Using Poeverlein's graphical method, three-dimensional ray path calculations are performed to evaluate the path-interated growth of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR). The ray tracing results indicate that waves whose initial wave vector lie in the local meridian plane continue to propagate in that plane and that among these waves, those with frequencies near the cutoff frequency (fR=0) refract substantially, whereas those with frequencies well above the cutoff frequency suffer little refraction. It is also shown that waves whose initial wave vector lies outside of the local meridian plane propagate in the longitudinal as well as the radial and the latitudinal directions. The refraction of these waves is also highly dependent upon the wave frequency, i.e., waves with frequencies near FR=0 refract substantilly, whereas waves with frequencies much above fR=0 undergo little refraction. In order to test the electron cyclotron maser mechanism as a method for generation of AKR, a typical electron distribution function measured in the auroral zone by the S3-3 satellite is used to calculate path-integrated growth of representative rays. The results of this study indicate that electron distribution functions like those measured by the S3-3 satellite are not capable of amplifying cosmic noise background to the observed intensities of auroral kilometric radiation and that much steeper slope (∂F/∂v⊥) at the edges of the loss cone are required. The presence of such distribution functions in the auroral zone is plausible if one assumes that backscattered electrons in this region have energies less than a few hundred eV.