Question pools
| Question pools | |
|---|---|
| What they are | The complete published sets of US amateur exam questions and answers |
| Maintained by | Question Pool Committee of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) |
| Revision cycle | Every four years, with new pools taking effect on July 1 |
| Copyright | Public domain |
| Exams | |
| Technician (Element 2) | 35 questions, 26 to pass |
| General (Element 3) | 35 questions, 26 to pass |
| Amateur Extra (Element 4) | 50 questions, 37 to pass |
| Minimum pool size | Ten times the number of questions on the exam |
A question pool is the published set of every question that can appear on a US amateur license exam, together with its correct answer. There is one pool for each written exam: Technician, General and Amateur Extra. The pools are written by volunteers, released into the public domain and revised on a regular cycle, so anyone can download the full set of questions free of charge and know exactly what the exam can ask.
Who writes them
The FCC does not write the exam questions. Under Part 97, the Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) that organize exam sessions must cooperate in maintaining one pool for each exam element, and each pool must contain at least ten times as many questions as the exam drawn from it. The VECs do this through the Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC).
The committee writes and revises questions to reflect the current rules, operating practice and technology, and it takes suggestions from the amateur community. When an FCC rule change makes a question wrong partway through a cycle, the committee can withdraw that question, and it publishes such corrections as errata.
How a pool is organized
Each pool is divided into subelements, each covering a broad topic such as rules, operating practices, propagation, electrical principles, circuits, antennas or safety. Each subelement is divided again into groups of related questions. A question's number shows where it belongs: T5A03, for example, is a Technician question from subelement 5, group A, question 3. General questions begin with G and Extra questions with E. Some questions refer to diagrams, which are published with the pool.
An exam takes exactly one question from each group. That is why the number of groups in a pool matches the number of questions on the exam, and why the pool's structure, not chance, decides how many questions come from each topic.
| Element | License | Questions on exam | Correct answers to pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Technician | 35 | 26 |
| 3 | General | 35 | 26 |
| 4 | Amateur Extra | 50 | 37 |
Element 1, the Morse code test, was eliminated in 2007, so there is no longer a pool or exam for it.
The revision cycle
Each pool is used for four years, and new pools take effect on July 1. The cycles are staggered: the Technician, General and Extra pools are replaced in successive years, followed by a year in which none changes, so at most one pool changes in any given year. The old pool stays in use through June 30, and the committee releases the new one several months ahead so that publishers and practice-exam sites can update their material.
The pools in use in 2026 are:
| Pool | In use | Next new pool |
|---|---|---|
| Technician (Element 2) | July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2030 | July 2030 |
| General (Element 3) | July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2027 | July 2027 |
| Amateur Extra (Element 4) | July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2028 | July 2028 |
Because questions change between pools, always check which pool is in effect on your exam date and make sure your study material matches it.
Public domain
The NCVEC releases the pools into the public domain. Anyone may reprint them, build them into apps and websites, or publish them in books without permission or fees. That is why so many free study tools exist, and why every license manual on the market covers exactly the same questions.
Studying with the pool
Because every possible question is known in advance, studying is unusually predictable. Common approaches include:
- A license manual or study guide that explains the material behind each question, such as those published by the ARRL and others.
- Practice exams from websites and apps such as HamStudy.org and the ARRL's online exam review. These build random exams in the real format, one question from each group, and show which subelements need more work.
- Flash cards and spaced-repetition drills that bring back the questions you miss most often.
- Classes run by clubs, often ending with an exam session given by volunteer examiners.
Many people pass by memorizing answers, and the system allows it. Learning why each answer is right takes a little longer but pays off on the air, especially for the rules, RF safety and electrical safety questions. A VEC may present the answer choices in a different order from the published pool, so learn the answer itself, not its letter.
See also
External links
- National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators, which publishes the pools