Do you have a recent FAA written test experience?

Ed Sokol said:
Is it true that, The lower your passing score, The more you are going to get grilled on the oral of the check ride?
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The DPE has to make it through the ACS. There’s not enough time for everything. If you walk in missing a bunch of questions in specific areas, guess which topics the examiner is going to dig on...
 
Brad Z said:
As you discovered, most folks do better on the practice tests than they do in the testing center. If you were only getting in the 80s you had more studying to do. The FAA knowledge tests have evolved and mesh with the oral portion of the practical. Most of the information you're studying will be useful at some point in instrument flying so take it seriously and the rest of your training will flow better.
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Thanks Brad, sincerely. I had heard the written was a lot of junk trick questions for ir and to just get through the knowledge test. I’ll now switch modes and really study.


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Sinistar said:
I have yet to have my checkride but I am curious as to other's experiences....does the DPE grill down even more when scores get this high? I figured they will dig in more if scores are low.
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Ed Sokol said:
Is it true that, The lower your passing score, The more you are going to get grilled on the oral of the check ride?
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The question that is always asked.

Pnwannabe2 said:
Watch the Andy Munnis (DPE) video on YouTube. As he says, the DPE can’t ask you about everything. They ask a question and if you show a deeper understanding, they assume you know about the topic and move on. If you give an incomplete or incorrect answer, they dig.
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Brad Z said:
The DPE has to make it through the ACS. There’s not enough time for everything. If you walk in missing a bunch of questions in specific areas, guess which topics the examiner is going to dig on...
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The answer that is always given.

And it’s correct. The DPE will dig on anything you stumble on. Because that’s the easiest way to see if you just misspoke, or have an odd way of phrasing something you understand, or if you don’t really understand it.

One local DPE shared that for Private rides, it’s usually completely obvious to him if a ride is going to be a fail in the first five minutes, for various reasons... the student often just reeks of not being prepared. He said he always continues for a while to see if it’s just nerves, and once in a while someone will perk up a few minutes in and answer the rest of the oral correctly, but more often than not, he knows when it’s headed south very early on.

With the guidance from FAA being to test with scenarios these days, you’re virtually guaranteed to get a “plan this flight from X to Y with current weather, W&B, etc... just like we are going to fly it” and then the one that sometimes surprises candidates is the DPE is going to toss “what if’s” onto that plan. Roll with it.

And they like to just toss you a piece of changed information and pause, waiting for what you say, which is somewhat unlike your instructor might do, because your instructor will reveal that the end of the new information is HERE with some verbal queues usually by asking a question. Example...

Instructor:
“Your friend shows up with his girlfriend for the flight. What do you need to do?”

DPE:
“Your friend shows up with his girlfriend for the flight.”

See the subtle difference? I’ve seen this on multiple checkrides now. Dive in and act like you’re PIC on those.

Then they’ll intersperse “Direct” knowledge questions, like that “Do you need a transponder to fly over the top of ... that?” After they’ve gotten you convinced to say you’re going to fly over the top of a Bravo, or something like that in your planning.

Whatever you do, don’t attempt to BS a DPE. People who try that get hammered. Ha. They still might pass, but beginning pilots are extremely transparent to an experienced one like a DPE or very senior instructor. You might think you’re sounding cool, but if you’re making it up, you’re toast. They see it.

But... if you don’t know something say so and KEEP moving... you KNOW you’re allowed to look up things and have reference materials... the DPE will TELL you if they think you didn’t know something absolutely required to be memorized, but until that point DO NOT STOP. Find the answer. Go.

And don’t get so hung up on the oral that you forget you’re going to go fly the plane here in a little bit. Still gotta do that. The oral is just a really long protracted conversation about all the things you know and probably love about flying by the time you’ve hit the checkride. The kind of conversation you’d have about it if you ran into anyone willing to ask you questions about flying. You know all this stuff. Just enjoy the conversation.

And then there’s the flying. Fly until they say “would you like to discontinue” and don’t relax on the ground before or after. Taxi like a pro, use your checklists checklists checklists and do what you already know how to do. Know the standards for the maneuvers you’re about to perform. They might ask.

You’d be surprised at what can happen... remember the DPE can use their judgement on many things, and just might, if you just have a little weak spot in anything oral or flight. Maybe even if they’re not supposed to technically... because they’re looking at the whole package.

“I want you to go out as soon as you can, maybe with your instructor, and make those soft field landings look a little better...”

[Dramatic pause... your heart sinks... did you just fail?! Oh no!]

“Congratulations, Pilot!”

;)

Trust the system, trust your CFI, and yes, trust the DPE. They’re part of a big picture designed to see if you’ve decided to become the Pilot In Command.
 
My main questions while prepping for checkride have been, will I be forced to use the map/plotter/e6b, POH for W&B, or can I go all electronic?
Seems that they couldn't force one or the other since it's legal for both.
I get the whole, electrical failure, etc., but with proper backups, I'm PIC and should be able to decide my course of action.
 
Ed Sokol said:
Is it true that, The lower your passing score, The more you are going to get grilled on the oral of the check ride?
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well i got 88%, after my oral the DPE checked the areas i had missed and realized we have already covered everything in the areas i had mixed. i did tell him here are the questions i got wrong and the fact that 2 or them are no longer there in the test. he didnt care much
 
Skyrys62 said:
My main questions while prepping for checkride have been, will I be forced to use the map/plotter/e6b, POH for W&B, or can I go all electronic?
Seems that they couldn't force one or the other since it's legal for both.
I get the whole, electrical failure, etc., but with proper backups, I'm PIC and should be able to decide my course of action.
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Plan for doing what you’d do when you fly. But you can also ask the DPE.

All of the ones I’ve flown with recently said, “Are you using ForeFlight? That’s fine.” But for a CFI ride I damn sure still showed up with a paper chart marked up, etc. If anything it came in handy when the iPads were a bit small to look at something.

One DPE said on the day of the ride, “Are you on the school’s WiFi? Just send me your flight plan to my ForeFlight if you are...”

So yeah. Electronic has “taken over the world” but be prepared to show what you’ll do when the iPad quits. Also ask. Don’t assume. When you set up your appointment they’ll give you something to prepare, their real W&B info, etc. Get it far enough in advance that you’ll have everything done well before the checkride day. Then just update winds and weather.
 
denverpilot said:
Plan for doing what you’d do when you fly. But you can also ask the DPE.

All of the ones I’ve flown with recently said, “Are you using ForeFlight? That’s fine.” But for a CFI ride I damn sure still showed up with a paper chart marked up, etc. If anything it came in handy when the iPads were a bit small to look at something.

One DPE said on the day of the ride, “Are you on the school’s WiFi? Just send me your flight plan to my ForeFlight if you are...”

So yeah. Electronic has “taken over the world” but be prepared to show what you’ll do when the iPad quits. Also ask. Don’t assume. When you set up your appointment they’ll give you something to prepare, their real W&B info, etc. Get it far enough in advance that you’ll have everything done well before the checkride day. Then just update winds and weather.
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That's the exact experience I had in my check ride. DPE said use whatever u will use in real life, but be damned sure u know in and out of whatever u are going to use

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denverpilot said:
“Congratulations, Pilot!”

;)

Trust the system, trust your CFI, and yes, trust the DPE. They’re part of a big picture designed to see if you’ve decided to become the Pilot In Command.
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Thank you for this post as it is somewhat of an epiphany for me. It hit the nail on the head for me and my approach to my studies and journey toward my certs. I felt compelled to thank you, sir.
 
Ravioli said:
Don't worry about precision of your E6B choice. No question will have answers that close to each other.

Do be sure to remember the scale of the sectional images in the supplement is not correct, so you'll have to adjust for that on measuring. Your CFI can explain it better.

You CAN purchase the supplement to practice with while you do your prep. I did that and gave it away when I was done.
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Free on the FAA website.
https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/supplements/
The test interface is complete crap. Doesn't matter which testing host you choose. I think it's crappy because back in the day if you were throwing money at flying, you didn't have any left for a computer thingy.

Don't sweat the test. It's really not that bad. Just remember two things: RTFQ and RTFA.
RTFQ (Read the Full, or ****ing, question)
RTFA (Read the Full, or ****ing, answer)

There is always 1 question and 4 answers. Two of the answers are always demonstrably wrong. The BETTER answer of the other 2 is what you're looking for.
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Brad Z said:
The knowledge tests have gotten much better over the past several years. outdated avionics are gone (no more ADF questions!) and unnecessarily confusing questions have been fixed or removed.

Both test providers provide an electronic e6b in the test software, so you don't even need to bring your own. All test centers have to meet certain minimum specs, so it's pretty much the same wherever you take the test.
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I just took the commercial written last month and they did NOT provide an electronic E6b but did provide a simple calculator. I took my own Sporty's E6b.

To the OP, don't worry too much about the test. If you can regularly get 90% on practice tests, you'll do fine on the actual. Remember, you only need 70% to pass. I don't think I ever got less than 80% even while learning.
 
lancie00 said:
I just took the commercial written last month and they did NOT provide an electronic E6b but did provide a simple calculator. I took my own Sporty's E6b.
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The electronic E6B is built into the test software now.

The proctor is supposed to make sure applicants know this during the little “familiarization” program and practice question run before the test begins.
 
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