FCC Amateur Radio Exams: Classes, Format & Scoring

US amateur radio licences come in three classes, and you earn each one by passing a multiple choice exam drawn from a public question pool. There is no Morse code requirement and no prerequisite for the entry class. Because the pools are public, studying is unusually direct: the questions on your exam, word for word, are published in advance with the correct answers marked.

The three licence classes

Upgrades are sequential: you sit Element 3 only after holding Technician, and Element 4 only after holding General. At many exam sessions you may sit the next element in the same visit if you pass, so a prepared candidate can climb more than one rung in a day.

Exam format: one question from every group

Each pool is organised into ten subelements (rules, operating procedures, propagation, electronics, safety, and so on), and each subelement into groups. The exam draw is fixed by FCC rule (47 CFR 97.503): one question from every group, chosen at random from the questions in that group. That design means no topic can be skipped: every group on the syllabus contributes exactly one question to your paper.

Every question has four options and exactly one correct answer. The FCC sets no time limit for these elements; Volunteer Examiner teams run their sessions at their own pace, and most candidates finish in well under an hour. The timer on Solvi mock exams is a pacing aid for practice, not an official condition.

Scoring: 74 percent, fixed by rule

Your score is simply the number of questions you answer correctly; there is no weighting by topic and no separate section hurdle. The pass marks are written into 47 CFR 97.503: 26 of 35 for Technician and General, 37 of 50 for Extra, each 74 percent. Exams are graded at the session, so you learn the result before you leave. If you do not pass, you may sit a different draw of the same element at a later session.

Pool rotation: three windows, three different years

Each class has its own pool on its own four year rotation, staggered so that at most one pool is replaced in any year. Always check the window for the class you are studying:

The next rotation is the General pool: it expires June 30, 2027, and the 2027 to 2031 pool takes over on July 1, 2027. Extra follows on July 1, 2028, and Technician on July 1, 2030. NCVEC normally publishes a replacement pool about six months before it takes effect, and questions studied from an expired pool do not carry over: if your exam date falls after a rotation, study the new pool.

Where the questions come from

The pools are maintained by the Question Pool Committee of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC). Two legal facts make this the most open exam on Solvi. First, 47 CFR 97.523 requires each pool to be published and made available to the public before it is used. Second, the NCVEC Question Pool Committee releases each pool into the public domain, in those words, on its release pages. Solvi republishes the pools under that release; the explanations and this guide are Solvi's own work. Solvi is not affiliated with the FCC, the NCVEC, or any Volunteer Examiner Coordinator.

Taking the real exam

Real exams are given at sessions run by Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams, accredited through a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator such as the ARRL VEC or the Laurel VEC, in person and, with many teams, online. Bring photo ID and your FCC Registration Number (FRN), which you can get free from the FCC CORES system before the session; the FRN replaces your Social Security number on the paperwork. Sessions typically charge a small fee set by the VEC, and new licences also carry a $35 FCC application fee, paid to the FCC after you pass. Once the FCC grants your licence and your call sign appears in its database, you may operate.

Sources

Draw sizes and pass marks: 47 CFR 97.503. Public availability of the pools: 47 CFR 97.523. Pool documents, windows, and the public domain releases: the NCVEC Amateur Question Pools page and the release page for each pool (Technician, General, Extra).