Are other VEs noticing the same trend I am?

[KF5FEI]

I've seen a number of folks who didn't even come close to passing on the tech exam, paid to take it again the same day and failed even worse. Some get help, study harder and pass easily the next go-round, and some we don't see again.

My wife passed the tech after taking 12 hours of classroom study and studying at home in the interim, but she did self-study with some tutoring on the general and extra -- she passed the general easily, but the extra took a few tries.

As for the guard band function, the modern rigs I have won't TX out of band, but you can definitely get too close to the band edge, be in the wrong place in the wrong mode, or be out of band as far as your privileges go. One does have some sort of feature to select "MY" Bands", but I don't know what that covers. The Nifty Guides band chart is helpful for folks learning this stuff.

I have been thinking about building a band guard feature into a CAT controller so it will look at your band and mode and disable the TX if you aren't where you are supposed to be. Shouldn't be too difficult.

[K0RGR]

Brad, sometimes it's a mystery.

I take some pride in the fact that almost all of my students pass the test, and some pass the Tech and General with little or no added study. Still, I've had a small number that I don't understand. I had a mother daughter team one year - wife and daughter of radio club friend of mine. They sat through the class and asked enough questions to make me believe they were really paying attention. After the class, I ran into them, and talked about how they were studying. Both were passing the practice exams on QRZ 80% of the time. They both showed up for the test, and failed by a wide margin. We had to double check their answer sheets to make sure they weren't 'off one bubble' or something like that. The mother said she didn't recognize the questions at all. We checked to be sure they didn't give her the Extra test by mistake.

After a couple weeks, the mother retook the exam and aced it. The daughter, sadly, never tried again. Drat... None of us has figured out what happened that first time. Test anxiety? Who knows.

Once again, I would like to see the current system changed to require a course of study - that is a class. The class can be delivered online, with progress tests. Done right, this would include lots of multimedia presentations, and would actually teach the students something and verify that it was understood. You don't advance until you pass the progress test - no cheating by skipping over subjects you don't want to learn, as they can do today! The resulting revolution would be a complete shot in the arm for the hobby. I believe we'd get many more hams, and they'd have more fun in the balance. The current exams could be retained, but they would be almost superfluous if the course was done correctly.

[W4HAY]

...Once again, I would like to see the current system changed to require a course of study...

So we penalize those willing to put out the effort to learn the material on their own? The one-size-fits solution is the root of many of this country's problems in general, not just ham radio.

[ND6M]

gee, I've seen both sides of it.
0
we just finished a 10 week AMATEUR EXTRA training class. 6 students, all generals. 2 of which (IMO) should have never passed the TECH test.

we taugh the MATERIAL, not the test questions.

4 of the 6 passed the AMATEUR EXTRA element,........ (guess which) 2 did not

[ND6M]

gee, I've seen both sides of it.
0
we just finished a 10 week AMATEUR EXTRA training class. 6 students, all generals. 2 of which (IMO) should have never passed the TECH test.

we taugh the MATERIAL, not the test questions.

4 of the 6 passed the AMATEUR EXTRA element,........ (guess which) 2 did not

[AC0H]

I'd be willing to bet most of those who fail have taken an internet practice exam of two, passed them, maybe just barely, and thought they were "ready". You're not ready till you can take a take 10 practice exams in a row on QRZ and pass with an average of 90%.

I never "taught the test" when I was teaching classes, even though the question pool was in the back of the book.

[N2RJ]

You mean the "guard band function" isn't built in to the firmware of the latest super-duper whiz-bang transceivers or the software which controls them? You just input your call in the Setup menu, connect transceiver or computer to the Internet...then it does a license-class look up and programs the rig with your privileges accordingly.

I hear there's a transceiver called CQ100 which does this perfectly, although in their universe, everyone has the same privileges.

[KF5FEI]

I'd be willing to bet most of those who fail have taken an internet practice exam of two, passed them, maybe just barely, and thought they were "ready". You're not ready till you can take a take 10 practice exams in a row on QRZ and pass with an average of 90%

I took about 100 QRZ tests the two nights before I did my extra -- starting from the back and working forward. I think the practice exam sites have finally started randomizing things a bit -- used to be each numbered test was the same questions over and over.

[K7KBN]

As I point out to kids at school where I volunteer to read and help students with math and such,

I can EXPLAIN it to you, but I can't UNDERSTAND it for you.

[K6CPO]

gee, I've seen both sides of it.
0
we just finished a 10 week AMATEUR EXTRA training class. 6 students, all generals. 2 of which (IMO) should have never passed the TECH test.

we taugh the MATERIAL, not the test questions.

4 of the 6 passed the AMATEUR EXTRA element,........ (guess which) 2 did not

I have to honestly say the Extra class I attended mostly taught the questions, with some explanation of the material. I would have much rather gone to a class like the one mentioned above.

I don't begin to believe I know everything there is to know even though I hold a Extra ticket, but I do know where to go to get the information I need.