From One Exam to Seven: What Changed
Oddly Sunny builds exam prep for licenses and credentials defined by law. The portfolio spans seven brands across iOS, Android and web: Aviator IQ (FAA), Mariner IQ (US Coast Guard), Airwaves IQ (FCC amateur and commercial radio), Insurance Pass (life, health, property and casualty), DMV IQ (all 50 states and DC), Drive IQ Canada (every province and territory, in English and French), and Citizen Pass (US, UK, Canada, Australia). They all run on one shared system for source ingestion, verification, change monitoring, and Sunny, an AI study coach.
Asked what building one exam taught him that changed how he approached the next, founder Yaniv Navot said the main lesson was building that shared system. "Early on, we treated each question as the unit of work. Across seven brands, dozens of jurisdictions and tens of thousands of questions, that doesn't scale. The official text has to be the product."
He described the hard part as keeping questions faithful to sources that differ by jurisdiction, change on their own schedules, and depend on precise wording. "A single 'and' versus 'or' can turn one legal condition into two."
To address that, every exam now starts from the official source, and each question carries a direct quote from it. A separate AI reviewer checks each answer blind, high-risk questions get multiple review cycles, and any edit to a correct answer is re-verified as a new draft. When an agency updates a manual, the team knows which questions it affects.
The second lesson was knowing what transfers between exams and what doesn't. "The sourcing, verification and monitoring transfer, so each new exam is faster to build than the last. The presentation doesn't. A pilot needs diagrams and judgment calls, a citizenship applicant needs plain language, and a DMV test is state-specific detail. We build that layer for each audience."
Where Drilling the Question Pool Breaks Down
Navot said the answer depends on the exam. The ham radio pool is public, and the test is drawn from it, so memorizing can get you a license. "It won't make you a competent operator, and each license level builds on the one before." FAA knowledge tests are different: the wording won't match your practice questions, and the examiner will later quiz you in person on the areas you missed. For DMV and citizenship tests, the handbook is the source, and most question banks are someone's interpretation of it.
The common problem, he said, is that drilling trains recognition, not understanding. "After seeing a question three times, you may be remembering its shape or which option tends to look right, not the rule behind it." Many question banks on the market also carry unintended patterns, such as the correct answer usually being the longest or most detailed option. Learners pick up on these without noticing, so their score can reflect test-taking habits more than knowledge. That's one reason the team screens its own banks for them.
What learners need and rarely get, according to Navot:
- The reason behind each answer, tied to the actual statute or manual, so a differently worded question still makes sense.
- A clear view of which topics are weak and what to do about them, not just an overall score.
- Full syllabus coverage. Pools over-represent some topics and miss others the exam still tests.
What New Test-Takers Decide Too Quickly
The most common mistake, Navot said, is deciding how ready they are, in either direction. "Some people do a few practice rounds, feel good, and book the exam. Others score badly on day one and decide they're not cut out for it. Early scores mostly measure familiarity, not ability." His advice: put in a real stretch of study, then judge readiness by your weakest topic, not your average.
The second is treating the written test as the finish line. For pilots, the knowledge test report lists the areas you missed, and the examiner will ask about them at the checkride. For US citizenship, the civics questions are only one part. "Your English is assessed during the interview, and you'll be asked about your own application. Study for the whole process, not just the part that gets scored."
The third is picking whichever study resource comes up first, without asking where its content comes from. "Check whether answers point back to the official source, and whether the material is updated when the rules change. A question bank built on an outdated handbook can teach you the wrong answer with complete confidence."
For readers preparing for an FCC radio license or any similar credential, the practical takeaways are straightforward: verify that your study material cites the official source, track your weakest topics rather than your average, and prepare for the whole licensing process, not just the scored portion.