TIPS FOR THE AMATEUR RADIO TECHNICIAN EXAMINATION

Tips for testing

There is no substitute for knowing the material however, test apprehension and  related anxieties can often temporarily block the immediate memory. That’s the reason for this page…..

Background….. I have 35 years in education fields…. Including constructing examinations, administrating examinations and setting for examinations. I’ve been on three sides of examinations….

The Amateur Radio Technician examination consists of 35 questions with multi-choice answers. A person can often “get over the hump” of a passing score by a simple  mathematical application.

An examinee should go through the examination answering all the questions that are “KNOWN FOR SURE”…..Skipping questions that are a “TOSS UP” between two or more answers or “DON’T KNOW”.

First an examinee needs to remember that any omitted answers are incorrect.

A passing score is having 26 or more correct answers. (just over 74 %)

Great!...If a person has 26 or more “KNOWN FOR SURE” answers the first time through the examination.... that's a good feeling.

Now this is where mathematically probability comes in. (this can be applied at any part of the testing AFTER answering the “KNOW FOR SURE”) A larger number of “known for sure” answers increase the mathematical probability of marking the remaining questions correctly.

Scan through the answer sheet counting the number of A , B , C  &  D responses…. Within 10% each answer letter should be about 1/4 of the total answers. …Say that a person has 30 “know for sure” answers a finds that A’s = 9,  B’s=4, C=8 & D=9….

OK re-read those questions that were a “toss up” between two or more answers……… Are any of the possible answers a B? …. OK guess in the favor of the odds…… answer B

This approach is then applied to the “DON’T KNOW” questions…re-count the A,B,C& D‘s…..apply the “ODD’s GUESS FACTOR” …. This takes the guess factor percentage from 25 % possible correct answer to 75% possible correct answer.

Never "skip" around with the "GUESS" answers.... answer all the same... a person skipping around has the potential of missing all..... at least the odds are better by selecting all the same answer letter.

Looking forward to hearing new callsigns. If any of this information has helped to relieve test anxiety I would appreciate a note to [email protected]