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Pass the Test => Extra => Topic started by: BillinNM on April 07, 2012, 04:06:54 PM

Title: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: BillinNM on April 07, 2012, 04:06:54 PM
Dang you guys...making me spend money.  I've now signed up with HTOL to get the Extra, and plan on testing at the end of the month.  I've been using the QRZ practice tests, and was right around 55 to 65%, prior to signing up, but just couldn't seem to get past that mark.  Will keep you informed.
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: idial1911 on April 07, 2012, 08:50:00 PM
Yea we do that.. We take pride in getting people to spend their money. Hell we should get a little ticker ;)
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: W.Lynn on April 09, 2012, 10:56:47 PM
Don't forget to buy stock in Texas Instruments and Casio as we go out buying scientific calculators. 
 :P
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on April 09, 2012, 11:35:14 PM
Don't forget to buy stock in Texas Instruments and Casio as we go out buying scientific calculators. 
 :P

Sorry old habits die hard= RPN HP
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: BillinNM on April 10, 2012, 08:30:12 AM
I'm currently @ 51% of the course...and am averaging about 80% on practice tests (that I'm not supposed to be taking yet according to their suggestions).  In just a few days, it has made a huge difference.
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: austinrob on May 07, 2012, 05:51:35 PM
well crap....  local tests on 5/19 on the other end of town, 6/2, and 6/16, then the new questions go into effect.

I started the old questions, but was hoping to test on them.  unfortunately the closest test is on 6/2 when I'll be on a plane.

I guess I'll plan for the one on the 19th. I should be able to go from 8% complete on HTO to passing tests in 12 days right?
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: bryanthegoon on May 07, 2012, 06:08:46 PM
well crap....  local tests on 5/19 on the other end of town, 6/2, and 6/16, then the new questions go into effect.

I started the old questions, but was hoping to test on them.  unfortunately the closest test is on 6/2 when I'll be on a plane.

I guess I'll plan for the one on the 19th. I should be able to go from 8% complete on HTO to passing tests in 12 days right?

Just depends on how much time you put against it and quick you pick it up, I passed my general and extra after just a week on HTO ( but I put more time against it than I should have, I am alittle OCD that way).  If you don't get it in time it isn't the end of the world, I was playing around and most of the questions appear to either be the same or slight re-words of the same information.  There are a handful that are new but not really that many (I honestly felt like some of the new test questions were worded in a way that was easier to understand than the current versions were in cases where it was a similar question)
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: austinrob on May 07, 2012, 07:48:30 PM
yeah, and I'll be back in time for the one on the 16th, and will have plenty of hotel time to study in the evenings.  Unless I can sort out a good hotel antenna solution to work some HF from Orlando. 
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on May 07, 2012, 08:58:19 PM
I went from the low teens to +90% in two weeks. Studied while traveling and then the last week (Friday evening - Thursday morning) i moved into the +95% range.  I started taking tests at lunch on Thursday and then took 13 exams from thursday evening and friday. 

I was going to take the test on Monday evenng, but after those 13 and no fails, i walked into a testing session on Sat morning at a local hamfest.  I passed with a minus 8.   Not what i wanted to do, but its offical.  I show a total of 60 hours for all three with the last 25-ish hours on the Extra. 

The Sat test was "a last minute thing", i figured out that what the hell, give it a shot. I am glad i did, as i did not take the whole weekend studying to hit the upper >95%.   I am more than satisified with my 84% thank you  8)

Give it a shot.  I told the wife, that right after dinner i was locked in the shack and there would be no sharing fav TV shows or walking that week. She was cool and i am glad i did it. 

The tech and general i did every math problem by hand.  I was proud of that fact. After getting my Gen, i used only the freq in meters/2 to make a 10 M dipole.  That was it.

So for the Extra, I made the choice to NOT learn the formulas.  Being an engineer, the polar coords were pretty simple to memorize the right answers dependng on whether the values were positive or neg.  the other math questions were simple enough to memorize by using keywords in the questions and associate the answer. 

I make no appoligies for this method!   I figured i would never be in an instance where remembering the math in my head would "save my life".  There will always be the books and my programmible HP caculator oor a web app IF i ever needed to really use that material.

I took in the caculator to the session, but never turned it on. 
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: W.Lynn on May 08, 2012, 12:33:36 AM
I'm another one that did more than the usual study time.  Yes, I did go from no license to Extra in one morning after 7 weeks of study, but I have very few responsibilities.

I was studying while cooking dinner, to and from anywhere if someone else was driving, while others watched tv, etc.

If you put a shortcut for HTOL on an (allegedly) smart phone, you can get a few minutes of questions done while standing in lines, sitting in waiting rooms, or waiting your stop in an elevator.  I was getting to be such a nuisance, you'd think I had gotten addicted to one of those stupid games.
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: XJP5 on December 13, 2012, 04:12:41 PM
Subscribed to HTOL myself yesterday, at AD's recommendation. Put in 2.5 hours yesterday and about 1.0 hours today. I definitely like the ability to access this online and the algorithm they use seems pretty smart. Not doing too bad so far on the Extra course. I've been floating around between 68% to 90's, but it appears to keep resetting my score. There's plenty I don't know and I have a lot more studying to do.
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on December 13, 2012, 04:36:40 PM
Subscribed to HTOL myself yesterday, at AD's recommendation. Put in 2.5 hours yesterday and about 1.0 hours today. I definitely like the ability to access this online and the algorithm they use seems pretty smart. Not doing too bad so far on the Extra course. I've been floating around between 68% to 90's, but it appears to keep resetting my score. There's plenty I don't know and I have a lot more studying to do.

Are you doing the study method or the test mode?  It should not be resetting you % on you .

If you think you have issues email John W1AI@hamtestonline.com he owns the site and is a friend. He moved to AZ about a year+ ago.  We took a CERT class together. 

DId you turn on all of the Extra study sections?
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: XJP5 on December 13, 2012, 05:04:49 PM
Are you doing the study method or the test mode?  It should not be resetting you % on you .

If you think you have issues email John W1AI@hamtestonline.com he owns the site and is a friend. He moved to AZ about a year+ ago.  We took a CERT class together. 

DId you turn on all of the Extra study sections?

AD, I'm definitely in Study Mode only. Here are my current option settings (courtesy of Snagit v10.0.2):

From HamTest Online
(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q107/xjetpilot/HTOoptions.jpg)
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on December 13, 2012, 06:01:14 PM
Waht do you have checked uner show Topics is it the top extra check box and all of the subtopics?
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: XJP5 on December 13, 2012, 06:11:50 PM
Waht do you have checked uner show Topics is it the top extra check box and all of the subtopics?

Under the "Choose Topics" menu item (blue navigation bar / left side), I have everything from the Extra Class Exam box on down checked. Nothing above it:

Note: I should mention that I'm studying from both my personal PC at home and my workstation at work, so if it's storing anything in cache, that may have some effect on the score, but I would imagine HTO caches all it's data on a database, rather than on the local machine's hard drive.

From HamTest Online
(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q107/xjetpilot/HTO_ChooseTopics.jpg)
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on December 13, 2012, 07:01:47 PM
So according to this you are 13% complete, over all. 
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: XJP5 on December 13, 2012, 07:34:03 PM
So according to this you are 13% complete, over all.

Yes. I'm just trying to figure out why it keeps resetting the % correct score. I think it resets at each new section.
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on December 13, 2012, 08:49:13 PM
Should not do that.  Email John and ask him.  shit i will email john and ask him to look at this thread.   ;D
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: w1ai on December 13, 2012, 10:50:08 PM
Yes. I'm just trying to figure out why it keeps resetting the % correct score. I think it resets at each new section.

This is John, W1AI, the owner of HamTestOnline.  I'm not sure what you mean by "keeps resetting the % correct score."

If you're referring to the "session score" shown on the navigation bar, it is reset whenever you login.  The session score shows the percentage of questions answered correctly the first time they were seen in the current session, and logging in starts a new session.  Some people find that the session score challenges them to focus on answering correctly as much as possible.

If you're referring to the course score shown on the Choose Topics screen and in the gray bar above every question, you may notice it decreasing slightly when you haven't studied for a while.  The system understands that information gradually fades from memory over time, so your topic scores "age" (go down) to reflect that fact.  However, unless you are gone for months, you're not going to see it go all the way down to zero.

If it's some other value that seems to be getting reset, let me know, and I can explain it.  (I wrote the software!)  You can reply on this forum or call HamTestOnline support at 888-857-6164.

John, W1AI
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: AD on December 14, 2012, 12:07:07 AM
Thanks John for popping in and addressing this. 
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: XJP5 on December 14, 2012, 05:39:00 AM
This is John, W1AI, the owner of HamTestOnline.  I'm not sure what you mean by "keeps resetting the % correct score."

If you're referring to the "session score" shown on the navigation bar, it is reset whenever you login.  The session score shows the percentage of questions answered correctly the first time they were seen in the current session, and logging in starts a new session.  Some people find that the session score challenges them to focus on answering correctly as much as possible ...

John, W1AI

John, the session score is what I was referring to. I was under the impression that it was a cumulative score and didn't realize it was designed to reset after each login. I guess that's why you named it "session score."

(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q107/xjetpilot/SessionScore_zpsb8b2700c.jpg)

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I have yet to master reading  ;) I must say though, I do love the HTO system for test preparation. You did a nice job on it and I do feel I'm learning the material much more than my usual study method, which consists of reading the manuals. Thanks for taking a peek at this post, and your prompt response!

Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: PLA on December 14, 2012, 08:33:21 AM
I was extremely satisfied with HTOL

After 2 years with the books and flashcards, I tested in 2 weeks with HTOL and passed missing 2.

Great resource, Id have never found it without the push here
Title: Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
Post by: w1ai on December 14, 2012, 10:16:07 AM
John, the session score is what I was referring to. I was under the impression that it was a cumulative score and didn't realize it was designed to reset after each login. I guess that's why you named it "session score."

As the developer for HamTestOnline, one of the challenges I face is how to provide features that my students love without making the user interface overly confusing.  The session score is typical.  Some people tell me that they find it motivating.  For example, they might decide to study each day until the session score tells them they have answered 100 unique questions.  Yet I get a lot of questions about why the session score acts the way it does.  (I usually just quote the definition of the session score from the FAQ page.)

It's the same with user rank.  Some people like to watch their rank relative to everyone else on the system.  They will set a goal for their study session and keep working until they achieve it.  For example, if you start at rank 1733, you might decide to keep going until you reach 1000.  Yet I get questions from people who can't understand why their user rank slips when they don't study for a while.  It's because other people were studying while you were snoozing, duh!  (OK, I usually leave off the "duh" from my response.)

Does all this matter?  Only in that it helps motivate people to keep studying.  HamTestOnline is like a cross between a video game and homework.  It's a lot more fun than reading a book, but not nearly as much fun as asteroids.  I use features like session score and user rank to distract my students from the fact that they are actually doing homework.

That's also the idea behind the user interface design: one click to answer, and you get instant feedback. plus the next question (including any diagrams).  As long as I can get the next question back in your face in less than half a second, you're going to be seriously tempted to answer it, even if bedtime was an hour ago and you have to get up early in the morning.  ("OK, just this ONE more, and then I'm going to bed.  This time I MEAN it!")  It's all a nefarious plot to keep you coming back for more.

You could say the same thing about the "Skip subject for now" and "Skip all calculations for now" buttons.  Some people will say, "If it asks me one more question about logic circuits, I'm going to quit!"  The skip buttons give them more control over the study session, which makes it more pleasant, which keeps their keesters in the chairs, which means they get their licenses instead of asking for refunds!  See how I am?   ;-)

73,
John, W1AI
www.hamtestonline.com (http://www.hamtestonline.com)