Author Topic: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL  (Read 21395 times)

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BillinNM

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Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« 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.
General class license since 1992, been inactive for about 10 years, just getting back into it, thanks to Going Home.   Edit...AE on 4/29/2012

idial1911

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #1 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 ;)
The more I learn, the less I know.

W.Lynn

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #2 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

AD

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #3 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
The only dumb question is the one that did not get asked!!

BillinNM

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #4 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.
General class license since 1992, been inactive for about 10 years, just getting back into it, thanks to Going Home.   Edit...AE on 4/29/2012

austinrob

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #5 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?

bryanthegoon

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #6 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)

austinrob

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #7 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. 

AD

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #8 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. 
« Last Edit: May 07, 2012, 09:08:53 PM by AD »
The only dumb question is the one that did not get asked!!

W.Lynn

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #9 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.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2012, 12:36:26 AM by W.Lynn »

XJP5

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #10 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.

AD

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #11 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?
« Last Edit: December 13, 2012, 04:38:17 PM by AD »
The only dumb question is the one that did not get asked!!

XJP5

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #12 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
« Last Edit: December 13, 2012, 05:06:27 PM by XJP5 »

AD

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #13 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?
The only dumb question is the one that did not get asked!!

XJP5

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Re: Ok, now I've signed up with HTOL
« Reply #14 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
« Last Edit: December 13, 2012, 09:50:49 PM by XJP5 »