U.S. Amateur Radio General Exam Prep

General-class privileges give U.S. radio amateurs broader access to high-frequency bands used for regional and long-distance contacts. Those privileges still depend on the frequency and type of transmission. Hearing a station somewhere in an amateur band does not, by itself, establish that a General-class operator may transmit there in the same way.

General is the middle U.S. amateur license class, between Technician and Amateur Extra. Its written examination is Element 3. The licensing requirements call for passing or receiving credit for both Elements 2 and 3, so General study is normally an upgrade from Technician-level knowledge rather than a replacement for it. The administered Element 3 examination contains 35 questions and requires at least 26 correct answers. That is a written-examination standard, not proof that an operator can safely install, repair or operate every kind of station.

Several terms connect the operating questions to practical radio decisions. A band is a range of frequencies. A mode is a way of communicating, such as voice, Morse code or a digital transmission; the permitted emission types must be checked as well as the license-class frequency privileges. A feed line carries radio-frequency (RF) energy between equipment and an antenna. Choosing a suitable frequency therefore involves both permission to use it and an appropriate station and transmission method.

High-frequency, or HF, signals can travel beyond the horizon through interaction with the ionosphere, an electrically charged region of the upper atmosphere. The usable path changes with solar conditions and the structure of the ionosphere. A band that supports a distant contact at one time may not support it later. This is why propagation, antennas and operating procedures belong alongside regulations in General preparation: a permitted transmission is not necessarily an effective one.

The electrical questions ask for more than recognition of familiar equipment names. Voltage, current, resistance and power describe different quantities, and a missed unit prefix can change an answer by orders of magnitude. Circuit drawings also require recognition of the symbol and its connections, not just its position on a diagram. Learning the relationship behind an answer makes it possible to check whether the selected value or component actually fits the question.

The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) publishes the General question pool, organized into broad subjects called subelements and smaller topic groups. A pool is larger than any one examination, so success on a short selection leaves other material untested. Pools also have effective periods, and errata can correct or withdraw questions during those periods. Preparation needs the appropriate dated material as well as practice applying its ideas. An unofficial practice result supplies neither examination credit nor authorization to transmit.

How to Use This Tool:

Choose a broad 35-question round or a focused study selection. The default is an untimed exam-shaped round with feedback after each answer.

1. Check Pool and errata and Planned exam date. Only the February 4, 2026 sixth-errata snapshot is offered. The planned date must be February 4, 2026 through June 30, 2027, inclusive; leaving it blank uses today's date in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
   Today's UTC date must also fall within that interval. An older planned date cannot keep a saved round usable after the snapshot expires. For an invalid or incompatible saved attempt, or a link with repeated settings, use Reset saved link and setup; this clears the attempt rather than bypassing the date restriction.
2. Choose Round. Exam-shaped · 35 questions draws one question from each group. For Pool study, select the entire pool, a subelement or the five Figure G7-1 questions, then choose an offered Question count. The largest count includes every item in that selection. Diagram inclusion can exclude the five diagram questions in ordinary pool study, but not in exam-shaped or diagram-only practice.
   For a repeatable selection, keep the Replay seed under Advanced unchanged along with the other settings. The seed must contain 1 to 128 characters and cannot be blank.
3. Select Feedback. After each answer shows the correction and study note before continuing. At the end withholds corrections until the completed review. This choice changes feedback timing, not the points awarded.
4. Start the round with Start exam practice, then choose one of the four answers. Selecting an answer records and locks it immediately; there is no separate submission step or answer-editing step. Continue with Next question, then View results after answering the final question.
   Answering pauses while a required diagram loads. If it fails, use Retry diagram or Change setup. The affected question is blocked, not marked wrong or silently removed. Study without diagram questions requires a new selection. If the image becomes unavailable only after an answer was recorded, that answer remains scored.
5. Review Missed answer review and the Answer ledger for the selected answer, keyed answer and explanation. Use Domain performance to choose a subelement for further study, or Retry missed to revisit the errors from this round.

Interpreting Results:

During a round, the headline and progress bar count answers submitted. They do not show how many answers are correct. After completion, the headline changes to the exact correct-answer count over the round total. Practice review is a study summary, not a readiness rating or an official pass decision.

Domain performance reports correct and missed answers by subelement. A blank bar means that subelement was untested, not that the learner has zero knowledge. Even a perfect bar may represent only a few questions. A focused study result and a full exam-shaped result therefore answer different questions about what was practiced. If the chart cannot load, the text counts and answer ledger remain available.

The Official key column identifies the original answer letter associated with the item. Answer choices can appear in a different display order, so that letter should not be read as a numbered screen position. Compare the answer text and explanation, not merely a remembered letter or location.

Replay same seed repeats the current round's questions and option order. Try a new seed can still draw questions seen before. Within a missed-item or other saved scoped review, a new seed keeps that restricted item selection rather than restoring all 35 groups. Use Change setup and select a new exam-shaped round to return to the full group pattern.

Treat repeated errors as a reason to study the underlying rule, calculation or symbol before another attempt. No score here estimates the probability of passing, applies an official scaled score or demonstrates practical radio-safety competence.

Technical Details:

General preparation includes both numerical electrical problems and questions about regulations, propagation and station operation. Every keyed answer earns the same point. A round confined to electrical principles can expose unit mistakes, while one question from every official group tests a broader selection of subjects.

Practice points, accuracy and progress

Each correct answer earns one point; each incorrect answer earns zero. There is no negative marking or partial credit. Let C be the number correct, A the number answered and N the total questions in the round. The score is C points out of N possible points. Its percentage equivalent uses the whole round as the denominator, while progress uses the number answered.

All three counts are whole numbers, with N positive and zero ≤ C ≤ A ≤ N. Raw accuracy and progress range from 0% to 100% and retain their unrounded ratios. Unanswered questions remain in N but are not counted as incorrect. Completion requires an answer to every question. The displayed progress percentage is rounded to the nearest whole percent, with positive half-percent ties upward; the final correct/total headline retains the exact counts.

For example, eight correct answers among ten submitted in a 20-question round give 50% progress and a 40% round-score equivalent. There are two misses and ten unanswered questions. Reporting 80% would instead describe accuracy among submitted answers, which is a different denominator. Before any answers are recorded, a zero count provides no evidence about knowledge.

Group selection and subject coverage

The 35-question exam-shaped selection takes one item from each of 35 groups, then varies question and answer order with the seed. A larger group does not contribute more questions merely because it contains more items. The resulting subelement distribution follows the number of groups in each subject.

Ordinary pool study samples the selected items without replacement within that round. Its full-pool count choices are 5, 10, 20, 35, 50, 100 and 423. A 35-question pool-study sample does not enforce the one-per-group rule. Choosing the largest offered count presents every included question in the selected set once.

Figure G7-1 is used by five questions, all in group G7A. That group also contains eight questions without the diagram. Consequently, a full exam-shaped round may contain one diagram question or none, even though diagram items remain eligible. Excluding them from study leaves 418 items overall, or 33 in G7. The diagram-only selection contains five questions and cannot represent the other subelements.

Missed-item review uses the previous errors as its new question selection. It does not refill missing groups or enforce the original group quotas. Its possible-point total is the number of questions in that review, so the resulting score describes the retry rather than revising the earlier attempt.

Electrical reasoning behind calculation questions

For a steady direct-current (DC) load, electrical power is voltage multiplied by current. These formulas use finite nonnegative voltage and current magnitudes through a positive ohmic resistance and are not general formulas for arbitrary alternating-current power. When the load is represented by a resistance, Ohm's law gives two equivalent ways to calculate that power from the quantities supplied in the question.

Here V is voltage in volts, I is current in amperes, R is resistance in ohms and P is power in watts. The values satisfy Ohm's law, and R must be positive for division. Convert milliampere values to amperes before using these equations: 1,000 mA equals 1 A. Likewise, 1 W equals 1,000 mW. Keep intermediate precision until comparing with the offered answers. The practice grades the chosen alternative against its stored key; it does not inspect intermediate algebra or a calculation entered by the learner.

Limitations:

The scope is English-language U.S. General Element 3 study. The underlying 2023–2027 pool is valid from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2027, but the available study snapshot supports only the later date interval described above. Earlier historical versions, replacement pools and automatic incorporation of future errata are not offered.

The included 423-item set combines the fourth-errata material with later withdrawal notices through February 4, 2026, excluding nine listed withdrawals. Its recorded source-check date is September 22, 2026. A complete comparison with the consolidated sixth-errata publication was not established. These counts describe the included selection; they do not independently certify every question mapping, answer key or study explanation. Check the current release and withdrawal notices before an examination.

This is unofficial practice, without established provider affiliation or endorsement. The round structure does not reproduce proctoring, timing or calibrated examination difficulty. Study notes are independently authored and are separate from the pool answer keys. Neither a high score nor the inclusion of safety questions approves a station installation, establishes compliance with current operating rules or demonstrates competence to work on electrical equipment.

In particular, ventilation does not make a portable fuel-burning generator safe indoors. It must be operated outdoors, at least 20 feet from a home, with exhaust directed away from the home and other occupied buildings. Never run it inside a home or garage, even with doors or windows open. Carbon monoxide can be fatal; a multiple-choice answer about ventilation is not an indoor-use exception.

Privacy Notes:

If saving an attempt fails, the previous saved URL remains unchanged. Newer in-page answers may be lost on reload, so keep the page open until you have reviewed or recorded them.

Scoring runs in the browser, but the page address stores the setup, replay seed, attempt and answers without encryption. A saved or shared address can restore the recorded attempt while the snapshot remains usable. Anyone receiving that address may be able to recover the responses. Addresses may remain in browser history and be sent to the site when the page is loaded again.

The diagram, chart and document features can require network requests, and opening a study reference visits its publisher's site. Browser-based scoring therefore does not mean zero network use, guaranteed offline operation or that all attempt information stays on the device. Answer-ledger exports also contain the learner's responses.

Resetting the saved link removes the current attempt from that page's state. It does not erase previously copied links, exported records or browser history. Avoid putting personal or sensitive information in the replay seed.

Worked Examples:

References:

• 47 CFR § 97.501 — Qualifying for an amateur operator license, Federal Communications Commission.
• 47 CFR § 97.503 — Element standards, Federal Communications Commission.
• Question Pools and Validity Dates, ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator.
• Withdrawn Questions, ARRL.
• Upgrading to a General License, ARRL.
• HF Radio Communications, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.
• University Physics Volume 2, Section 9.5 — Electrical Energy and Power, OpenStax, October 6, 2016.
• Carbon Monoxide Information Center, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.