N2EY wrote:
In article , Glenn
writes:


While I remember that the tests for Novice and General were of the
multiple guess kind in the '60s (albeit at an FCC Field Office), I could
swear that I remember that drawn circuit diagrams were required at least
for the Extra written exam, if not the Advanced. This from the study
guides that I had for the tests.


I have the ARRL License Manuals with copyright dates for 1947, 1951, 1953,
1962, and 1971. They detail the exact process of getting a license in those
times, both by mail and at FCC exam points.

Some facts:

- The Novice was always multiple-choice only. All of the manuals describe the
Novice written test as "about 20 questions"

- The 1953 and earlier manuals describe the higher-class written tests as
requiring the drawing of a few diagrams. The 1962 manual says that all exams
are multiple choice.

- The 1953 and earlier manuals say that some questions are neither multiple
choice nor diagrams, but require the examinee to solve a problem and show the
calculations used.

- The 1962 manual says that the written exams are all multiple choice.

QST for July 1960, page 54. "FCC Written Exam Procedure Changing" . This
article describes the new FCC answer sheet that will go into use "in a few
months". It shows the new answer sheet and describes how the "draw a diagram"
questions will be replaced by questions about a diagram, such as "what should
be done to neutralize this circuit"

Three noteworthy points:

1) the old multiple choice exams offered 5 choices, not the current 4, making
a correct answer by guessing slightly less likely.

2) the article says that the number of diagram questions will be increased
when the new exam method is implemented. And so it was, at least for General -
compare the following tallies of required diagrams in the LMs:

1953 LM: General has 8 diagrams in its study guide, all schematics, Extra has
28 schematic and 3 block diagrams in its study guide.

1962 LM: General has 50 diagrams in its study guide, all schematics, Extra
has 17 schematic and 3 block diagrams in its study guide.

One of the reasons for the higher number of diagrams in the '62 LM is the
inclusion of multiple diagrams in one question, such as 8 filter diagrams being

the answer to a single question.

3) No exact date is given for the transition - the article says "in a few
months", and it's clear that FCC would use up the old exams before starting the

new ones.

While the old General exams were probably quickly used up, there were very few
getting Extras back then, and the supply of Extra exams at some FCC offices may
have lasted quite a while.

Reason for the change: To speed up and simplify marking of the exams! By making
them all multiple choice, the person marking the test did not have to
understand the material at all, just the procedure.

Well, if I had to make a choice, I would rather the person taking the
exam know the material! 8^)


In both 1953 and 1962, the Advanced test was not given, and hams had to
upgrade from General to Extra in a single step. However, there were no
additional operating privileges granted with an Extra, and only about 2% of US
hams in 1962 were Extras. The Advanced was reopened to new issues in 1967.



I have to say that I don't find as much difference between the older
tests and the newer tests as I thought there would be. I was kind of
under the impression (but skeptical) that the older tests were a
regular "hazing" compared to the easy tests we take today.

Thanks much for your research, Jim!

- Mike KB3EIA -