Originally Posted by boilerpilot

I never said that I condone it, in fact, I said the exact opposite. I ask the question though, is studying for a written using Gleim cheating? Is a study guide cheating? These "copies of the test" are booklets of the test, containing thousands of questions, which the instructor then picks and chooses questions out of. The reason that this has become somewhat common practice is because these tests, much like the part 91 tests, contain errors in them, are misleading and poorly worded, or are just plain wrong. Unfortunately, due to the rapidly changing nature of the airline industry, the changes that render these questions irrelevant or incorrect is only exacerbated. Every time an AD comes out are you supposed to change the test? Every time a revision comes out are you supposed to change the test? Do you realize that the tests are controlled by a regulatory process and have to get approved, and that the approval process with the FAA takes longer than the intervals between most revisions? This isn't GA, where you get one meaningful change every three years.

Also, due to the complexity of the systems and topics involved, it is almost impossible to determine whether or not an individual has a true understanding of a subject when asked over three multiple choice questions. Can you really boil down the electrical system of even a Cessna to just three or four questions? What if you just happen not to know those four questions, but have a much deeper understanding of the logic, theory, and functionality of it than the guy/gal who happens to have breezed over the page containing the information asked in those questions and got them right? That is the reason for the oral.

Those who talk about something like this being the worst thing in the world (or uncommon) have no understanding of the checks that airline pilots have to go through on a continuous basis. If you don't know the material, you can't get through the oral, your sim sessions, your checkride, and your IOE, let alone day to day flying. Not only that, but you get to repeat the entire process every 6-12 months. Throughout my career, I've seen more pilots than I can count weeded out through not only the original orals/sims, but through the recurring ones as well.

Now, not everybody at every airline has cheated to get through every written. Some people use study guides that have been handed down from a former class. What do you think these study guides were based on?

Lastly, I point at one last comparison. Who here did NOT look at some sort of gouge when they went to do their interviews? Not to do so would be stupid for the exact same reason that I stated in my second paragraph.

Again, I don't condone cheating, but there are certain necessary evils and practices that come from multiple choice tests that unfortunately cannot be practically fixed.