To expand on Howard's discussion,

If you passed the General you only needed to pass the written test to 
receive your Advanced as the code requirement for the Advanced was the same 
as for the General.  To receive the Extra, you needed to pass a code test of 
20 words per minute and a written exam.

Howard #3

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard Kaufman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 3:02 AM
Subject: Re: novices


> Back in the day, when Men were Men, and we walked five miles to and from
> school up hill, both ways!  The novice was limited to 75 watts of CW,
> transmitters had to be crystal controled, and you had a year to upgrade or
> get out.  Calls had an N in the prefix to denote novice.  I for example 
> was
> WN9top.  The examination was the only ham radio exam that could be given 
> by
> a ham with a higher lisence.  Technician and general had the same theory
> test, but the code requirement was 5 for the tech and 13 wpm for the
> general.
>
> That is what it was.