Study Help for Written Test
 

What other sources do you gentlemen use to study for your PPL written exam. I have one coming in the near future and have a few books, been studying Sporty's study guide and questions along with the same on AAOP's website. I also have some video series and they include quizzes as well.

For some reason I remember other instructors telling me there is other websites that have the actual written exam questions as well, and if you can consistently get good grades then you shall be fine on the written. Like I said some other advice and I will ask my instructor today but nothing wrong with getting other opinions on which ones are good, helpful, and bad.

Software
 

I used Gliem's software test prep. You can do all q's or a sample test. Repeat until you're in the 90's.

I'll probably take some heat for this, but I short-circuited some of the lengthy flight planning/E6B/Wind Triangle questions. I'd take a key word from the question and use it as a memory aid to select the correct multiple guess question. IIRC, for the Instrument there question asked about the HABUT intersection. I turned that into a nun's Habit, which is Catholic, which is answer "C". That was 15 years ago, so I don't know if they randomize the answers now - so caveat emptor.

The important thing was I knew how to do the manual calculations and understood the concepts and could demonstrate that to the examiner. It's a timed test and this just helped get through it. With today's automation, you'll never need paper, pencil or an E6B after the test and practical.

<Asbestos panties on>

Sheppard Air. That is all..

Based on my experience with their ATP written prep, Shepperd Air offers what essentially is a system of cheating on FAA exams using cheat sheets. How they get away with it is a mystery to me. For a brand-new pilot to start out of the gate especially, cheating is not a good plan and the written exams are goals that are designed to motivate personal growth to get the grade. This group is much better off using the honest systems of study- Sporty's, ASA, Gleim, King, Jeppesen, and a few others. This makes sure they have a solid knowledge foundation for further growth as pilots.

I found a few online quick practice exams and it seems that Sporty's video series and quizzes have by far been the most helpful with this...

I used the ASA blue book back in 2008, it was a good book. With that and sportys study buddy I scored a 92. I'll be using sheppard air for the CFI stuff as I heard it is the best.

Awesome yeah ill have to look into it more like i said i have some time!

Second I wouldn't suggest Sheppard Air to a student pilot.

I used the ASA book along with exams4pilots.com, and scored in the 90s. Memorizing questions for the written isn't a bad idea, but you have to learn it eventually for the oral.

Like the poster above mentioned exam4pilots.com is a useful (and free) website to compare where your overall knowledge level is at. I make all of my students score consistently +85% on there before I will endorse them for the actual writtens.

^^^ He's got it

Cheat Sheets? I used the Sheppard Air for my CFII and FOI writtens and I do not necessarily agree with your assessment. Every question has a detailed explanation section which I used to study. Every calculation is explained, every regulation is cited. I fail to see why that would be considered a "cheat sheet". Unless a person is just memorizing the answers- which I do agree is a bad idea -especially on the questions involving calculations... I suppose it is possible that someone could just memorize all the answers without bothering to learn any of the Regs or study and practice any of the calculations...

But you have to admit that there are quite a few silly questions on the FAA writtens. Here is my favorite example of this:


To see how bad some of the questions are, let’s take an example question from the commercial written exam.

Inbound on the 190 radial, a pilot selects the 195 radial, turns 5 degrees to the left, and notes the time. While maintaining a constant heading, the pilot notes the time for the CDI to center is 10 minutes. The ETE to the station is

A. 20 minutes
B. 15 minutes
C. 10 minutes
D. It doesn’t matter. No one ever does this in an airplane.

The correct answer, of course, is D, “It doesn’t matter. No one ever does this in an airplane.” Unfortunately, D was the only answer the FAA didn’t supply. I had to make it up myself just now. The correct answer, as far as the agency is concerned, is … well, unless you’re taking the test, it doesn’t really matter, now, does it?


Read more at Going Direct: ?Cheating? on the Writtens | Flying Magazine

Where do you fly out of ?

I currently fly out of Pittsfield in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. I am then transferring to BSU this fall, of course things havent been going as planned and its hard getting my PPL done this summer due to a lack of instructors. But I can finish up down there and I still want to get my test out of the way I plan on taking it in another month....

As far as now Im studying the videos from Sporty's, as well as software my instructor gave me... Gleims FAA Test Prep. Havent had time to try it out hopefully it gives me a good explanation with the questions... So stressful with the lack of hours and worrying about my written, oral, and check ride.. :/

Just soyou know everysingle test question is going to be useless. The FAA is re-writting EVERY question on all the tests. They are going to be all situation based.

Mypilottests.com has a nice set of practice questions

Where on earth are you getting that information?

I would say sheppard air material is the most up to date for written tests. Though more pricey than gleim. When you study for these tests, the very first time, look at the question, then immediately look at the correct answer. It helps you to memorize it for purposes of passing the writtens.

Sheppard Air for certain. I cannot vouch for any of the other tests, but the ATP written was FILLED with crap you simply don't need to know. Plus as mentioned above, there is an explanation and FAR/AIM citation (if applicable) for every single answer.

The Gliems is going very well... Not going to lie so much stuff is helpful even off of Sporty's and the video series and I would say this is an awesome study guide they have everything split down into sections really good at keeping everything in line. Who says I wont need any of this information? um...... LOL

I might try Shepard air maybe for my instrument rating seeing how I already have this at the time..

I found the best way to study for the private written was to constantly take practice tests until you start to really become familiar with all of the possible questions and answers. Shepard Air is by far the best way to study for all of the other exams (I just passed the instrument written handily using Shepard) although it is a bit pricey.

I agree with the practice tests. exams4pilots is what I use to get all my students ready. All I have to do is set them up with a test and make sure they get an 85. My student got an 87 on the site and a 90 on the actual written (just a couple of weeks ago), so I would say it's a pretty good barometer for the real test.

I tried using shepard air for my ATP written but found that I could do much better buying an app from dauntless for half the price and just doing practice tests over and over.

You're in for a rude awakening.

I just hate cheating and the cheating mentality, I absolutely hate it. The Sheppard Air system of "high- low- left- right" or "it's always this answer no matter what" is clearly a way of getting around genuine thinking, I noticed that the performance questions in particular and quite a few other questions are just gaming the system. I am not sure what they teach for tests other than the ATP written, but the word "cheat" definitely comes to mind with the latter. Whether you can justify cheating is besides the point, it's still cheating. If you do not care much about the test subjects on the ATP or some other test, then have at it. I do care and I did not feel good about the Sheppard test prep technique on this test. They do seem to have a slightly more up to date test bank than some others, and they seem to explain everything well as you mention. One can learn a lot using their system. It is also the case that ATP written exam is replete with material not likely to be used in the field. Many of the regulations, many of the equipment specific questions, many of the performance calculations are purely for test purposes. There is quite a bit of material the average applicant will never see again. In addition, most people take the ATP as a last stop before getting a job and their motivation is not to learn about flying that late, it is to get a paid job. I am somewhat sympathetic to that fact. But memorizing answers on the calculation portions on this test is reprehensible from a moral perspective and it is a deliberate attempt to circumvent the FAA requirement for knowledge level and therefore amounts to cheating in my mind. Obviously the FAA knows about this Sheppard software and does not care very much, but the OP was asking for software for teaching young flight students and any sort of gaming or cheating is utterly unacceptable to me. I would throw any student out who I thought was doing that. They need to learn simple, standard, and occasionally even useless skills at that early stage. Flight is not just a vocational trade, it is a rich subject matter.

I would have to agree 100% its not like learning a trade.... I went to trade schools. Every take off and landing is completely different and its better to fully understand the principles and figure out how they work... Plus I am going to get many more certifications. I like learning the old school way and It feels good to put in time and passion into it.