so ive been going through the hamstudy.org question pool for a few weeks now and honestly some of it is starting to click but there are sections that just feel like pure memorization with no logic behind it and im wondering if thats just how it is or if im missing something

like the electrical principles stuff makes sense once you work through ohms law a few times but then you get into the RF safety questions and it feels like you either know the answer or you dont, theres no reasoning your way through it. same with some of the band plan stuff, just gotta remember the frequencies i guess

anyway is there a particular study guide anyone recommends or is hamstudy enough on its own? a buddy at my local club said the ARRL book is worth getting but its like 30 bucks and if the free site covers everything maybe i dont need it

hamstudy is honestly fine for passing the test, i didnt use anything else and passed first try. the thing that helped me was doing the practice exams over and over until i was consistently getting like 85% or better, not just going through flashcards

for the RF safety stuff you kind of just have to grind those. theres a pattern to some of the answers once youve seen them enough times, like questions about what reduces RF exposure basically always point toward distance or reduced power as the answer. the band plan frequencies yeah thats just memorization but there arent that many you really need to know for tech

the ARRL book is decent if you want to actually understand whats going on under the hood but for just passing the exam its probably overkill. save the 30 bucks honestly

I used Gordon West's book back when I tested and thought it was pretty good for someone starting from zero but that was a while ago and I dont know if its been updated for the current question pool. the pool does change every few years so just double check whatever resource you use is current.

one thing i'd add is dont stress too much about fully understanding every single concept before the exam, some of this stuff clicks way more after youre actually on the air and using it. you can always go deeper later when youre studying for general. just get the ticket first and figure out the rest as you go