Amateur Extra License Prep Class:

The Amateur Extra Class License gives the holder complete access to all frequencies available to the Amateur service.

To obtain an amateur radio Amateur Extra Class license, one must take and pass three FCC test elements; Element 2, Element 3 and Element 4. If you hold a Technician Class license, you have already passed the Element 2 exam. If you hold a General Class License you have already passed the Element 2 and Element 3 exam.

The Element 4 exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions selected from a question pool of about 600 questions. You must answer 37 of the 50 questions correctly (74%) to pass.

Course Objectives:

This course has two objectives:

• Help you pass the test and get your license. You will be exposed to all potential questions showing the correct answers and identifying some strategies for eliminating some of the wrong choices.
• Give you a bit more knowledge than just “how-to-pass-the-test”. Knowing some basic electronics will allow you to better understand conversations you will hear in your future amateur radio activities, and that will help your knowledge expand even more.

Course Materials:

This course is based on:

The ARRL Extra Class License Manual for Ham radio
(ARRL Inc. (2024). The ARRL Extra Class License Manual for Ham Radio (Thirteenth ed.). ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®).

The manual is available at the ARRL Store website or Amazon.com, as well as other locations.

Make sure to get the 13th edition. The Test Question Pools change every four years, and the 13th edition is the one that covers the current set of questions.

If there are binding choices; most students find the wire-bound manual is much easier to work with. It lies flat on the table, while the softcover version is more like a regular book and is more cumbersome to keep open.

The answers may be checked against ARRL’s Extra Q&A. (ARRL. (2024). ARRL’s Extra Q&A (Sixth ed.). The American Radio Relay League, Inc. )