alfadog
Final Approach
I'm looking to finish up my instrument rating in the next month or so and was looking at the various online ground school / test prep offerings. I have a very, very extensive library of video flight training materials, over 600 VHS tapes and DVDs, but my most recent instrument rating course dates to 2009 and I wanted something more current. It was important to me that whatever course I chose would sign me off to take the written exam upon successful completion. I did not want to spend more than $100 so I limited my research to the following:
Gleim
Dauntless
American Flyers (on sale)
Flight training materials, whether online or not, fall in a range between ground school and test prep. And by ground school, I mean teaching the material with little regard for the specific questions on the FAA exam as opposed to test prep which is not as interested in teaching the material as in making sure you have the correct answer to the FAA exam question. In my experience, it's not 100% one or the other but somewhere in a range from pure ground school to pure test prep. I found the Sporty's products and the Cessna products (produced by the Kings) to be very much a ground school while the Kings normal offerings are very much test prep.
So with that said, I took a look at the demo versions from Dauntless and Gleim. The Dauntless product is almost exclusively test prep and their main claim to fame seems to be that they have an accurate and up-to-date question bank. Gleim is a little bit more of a ground school but again mostly test prep in my opinion. American Flyers does not offer a free sample but I am familiar with them from attending free seminars at their Pompano Beach location and have an old VHS version of their ground school. So I kind of knew what I might be getting into there. I decided to go with the American Flyers product because I felt it would be more of a ground school than strict test prep and it had a bonus offering of a second course on passing your oral / practical exam. And that is pretty much what it turned out to be,. It's a video presentation with two flight instructors and some mediocre visual aids but the material is well presented and the bonus course on oral / practical prep seems worthwhile.
My PIREP is that, for $99, I would recommend them for anyone looking for a good refresher for the written test and the oral / practical. That $99 price is only good until the end of January and then the price goes back up to $150 so if you're interested, I recommend you take advantage of it.
Gleim
Dauntless
American Flyers (on sale)
Flight training materials, whether online or not, fall in a range between ground school and test prep. And by ground school, I mean teaching the material with little regard for the specific questions on the FAA exam as opposed to test prep which is not as interested in teaching the material as in making sure you have the correct answer to the FAA exam question. In my experience, it's not 100% one or the other but somewhere in a range from pure ground school to pure test prep. I found the Sporty's products and the Cessna products (produced by the Kings) to be very much a ground school while the Kings normal offerings are very much test prep.
So with that said, I took a look at the demo versions from Dauntless and Gleim. The Dauntless product is almost exclusively test prep and their main claim to fame seems to be that they have an accurate and up-to-date question bank. Gleim is a little bit more of a ground school but again mostly test prep in my opinion. American Flyers does not offer a free sample but I am familiar with them from attending free seminars at their Pompano Beach location and have an old VHS version of their ground school. So I kind of knew what I might be getting into there. I decided to go with the American Flyers product because I felt it would be more of a ground school than strict test prep and it had a bonus offering of a second course on passing your oral / practical exam. And that is pretty much what it turned out to be,. It's a video presentation with two flight instructors and some mediocre visual aids but the material is well presented and the bonus course on oral / practical prep seems worthwhile.
My PIREP is that, for $99, I would recommend them for anyone looking for a good refresher for the written test and the oral / practical. That $99 price is only good until the end of January and then the price goes back up to $150 so if you're interested, I recommend you take advantage of it.
Last edited: