Commercial written test prep / clinic recomendation

SinkorSwim

Pre-takeoff checklist
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HFC1969
Can anyone recomend a weekend clinic or test prep course...:dunno:

I was looking at American Flyers . net who has a course west of Chicago for the weekend..

I hate written tests.. Have all the way through graduate school in college.:mad2: Text anxiety sux...
 
I've always used exams4pilots.org for my test prep, with the exception of ATP, for which I bought the ASA software.
 
Just use this.
http://www.sheppardair.com/

Their software is ugly as can be - but their question pool is the most accurate that I've seen. One night, at about 3am, I thought I found a problem. I called them. An American that knew aviation and knew the software answered and helped me out.
 
All of the weekend seminar courses are about the same -- you learn the test and get a good score, but you don't learn the material. The same can be true for the computer-based test prep systems, depending on whether or not you carefully read the explanations that come with the answers. The computer-based training systems like this one:
http://jeppdirect.jeppesen.com/main/store/product_details.jsp?id=prod420026_ca
...can be very effective in learning the material as well as passing the written test, but the investment in time and effort is greater. Of course, if you make that investment, my experience as an instructor for PIC says your instrument flight training will go much better.
 
Can anyone recomend a weekend clinic or test prep course...:dunno:

I was looking at American Flyers . net who has a course west of Chicago for the weekend..

I hate written tests.. Have all the way through graduate school in college.:mad2: Text anxiety sux...

Even though some think the King courses are corny (they are) the Knowledge Test Prep DVD (~$280) helped quite a bit. I also used the Jeppessen Private Pilot FAA Airmen Knowledge Test Guide (~$18).

If I had to do it over again, the Jeppeson guide would've given me all I needed. I boned up on that thing and highlighted every answer I got wrong and then concentrated on the highlighted questions. Guess which questions were the easiest for me on the actual test?

I got a 95. That's what worked for me. :thumbsup:
 
you learn the test and get a good score, but you don't learn the material.

I am horrible at taking test.. Test anxiety SUX :mad2: Just trying something to take the edge off..

My cfi says Im completely opposite of most of the students he has... they hate the flying portion and don't mind the written... I guess Im just :loco:
 
My recommendation is "don't." I think it's exactly wrong for your stated goal.

I did the American Flyers thing years ago for PP ground. I'd been studying on my own when a friend signed me up for the AF rush course as a gift.

The compressed format gives them no time to do anything but teach to the test, which kinda misses the point already, but it was worse than that. By the end of the first day a good percentage of the students were in a daze and it just got worse. Because of the pace, and the fact that people were falling behind, many of the students developed a sort of defeated air and by the time testing started the group anxiety was contagious. It really wasn't fun.

Maybe my class was atypical. And this isn't a knock on AF, they were professional, did their best, and their collateral material is pretty snazzy (I still have the binder somewhere). The staff was actually really happy when I passed... someone made a comment along the lines of, "we're not supposed to talk about this but you are one of the few passes we've had so far...."

The problem was that I didn't pass because of their course. As I said, I'd been studying on my own and knew a lot of the material. That's where I think it's a decent option. If you already know the material pretty well (70% or better), and you don't have test anxiety issues, it is an OK final push cram and pass approach. I scored 95% which ain't great but wasn't shameful either...but I think I would've passed (with a lower score) on day 1.

I don't have test anxiety issues (almost the other way around... I have to force myself to take them seriously...I usually think, "it's only a test, not the real world" and that's not the right attitude if you want high scores) so I can't really help much. I think the online practice test sites would be useful though.
 
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