USMC, I agree with your general thought that FAA internal monitoring would tend to flag the erring FSDOs, but there also is no reason for all these rumors alleging the same. I have heard the kinds of rumors from disparate angles over the years which suggests to me at least some of them are true. Neither argument has data, so it remains inconclusive. We need to see the data collected internally by the FAA which I doubt we will because applicants would misuse it to go to the easiest exam and undermine the test process. By the same token, a sincere albeit unfair inspector could easily go undetected a long time, as no one outside the FAA knows any pass rates. Plus there is no law saying what is a correct pass rate anyway. They could pass nobody at all, and who is ot say it is not right? Congress? I can definitely see room for inconsistency in the performance of any unmonitored organization such as this one.