so I've been wanting to get into ham radio for a while now, my neighbor is licensed and keeps telling me to just go for it. I finally decided to actually try but I'm kind of overwhelmed by where to start. I downloaded something called the question pool but it's like 400 questions and I don't really understand half of it. is there like a specific order I should study them in or do people just memorize the whole thing? also I don't have a background in electronics at all so some of the electrical stuff is going over my head. any tips would be appreciated

honestly the question pool isnt as bad as it looks when you first open it. what worked for me was using hamstudy.org - you just do the practice tests over and over and it starts to feel familiar pretty quick. I had zero electronics background too and passed in like 3 weeks just drilling the questions in the evenings. the electrical theory stuff you kind of just memorize the formulas without fully understanding them at first and thats okay, it clicks later when you actually start messing with gear. dont stress too much about understanding every single thing deeply before the test, just get licensed and learn the rest on the air

I'd actually push back a little on pure memorization - there's a few sections, particularly the electrical principles and the antenna stuff, where if you understand even the basics of what's going on it makes a whole category of questions basically free answers. like if you get Ohm's law you're not memorizing three separate questions, you're just doing simple math. Gordon West's study guide is what a lot of people around here recommend, it's pretty readable even if you've never touched a radio. but yeah hamstudy is solid for drilling once you've gone through the material once. the pool does get updated periodically so just double check you're studying the current version, I think there was a refresh not too long ago