The ten question habit.

John Baker

John Baker

Final Approach
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John Baker
I've brought up this subject before, but it has been awhile, so I thought I would do it again.

For new students, or even those with a ticket, go to this web site and set it up for ten questions related to the rating you are after or hold..

http://www.exams4pilots.org/

I did it religiously every single day as I pursued my PPL. I sold my plane about five months ago, and have not flown since, so I stopped doing the ten questions.

A few days ago, as I scrolled through my favorites list, I clicked on it. My parameters were still set as I had left them, so I clicked generate test. I did not have my test book anywhere near, so I just guessed at the answers on the questions that required it.

I got an 80% correct. When I stopped doing it, and had the book, it was usually 100%.

I had forgotten just how much answering those ten questions everyday had become part of my daily routine. I really enjoyed doing it, and have been doing it every day since. I still haven't found my book, so my scores have been as low as 60% on one of them. Today it was 70%

Why just ten questions? Because it only takes a few minutes of your time. I do it with my morning jolt of java.

It is not a project, so it easily becomes a habit.

How effective is it? When preparing for my check ride at Sheble Aviation, my instructor took me into a classroom and started asking me questions. I did not miss one of them, nor did I have to think about it.

He got frustrated and went and got another instructor to help him. For over two hours they drilled me on everything, I never missed even one of their questions.

I attribute most of that to my ten question a day habit.

I will probably never be a PIC again, but I do enjoy the ten question drill every morning.

Give it a shot, it will really help you. :yes:

-John
 
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Ok, I'll test myself out. I also got 80%. The two questions I missed were things that I never use,

1) the 4 block Significant Weather Prog Chart...I've never seen a real one and I don't even know who publishes it.
2) A question on VHF/DF. Beyond guessing that DF means direction finding, I couldn't tell you anything about it because I've never done it.

I'm not going to bother to look those up, they don't impact the safety of my flying and there are only so many ideas I can hold in my head.
 
bflynn said:
Ok, I'll test myself out. I also got 80%. The two questions I missed were things that I never use,

1) the 4 block Significant Weather Prog Chart...I've never seen a real one and I don't even know who publishes it.
2) A question on VHF/DF. Beyond guessing that DF means direction finding, I couldn't tell you anything about it because I've never done it.

I'm not going to bother to look those up, they don't impact the safety of my flying and there are only so many ideas I can hold in my head.
Click to expand...

It does not matter if you only got ten percent right, the whole point is that by doing it every single day, you think about each question. Who the heck thinks about DF anymore? You did this morning.

It took me more than a few years to get my PPL, it proved to be a ***** of a project. When I started with the ten question test, my performance was less than admirable, but I don't think that is what was important. I knew by doing it everyday, no matter what, I would have to actually think about every subject the questions addressed. I found myself re-reading subjects trying to figure out why I did not know the answer.

I did not ace my written, I only got 92%. As far as I was concerned, I aced it enough. I did ace my verbal during the ground portion though.

-John
 
Thanks John, I know a lot of people who never think about these questions after passing the written. And i'm pretty sure they'd be safer and more knowledgeable pilots if they did this exercise. I do wish there was a different set of questions available. The FAA ones tend to focus heavily on some topics and leave out others.
I also wish I could tell how recent the questions on that site are.

bflynn said:
Ok, I'll test myself out. I also got 80%. The two questions I missed were things that I never use,
1) the 4 block Significant Weather Prog Chart...I've never seen a real one and I don't even know who publishes it.
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These charts from the aviation weather site?
http://aviationweather.gov/products/swl/

bflynn said:
2) A question on VHF/DF. Beyond guessing that DF means direction finding, I couldn't tell you anything about it because I've never done it.
Click to expand...

I don't think direction finding is still around. I'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong but it went away a while ago. I think they kept it around Alaska after shutting it down elsewhere. But I think even that is gone now too.
 
This is a good idea. Does this site work for the instrument rating?
 
Nice, got a 90, glad to know it hasn't all run out my ears over the years!
 
PPC1052 said:
This is a good idea. Does this site work for the instrument rating?
Click to expand...

Yes it does. I think it also does commercial as well. The questions are randomly set up each time you generate a test.

When I was doing it, all of the questions were up to date, I would think that they still are. Either way, it does turn into a fun thing to do each day, even for long established pilots.

Never set it up for more than ten questions if you want to do it daily, it will turn into a chore, you'll give up on it eventually. Keep it to something you can do in just a few minutes.

If you do not have time to refer to the book, just guess at the answer, at least you will have thought about it.

-John
 
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What a great idea. I took my IR written months ago and was concerned it was all fading away. Thanks for sharing.
 
90% and two minutes. Missed a time zone question because I was rushing and because well, frankly I didn't care. Ha. Zulu works fine. :)
 
Why should flight speeds above VNE be avoided?


The correct answer
C) Design limit load factors may be exceeded, if gusts are encountered.
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Seems to me if you were above Vne you could exceed the design limits of the airplane without gusts.
 
Thank you for the link. I am only 6 hours into my training and will give this a try.
 
Awesome! I will be a daily visitor from now on (80% on my first try).
 
Bookmarked. Thanks, this works well with my general study plan at this point.
 
I should point out that this was not my idea. One of my instructors years ago, Jean-Louis Fournier, told me about it. He now flies for FedEx. He was also the instructor who, after at least six had tried, taught me to land as a one eyed pilot.He was the only one who took the time to read up on teaching students who had this handicap.

He had me greasing it in on my second try, every time.

I had to do a SODA ride with an FAA inspector. He told me to land and take off a few times over at Ramona Airport. On the very first landing I asked him to look and see if we were on the ground yet. He said never mind anymore landings.

There is a formula for people who can not judge their hight above the runway.

-John
 
You can set it to just about any written the FAA gives. I set mine to the CFII since that is my next project and scored an 80 on one go and a 90 on the next.
 
Thanks for sharing that idea. Definitely will use, as it's an easy way to keep up the knowledge. I used that site heavily for my PVT many years ago, but just sadly let if fall by the wayside.

80%/70% on commercial and instrument (current certificate level) and 80% on CFI (just started on). Definitely need to get out of this little lull and get on top of it.
 
dell30rb said:
Seems to me if you were above Vne you could exceed the design limits of the airplane without gusts.
Click to expand...
The bad stuff that can happen to you above Vne require an "upset" to occur. Assuming a sound mind and body, the pilot shouldn't knowingly cause such an "upset", so that leaves gusts.

Bad stuff 1 is causing a g loading that exceeds structural strength.

Bad stuff 2 is flutter causing things to oscillate and exceed structural strength. At the right speed it doesn't take much of an upset to set it off.

I've heard that in some airplanes, it's difficult to tell the difference between the two because the bad stuff happens so fast and is equally catastrophic.

BTW, I got 100% (IFR) which proves that it's better to be lucky than smart.

Thanks for the link and habit!
 
I had a rare set of ten questions this morning, not one of them said to refer to the book. I missed just one, for a 90% score for today. It seems I do not know what the presence of ice pellets on the ground indicate. I thought it was thunderstorms in the area, but noooo.

-John
 
John Baker said:
I had a rare set of ten questions this morning, not one of them said to refer to the book. I missed just one, for a 90% score for today. It seems I do not know what the presence of ice pellets on the ground indicate. I thought it was thunderstorms in the area, but noooo.

-John
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It means don't fly. :)

Warm air above, raining through subfreezing air below.
 
Where the heck can I get all the 'figures' from? I just did 3 tests and couldn't score better than a 60 because I have no idea what the heck they're referring to. Out of all of those, only one had the figure hyperlinked.
 
Henning said:
Where the heck can I get all the 'figures' from? I just did 3 tests and couldn't score better than a 60 because I have no idea what the heck they're referring to. Out of all of those, only one had the figure hyperlinked.
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That's why I check the ignore missing figures option.
 
Bill Watson said:
The bad stuff that can happen to you above Vne require an "upset" to occur. Assuming a sound mind and body, the pilot shouldn't knowingly cause such an "upset", so that leaves gusts.

Bad stuff 1 is causing a g loading that exceeds structural strength.

Bad stuff 2 is flutter causing things to oscillate and exceed structural strength. At the right speed it doesn't take much of an upset to set it off.

I've heard that in some airplanes, it's difficult to tell the difference between the two because the bad stuff happens so fast and is equally catastrophic.
Click to expand...

You forgot bad stuff 3 which are things literally ripping off of the airplane or breaking.

Also I understand flutter would need some sort of upset but as you pointed out if you are going fast enough - it does not take much. That is what I was really thinking of.
 
Henning said:
Where the heck can I get all the 'figures' from? I just did 3 tests and couldn't score better than a 60 because I have no idea what the heck they're referring to. Out of all of those, only one had the figure hyperlinked.
Click to expand...

You can check ignore missing figures as pointed out by Ed.

But if you are really studying for one of the written exams for a few bucks you can get the sporty's study buddy app. Its similar to exams4pilots but has all of the diagrams and better explanations.

For a free website exams4pilots is great though
 
Henning said:
Where the heck can I get all the 'figures' from? I just did 3 tests and couldn't score better than a 60 because I have no idea what the heck they're referring to. Out of all of those, only one had the figure hyperlinked.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the figures they refer to are from the FAA testing supplements. If so, they are probably missing because someone hasn't gone through and manually added all of them.
http://www.faa.gov/pilots/testing/supplements/
 
Henning said:
Where the heck can I get all the 'figures' from? I just did 3 tests and couldn't score better than a 60 because I have no idea what the heck they're referring to. Out of all of those, only one had the figure hyperlinked.
Click to expand...
Yes, I will be checking the option to avoid that.

In my first 10, there was only 1 calling for reference to a figure but it was clear that it could be answered without the reference. Maybe atypical. Maybe I was just lucky.
 
Love it! Scored 80% in 13mins.

Missed two questions. My fuel planning was short by 10gals:yikes:. It was a 1000nm flight, so in reality, I'd never fly that far without a fuel stop or two:)

Second; Vortex strength (wake turbulence) behind generating aircraft, question.

I'll definately be using this more as I prepare for my flight review in a few months. Thanks for the link.
 
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Consistently 70%. Guess the FAR's (as applicable to gen av flying) haven't been on my mind too much for a while. At least that is my excuse :)
 
Henning said:
Where the heck can I get all the 'figures' from? I just did 3 tests and couldn't score better than a 60 because I have no idea what the heck they're referring to. Out of all of those, only one had the figure hyperlinked.
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Henning, it is the same book they give you when you go in for your actual exam, the one they tell you not to write in.

For a PPL it is FAA book # FAA-CT-8080-23

I have the one for IFR around here somewhere, but a quick search apparently is not going to do it.

I think you can find them at any reasonably stocked pilot supply store.

-John
 
80% I found my book, six out of ten questions the book was required. This time I had to dig out my E-6B, & protractor, I did get those questions right, I blew it on the distance to land graph and one other easier one. Overall, I'm happy, I have not forgotten all that much. Hunting around for stuff, I took too long this time. Now it is all at my computer desk like it used to be.

This is a great way to help wake up in the morning.

-John
 
EdFred said:
That's why I check the ignore missing figures option.
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I tried that with two different browsers, but it still referred to figures. Fortunately, the link that David gave in post #27 appears to have the correct figures.
 
It says "ignore missing figures"
I scratched my head when I checked that box but still got questions referring to figures but then clicked on one of the hyperlink figure and it popped up. That led me to believe some figures are there.
However, the next three figure hyperlink I clicked on did nothing.

back to head-scratching

edit - HA! Found the missing pop-ups ... they were pop-unders! Hiding under all the pages and showed up as I was shutting down!
 
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gkainz said:
It says "ignore missing figures"
I scratched my head when I checked that box but still got questions referring to figures but then clicked on one of the hyperlink figure and it popped up. That led me to believe some figures are there.
However, the next three figure hyperlink I clicked on did nothing.

back to head-scratching

edit - HA! Found the missing pop-ups ... they were pop-unders! Hiding under all the pages and showed up as I was shutting down!
Click to expand...

Actually, it's the NUMBERS of the figures that are hyperlinked, and there are no underlines until I do a mouse-over. That's why I had trouble finding them!
 
Is it just me, or is everyone having trouble getting to exams4pilots.org?
 
\__[Ô]__/;1121001 said:
I'm guessing the figures they refer to are from the FAA testing supplements. If so, they are probably missing because someone hasn't gone through and manually added all of them.
http://www.faa.gov/pilots/testing/supplements/
Click to expand...

That link works, but all the links under it appear to be dead. Has the FAA stopped distributing the supplements, or is that just sloppy webmastering?
 
What is the point of reviewing for someone who is a PPL and intends to stay that way and only flies 6-10 times per year?
 
MultiMediaWill said:
What is the point of reviewing for someone who is a PPL and intends to stay that way and only flies 6-10 times per year?
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The point is for you to stay informed about things which you can/will encounter. Flying that little will cause you to forget stuff, and doing this 10-question review will help keep your brain "holding onto" what you need to know. I think someone like you who flies less would actually be benefited more by doing this than someone who flies every other day.
 
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