ok so ive been interested in ham radio for probably two years now and keep putting it off but i finally want to just do it and get my technician license. problem is i have no idea where to actually start. like i googled it and got a million different things and now im more confused than before. someone mentioned hamstudy.org and someone else said to get a gordon west book and i dont know which way to go or if i even need to buy anything. also how hard is the test actually, im not great at math and i heard theres some electrical stuff on it. i work full time so i cant really do a class but i can study on my own if i know what im doing. any advice would be genuinely appreciated

hamstudy.org is honestly all you need for the technician exam, dont overthink it. the question pool is public so youre literally just memorizing the questions and answers, there are like 400 something questions and the test pulls 35 from that pool. just do practice tests on hamstudy every day for a couple weeks and youll be fine. the math is minimal and the site kind of explains the concepts as you go. i did zero studying outside of that site and passed first try, scored like a 32 out of 35 i think. find a testing session through the arrl website once you feel ready, a lot of VE teams do walk-ins and the fee is usually around 15 bucks. seriously dont stress it, ive seen 12 year olds pass this thing.

yeah what he said about hamstudy, thats what i used about 8 months ago when i got mine. i was in the same boat as you, full time job, no time for a class. i just did like 20-30 minutes of practice questions on my lunch break for maybe 3 weeks. the electrical stuff isnt as bad as it sounds, mostly just ohms law which is V=IR and you can google a quick explainer and it clicks pretty fast. one thing i will say is dont wait too long once you feel ready because i kept second guessing myself and delayed another month for no reason. just go take it, worst case you dont pass and you can take it again same day at some sessions for another fee. but you'll probably pass