The NC4FB Technician License Exam CRAM Prep Package uses the NCVEC 2010-2014 Technician license exam question pool.
The NC4FB Technician License Exam Prep Package is now available for download. The purpose of the package is to facilitate 5–6 hour exam prep sessions delivered “in-person” to an audience of amateur radio Technician license candidates. Electronic flashcards followed by complete subelement exams are the key features of the package. Flashcards take advantage of the properties of short-term memory and have been acknowledged by educational researchers as one of the fastest and easiest ways to memorize information for testing purposes.
What it isn't and What it is!
This package is NOT designed to teach a “class.” No theory, explanations, or examples are offered with the package. The package is a highly focused and concentrated approach to preparing candidates to pass the Technician license exam. It was originally developed at the request of a volunteer canine search & rescue organization that wanted its members to have Technician licenses in order to legally communicate with amateur operators participating in organized searches. The objective for the package was to prepare “off-the-street” personnel to obtain Technician licenses in one day. The package produced a 100% pass rate for all participating members of the requesting organization.
The following items are needed to use the license exam prep package:
1. Video projector + projection screen.
2. Laptop or netbook computer to interface to the video projector and display the PowerPoint slides.
3. Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer, PowerPoint, or compatible software such as Open Office to run the slide shows on your laptop or netbook. You will need PowerPoint or other compatible software if you are going to modify the files. You can download a free copy of PowerPoint Viewer from the link shown below.
4. Computer printer and paper. A minimum of six exam answer sheets per candidate are needed. The answer sheets can be printed and used front and back to save paper. Six answer sheets will cover all 10–subelement exams and the sample Technician exam.
Don't have a video projector, screen, or a meeting room? Check with your local EMS organization or fire department. They all have a training room and will generally let you use it to conduct a prep session. Most of them will also let you use their video projector and screen.
Need to advertise your prep session? Take a look at the ARRL web site for instructions on registering a class. Click on the link provided below. Be sure to clearly state in the description that you are going to conduct a “license exam CRAM prep session” so as not to mislead persons interested in a “class” involving theory, operating practice, etc.
Some of the uses for the package are:
1) Special exam prep sessions for search & rescue personnel, wild life resources personnel, wilderness firefighters, and other emergency responders who need a Technician license so they can legally communicate with amateur operators participating in organized emergency response efforts.
2) Exam license prep sessions for organizations such as amateur radio clubs, Scout Troops, Junior ROTC units, school science classes, etc.
3) Exam license prep sessions in conjunction with events such as Field Days, HamFests, etc.
You will need to construct a time line for the prep session to allow sufficient time to complete all 10 subelements and the sample Technician exam prior to administering the actual license exam. I have found that running the prep session from 7:30 am to 1:00 pm followed by a short lunch break before administering the actual Technician license exam works quite well.
Package Structure
The package includes flashcards and subelement exams for all 10 subelements (T0–T9), a sample 35–question Technician exam, files to print exam answer sheets, and instructions. The PowerPoint files are currently configured for manual slide advance using the computer keyboard or a remote hand-held control unit. You may want to add automatic slide advance after a specified number of seconds. I found that automatic slide advance after 12 seconds for the subelement flashcards and 15 seconds for the subelement exams and sample Technician exam works well.
The 10 subelement .ppt files (T0–T9) are comprised of flashcards followed by a corresponding subelement exam. An End-of Flashcard slide separates the flashcards from the exam. You will want to be sure to set the End-of-Flashcard marker slide to manual advance to stop things long enough for candidates to ready their answer sheets before starting each exam.
The answer keys for the subelement exams and sample Technician exam are located on the slide right after the End-of-Exam marker slide. I recommend having the test takers grade their own tests by marking only the wrong answers on the answer sheet. I issue test takers red and black fine point markers to use with the answer sheets. Answer choices are marked in black when taking exams and wrong answers are marked in red when grading exams. The red marks makes it easy to quickly count the number of wrong answers that are then recorded on the bottom of the answer sheet. An exam tally sheet slide located behind the answer key slide provides a quick way to find the score from the number of wrong answers. Scores are entered at the bottom of the answer sheets.
Tip: If the license prep session is scheduled 10 days or more in the future, encourage candidates to get a head start by using the NC4FB Online Technician License Self-study program. Link provided below.
NC4FB Online Technician License Self-Study Program
The NC4FB Technician License Exam CRAM Prep Package is made available at no cost under a Creative Commons License and may not be sold or used for commercial purposes. The package is offered AS-IS with no express or implied guarantees regarding its use. User agrees not to hold NC4FB liable in any way for the use of the package.
Technician License Prep Session by NC4FB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License. Based on a work atnc4fb.org. Request for permissions beyond the scope of this license are to be addressed to NC4FB.
Feel free to modify the package as needed for your purposes and to add your club logo to the slides.
Please send error reports, comments, and suggestions toNC4FB.
The entire prep package is stored in a single zip file. Download the file to your computer and unzip it. I keep my copy of the package on a portable USB flash drive. By clicking on the link provided below to download the package, you signify acceptance of the terms of the Creative Commons License and use disclaimers specified above.
NC4FB Technician License Exam Prep Package
Have spouses and kids in your club who would like to earn their Technician licenses? Organize a “Get on the Air Saturday”! Use the NC4FB Technician License Exam Prep package to prepare candidates in the morning and schedule a VE team to administer the exam in the afternoon.
Ask your club membership director to put together a list of member licenses by date issued. If you find you have find a number of Technician and General licensees in your club who can't seem to organize themselves sufficiently to upgrade their licenses, encourage them to enroll in the appropriate NC4FB Online License Self-Study Program. Assigning a club MENTOR to help set exam target dates and monitor member progress will produce very pleasing results for all involved.
NC4FB General License Online Self-Study Program
NC4FB Amateur Extra Online Self-Study Program
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NC4FB
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