What's the point of the Computer Testing Supplement?

[topdog91]

Or more fully, the "Computer Testing Supplement for Recreational Pilot and Private Pilot"?

I'm doing Gleim 141 Ground School, and in Chapter 9 (Navigation: Charts and Publications), section 9.6 (A/FDs), they reproduce most FAA legends from Appendix 1 of the supplement, it's like 10 pages of small print.

Is the supplement to be memorized before the exam, or is it available in the exam?

 

[MAKG1]

It's part of the exam.

It also has all the diagrams you get asked about. The computer will just tell you to refer to some figure. It's in the supplement.

At least some exams now have two supplements. At least, instrument airplane does, probably due to phasing out a lot of obsolete questions.

 

[Clark1961]

Or more fully, the "Computer Testing Supplement for Recreational Pilot and Private Pilot"?

I'm doing Gleim 141 Ground School, and in Chapter 9 (Navigation: Charts and Publications), section 9.6 (A/FDs), they reproduce most FAA legends from Appendix 1 of the supplement, it's like 10 pages of small print.

Is the supplement to be memorized before the exam, or is it available in the exam?

It's available in the exam. Usually it's in poor condition (just lousy printing).

Familiarize yourself with it so you'll know where things are and what you're looking at when taking the test. It's one less thing to think about after you've prepped.

 

[topdog91]

Thanks people. Such a rudimentary question, I was a bit embarrassed. So basically as Throttle implies, skim it so I'll be familiar, but no need to memorize it (phew!)?

 

[Clark1961]

Thanks people. Such a rudimentary question, I was a bit embarrassed. So basically as Throttle implies, skim it so I'll be familiar, but no need to memorize it (phew!)?

Right. And you'll need it when working practice exam problems.

 

[alfadog]

The images for the questions are on the computer screen during the FAA test but you might not like the size or resolution or whatever so you can request the hard copy supplement. The hard copy for my recent A&P exams was high quality.

 

[warthog1984]

During the exam. It's got the figures but also climb gradient charts, sectional legends, etc.

Figures are the only thing you'll need, but the rest makes a handy reference.

Also, if you go to one of the companies for the exam, they have a basic e6b applet on the computer.

 

[Davecat]

This is exactly what you will be given at the Testing Center in hard copy and high quality.

http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/test_questions/media/sport_rec_private_akts.pdf

 

[PPC1052]

Thanks people. Such a rudimentary question, I was a bit embarrassed. So basically as Throttle implies, skim it so I'll be familiar, but no need to memorize it (phew!)?

But be careful with the charts. They are not the same scale as a VFR chart. So if you just put your plotter down that is scaled to the VFR chart and read off distance, you will get the wrong distance. Why they do that is a mystery.

 

[hook_dupin]

The legend pages can be useful for a few questions

 

[Ravioli]

Know how the supplement is organized. The legend has MANY test answers in it. Also, sometimes the question will refer to a figure and a legend page, but answering the question only requires legend information.

Ditto the scaling comment. You need to get used to doing your "paper ruler" and extrapolating up to get the time and distance questions. Reason is that they scale down the chart image to fit in the book page.

 

[write-stuff]

Make sure you're using the "new" one. The old one was the Computer Test Supplement. It was updated and reprinted about a year ago as the Knowledge Test Supplement. Here's a link for ya:

http://www.goldsealgroundschool.com/Library/KTS-8080-2F.pdf

 

[aanderson81]

But be careful with the charts. They are not the same scale as a VFR chart. So if you just put your plotter down that is scaled to the VFR chart and read off distance, you will get the wrong distance. Why they do that is a mystery.

My understanding (and could be just an urban legend) is that they need a certain number of questions to be higher fail rates so the test seems "legit". that is why you get these type of questions were you almost end up flipping a coin or that have little real world application (how many satellites are in the GPS constellation for example)

 

[write-stuff]

My understanding (and could be just an urban legend) is that they need a certain number of questions to be higher fail rates so the test seems "legit". that is why you get these type of questions were you almost end up flipping a coin or that have little real world application (how many satellites are in the GPS constellation for example)

I can't give you a definitive answer, but I highly doubt it. The satellites/constellation question has (I think) been deleted.

 

[james_j]

My understanding (and could be just an urban legend) is that they need a certain number of questions to be higher fail rates so the test seems "legit". that is why you get these type of questions were you almost end up flipping a coin or that have little real world application (how many satellites are in the GPS constellation for example)

Absolutely, not true. And your sample question above regarding GPS satellites has been removed from the exam. Along with many other questions that lack real world application and questions that are no longer relevant like ADF/NDB.

 

[Doug F]

The legend pages can be useful for a few questions

I am getting ready for my SP test and was wondering if it was acceptable to look up legend items; in the practice test there are questions like 'what kind of nav aide is at airport x'...check the legend page and you have the answer. Seems kind of like cheating but then again I'm sport pilot and will never use a nav aide (or fly into anything but G/E airspace)...

 

[denverpilot]

I am getting ready for my SP test and was wondering if it was acceptable to look up legend items; in the practice test there are questions like 'what kind of nav aide is at airport x'...check the legend page and you have the answer. Seems kind of like cheating but then again I'm sport pilot and will never use a nav aide (or fly into anything but G/E airspace)...

Anything in the test book is fair game. And yes, there’s useful stuff in it besides the figures. Whether there’s a chart legend in there, I forget, but there’s a rate of climb table and other stuff like that.

 

[Hippike]

"The legend pages can be useful for a few questions" - I second that. I recently did my FAA written and I had a brain fart on a question about beacons, I flipped the Supplement book to the front where they have all the legends and found my answer
I, too, did Gleim and found the online test images to be in horrible quality, especially the Dallas sectional image, when you zoomed in, the text was unreadable. I reached out to Gleim and told them the image is crap and they said live with it because that's what you will get at the test. They were wrong, the hard copy book I was given at the test was clear and with good quality images.

 

[denverpilot]

"The legend pages can be useful for a few questions" - I second that. I recently did my FAA written and I had a brain fart on a question about beacons, I flipped the Supplement book to the front where they have all the legends and found my answer
I, too, did Gleim and found the online test images to be in horrible quality, especially the Dallas sectional image, when you zoomed in, the text was unreadable. I reached out to Gleim and told them the image is crap and they said live with it because that's what you will get at the test. They were wrong, the hard copy book I was given at the test was clear and with good quality images.

The book was fixed last year. Before that it was actually that bad.