As stated elsewhere on this website, Everyone learns differently, some prefer to learn how everything works down to the electron-flow level, others prefer to memorize questions and answers and could care less how it actually works. If you want to go past the rag chew stages of Ham Radio, you really should learn a little bit of theory so you can hold a technical conversation on the air but many choose to just take practice exam after practice exam until they start passing more than they fail and then take a stab at the actual exam, be it in-person or remote using Zoom and Examtools. If you just want to memorize the questions and answers, we suggest you use hamstudy.org. It has the advantage of being in the exact same format as the exam we (or another team) will give you so you are familiar with how it looks and works.

If the applicant is under the age of 13, a parent or legal guardian must complete the Examtools COPPA form, scan it and email it to Examtools before the application can be filed.

If you are like most new candidates who have no background in radio and/or electronics, there are a world of practice exams out there, some free and some for nominal fees, that will get you where you need to be, over 80% on an actual exam. If you chose hamstudy.org for your practice question and answer study, you will already be familiar with the format of remote as well as electronic in-person VE testing using Examtools.

There are two payments required for most ham radio exams applying for NEW licenses, the exam fee paid to the exam team and paid to the VEC, and the application fee paid directly to FCC once the application is uploaded to the FCC by the VEC. The exam fee varies by VEC but the current fee for W5YI-VC is $14.00. Since all of our paperwork is submitted electronically, we request payment in cash at the session. We have no way of transmitting checks electronically yet. If you are applying and testing for an UPGRADE to an existing license, the application fee is waived but the exam fee is still charged.

When you are scoring in the high 80's and low 90's consistently, go to Hamstudy.org and search for your desired type of exam, either remote or in-person.
Remote exams are conducted totally online. The candidate will have to have a room free of electronics that could compromise exam integrity in order to ensure the candidate is taking the exam without outside assistance. W5YI exams are conducted using Zoom and the candidate will be observed AND RECORDED throughout the exam session. This will require a computer or other Internet-connected device with a screen and working camera. Candidates can use desktop or laptop computers or tablets. Due to screen-size, we can't recommend using cell phones. A STABLE Internet connection is a virtual must. In certain instances, the candidate may be required to provide TWO devices with cameras if the exam team feels they can't rely on just the primary video device. Verbal consent to the recordings will be requested and must be acknowledged verbally before the session can proceed. Chromebooks with webcams can be used but not recommended, most just don't cut it in a live video environment absolutely required in a remote testing environment.

The candidate will need to show a government issued photo ID, perform a 360 degree scan of their room and desktop surface with their laptop or webcam to ensure all screens are turned off AND COVERED, no extraneous papers are in reach, and various other items to ensure exam integrity. Cell phones should also be turned off and placed well out of reach unless the team leader requires it as a second video source for some reason (usually a very poor quality video feed from the primary device or poor internet connection. The candidate then shares his or her screen with the exam team and the computer is checked for open programs. Basically they only thing the candidate can have is an on-screen calculator that has been verified to have its memories and history cleared, Zoom for the active audio and video feed, and Examtools for the exam itself. If you don't have a quit area, away from pets, other people and with no other electronics around, remote sessions may not be your best choice although MOST teams who do remote sessions will bend over backwards to accommodate the candidate's environment. The team IS laying their licenses on the line if someone cheats and they don't catch it. Even the most innocent screen-pop caused by a program on the computer wanting to update something is cause to terminate the exam, close the offending program or service and start the whole session over again. The most common issue we've seen is bad Internet connections. They cause MAJOR distractions and raise the tension levels beyond anything in the realm of normal so if you don't have a good, stable and reliable connection to the Internet, please look for an in-person session close to you or go to a place where you can use WIFI. Remember, you, the candidate, are required to maintain constant audio and video connections on Zoom so the candidates can detect attempts at cheating. If either connection is lost, it is grounds for terminating the exam. We understand life happens. Doorbells ring, people walk by, kids interrupt but it is the candidate's responsibility to ensure interruptions are minimized.

We don't currently offer remote exams but they exist.

In-person exams can be accomplished either using computers, tablets, or paper and pencil. Some VECs wont allow anything except in-person paper and pencil exams. W5YI-VEC prefers electronic testing with Examtools, even paper and pencil exams go on steroids with the gradecam feature of Examtools. You fill out the answer sheet, which looks like a Scantron sheet, we take a picture of he answer sheet and it is instantly graded. No more waiting for three examiners to independently grade your exam using template overlays or just by comparing the answer key to your answers and count the number wrong, or number correct and figure out if you passed or failed. Using electronics to actually take the test requires almost as much scrutiny by the examiners as remote testing since someone will nee to be looking over your shoulder to make sure you are not looking up answers but the grading then goes even faster, you click Grade Exam, a VE clicks a button and your screen tells you how many you got wrong and how many correct. Green is good, it means you passed. We are often asked how many the candidate got wrong. Using all the features of Examtools, no doubt. It won't tell you WHICH questions you got wrong just how many. When asked, our standard response to that is, the ones that didn't matter since you passed!!

Either way you want to go, remote or in-person, if you are planning on using a W5YI-VEC team, we suggest you search for your desired type of exam using hamstudy.org. If you want to use our services, the link to search for our in-person exams is https://hamstudy.org/sessions/ad3l

We offer mentoring to our hams, regardless if you are brand new to the hobby or a seasoned ham with an Amateur Extra class license. The hobby is so extremely versatile, nobody knows everything about all facets of it. The last thing we want to see is you pay your money, take the exam, pass it, get your license and then say "OK NOW WHAT?" We are here to help answer any questions.

Preparing for your ham radio license exam is as easy as 1, 2, 3