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The Federal Communications Commission tasks the administration of amateur radio testing with local ham clubs all across the United States and its territories. The questions used by each club for on-site, inperson written test sessions must be drawn from a pool of multiple-choice questions that are revised by a nationwide committee every four years for the three license classes: Technician, General and Extra.
Ham radio license test question breakdown for all three levels
The Technician class exam, known as Element 2, that is being used by examiners until 2022 draws from a pool of 412 total questions in a variety of topics. Those taking the Technician test will find a total of 35 questions on their exam.
After you pass the Technician test, you can take the General exam, either at the same test session or any time in the future. The question pool being used until 2023 for the General test, also known as Element 3, consists of 454 total questions and those taking the General test also will find 35 questions on their exam.
A passing score of 74% is required for all exams
Those taking the Technician and General class tests must achieve a passing score of 74 percent or greater to receive their amateur radio licenses from the FCC. Because there are 35 questions on both exams, you must answer at least 26 questions correctly at your test session. This means you can get up to nine of the multiple choice questions wrong!
Don’t sweat it if you miss some questions or don’t understand a few questions because you’ll still receive your license if you hit the passing grade! Because the test is multiple choice with four answers to select from — one correct and three incorrect – you have a 25 percent chance of answering the question correctly if you aren’t sure of the answer. That’s better odds than not answering the question, which would be zero percent!
All three exams have schematic diagrams
Yes, you will find a couple of schematic diagrams on each of the license class exams when you take your ham test. The Technician class test has questions for three schematics and the General exam includes one schematic. There are 14 schematic questions on the Extra class ham license exam.
Level 1: Technician License Exam Breakdown
Here are the subelements of the Technician class FCC ham test, including the topics included in each subelement and the number of questions in each. You will find only one question from each topic, or group, of questions in each subelement.
| Section | Number of Questions | % of Exam |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1: Introduction to Amateur Radio | 6 | 17% |
| Chapter 2: Operating Procedures | 3 | 9% |
| Chapter 3: Radio Wave Characteristics | 3 | 9% |
| Chapter 4: Amateur Radio Practices | 2 | 6% |
| Chapter 5: Electrical Principles | 4 | 11% |
| Chapter 6: Electrical Components | 4 | 11% |
| Chapter 7: Station Equipment | 4 | 11% |
| Chapter 8: Modulation Modes | 4 | 11% |
| Chapter 9: Antennas and Feedlines | 2 | 6% |
| Chapter 10: Electrical Safety | 3 | 9% |
Level 2: General License Exam Question Breakdown
Here are the subelements of the General class FCC ham test, including the topics included in each subelement and the number of questions in each. Like the Technician test, you will find only one question from each topic, or group, of questions in each subelement.
| Section | Number of Questions | % of Exam |
|---|---|---|
| G1: FCC rules and regulations | 5 | 14% |
| G2: Operating procedures | 5 | 14% |
| G3: Radio wave propagation | 3 | 9% |
| G4: Amateur radio practices | 5 | 14% |
| G5: Electrical principles | 3 | 9% |
| G6: Circuit components | 2 | 6% |
| G7: Practical circuits | 3 | 9% |
| G8: Signals and emissions | 3 | 9% |
| G9: Antennas and feed lines | 4 | 12% |
| G10: Electical and RF safety | 2 | 6% |
Level 3: Amateur Extra Exam Question Breakdown
If you are considering taking the Extra class FCC exam at some point to gain the greatest operating privileges on the air, there are 50 questions on that test (Element 4) and there are 622 questions in the test pool. Like the Technician and General class exams, you must achieve a score of 74 percent or greater to pass the test. This means you need to answer at least 37 or the 50 questions correctly.
| Section | Number of Questions | % of Exam |
|---|---|---|
| E1: FFC rules and regulations | 6 | 12% |
| E2: Operating procedures | 5 | 10% |
| E3: Radio wave propagation | 3 | 6% |
| E4: Amateur practices | 5 | 10% |
| E5: Electical principles | 4 | 8% |
| E6: Circuit components | 6 | 12% |
| E7: Practical Circuits | 8 | 16% |
| E8: Signals and emissions | 4 | 8% |
| E9: Antennas and transmission lines | 8 | 16% |
| E10: Safety | 1 | 2% |
