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5 Answers

Help Needed!! (Commercial Pilot Airplane Written Exam)

Asked by: 1796 views Commercial Pilot

So I just took the test and only received a 82%, which is too low too in my opinion. I read the 2020 test prep book cover to cover in the beginning of the year but then took the rest of the summer off from flying for work. After the long break from flying I felt rusty so I bought the Gleim online course, which I thought was really helpful. I completed the course and took the 5 practice tests, scoring 95% or higher on every one of them. I feel lost and don't know how to better prepare to retake the test. Maybe rereading through the test prep book again?

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5 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Gary Moore on Dec 07, 2020

    While I applaud your continued efforts to self-study and improve your knowledge base – I can see absolutely no reason to retake a test you’ve already passed…

    Just keep moving forward….complete the necessary flight training – go take the check ride..

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  2. Mark Kolber on Dec 08, 2020

    I agree completely with Gary’s comment.

    I’ll add my cynical note. A multiple guess test studied for by drilling the questions and answers to the extent we can recognize some of them, is not a test of knowledge. At best it’s a demonstration of standardized test taking ability. It is only a gateway to the checkride where the real demonstration of knowledge takes place.

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  3. KDS on Dec 08, 2020

    Mark’s comment made me think of a scene from one of my favorite movies, No Time for Sergeants. In it, the trainee is being force fed through a series of tests with the help of a sergeant who has copies of the test in advance. After finishing the actual test, the sergeant asks the trainee how he did. He says:

    – Well, them printed tests they give us, they was exactly like the ones that you borrowed … only.

    The sergeant asks, Only what?

    Only you spent so much time drumming the answers into me we ought to have spent a little more on the questions they joint up with.

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  4. Paul H. on Dec 08, 2020

    You passed it! If you want to drill down on the knowledge areas you missed, your instructor knows how to help you with that. In fact, your instructor is required to help you with that!

    The report you got from your testing center has codes showing the knowledge areas for any questions you missed. Those codes can be looked up at https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/media/LearningStatementReferenceGuide.pdf

    Your instructor has to sign a logbook endorsement stating, essentially, that you have reviewed all the knowledge areas on which you missed questions on the exam. If you really want to get ahead of the curve, you can look up those codes yourself and study those areas in your FAA publications and on the Gleim practice materials.

    Your examiner will be looking at those codes and focusing on them during your oral as well. It’s awesome that you, on a personal level, are unsatisfied with your score and want to solidify your knowledge. It’s also a pretty necessary thing to do for your check ride.

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  5. KDS on Dec 10, 2020

    To expand on what Paul wrote, the examiners have the codes too. Depending on the examiner, they may look at the codes and focus their oral to ensure you know those areas. So, for example, if most of your missed question codes were in the area of weather, you might very well receive more questions from the examiner about weather than someone else. Ergo, in addition to just needing to know the subject, you also want to focus on it to ensure a positive outcome during the oral portion of your practical test.

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