I can do you one better.  I let my conditional class license lapse, so had to start over.  I took the novice, tech, general, advanced, and extra class tests in immediate succession at the FCC field office in San Francisco.  They let one of the junior employees, a very nice young woman, give me the tests orally and take my responses orally.  They told me I had passed each one before giving me the next one.  When I passedd finished the extra test and passed it, they gave me the code test.  When I passed the one-minute of sollid copy at 20wpm by giving the text orally, I had to send with a straight key for a minute or so just to show I could use a key properly.  I walked out after 4.5 hours with the knowledge I had an extra class license coming.  Of course it took a while to arrive in the mail.  This all took place on Friday the 13th in 1976.  You can be certain I won't let my license lapse again, hi!.

73,

Dave, A F 6 Y

At 10:05 AM 5/9/2004, you wrote:
>When I wrote my extra in 1975, I had to go to the FCC.  I had a Conditional at
>the time, so I had to write my General, Advanced, and Extra all in the same
>day.  They had a Braille exam for the General, but not for the Advanced and
>Extra.
>
>AFter I took the General, the District Engineer discovered he didn't have an
>answer key, so he let me take the Advanced.  When I passed that, I took the
>Extra.  I also knew when I left there, that I'd passed both exams.  But, it
>took eight weeks before I got a letter from the F.C.C. informing me I'd passed
>my General as well, and then another four weeks before I got my ticket.
>
>It is interesting that they didn't trust hams who administered Conditional
>licenses, since you had to take the General Class before upgrading.  Now, with
>the VE system, we're entrusted with the whole caboodle.
>
>
>Steve, K8SP