I'm surprised that no one has brought up the point that even if you get a "copy" of the test, there is no guarantee that the test is going to be the same questions. Tests change from month to month, and there are usually many different forms of each test for the instructors to choose from each month. So these "copies" of the tests should be seen more as a study guide or a test bank, that you still have to find out the answers for yourself anyways. Then, when you look at it like a test bank, it really does look like a Gleim, and if theres a Gleim for the ATP, then i can't see the difference in a systems or an indoc test.

The only person who can definitively give you a copy of the test is the instructor, and if the instructor gives it to you, then its not cheating...

 

GLEIM = FAA WRITTEN TEST PREPERATION
AIRCRAFT MANUAL = WRITTEN TEST PREPERATION

These are what are RECOGNIZED as test preps.

 

as if there are official stamped ways that one must prepare?

 

I dont know about you, but the tests that I've taken have not been common knowledge that you could just absorb from reading the manuals, but rather trick questions designed to make you miss them. With the gouge or test bank, you have a chance to see what kind of questions they like to ask, and be somewhat prepared for them.

 

[quote=WIPilot;398779]as if there are official stamped ways that one must prepare?[/quote

The FAA made it a way we could prepare by giving us that manual. The test is made for us to take, not to study. You don't have to memorize every bit of info in a aircraft manual to pass the test. Some companies even make their tests open book. The written is usually easier than the actual oral, atleast on the Saab where I flew that was the case! SO you take the easy way out for the written, what are you going to do when the oral comes around next, study?

 

[quote=saabguy493;398795]Thats my point. The written really doesnt matter. Its the oral that matters. Someone wont pass an oral by just studying the systems test.

 

Ok, I am not saying that having a systems test handy is cheating. It is how you use that test that justifies it. If you have studied and know your stuff, than by all means, if it will help to recognize some areas that are going to be on the test, then use it. I cannot however, justify using it as your primary study guide to get through training. You see what I am saying now???

 

Bingo. An examiner will know if you don't know what you're talking about pretty quickly even if you studied the test booklet so hard you got 100% on your written.

Exactly, and that's precisely the reason that it doesn't matter. If you use it as your primary study guide, you can't possibly know enough information to pass your oral. Can anybody here actually remember an oral exam that wasn't considerably more in depth than a silly written? Or how about studying the Gleim? Did anybody ever use the Gleim as the primary study material for an oral? Of course not, because it's not in depth enough. It's a prep for a specific test, not the oral. I mean, isn't there an actual note in the front of every Gleim saying that it's not a comprehensive compilation of all the material required for the rating?

 

I can understand that, anyone who SOLELY studies the test is retarded and shouldn't be allowed to pass, but there are plenty of people out there who pay attention in class and understand the system that still wouldn't be able to pass the written at the end because of the nit-picky questions on the test

 

Whether or not these pilots were incompetent or not, or whether those who are would have been weeded out during the oral exam is moot. I'm very glad that there are several layers of tests that pilots have to go through to prove high levels of knowledge and proficiency. It's proven to work very well and is part of what makes this industry so safe and reliable.

However, regardless of all of that, what these pilots did showed a great lack of integrity and maturity. Those aren't the kind of pilots I want to be sitting next to in the future, or flying in the same airspace as me.

What is and isn't acceptable as far as studying off of previous tests and other unofficial resources is up to the airline. I'm sure that PSA's cheating and academic dishonesty policy (there is one right? correct me if I'm wrong) was covered very clearly during the early stages of their training. As long as you're playing their game, you play by their rules.

And besides, why doesn't anyone want to earn anything these days?