In article , KH6HZ wrote:
"Stefan Wolfe" wrote:

In theory the 500 questions could be memorized by I think that would be
much more difficult than learning the material as a way to pass the test.

It is highly unlikely anyone "rote memorizes" the question pool.

When people use the term "memorize", they more than likely mean "word
associate".

Via word association, they are able to recognize the correct answer to the
question simply out of habit... much the same way you "memorize" the way to
travel to different places, even though you may not know all the street
names along the route of travel.

Increasing the size of the question pool does not eliminate this. All it
does is increase the amount of time someone has to spend reading thru the
question pool before they become adequately familiar with the material.

When I took the First Class, there were a huge number of people who had
basically word-associated the question pool, and who were passing the test
with basically no technical knowledge at all. I am told that at some point
there was an oral examination as well required of First Class operators.

(The First Class is _not_ an entrance examination, the way the ham radio
license tests are... it is... well, it WAS an attempt to make sure
commercial radio engineers met a certain standard.)

I do not think a pure multiple-choice test is ever all that effective, in
part because it's possible to pass it that way.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."