I was on a roll and I went and took all three tests. It’s taken a few years of experience to put any of that into any practice. But I like listening to stuff from all over.
I know a couple of people here that did that; one is a school teacher who is good at taking tests. She couldn't tell you much about Ham radios but she knows how to take a multiple question test. I scored a 99 on mine and know I could have easily passed the next level if I had chosen to study for it but like I said; I don't want to do that - at least not now. Something else I learned is a lot of people who are really into the hobby and are involved in local Ham radio clubs don't have a lot of respect for those who have the upper level licenses, especially the top one, but have no practical experience with it.
I figured if I was going to own these Ham radios I might as well be able to push the talk button and to do that I needed the basic license. At $15 it was well worth getting. The book or study site is around $25 so it's all very affordable. Admittedly my computer tech background and mechanical background involving electronics did help.