so i decided i finally want to get my technician license after years of just listening on a scanner and i picked up the ARRL technician manual at a hamfest last weekend but honestly its kind of overwhelming. like there's so much in there and i dont know if i should just memorize the question pool or actually try to understand all the theory stuff. i looked up ham study dot org and some people swear by it but other people say just read the book cover to cover first. im worried about the electricity and math parts mostly, i was never great at that in school. the exam is in about 6 weeks at a local club session and i really dont want to fail in front of people lol. anyone have a good approach that actually worked for them?

honestly the question pool approach works fine for passing the test, theres only like 426 questions and the actual exam pulls 35 from that pool so if you grind through them enough times you start recognizing the right answers. hamstudy.org is what i used and it tracks which ones youre getting wrong and keeps drilling you on those. i think i spent maybe 2-3 weeks just doing practice exams every night for 20-30 minutes and i passed with a 32 out of 35.

the math stuff is not as bad as it looks, the ohms law questions are basically the same formula rearranged three different ways and once you see that it clicks. dont stress about understanding every single thing deeply, the tech exam is mostly just recognizing the answer not deriving anything from scratch.

yeah what he said about hamstudy is solid. i'll add though that actually understanding the basics — even just a little — makes it way easier to remember stuff versus pure memorization. like if you get why a higher SWR is bad it's easier to answer those questions than just trying to remember which letter goes with which answer.

the ARRL book is good but its pretty dense, i used the Gordon West technician class book instead which felt a lot more conversational and had the questions right alongside the relevant sections. might be worth checking if your library has it before buying. six weeks is plenty of time, you got this.