so ive been going through the hamstudy.org question pool for about two weeks now and im kind of overwhelmed honestly. like there are questions about electrical theory and then questions about operating procedures and band plans and i dont really know which ones i should be spending the most time on versus which ones i can just kind of skim and hope i remember.

someone at my local club told me to just memorize everything but that feels like a lot and some of the electrical stuff like the ohms law calculations are tripping me up. do i actually need to understand the math or is it okay to just memorize what the answer is. also is the gordon west book still worth getting or is hamstudy enough on its own these days

honestly hamstudy alone got me through it no problem, i didnt buy any book. the way that site works with the adaptive learning thing it kind of figures out what youre weak on and keeps hammering those questions which is pretty useful. for the math stuff you really dont need to deeply understand it, the tech exam only has like a handful of calculation questions and if you just practice them enough times the pattern sticks. ohms law is just V=IR and the power formula, thats pretty much it for what shows up.

the stuff i'd actually pay attention to is the operating rules and regs stuff because those questions are worded weird sometimes and they'll catch you if you're just half paying attention. also antenna and feed line basics show up more than you'd think. give yourself another week of daily practice sessions on hamstudy and you'll probably be ready, most people pass the tech exam without too much trouble if they put in a few weeks of casual studying.

the gordon west book is fine but its not really necessary anymore tbh. i used it back when i tested maybe 8 years ago and it was helpful for explaining the why behind things but if youre just trying to pass the exam hamstudy is probably all you need.

one thing that tripped me up was the questions about RF safety, like the MPE stuff. those felt kind of random and i hadnt focused on them at all. might be worth making sure you know at least the general concepts there.