I took the written test yesterday. The college in my town that usually gives the test was still cowering in place because of the Chi-virus. So I drove 90 miles to San Angelo, Tx and took it at an aviation company there. The first thing I saw when entering the testing company was a religious sign on wall that said, "If God meant for man to fly, he would have given him more money". Everyone may have already seen this discouraging sign before, but this was my first. You can take in rulers, CX-1, and other such equipment, but no writing utensils and they make you empty your top pockets and leave you billfold and gun in your car (well this is Texas, after all). They give you 2 pencils, both dull and not sharpened. They take you into a little room with partitioned off fixed desks where the computers are located. There is a camera fixed on the wall behind you and you are watched by the tester the whole time you are in there. You instructed to not leave the room, I suppose even if it is on fire. You cannot talk to anyone else in the room (I was alone).
I found the test to not be too intimidating. I only didn't recognize 2 questions, but missed 5. As well as I recognized all but the answer to two questions and as careful as I was to reread each question, I am not sure how I could have missed more than 2. Unfortunately, you don't get to see what you missed. The FAA, of course, wants to protect the test so that people can't just memorize the answers. The two written test prep sites I used for preparation seemed to have all the question and their answers anyway. I got one test question that I recognized from both of the test prep sites, but both of these sites have different answers to the question and both swear that they have the right answer. I used the one from the test site that is the most reputable. I had to guess at the answer because of the following.
This brings up something about that particular question. It was one that covered finding the center of gravity. The diagram is the one that has pilot/passenger, rear passenger, luggage, fuel, and oil lines fanning out from 0º to 90º in a graph. The testing site gives you a sheet of tracing paper to draw the lines on the graph, but there is NO WAY you can clearly see the graph lines though the tracing paper. This is a great flaw in this test. What should be done is you should be given maps and graphs that you can actually draw on. I suggest that you be sure to memorize the answers from web test sites because that is the only way you are going the pass any of those graph questions. I would mention the answers but the FAA gives a warning before the test that revealing any questions on the test will bring about a sure punishment that seemed to imply something like 40 lashes with steel tipped wips or being dragged by a rope behind an FAA car.
I found the test to not be too intimidating. I only didn't recognize 2 questions, but missed 5. As well as I recognized all but the answer to two questions and as careful as I was to reread each question, I am not sure how I could have missed more than 2. Unfortunately, you don't get to see what you missed. The FAA, of course, wants to protect the test so that people can't just memorize the answers. The two written test prep sites I used for preparation seemed to have all the question and their answers anyway. I got one test question that I recognized from both of the test prep sites, but both of these sites have different answers to the question and both swear that they have the right answer. I used the one from the test site that is the most reputable. I had to guess at the answer because of the following.
This brings up something about that particular question. It was one that covered finding the center of gravity. The diagram is the one that has pilot/passenger, rear passenger, luggage, fuel, and oil lines fanning out from 0º to 90º in a graph. The testing site gives you a sheet of tracing paper to draw the lines on the graph, but there is NO WAY you can clearly see the graph lines though the tracing paper. This is a great flaw in this test. What should be done is you should be given maps and graphs that you can actually draw on. I suggest that you be sure to memorize the answers from web test sites because that is the only way you are going the pass any of those graph questions. I would mention the answers but the FAA gives a warning before the test that revealing any questions on the test will bring about a sure punishment that seemed to imply something like 40 lashes with steel tipped wips or being dragged by a rope behind an FAA car.