Best source for studying and passing the written?

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muleywannabe

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I have the sporty's online course, I have gone through it all but I am missing a lot of questions from the FAR/AIM section and some other areas that are of importance on my practice tests.

what would you suggest I purchase and study from to insure a great test score? I am a poor test taker, so I want to make sure I am 100% confident when I take my Private pilot test.
 
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I used the sportys study aid application on my iPad. I think it was around $8-12
 
muleywannabe said:
I have the sporty's online course, I have gone through it all but I am missing a lot of questions from the FAR/AIM section and some other areas that are of importance on my practice tests.

what would you suggest I purchase and study from to insure a great test score? I am a poor test taker, so I want to make sure I am 100% confident when I take my Private pilot test.
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Prepware 2014...they make a version for all tests. Sport, Private, Commercial, IR, ATP
 
I used the King video course for the private and instrument and thought they worked very well and I was well prepared. Never was a fan of just covering up the answers in a book and going through all the questions.
 
CTLSi said:
Prepware 2014...they make a version for all tests. Sport, Private, Commercial, IR, ATP
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Prepware is good, because you can choose what sections to focus on. So if you only want FAR/AIM related questions, you can cover that.

Also, the iPad FAR/AIM app from ASA allows for study of the rules/regs that apply to a particular rating.

But keep in mind that rote memorization and regurgitation of the rules is not what the examiner is going to be looking for. He or she will be asking scenario based questions to see if you can correctly interpret and apply the information.

For example, instead of asking "Can you tell me all of the instruments you need for a legal VFR flight?? (which would get you reciting the TOMATO FLAMES list), the question might be "If we are at a small uncontrolled airport out in the middle of Western Montana, can we initiate a VFR flight if our radio is not working? How about our turn coordinator?"
 
For the written, rote memorization is exactly what "he" (actually, "it") will be looking for.

For the oral, it ain't gonna cut it.

It's been my experience that really learning the stuff makes the rote just happen, for the most part.
 
Written ended up being easier than I expected. It just takes time. A couple of weekends just pouring over the blue ASA written test along with the study buddy app until I was consistently in the 90's and I felt comfortable to take the test. Before I started with the blue book I took the study buddy test a couple times to get a baseline. I was in the low to mid 70s at the time.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Prepware is good, because you can choose what sections to focus on. So if you only want FAR/AIM related questions, you can cover that.

Also, the iPad FAR/AIM app from ASA allows for study of the rules/regs that apply to a particular rating.

But keep in mind that rote memorization and regurgitation of the rules is not what the examiner is going to be looking for. He or she will be asking scenario based questions to see if you can correctly interpret and apply the information.

For example, instead of asking "Can you tell me all of the instruments you need for a legal VFR flight?? (which would get you reciting the TOMATO FLAMES list), the question might be "If we are at a small uncontrolled airport out in the middle of Western Montana, can we initiate a VFR flight if our radio is not working? How about our turn coordinator?"
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The real life questions I can answer and make logical sense of...its the test taking skills on a computer that I am horrible at.
 
I have used the gliem study guides with good results.
 
I've yet to take the written... I've read the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, a Jeppeson text book, Airplane flying Handbook and then the Aeronautical Knowledge book again. I purchased the 90 days of Sporty's premium access and did probably about 12 hours worth of that stuff over the last few months. Before my time ran out I did 2 practice tests over two days and got a 90 and 95%.

I'm hoping at this point I understand everything enough to get a passing score on the written and will probably take it next week.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Prepware is good, because you can choose what sections to focus on. So if you only want FAR/AIM related questions, you can cover that.

Also, the iPad FAR/AIM app from ASA allows for study of the rules/regs that apply to a particular rating.

But keep in mind that rote memorization and regurgitation of the rules is not what the examiner is going to be looking for. He or she will be asking scenario based questions to see if you can correctly interpret and apply the information.

For example, instead of asking "Can you tell me all of the instruments you need for a legal VFR flight?? (which would get you reciting the TOMATO FLAMES list), the question might be "If we are at a small uncontrolled airport out in the middle of Western Montana, can we initiate a VFR flight if our radio is not working? How about our turn coordinator?"
Click to expand...

You are citing the difference between the written and the checkride oral. The written wants memory dumps. The checkride oral wants to test the command of the information.
 
OkieAviator said:
I've yet to take the written... I've read the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, a Jeppeson text book, Airplane flying Handbook and then the Aeronautical Knowledge book again. I purchased the 90 days of Sporty's premium access and did probably about 12 hours worth of that stuff over the last few months. Before my time ran out I did 2 practice tests over two days and got a 90 and 95%.

I'm hoping at this point I understand everything enough to get a passing score on the written and will probably take it next week.
Click to expand...

You are covered. You can also randomly check yourself by taking the free online little tests out there. Some of them have errors, but the more practice the better.
 
CTLSi said:
You are citing the difference between the written and the checkride oral. The written wants memory dumps. The checkride oral wants to test the command of the information.
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True...

Muley, is this for the private written? Or Instrument?
 
If you can't pass it with the questions in a Gleim book and Sporty's Studdy Buddy then you aren't going to pass it. That should cost you all of about $30.
 
This, how do I ace the written, thing really should be a stickey

I give my students the king videos, they order "from the ground up" and a FAR/AIM, they watch the videos, we do a one on one ground for the weight and balances and x-country planning.

They take the practice tests (download & update dauntless, google it) with the option SHOW CORRECT ANSWER IMMEDIATELY AFTER, this is important!

Once they can constantly average over 80% I sign them off to take the test at a laser grade center (better interface compared to CATs). I have yet to ever have a student fail a written.
 
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Dauntless or Shepard. Both keep the test sets up to date.

Select "show correct answer" only. Don't even look at the wrong answers. Go thru a chapter every evening. Repeat.
 
murphey said:
Dauntless or Shepard. Both keep the test sets up to date.
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Unfortunately, Sheppard does not provide coverage for the Private written. However, they are a great source for all others.
 
kenjr said:
If you can't pass it with the questions in a Gleim book and Sporty's Studdy Buddy then you aren't going to pass it. That should cost you all of about $30.
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That's what I used. Was very accurate.
I think anyone heading for the written should be using the study buddy.
I think that helped me prepare more than anything else
 
Gucci Pilot said:
I used the King video course for the private and instrument and thought they worked very well
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Agreed, I used the King Schools course in combination with the ASA test prep book over the course of a couple of weeks and passed the test no problem.
 
Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge for me. If you really learn the material, you won't have to really memorize anything but a few regs. Once I was solid on the material, I drilled using ASA Prepware to make sure those gotcha questions on the written were fresh in my mind.

Ended up with a 97%
 
OkieAviator said:
I've yet to take the written... I've read the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, a Jeppeson text book, Airplane flying Handbook and then the Aeronautical Knowledge book again. I purchased the 90 days of Sporty's premium access and did probably about 12 hours worth of that stuff over the last few months. Before my time ran out I did 2 practice tests over two days and got a 90 and 95%.

I'm hoping at this point I understand everything enough to get a passing score on the written and will probably take it next week.
Click to expand...

Ended up taking the test today and passing with a 75%. Not excited about my score but a pass is a pass so I'll have to live with it. The 15 questions I missed were all over the place, but no calculation questions. I think in an oral I can explain it to show understanding but might have rushed the test a bit, took it in a little over an hour.
 
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