Applicant / Candidate — A person taking an amateur radio license exam.
Co-Owner — A VE explicitly authorized by the session owner to act with full session management permissions. See also: Owner, Team Lead, Roles and Permissions.
CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination) — The certificate issued to an applicant who passes an exam element. Signed by the VEs and the applicant.
CVE (Certified Volunteer Examiner) — Term used by some VECs for a VE who holds team lead credentials. This is a VEC accreditation — not an ExamTools role. Not all VECs use the CVE designation. See also: Team Lead.
Element — The specific exam being administered. Element 2 = Technician, Element 3 = General, Element 4 = Amateur Extra.
ExamTools — The web-based platform for administering amateur radio license exams. Available at exam.tools. Developed and maintained by Richard Bateman KD7BBC and funded through SignalStuff.
FCC — Federal Communications Commission; the US agency that issues amateur radio licenses.
Form 605 (NCVEC Form 605) — The official FCC application form completed by every applicant at an exam session. Must be signed by the applicant and at least three VEs.
FRN (FCC Registration Number) — A unique identifier assigned by the FCC to every person or entity registered with them. Applicants with no existing callsign are looked up by FRN.
GradeCam — A bubble-sheet scanning tool integrated into ExamTools. Uses a device camera to read completed answer sheets and score them automatically.
HamStudy — The amateur radio study platform at hamstudy.org. ExamTools uses the same account system as HamStudy — one login works for both.
NCVEC — National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators; the body that creates and maintains the FCC amateur radio question pools and NCVEC Form 605.
Owner — The ExamTools user who created a session. Has full control over session settings, VE roles, and session lifecycle. See Roles and Permissions →.
Production — The live environment at exam.tools, used for real exam sessions that are submitted to a VEC.
Sandbox — The training environment at examtools.dev or sandbox.examtools.org. Uses a completely separate database from production. Requires a separate account created directly on the sandbox site.
Session — A scheduled exam event in ExamTools. One session can include multiple applicants testing for different license elements.
SignalStuff — The antenna company founded by Richard Bateman KD7BBC that funds ExamTools development.
Team — An administrative account in ExamTools used to organize sessions and manage scheduling privileges. All sessions are associated with a team.
Team identifier — A short unique code (3–10 characters) assigned to a team when it is created. Appears in session listings and applicant-facing registration pages.
Team Lead — A VE who holds team lead credentials from their VEC, authorizing them to run exam sessions and manage teams. This is a VEC-granted accreditation, not an ExamTools permission level. People with team lead credentials typically (but not always) hold Owner or Co-owner team permissions in ExamTools. Some VECs call this a CVE. See also: CVE, Owner, Co-Owner.
ULS (Universal Licensing System) — The FCC’s database of amateur radio licensees. ExamTools uses it to look up applicant and VE callsign information.
VE (Volunteer Examiner) — An accredited amateur radio operator qualified to administer amateur radio license exams.
Ve Admin — A session permission level in ExamTools. A Ve Admin can assign and unassign VEs to applicants, edit candidate information, set applicant status, and evict applicants. Label shown in the session VE permission dropdown. See Roles and Permissions →.
VEC (Volunteer Examiner Coordinator) — A national organization that accredits VEs and receives exam results. ExamTools is VEC-agnostic and works with multiple VECs. See the FCC list of VECs.
Volunteer Examiner — The base session permission level in ExamTools. Can sign forms, authorize candidates, and self-assign to applicants. Label shown in the session VE permission dropdown. See also: VE. See Roles and Permissions →.