Learning for the Exam
There are 3 levels
which can be reached. As in other countries they grant
different rights. The exam levels are called
"Technician", "General" und
"Extra". It is necessary to pass the lower levels to get
to the higher exams. The text is a multiple choice test where
only one answer out of 4 presented ones is correct.
As I had almost not time to prepare, I planned to get up to the
General level, I tried the extra as well as it was included in
the $15,- fee. If you fail you can try again with another $15,-.
It's possible to repeat it as often as necessary.
Our Vienna exam started at 7pm LT so it was clear that at
maximum one retry would be possible. Nobody used that option.
We had 11 candidates 3 passed Technician, 4 General and 4 Extra
level.
I prepared myself by doint the test exams on QRZ.com and on the
ARRL site. Most of my learning was done via the Android app
HamStudy. It presents all possible questions in
random order pretty much the same way as on the paper test
material. It also offers an explanation to each question. Using
this App I spent about 4-6 hours. My main interest was to learn
the US specific stuff. The technical stuff is mandatory for my
job and the HF stuff was necessary to pass the austrian HAM
radio exam. Q groups are fluent through daily use. I did not
spent a minute on the extra stuff so I failed in that area.
