"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

I question how the question pool is so much worse of a learning tool
than say a book.

Depends what you mean by "better" and "worse", Mike.


Some types of questions can only be answered by rote memorization of the
material. This includes band limits and other rules and regs.

On the other hand, some material is best learned by actually studying the
material to understand the basis of the question. This includes things like
the length of a quarter wave antenna for HF work as an example. If you
memorize the answers to the questions, you will be out in the cold if you
need to make an antenna for a different frequency than was on the test. If
you study the material, you will learn (memorize) the equation and be able
to calculate the length for any frequency. In addition, you read why
quarter wave antennas work, not needed for the test and it makes it easier
to remember (or memorize) the actual equation, which means you can pass
questions on quarter wave antenna length no matter what frequency is chosen
as happens when they revise the question pool.

Mike, you stated that you studied the question pool and looked up reference
material on those you missed or didn't understand. This is NOT the same as
just studying the question pool. You didn't simply memorize the answers to
the questions. You went for the underlying basis of the material. This
latter is functionally equivalent to studying from a book. What this did
was let you focus on those areas where you needed more work and skip the
reference material on sections that you already knew or were easy for you.
This is radically different than just studying the question pool.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE