Wasn’t initally planning on taking the Amateur Extra test. Took a couple days off and decided “Why not?”. Less than 30 days I went from 0 to Extra. My wife and I had a 5 day motorcyle trip while studing for Extra, which I didn’t study much during.

My Technique

I used a similar technique as I did with Tech and General. I was unable to find any you tube videos od reading the questions. I just focused on drilling the flash cards and leveraging the manual for better understanding. HamStudy.org explanations and study tips were very helpful.

Amateur Extra is way different than the other two. Material has more depth and complexity. Sections E7-PRACTICAL CIRCUITS and E9-ANTENNAS AND TRANSMISSION LINES were by far the hardest with around 100 questions each and accounted for over 30% of the exam. Over 600 total questions and 50 an the exam (over 35% more than Tech and General) there is a lot more to remember.

I have always struggled with rote learning (thanks ADHD), so I found tricks to help me remeber answers and simpilfy the math problems.

When you think you are ready, take the exam! Don’t wait, get it over with. There are so many remote options, you can easily find an exam the next day.

Final Scores

  • Technician - 34 out of 35
  • General - 35 out of 35
  • Amateur Extra - 49 out of 50
    • My average on 12 practice tests was 43 and never scored higher than 47.
    • I honestly thought I failed or barely passed. I did not recongize many of the questions, to the point I thought I studied the wrong edition.

What’s Next?

Start getting radios and figuring out antennas. Probably going to start learning CW/Morse Code.

Special Thanks to W5YI-VEC

Coincidently I took all 3 exams with W5YI-VEC teams. They were awesome to work with and highly recommend any one of them. You can find available sessions on HamStudy.org