go to the test questions on the back of the book. She highlighted the correct answer and blacked the others out. That way when she went through the questions only the correct answer popped up.

She was the only one on the class that scored 100%.