What is the best way to study for the Instrument Written Test?

If the test is 60 questions you’ll only get one or two hsi questions (probably)

So just get 100% on everything else! Easy
 
Randomskylane said:
If the test is 60 questions you’ll only get one or two hsi questions (probably)

So just get 100% on everything else! Easy
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That's a good point I hadn't thought about yet. Then again, when I took my PE exam many years ago the odds were there'd only be 2 geotechnical questions...there were 8 and I damn near fell out of my chair because I punted on those during the studying!!
 
JVerb said:
I've watched the vids; I'm getting better at it, but not great. I do a lot better in the cockpit for VOR tracking. At least I've figured out the hold entries, for the most part.
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If you have a flight simulator this can help you visualize the questions. There are also some on-line simulators you can use.

HSI Simulator

Master HSI instrument interpretation with our online Version 3 simulator. Features a complete 'six-pack' of flight instruments for realistic scenario training. This advanced simulator is designed for large screens to enhance your situational awareness.
www.luizmonteiro.com
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Welp, all I can say is trust the process. Just passed IFR written with a 95%. Woohoo!
 
Michael Caliz said:
When I took the written for my PPL I used an online data base and some other things (wiz wheel etc.)

Any advice on how to study for the IFR Written Test please?

Thanks.
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Sheppard Air has the best on-line study app that I have found! Good Luck!
 
Michael Caliz said:
When I took the written for my PPL I used an online data base and some other things (wiz wheel etc.)

Any advice on how to study for the IFR Written Test please?

Thanks.
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Just close your eyes and go with Shepherd air
 
simtech said:
If you are just wanting to get the written out of the way before training sheppardair and a few days studying it will get it done. Then you can focus on learning and flying. You will be surprised how much you retain from studying this way too.
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“a few days studying will get it done”…. does anyone know how many hours they spent?

I keep realizing how much I don’t know yet and was hoping to take the test soon. I bet i’ve got 40 hours of study on top of the videos (sportys learn to fly)

I find many new topics appearing in the test prep quizzes that were not ever mentioned in training.

it’s overwhelming !
 
For me, after Sportys and taking almost a year off, it took me a 3 day weekend on Shepard Air to finish up. It was much better than Sporty's in the questions verses the actual test. I scored a 95 on the real one. Just follow their directions carefully. Ill be honest, I did about 30% of the final step because I felt confident enough and was burned out on studying at that point! That cost me 1 question on the actual.
 
VoiceOfReason said:
“a few days studying will get it done”…. does anyone know how many hours they spent?

I keep realizing how much I don’t know yet and was hoping to take the test soon. I bet i’ve got 40 hours of study on top of the videos (sportys learn to fly)

I find many new topics appearing in the test prep quizzes that were not ever mentioned in training.

it’s overwhelming !
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If you haven’t completed the PPL written, why are you asking about the IFR written?

There’s 10x the knowledge (or more) spanning the instrument rating, very little of which is backwards compatible with PPL.

But if you don’t actually learn and comprehend the PPL stuff, you won’t have a transferable knowledge base for at least some of the IRA.
 
TCABM said:
If you haven’t completed the PPL written, why are you asking about the IFR written?

There’s 10x the knowledge (or more) spanning the instrument rating, very little of which is backwards compatible with PPL.

But if you don’t actually learn and comprehend the PPL stuff, you won’t have a transferable knowledge base for at least some of the IRA.
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no i’m talking about the learn to fly course

im struggling w the test prep cuz 20% of it is brand new info ive never heard of throughout studying

so im trying to ask this in a IFR topic ? sorry I didn’t know that
 
VoiceOfReason said:
…I’m struggling w the test prep cuz 20% of it is brand new info ive never heard of throughout studying…
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The Private ACS provides the source material reference (that’s free, no less).

In your Sporty’s app, got to Tools > Checkride Prep > Airmen Certification Standards

By section, Sproty’s cross-references each of their modules to the ACS. The FAA hasn’t released a public question bank in years, so don’t be surprised to see new questions on the written. Those references are the sources for the written. You’ll actually have to learn the concepts, not just memorize questions banks to be successful.


The ACS itself will include something like the following in each section. Here’s your study guide.
References - 14 CFR parts 61, 68, 91; Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2), Seaplane, Skiplane, and Float/Ski Equipped Helicopter Operations Handbook (FAA-H-8083-23), Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25), Alternate Pilot Physical Examination and Education Requirements (AC 68-1)
Knowledge - The applicant demonstrates understanding of:
1) Certification requirements, recent flight experience, and recordkeeping.
2) Privileges and limitations.
3) Medical certificates: class, expiration, privileges, temporary disqualifications.
4) Documents required to exercise private pilot privileges.
5) Part 68 BasicMed privileges and limitations.
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VoiceOfReason said:
no i’m talking about the learn to fly course

im struggling w the test prep cuz 20% of it is brand new info ive never heard of throughout studying

so im trying to ask this in a IFR topic ? sorry I didn’t know that
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The subject lone of the thread is for instruments. Shepard Air doesn't have a PPL course.
 
Lots of people recommending Shephard Air or Sporty's for instrument, but has anyone used Pilot Institute's courses? Saw them at Sun N' Fun this year, I think they're relatively new. I'm still working on my PPL but they seem to be pretty in-depth from what I hear.
 
Vortex said:
Lots of people recommending Shephard Air or Sporty's for instrument, but has anyone used Pilot Institute's courses?
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It's not supposed to be a case of one or the other. Shepard's "method" includes taking a full ground school before starting to use their software. Take a complete ground school first, then move on to Shepard if you wish.
 
Jeff Hall said:
- For comprehensive understanding of the concepts: Rod Machado's IFR online course
- For rigorous test prep: Sporty's IFR course (specifically, the practice exams)
- For final polishing and making sure you won't be surprised by any question: Sheppard Air's IFR test prep

I scored 100% and completed the exam in about 50 minutes.
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I took instrument written a few months ago and agree with this post. (Only difference is I had King Ground School.)

I would also recommend, if considering instructing, go ahead and sign up for the written CFII exam on the same day as it is nearly the same test, except for a few different questions.
 
Sporty's IFR practice exams are definitely real good for practicing. Their video instruction in their $269 online course is more for when you're further into it, but not to start (to me at least).

Reading the Instrument Flying and Procedures handbooks is pretty good, IMO.
 
I tried a couple of Machado’s videos……just put the gun in my mouth, now! I thought his books were tough to read with all of the cartoonish poor attempts at humor; the videos were exponentially worse. My first CFI loved them… beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 
The IFR written is known to be the most difficult. Take the proper ground school course in person or online. Then, go through all Sheppard Air practice questions one section at a time. Then, after you have gone through all the practice questions, start from the first section again. After you finish each section, take a practice test. Review all the questions you missed, then retake the practice test. This needs to be done a day or two before your exam day. Don't wait too long or you will start to forget.
 
Additionally, staying current with the FAA's regulations and any recent changes can give you an edge on test day
 
I used several different online and video courses, but the Gleim manual worked best once it was all said and done. Cheap too!
 
Vortex said:
Lots of people recommending Shephard Air or Sporty's for instrument, but has anyone used Pilot Institute's courses? Saw them at Sun N' Fun this year, I think they're relatively new.
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I used Pilot Institute for both PPL and Instrument, now working on Commercial. For Instrument I prepped with Sheppard Air, got a 97.

Pilot Institute is for learning and getting the sign-off to take the FAA written exam; Sheppard Air is for test prep. You'll need both.
 
Might as well contribute since this old zombie thread keeps resurfacing.

In lieu of instrument ground school, I watched all of these PilotEdge IFR workshops to get a grasp on the system from the '10,000-foot view,' then used these FlightInsight videos to better understand specific IFR topics, and used Sheppard Air for written exam prep.

Later, I used ground instructor credentials to access the Sporty's CFI portal and watched all of their instrument ground school videos. I'm sure glad I didn't pay for that content, because the free stuff on YouTube was a lot more informative.

Sheppard is a grind and the user interface is trash, but it's hard to argue with the results. Follow their study strategy to a T and it's hard to score less than 95%.
 
ColinD said:
Might as well contribute since this old zombie thread keeps resurfacing.

In lieu of instrument ground school, I watched all of these PilotEdge IFR workshops to get a grasp on the system from the '10,000-foot view,' then used these FlightInsight videos to better understand specific IFR topics, and used Sheppard Air for written exam prep.

Later, I used ground instructor credentials to access the Sporty's CFI portal and watched all of their instrument ground school videos. I'm sure glad I didn't pay for that content, because the free stuff on YouTube was a lot more informative.

Sheppard is a grind and the user interface is trash, but it's hard to argue with the results. Follow their study strategy to a T and it's hard to score less than 95%.
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Is Sheppard just rote memorization for a good score or do you actually learn the material.
 
It's rote memorization, but a lot of the material you're tested on doesn't require a level of understanding deeper than rote - it's a lot of rules. I never bothered to memorize their hold entry and HSI 'memory aid' diagrams; it's a lot easier to learn how to solve the problem.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Memorization.
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It’s also familiarization. Seeing close facsimiles of the FAA test questions (and answers) really helps in understanding what they want.

I remember there being a bunch of questions that were somewhat tricky due to incorrect, improper, inconsistent, etc. wording or similarly correct answers to choose between

Ymmv I took it once about 4 years ago so maybe they’ve edited the questions by now
 
Yeah, in some cases the incorrect answer is being graded as correct, or there are multiple correct answers. The editorializing that accompanies some of the question/answer pairs in the Sheppard app is very useful.
 
I found that the material for PPl is concept based, but most material for IR is indeed mostly memorization.
 
It's memorization for passing the written, definitely not a ground school replacement. It's kind of amazing how following their plan gets your brain to recognize and remember the answer to a bank of 700+ questions.
 
I get that there's a negative thing about wrote memorization, but some of it is just that. An example being 600' and 800' min ceilings for precision vs non-precision alternate cloud ceiling. That's not science, it's not math, it's just memorizing a rule that's more or less memorizing the birthday of your favorite super hero. Not saying it's not important...it is, but it's just a thing you might as well use an electronic flash card for.

Anyway, I use Dauntless, for no particular reason other than it works fine on Android and I like that can use it completely off line, and that it has explanations for those things that aren't just wrote memorization. The other thing I use it for is to give me an idea of what areas I need to work on and study separately. So I'll take a short test, and make a list of the things I'm weak on, then go back and read the FAA docs or search for halfway reputable websites for more info.
 
Albany Tom said:
That's not science, it's not math, it's just memorizing a rule that's more or less memorizing the birthday of your favorite super hero. Not saying it's not important...it is, but it's just a thing you might as well use an electronic flash card for.
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Yep
 
ColinD said:
It's rote memorization, but a lot of the material you're tested on doesn't require a level of understanding deeper than rote - it's a lot of rules. I never bothered to memorize their hold entry and HSI 'memory aid' diagrams; it's a lot easier to learn how to solve the problem.
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Oh those HSI/RMI Qs are killer! My head is still spinning!
 
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