so i picked up the ARRL technician manual like two weeks ago and honestly its a little overwhelming. theres so much in there about ohms law and propagation and i dont even know what half of it is relevant to the actual test. a guy at the radio club told me to just use the question pool and memorize it but that feels like cheating somehow? like i want to actually understand the material but i also just want to pass the test and then learn more later. is the question pool method actually how most people do it or am i overthinking this

also is the hamstudy.org site any good i heard someone mention it but havent checked it out yet

hamstudy.org is honestly probably the best thing you can do, just use that every day for like 20 minutes and you'll be ready in a few weeks. the question pool is public and the actual exam questions come directly from it so there's no shame in studying it. that's literally what its there for.

the ARRL book is good for context but don't stress about understanding every single concept deeply before you test. you'll pick up the theory stuff naturally once you're actually on the air and playing around. i knew basically nothing about radio when i got my tech and now a few years later i actually understand most of the electrical stuff just from doing it. pass the test first, learn forever after.

im in the same boat as you actually, been studying for about a month now. what helped me was doing hamstudy for the question pool but also watching some youtube videos when something totally didnt make sense to me. there's a few guys on there that explain the ohms law stuff pretty well with like visuals and stuff. the tech exam isnt super hard from what i can tell, most of the questions are pretty straightforward once youve seen them a few times. good luck to you