[Elecraft] Whaddayaknow... passed the Extra

[Jim Wiley]

So, Ron, what do you think of the Extra exam today?  Is it "watered 
down" from what you remember (not counting the fact that we no longer 
have a code exam or a requirement to draw schematic diagrams)?  I would 
be interested in your honest assessment, mostly because I am curious, 
and also because I am one of the members of the NCVEC Question Pool 
Committee that wrote the questions for the current pool.   We always 
value comments (good or bad) from instructors, as it gives us an 
opportunity to fine tune the pools to better reach our intended audience. 


If something is too easy, we need to know that, and conversely, if 
something is too difficult or obscure, we need to know that too.   
Mostly, we care whether or not, in your opinion, a person who passes the 
exam is prepared to assume the responsibilities of the license.  Not an 
expert, to be sure, but with a clear understanding of the rules and 
privileges, as well as the technical challenges presented by the license.


However, be careful when evaluating the questions, because it is easy to 
forget that persons such as yourself tend to have years of experience, 
and the person taking the test probably doesn't have anything like that 
to fall back on.  In other words, an exam question or concept that is 
"dead nuts easy" for you because you have been using that formula or 
method every day may be brand new (and difficult to grasp) for a person 
taking the exam.  Consider each question as if you had never, or at 
least only in the briefest sense,  encountered that particular subject 
before.


And yes, every time I teach a class, I learn a whole bunch more than the 
students! Whoever said that the best way to really learn a subject was 
to teach it hit the nail on the head!  Oh, and by the way, I passed my 
Extra in the early 70's too.  I was originally licensed as a novice in 
1959, then onward to Tech a year later, then General about 2 years after 
that, then Advanced in the late 60's.  Getting to be an OF. 

 
Thanks.


- Jim, KL7CC



Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> I passed the Extra back in the 1970's. Twenty years later my local Ham club
> was looking for license class instructors. I thought it'd be fun to do a
> whiz-bang demo of basic circuit theory for new Novices or Techs. 
>
> But they wanted someone to teach Extra theory. Okay, that's what they needed
> and I was there to help. 
>
> Had I known what I was getting into I might not have been so agreeable.
> (Isn't that true of most things?) I suspect I learned a lot more than my
> students. I've always subscribed to the theory that a good teacher has to
> know at least 10X what he/she intends to teach so I was soon digging through
> piles of texts on the various subjects touched upon in the study guide - and
> the Extra exams had changed greatly since I passed the test. 
>
> It's said that we teach what we, ourselves, most need to learn. It was a
> real boon to me. Not just in getting 'up to date' but I got a real feeling
> of satisfaction to hear from each student as he/she passed the Extra test. 
>
> So, if want to learn and the opportunity arises to help someone pass the
> test...
>
> Ron AC7AC
>
>