so ive been a tech for about two years now and mostly just been doing 2m stuff locally, some APRS and the occasional net. finally decided to bite the bullet and go for general so i can actually get on HF. started going through the question pool on hamStudy and honestly some of this stuff is way over my head. like the electrical theory sections are fine but then theres stuff about propagation and operating procedures that i feel like i should already know but dont really.

my question is i guess... is there a specific part of the pool i should really nail down vs stuff that i can kinda get by just memorizing? i know memorizing isnt ideal but im trying to pass the test first and actually understand it later. also how long did it take most people to feel ready? ive been at it maybe a week and a half and still getting like 65% on practice tests which i know isnt good enough yet

65% after a week and a half honestly isnt bad, the general pool is bigger than tech and some of the questions are worded really weirdly. the electrical theory stuff like impedance matching and the decibel questions tripped me up a lot. i just kept doing practice exams over and over until i was consistently hitting 80% or above and then gave myself another few days before i sat for the real thing.

propagation stuff is worth actually understanding a little because it comes up a lot and once you get on HF it actually matters in a real way, like knowing why 40m works at night and 15m works better during the day will make you a better operator. but the license stuff and band plan questions are pretty much just memorization, no shame in that. i used the ARRL general class book alongside hamStudy and that helped connect the dots for me. give yourself another 2-3 weeks id say, no rush.

just passed mine last month so this is fresh. honestly the operating procedures section was easier than i expected, a lot of it is common sense stuff if you've spent any time listening on the bands. the part that got me was some of the antenna and feed line questions, like the ones about SWR and transmission line loss. i kept mixing stuff up. just drill the practice tests and when you get something wrong actually look up why, not just memorize the right answer. good luck, HF is way more fun than i expected coming from just doing handheld stuff