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I’m very excited to announce that I passed the Element 4 exam to earn an Amateur Extra license! It took a bit of doing because most places in the US are still shut down due to COVID-19. However, I kept my ears open and found a completely remote session administered by GLAARG VEC.

GLAARG has all of their remote exam sessions advertised through HamStudy.org. A few days ago I registered there and received a PIN and some instructions right off the bat, with a couple more emails to follow. I tried to read and follow all the instructions as carefully as I could. In my case, the video conference would be done over Zoom. They had guidelines about choosing an uncluttered and quiet space, and making sure that nothing would distract or interrupt me during the exam. They also called for a clean desk, so I took my station apart to make sure there wouldn’t be a last-minute scramble.

This morning, I logged into Zoom about an hour before the exam. All the test takers, all ~40 of us, were told to log in around the same time in order to maximize the volunteer examiners’ time, even though only 2-3 of us could take the exam at once. Everyone not taking the exam waited around in the Zoom waiting room plus an extra chat room, listening as one of the leads occasionally updated us about the queue. From me logging in before the test to when it was my turn took about 3 hours.

Once it was my turn, I was invited to the main Zoom chat, where my ID was pre-screened. After that, the host moved me to one of the breakout rooms which consisted of only myself and 5 proctors, presumably all VEs. I was asked to show my ID again and then turn the camera to show my desk and the view behind my monitor. After that, the VE took control of my computer screen and logged into the exam website on my behalf. Then all the proctors turned off their video and mics, leaving me to do the test. My face and screen were visible to the proctors the whole time. After I hit the submit button, the proctors turned their mics and cameras back on, and after the lead VE took control again and confirmed the results, my passing score was displayed immediately! The proctors all congratulated me, I saved a PDF copy of the test results in place of the usual CSCE, and that was it!

As of today there are no more GLAARG sessions listed because the test protocol was still considered somewhat experimental, but they sound very positive and serious about moving forward. Now that they are satisfied with their methods of maintaining integrity, they can start streamlining the waiting room process, etc.

If you’re looking in the near future to take an online ham license exam, I can highly recommend GLAARG’s sessions. Those sessions are listed through HamStudy.org, and it’s worth pointing out that GLAARG is using ExamTools which is the same layout as the practice tests on HamStudy.org. If you’re about to take a test that uses ExamTools, it’s worth running through practice tests there to get the feel of the real thing. One final thought: do run through practice exams, because there are plenty available. All the US amateur license exam questions and answers are published so all the apps have the same questions, and if you’re passing those practice tests with 90% or better consistently, you’ll know you’re ready. Don’t waste your VE team’s time if you don’t know whether you’re going to pass, especially while online tests are still in their infancy.