On to the subject at hand. I guess I will never know why, on this particular day and time, after decades, I decided that it was time to get this illusive amateur license. I had heard about the "no code", so I knew the CW wasn't going to be a problem. I did a bit of exploring on the internet and found a site that listed where and when tests were being given for my state. I found one 9 days into the future that was 40 miles away, and one right in my home town that was in 16 days. I have no idea what possessed me, but I fired away an E-Mail to the test that was in 9 days saying that I would be there and requesting any additional information.

Next, I went to work looking for a way to study. I came across a site at QRZ.com that actually had the tests online. Using the current question pool, it arranged the proper number of questions with the same correct and incorrect answer possibilities in the same multiple choice format used on the actual test. I decided that the best way to go about this was to take the "hardest" test first. After I mastered this test, the rest would be easy. I went to work taking the 50 question "Extra" test. The results were rather bad  in the 40% range. I kept it up literally day and night, like someone suffering from a severe compulsion, until I was passing every time. Just passing wasn't good enough, so I continued taking the test until I was passing with only one or two questions missed on average and many times with 100%. Happy with the results, I decided to take a one day break.

Next, I sat down to the 35 question "General" test. It was my belief that since I had mastered the "Extra" exam, this test should be a breeze. Much to my surprise, the questions for the General were actually no easier, they were just different. Again, I took the test over and over, starting with rather dismal scores and then progressing to near perfect. I moved on to the Technician test, also 35 questions. Again, not really easier due to my previous study because the questions were largely based on different subjects, I guess.. or...., was it something else?  Something had started to bother me...:

In the back of my mind, as time went on, I began to realize that I was not learning anything by studying for these tests. All I was learning was how to associate the wording of the question with the wording of the answer. In most cases, by the time I got to the near 100% range on each test, I wasn't even reading the entire question, or the entire answer for that matter! I was just learning how to match them together. In fact, put into another context, I was cheating! If I had been in school, any school, and somehow learned what the questions on my exam were going to be, that in itself is cheating. Teachers usually keep the actual test questions secret. If the students know the actual questions, they can study for the answers to just those questions while ignoring the rest of the subject. As everyone knows, you can't ask a question about every aspect of any subject. You only ask a relative few questions, at random, to see if the student is learning the subject in general. This is really bad enough, but what if I were in school, and someone not only got hold of the test, but the teachers answer sheet too!! Wouldn't this be grounds for failure and expulsion? Really! Well, not on an Amateur radio test.

What it boils down to is, you don't have to know anything about radio theory, or amateur radio, to pass the test. It has been set up so that you may cheat and it is perfectly acceptable! This is why, when I got to the point that I was getting a near perfect score on the Extra exam, it didn't help me a bit with the smaller and supposedly simpler test for General and Technician. I had only learned how to relate the provided correct answer with the provided question. I had not learned a thing beyond what I already knew! Of course, at some point, you have to be provided with the information to formulate a correct answer. The problem manifests when the exact wording of the answers in a multiple choice question are used, including the exact wording of the incorrect answers. If the exact wording were not used, you would have to learn at least the basic concept to formulate a correct answer.

Let's face it, the entire thing is set up so that you can pass. Just imagine if it were not multiple choice at all! What if you had to read the question and then just write the answer in your own words in the space provided. How many would pass then? Not many! If this were the case, you would have to know and understand the material. Everyone knows that multiple choice tests are so much easier than any other type. The main reason is that the correct answer is there, right in front of you! Keeping in mind that it is not necessary for you to score 100% to pass. In fact, it is just a mere 70%. With 4 choice multiple choice, odds are 25% that you will pick the correct answer if you just randomly pick an answer. The distance between 25% and 70% is only 45%. So, at the very base minimum, you only need to increase these odds by 45% to pass. Now, most multiple choice tests are set up with one answer that is so stupid, so outrageously wrong that you only have to be able to read to see that it is incorrect. This test is no exception. There is one answer that anyone can see is wrong. Just common sense. This alone raises your chances to 33%. Now we only have to close a 37% gap to pass. These are the odds you have when you set down to the table. You are only 37% shy of passing that test right from the start.

From this point forward, percentage calculations get far too complex to figure with any reasonable accuracy. There are far too many variables to calculate. However, most multiple choice tests, besides the very obvious wrong answer built in, there is a second answer that would be easy to spot as wrong if you have any general knowledge whatsoever, or if you have studied the subject to any degree. You could say that this increases your chances to 50%, and therefore the gap is now only 20%, but any mathematician would say you were wrong, so we won't. But we will say that it further increases your chances of getting the needed 70% correct. The really great thing about multiple choice is that you not only have the chance to recognize the correct answer, but also the chance to recognize the incorrect answers as well! Now, with all of these factors taken into account, lets add the fact that we are going to supply you with a copy of the questions and the possible answers AHEAD of time to study. Great deal, right? Now just a bit of research and you will be able to determine which of the answers cannot be right, and which has to be correct. That's still a lot of work though. How about we tell you which of the answers is correct, and which ones are wrong! All you have to do is memorize the question, and the answer. Lets not forget that it is still multiple choice, so even if you don't memorize it word for word, you will recognize enough to make an educated choice. An educated choice, under these circumstances, is far beyond what is needed to pass. You simply cannot fail! Any average 6th grade class given the question pool with answers and one night to study would ace the Extra exam hands down. You see, learning the subject is not necessary, memorization of questions and answers is all there is to it.

Bottom line, not only have they dropped the code requirement to get a Tech ticket, but it is perfectly OK to cheat! In fact, it is encouraged!. So why go through the obvious charade to begin with? Just charge your fee and give out the license. The way I see it, the test is nothing more than a bluff anyway. The hardest part about amateur radio qualifications is still Morse Code (or CW).

Come exam day, I reported to my testing location to find 3 examiners, one older couple, one young man, two older men and one gentleman that had already passed his General and code and was going for his Extra. Average age of group about 60. After going through the actual sign-up procedure and proof of identification, the tests were handed out. I completed the Tech. exam rather quickly and put up my hand to ask if I should turn it in. I got a skeptical "If your done?" They decided to "play around a bit", whispering to each other about how they had never seen a test that was "failed this badly" and re-checked the answer key to make sure they didn't get the wrong one, Etc. They were good! Even though I knew this couldn't be the case unless the practice tests were a bad joke, they almost had me believing it! Turned out that I had missed one question. I didn't ask which it was. They asked me if I would like to take the General exam saying that it wouldn't cost anything extra. No reason not to.  I was cautioned that it wouldn't really count unless I was able to pass my "code" within one year and that I would be given a Tech. license to start with until I passed the code. How utterly stupid is that! Someone please tell me what Morse Code has to do with whether or not I should get "General" status if I can pass the test? Sure, I would understand not getting CW privileges, don't want them! Anyway, I took this test, and passed, as I recall missing 5 questions....

Now, you want to know what really scares me? Remember the roll call from my testing session? One of the two older gentleman failed..., twice...., bad. The remainder that passed followed suit and tested for their General. All failed. Scores were terrible. The guy who was testing for his Extra passed with only one question missed. He became irate when the examiner said that they don't usually divulge which questions were missed. He insisted that he be told. He was pissed about missing that one question. That's more like it! Good for him!

Seriously people, is this the caliber of our pool of Amateur radio operators? The ones that the government depends on to step in and provide communications in a disaster? Since that time, I have listened to local examiners  talk about entire classes failing their Tech Exams! How can a person fail a multiple choice test of only 35 questions, of which, you can miss 30%, (That's 10 questions!) that you have been given the questions, and you have been given the answers! How can you fail? How? It is true that the questions are chosen, supposedly at random, from a pool of (I think) 200 questions. So, you do need to repeat the practice test over and over until you stop seeing questions that you have never seen before. You DO NOT have to learn the material, just the first few words of the correct answer so you can recognize it when you see it in your choices. That's it!

Anyone who takes the time to learn Morse code, as utterly stupid as it is, has absolutely no excuse for not being an Extra! The General class shouldn't even exist! I think the General class licensee is the lowest form of Amateur operator that there is. Why? Because that means that you know the Morse code. Besides the fact that it is the stupidest, most ridiculous thing in Amateur radio, you took the time to learn, you tested and you passed. This means that the only thing holding you back from being an Extra is the fact that you have not passed a 50 question, multiple choice test that you have been given the questions and answers to. How sad is that?  Real sad. If you are a Tech., I figure you are stuck there because you don't know CW and no one can blame you if you don't want to spend your time learning something as utterly dumb as that. If you are an Extra, congratulations, you got past the obvious stupidity of it all and learned Morse. But a General? Give me a break! The only thing holding you back is a test that you have been given the answers to. Really, really dumb.

I would like to see every General class licensee get out to your local exam location and take that Extra exam! Let's do away with the General class altogether. We don't need it. Self doubt is all that is keeping you where you are. You were able to learn, or memorize, Morse code well enough to pass it, obviously. That shows that you have good memorization skills. If you think you need to, use the shortcut up at the beginning and go to QRZ.COM and take the practice test. Don't worry if you get a 40% first time. If you keep taking it over and over, in less than a day you will be passing every time. Surely you can devote enough time to do this. You have already done the hard part! If you do manage to do it, and I had anything to do with the inspiration to get it done, please E-Mail me.

Well, I've passed all the theory. I haven't got a clue about CW, so I didn't even try. At least I am finally a Tech! A mere child in the world of amateur radio, but a licensed child ready to learn to talk! Yeah! Ya-Hooo! All-Freakin'-Right!  Wow. Whew, Ahhhh......, now what?