PAPERLESS IN-PERSON LICENSE EXAM SESSIONS
We have transitioned over to a completely paperless exam session system which is beneficial for the environment and provides a better exam session experience for both the examinee and the volunteer examiners.
This new in-person paperless exam session is being conducted on 10" Android electronic tablets supplied by the VE Team when you arrive to the exam session.
For exam integrity, we can not allow you to use your own device for the exam session. The paperless exam must be taken on our supplied electronic tablets like the one shown here. These devices are locked down so that you are not able to access websites, a computer calculator, or any thing else that a person could use to attempt to cheat on the exam.
This new system will give you the ability to take in-person exams, utilize the latest technology during the exam, and promote a healthier and cleaner environment at the same time by not wasting paper in conducting the exam session. This system utilizes the same technology that we use for our online exam sessions, however you don't have to worry about having to provide 2 web cameras, getting the right camera angles, and fast enough secure internet connection for the exam to be validated.
When you arrive at the exam session, you will verify your information on the forms displayed on the screen before taking the exam. During the exam you will be able to scroll through the questions, and even skip over questions that you are unsure of the answer to. When you are finished, you can easily refer back to any questions that you skipped over to answer them before submitting your exam for grading.
The exam will be automatically graded within the system and you will immediately know what your final score on the exam was. If you passed the exam, the Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) form will be emailed to you within a few minutes of the Volunteer Examiners finalizing and processing the exam session.
The system generates a file that is uploaded directly to the Federal Communications Commission for processing and license issuance, all without a single piece of paper needing to be printed out.
This is a very expensive system that we have invested in, but we believe it will be worth it for us to switch over to a completely paperless exam session format, for us, for you, and for the environment. Our new Paperless Exam Session also demonstrates one of our backup means of emergency communications in a disaster or emergency situation. Our new testing system utilizes our Starlink Satellite Internet system to allow the Android tablets to connect with the examination software.
We offer both Paperless In-Person Exam Sessions as well as Online/Remote Exam Sessions.
Exam sessions can only happen if we have enough Volunteer Examiners (VE’s). Any FCC Amateur Radio Operator license holder of General class or higher can apply to become a VE.
For exam integrity, we video record all of our in-person and online/remote exam sessions. The video recordings are stored on multiple 10TB 7200RPM external hard drives from Fantom Drives. Additional copies of the videos are also stored on DVD discs at an off-site location for redundancy.
All video recordings and exam session files are stored for 10 years so that they are accessible for possible FCC audits of our exam sessions in the future.
