Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Is 83% ok on private pilot exam or should I retake for higher score?

Asked by: 10570 views , , ,
Private Pilot, Student Pilot

I took the FAA Private Pilot (PAR) written knowledge exam today and scored 83%. Should I retake for higher score or will the FAA DE examiner give me a hard time on the oral exam later on?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. Lucas on Jan 20, 2013

    Dear Ben
    The reality is that the oral will be no different weather you score 100% or 70%. A pass is a pass.
    Also if you take the exam again it will say Take 2 on it, as if you actually failed it once (=not good).
    The important thing is that you review the material on the codes you failed on the test.

    Look at the bottom of your written report and you will see some codes such as: PLT003. PLT005, PLT189, etc.
    This would mean you would have to review:
    Calculate aircraft performance – center of gravity
    Calculate aircraft performance – density altitude
    Recall carburetor – effects of carburetor heat / heat control

    For a full list of the subject codes and their meaning click on the following link directly from the FAA.

    http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/airmen/media/learningstatementreferenceguide.pdf

    Cheers Lucas

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Jim F. on Jan 20, 2013

    Yeah, don’t retake. There’s really nothing to be gained, but some to be lost. First off, it will cost you another good chunk of change. Save that to pay for an hour of flying after your checkride. And even though it is graded as a percent, it’s essentially a pass/fail test. Aside from what Lucas said, if you happen to get a lower score on your second try, that’s the one that counts. It’s not the highest score that’s official, but the latest score.

    As Lucas already said, just go back and review/learn what you missed, because that’s what the examiner will pay special attention to on your oral.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Ben on Jan 20, 2013

    Thanks! I will review the areas I missed. Mostly compass related questions and so forth.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.