One year ago, on March 26th, 2020, the first-ever fully-remote amateur radio exam was held to demonstrate the capabilities of online exam methods (1). Just two months later, on May 26th, a new version of the ExamTools software was released, enabling dozens of Volunteer Examiner teams to come on board and expand both their online and in-person amateur radio exams. By the end of 2020, fully-remote amateur radio exams were the new norm, with teams throughout the US running exams every single day. In 2020 alone, over 10,000 exam elements have been administered through the ExamTools platform, which included 7,163 newly licensed operators! This means that fully-remote exams accounted for over 20% of the total number amateur radio licenses granted last year.
In the twelve months since that first exam was demonstrated to the W5YI Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC), over 1,300 Volunteer Examiners (VEs) have been on-boarded to the ExamTools system. Together, these dedicated volunteers help run daily exams all around the United States, including Puerto Rico and Alaska! ExamTools is now used regularly by teams from W5YI, ARRL, Anchorage, Laurel, and GLAARG VECs.
Not everyone knows this, but ExamTools is offered at no cost to VE Teams. In fact, ExamTools is funded entirely by donations and by proceeds from HamStudy.org and SignalStuff.com. Signal Stuff makes the Super Elastic Signal Stick antenna that is a popular high-gain antenna for handheld radios and has been breaking sales records throughout the past year.
While online exams in the US are not a new thing, many hams and prospective operators aren’t aware how easy it is to get tested online. Please help to spread the news to your local club mailing list, online group, chat rooms, or on your local net (2). Simply send people to https://hamstudy.org/sessions/online to find exams being offered daily!
(1) https://blog.hamstudy.org/2020/04/fully-remote-amateur-radio-license-exam-administration/
(2) https://blog.hamstudy.org/2020/06/so-you-want-to-take-a-remote-exam/
By Sid Swails March 28, 2021 - 10:12
Would like to study for the entry level exam
By Marcel Stieber April 2, 2021 - 00:35
Here you go, Sid: https://hamstudy.org/tech2018 Good luck! Check out this article as well: https://blog.hamstudy.org/2020/06/so-you-want-to-take-a-remote-exam/
By David Maihofer April 1, 2021 - 14:20
I would like to get ready to sign up for the technician class online exam, following up with the general, any help for study and exam prep, sign up etc fees, links would be just great
By Marcel Stieber April 2, 2021 - 00:36
Hi David, the linked article should help explain all that: https://blog.hamstudy.org/2020/06/so-you-want-to-take-a-remote-exam/
By Thomas Wicks April 2, 2021 - 06:28
Is it possible to take both the technician and general test in one session?
By kd7bbc April 2, 2021 - 12:48
It is absolutely possible to do so, and nearly all teams will allow it *however* please contact the team ahead of time and make sure they have time scheduled; managing remote exams is difficult and scheduling is paramount.
Richard
By Corbie Richards April 5, 2021 - 15:39
Can take the technician and general test in one session if yes I am ready
By Marcel Stieber April 6, 2021 - 22:12
It is absolutely possible to do so, and nearly all teams will allow it *however* please contact the team ahead of time and make sure they have time scheduled; managing remote exams is difficult and scheduling is paramount.
By James Erb April 17, 2021 - 06:34
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? I guess we will find out… Just joining to learn the new ways of bringing people into the hobby….
Good Luck to all…
’73
KG5EWK – a VE learning new tricks 🙂
By NE1EE April 30, 2021 - 06:21
I frequently refer faculty to hamstudy.org as an example if what a good automated self-study program can look like. In many ways, academia is behind the curve. There are so many basic concepts in STEM (I’m a physicist) that could be put into such a model, giving students the opportunity to repeated review basic material that is so necessary to memorized. Even though I have my Extra, I use hamstudy to constantly review, even at the tech level, when I have a few minutes to spare. It’s a great way to pass time standing in line, or waiting for an appointment.
By Marvin May 1, 2021 - 15:05
Too susceptible to cheating.
I did the online exam. Had to video my floor and ceiling and walls and room before the test started”to make sure I didn’t cheat.”
Well, I used the UV ink to write all the answers on the wall in front of me.
Now the VE’s can’t see it on the video. But with my glasses, I can read it plain as day.
No different than the glasses and ink they used to sell to mark cards at a casino.
I made 100 on the tech exam.
I can pass the general and extra tomorrow if I use the same technique.
By kd7bbc May 1, 2021 - 17:55
LOL. I’m going to have to call “BS” on this one — it’s an interesting idea, but there are a few logical problems with it.
First, let’s assume that the VEs are truly unobservant enough that they don’t realize that you’re spending all your time reading the wall between answering questions and that you could get away with doing this (and believe me, it’s a lot easier than you might think to tell what the applicant is looking at). Do you know how many questions there are on the Tech exam? 423 questions. You would need to write 423 answers on your wall — but that’s not all you need, because you don’t know ahead of time what questions you’ll receive, and there are no question IDs displayed on the exam, so you would need the *text* of the questions on the wall as well — big enough to read from where you are sitting. That is a *lot* of text, and it’s going to take you a *lot* of time to find each question in order to answer the question.
You are far from the first to take an exam and think “you know, I see a way I could have cheated so I’ll tell people I did — even though I didn’t — in order to show them how ridiculous this is”.
Let’s face it — if someone really wants to cheat, they could find a way. If your method were really plausible then you could do it just as easily in person as online; in fact, probably easier because with remote exams the VEs are watching your face and eye movement. The point is not to remove all possibility of cheating, because that would be impossible — the point is to grow the hobby and make it difficult enough to cheat that people who could realistically find a way to do so will find it’s actually easier to just pass the exam.
Will it happen? Probably. It’s happened before at in-person exams and I’m sure it will sometimes happen with remote exams — but it’s not common and it’s not easy.
By Steven Ray August 29, 2021 - 16:46
Some 50 years ago I had a Math Instructor in College that gave her exams in a large cafeteria with many columns supporting the ceiling. While straightening up she noticed many columns with writing on them. Turns out it was the formulaes for the tests. She didn’t say a word, but changed many of the formulaes and noticed a resounding drop in scores. She then told the class that there had been some cheating and that anyone who didn’t have the average they previously had were automatically failed for the semester.