The following is an outline of the exam procedure for both examiners and candidates.

If you are interested in becoming an Exam Supervisor for your local club check out the Exam Supervisors Application form page.

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NZART Examination Procedure

Objectives

This process sets out the requirements for NZART to undertake to test the competency of candidates as to whether they have sufficient knowledge to meet requirements of the Harmonized Amateur Radio Examination Certificate (HAREC) syllabus to obtain a General Amateur Operator Certificate and Callsign.

The objectives of this process are that the examination process is

• Fair
• Objective
• Consistent
• Repeatable
• Valid

Scope

This process applies to all examinations for the assessment of the General Amateur Operator Certificate executed by NZART and their delegates.

Definitions

ARX	Approved Radio Examiner. Approved by RSM Referred to as the examiner in this document.
Branch	Has the same meaning as defined by Schedule D of the NZART Constitution.
ERN	Exam Result Notification. This is the blue form that is to be completed at the end of a successful examination pass and given to the candidate to keep in a safe place.
GAOC	General Amateur Operator Certificate. Produced on completion of the callsign application process.
HAREC	Harmonized Amateur Radio Examination Certificate. This sets the syllabus for the examination qualification. Amateurs who have this ability can transport their license internationally with participating countries.
Pass Mark	A total of 40 or more correct answers.
PIB46	RSM’s Radio Operator Certificate and Callsign Rules
RRF	RSM’s Register of Radio Frequencies – the government database.
RSM	Radio Spectrum Management. The regulator.

Examiners

ARX are approved by RSM two of whom are appointed to act as agents for NZART. NZART Council will consider any request from an approved ARX to become an examiner. An NZART ARX shall follow this process. Non NZART ARX’s may use this process if they wish, however free NZART membership will not be available to candidates examined by non NZART ARX’s.

Examiners are tasked with

• Approving the examination process (this document)
• Issuing the GAOC and callsign on RRF
• Approving exam supervisors (with NZART Council)
• Conducting the role of Exam Supervisor at any exam if required

Exam Supervisors

Exam supervisors are deputies of the examiner. They act as a delegate to the examiner and are expected to uphold this policy document and the integrity of the examination system.

NZART Branches may nominate members for the position of exam supervisor. Such a person must be deemed by the Branch to be of good standing and integrity. The nomination form in Appendix 1 is to be completed by the Branch and sent to NZART for approval by Council and the examiners.

A database of current exam supervisors will be retained by the NZART Administrator as part of the ERN database.

Exam supervisors may supervise any exam and not just the exam of the branch which they are attached to.

Exam supervisors may resign from their position by contacting the NZART Administrator advising them in writing of their wish to resign.

Examination

Preparing for the examination

A nominee within the Branch hosting the examination shall

• Download the exam PDF normally from the exam generator
• Using Adobe Reader or any other PDF reader, print everything in that document EXCEPT the         last two pages. Print as many copies as there are exam candidates.

Print the last two pages of the document for the exam supervisors.  

• Print one callsign application form for each candidate plus recommend 2 spares 20240926CallsignApplication-1
• Ensure the branch has sufficient ERN forms for the examination on hand.

The nominee from the branch could be an exam supervisor, or another trustworthy person within the branch, but must not be anyone delivering training in preparation for the exam.

An exam venue should be free from any distraction (particularly audible distraction), and free from any visual aids that may give guidance to answers.

The exam room should be laid out so that candidates are spaced apart so that the risk of copying is minimized.

The exam supervisor (or examiner) should verbally instruct the candidates, the rules for the exam including:

• There is to be no communicating with other candidates during the exam, verbally or otherwise
• If you need assistance during the exam, or if you have completed the exam, to get the attention of an exam supervisor by raising your hand
• Noise should be kept to a minimum by all.

The exam supervisor is to ask the candidates to ensure the examination code on the question paper matches the examination code on the answer sheet.

The exam supervisor should ensure that candidates have no illegal material with them in the examination, including notes, diagrams or aides.

Permitted materials (other the examination question and answer papers) in the examination room include a pen or pens, blank paper, and a calculator. A smartphone may be used as a calculator provided that:

• It is set to flight mode
• All sounds are set to off
• It is always left face up and on display on the candidate’s desk
• It is only used for standard or scientific calculations and not for more advanced apps with built in formulae (e.g. Ham Radio Tools)

Instructions shall also be given as to how to alter an answer should the candidate change their mind. This shall be by crossing out the answer and writing the new intended answer letter clearly and to the right of the original answers.

During the examination

During the examination two exam supervisors are to be present. Their role is to ensure the exam conditions are maintained, specifically:

• The exam room is quiet. Any distractions should be dealt with as quickly as possible.
• That there is no talking by candidates or by exam supervisors during the exam (other than to offer instructional advice without any suggestion as to the correctness of any answer or of what answer a candidate should provide).
• Candidates are not accessing illegal material during the examination.
• That conditions are such that opportunities for examination deception or fraud are minimized to the greatest extent possible.

The two exam supervisors present shall not reside at the same address to maintain peer pressure of objectivity. If such an instance of co-inhabiting exam supervisors should arise, a different or additional examination supervisor should be used.

Exam supervisors should take care not to cause any distraction in the exam venue whilst performing the exam supervision.

The exam supervisor is not permitted to coach or direct the candidate in their selection of answers. The only direction an exam supervisor may give is to ensure that the candidate fully understands the examination process and how to complete the answer sheet.

There should be no other personnel other than candidates, the exam supervisors, and a reader/ writer if required, in the exam room.

If a reader/writer is required for a candidate due to a disability or other reason, this exam should be done solo, or in a separate room from other candidates, to avoid distraction to other candidates.

For a one-on-one exam, one of the exam supervisors may perform the function of the reader/ writer. For larger exam groups a reader writer should be an additional person. In such a scenario, to avoid distraction with other candidates, this exam should be in a separate room or space. In any case the function of the exam supervisor must still be executed. The reader/ writer may only read the questions and options as they are written, without adding any inflection on the options.

The time limit for an exam is 2 hours.

If the candidate does not reach 40 correct answers, at the exam supervisors’ discretion, they can opt to sit a second examination. This exam will be different to the previous exam and the same examination rules will apply. It is usually only advisable to do this if the candidate has achieved between 35 and 39 correct answers.

An exam supervisor is to make a judgment on whether a candidate who has not quite passed, may re-sit immediately, or not. In doing so they should give thought into what action will give the most likely to succeed outcome. Where a candidate is not displaying confidence, thought should be given to inviting the candidate to receive further tuition from the closest active branch before re- sitting the examination, with the objective being that the candidates interest in radio is maintained as opposed to giving up, should they fail the second attempt.

If an examination supervisor suspects any person in the exam room has accessed illegal material or otherwise violated the examination process during an exam, they reserve the right to remove that person from the exam venue.

Marking

Once the exam is complete the examination answer sheet should be handed in to the exam supervisor for marking. Marking is only to be completed by an examination supervisor.

Using the marking sheet, each question is to be marked with a tick next to the answer if it is correct, and a cross if the answer is incorrect. Avoid using a dash mark for incorrect answers as these can be mistaken for a tick (or vice versa) when counting.

Tally up the correct marks in each column and write the total at the base of each column.

The other exam supervisor shall then also mark the paper in a different coloured pen and tally up the marks in the same fashion.

Each marker shall write their callsign on the exam answer sheet.

The column totals shall be summed, and the mark total noted on the top right of the paper.

Where the candidate achieves a pass mark the candidate will be issued a blue ERN notice stating the pass result. The ERN form is the official notification of the result. The candidate should be encouraged to retain this form in a safe place. It is not necessary to scan this form and send it to the examiner.

The candidate will also be asked to complete a callsign application form. All the information on this sheet is to be completed. Callsign selections should be a ZL1-4 prefix, and a 2- 5 letter suffix, in accordance with PIB 46. The candidate shall be asked to give 3 preferred options in case their first or second choice is unavailable.

**NB – Callsigns cannot include the following, ZL1Z… ZL2Z… ZL3Z… etc. This ‘Z’ call must be retained for the purpose of RSM testing in their programming environment.

Uploading to RRF

As well as a callsign application form the following information will be required to issue a GAOC and Callsign with RRF.

• A high-resolution JPG image of the candidate’s face (like a passport photo). The image needs to be > 500 kB in size and have an aspect ratio of between 0.7 and 0.9.
• If the candidate was not born in New Zealand, a copy of citizenship or permanent residency certificate. A copy of a New Zealand Issued passport satisfies this requirement.

In addition to the above the exam supervisor will also need to supply the examiner with

• The candidates marked answer sheet
• The marking schedule
• The exam audit file

The Examiner will create a client first (unless the candidate already has an RSM client ID) and note the client ID on the callsign application form.

The examiner will then create the certificate. In the “examiner remarks” field enter the following information

• ERN Number
• Examination number
• Mark attained

The examiner will then upload the answer sheet, answer schedule, audit file, and proof of residency/citizenship (if required) to the file.

Callsign selection should be in order with the options provided by the candidate. Where none of the 3 options are available, try first the options given using alternate ZL1-4 numbers. If that fails attempt to use ZL1-4 and the candidate’s initials as the letters, or the candidate shall be contacted for further options.

Certification

Upon successful certification the PDF certificate shall be saved then sent to the NZART administrator, along with the callsign application form. The administrator will then send a copy of the certificate to the candidate and add them to the NZART membership database. The ERN database file will also be updated.

Download the Examination Procedure as a PDF