Hardest Test Questions

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write-stuff

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For you folks who are prepping for the Private Pilot Knowledge Test, what are some of the hardest questions you've found?
 
All the questions about the Continental Control Area were the most difficult to me.
 
The best question is to ask for a list of questions/topics that your DE likes to focus on. I've seen several schools that use a specific DE. In fact when I got my PPL I had a 2 hr "prep" session covering specific areas that were guaranteed to be on the test. This is, of course, not a replacement for the ground school, reading, knowing the PTS inside and out, etc.
 
write-stuff said:
For you folks who are prepping for the Private Pilot Knowledge Test, what are some of the hardest questions you've found?
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The one asking what a yellow demarcation bar is.
 
The one with no right answers because those !@#ers used the new question with the old figures.
 
questions related to systems that I never used or knew I would never need.
 
Questions about weather and weather maps. I have the Sporty's course and can't get past the weather DVD. I fell asleep 8 times, while watching the DVD 5 times. The weather guy with his '80s haircut, suit and fat glasses bores the crap out of me. So, weather is the toughest since I can't get through it.
 
stevenhmiller said:
Questions about weather and weather maps.
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This. Because many of the weather products and depictions being tested on are not in wide use today. They were the rage back before we had the interwebs and the improved aviation apps (web and mobile) we have today. But now we get the same/similar info from a different image.

Weather symbology was another item since it isn't something in common use.
 

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Same here. Old weather depiction charts etc. I use ForeFlight and other modern tools so those old B&W charts with barely readable symbols were a little out of my league but I did manage to learn them.
 
BigBadLou said:
Same here. Old weather depiction charts etc. I use ForeFlight and other modern tools so those old B&W charts with barely readable symbols were a little out of my league but I did manage to learn them.
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Just for the record, the old FAX-style B&W charts aren't on the test anymore. The new Knowledge Test Supplement replaced them with color charts within the last year.

Are there any particular charts or chart-related questions that are giving anyone trouble?
 
Just memorize that answers to the weather chart ones. I remember some of them were nearly impossible to read.

The ones I always skipped were the flight planning questions. I would prioritize questions based on the amount of time they take and those ones are long and very easy to screw up. Do them at the end IMHO.
 
The hardest question I remember was one that could not be answered. They asked you to us a flow chart to determine the take-off distance. The problem was there was no information given as to the temp, weight, head/tail wind, etc.... That was the 61st question, I was told only 60 questions were to be on the test........
The weather depiction charts were a little troublesome, especially when you don't know which state is Oklahoma........
 
Personally, I always found questions concerning regulations the worst.

I'm pretty good at reasoning through many kinds of questions, even when I don't know the specific answer. This is maddeningly difficult with regulations, which often have an arbitrary element to them.
 
stevenhmiller said:
Questions about weather and weather maps. I have the Sporty's course and can't get past the weather DVD. I fell asleep 8 times, while watching the DVD 5 times. The weather guy with his '80s haircut, suit and fat glasses bores the crap out of me. So, weather is the toughest since I can't get through it.
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You might want to try out passfaaexams.com I can't exactly promise we will make the weather fun but it will definetly be interesting and I guarantee you wont fall asleep LOL.

Here is a video on some of the PPL weather questions and how we explain them: https://youtu.be/7D6T7D4mojY

Let me know if you think this might be a better solution to study the weather.
 
The one about which office of the FAA to report a drunk driving arrest to. I don't drink so the odds of me being arrested for drunk driving are lower than me being hit by a meteor. I guessed wrong and blew my perfect score halfway through the test.
 
No tips on the actual questions, but if you take the knowledge test next to a person that finishes before you and then his buddy comes into the same room and they are all loud and inconsiderate celebrating while you are still testing... wow. Every right to tell them to shut up! Can you tell I'm speaking from personal experience????
Good luck!
 
DesertNomad said:
The one about which office of the FAA to report a drunk driving arrest to. I don't drink so the odds of me being arrested for drunk driving are lower than me being hit by a meteor. I guessed wrong and blew my perfect score halfway through the test.
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I hate those kinds of questions. Illogical. The knowledge will not save your life in case of an emergency in the air! :mad2:
Same with DL test questions. I almost failed mine (I barely passed the bar that was set low to begin with) because I failed EVERY SINGLE retarded question about how many years could my license be suspended if I drank and had 0.09% of alcohol in my blood. (Mind you, I don't drink so obviously I don't give a s*it) Of course, wrong answers. All of them. My license wouldn't suspend itself if I drank. My license would be suspended should I get caught. Dumb test writers. *rolleyes*

Why is it always dumb people making/writing rules and tests?? Oh right, because smart people have a job.
 
still learning said:
No tips on the actual questions, but if you take the knowledge test next to a person that finishes before you and then his buddy comes into the same room and they are all loud and inconsiderate celebrating while you are still testing... wow. Every right to tell them to shut up! Can you tell I'm speaking from personal experience????
Good luck!
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The test center must adhere to certain conduct. And they must (by the FAA regulations) record the tests. No talking or discussions among students in the test center are allowed during test taking. If this was recorded on video and audio, report it. This should NOT be happening.
 
DesertNomad said:
The one about which office of the FAA to report a drunk driving arrest to. I don't drink so the odds of me being arrested for drunk driving are lower than me being hit by a meteor. I guessed wrong and blew my perfect score halfway through the test.
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I kept missing that one on the practice tests I took so was prepared for it when it came up on the actual exam... of course I also got some other totally pointless non-practical question about administrative filings that ruined my perfect score. :mad2:
 
BigBadLou said:
The test center must adhere to certain conduct. And they must (by the FAA regulations) record the tests. No talking or discussions among students in the test center are allowed during test taking. If this was recorded on video and audio, report it. This should NOT be happening.
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I agree that the test proctor failed to do his/her job and should be reported to the test center supervisor or to LaserGrade/CATS if the supervisor is not helpful.

As for recording? The proctor is required to maintain a visual watch on the test room. Either in the room, or having clear view of the test area or with video cameras. And unless the order has changed in the past two years (I was a LaserGrade proctor for 8 years) nowhere does it require that the test sessions be recorded.
 
I always joke that getting a perfect score on the knowledge test was my "Finest moment in aviation", but I almost didn't get a perfect score - why? Because for the life of me, I could not remember how high to fly above a wildlife sanctuary!
Seriously, I spent like 10 minutes on that one question!

Of all the regs, that one I will probably remember for the rest of my life. :yes:

Of course, when I told my instructor the goof news regarding my test score, his response was, "Yeah, I knew a fella that got a perfect. He died" (fatal accident).
 
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MikeELP said:
As for recording? The proctor is required to maintain a visual watch on the test room. Either in the room, or having clear view of the test area or with video cameras. And unless the order has changed in the past two years (I was a LaserGrade proctor for 8 years) nowhere does it require that the test sessions be recorded.
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Sorry, I cannot claim to know the actual regulations, I can only go by what the proctors at our test center told me. They said that they are required to record all tests and store the recordings for certain time. No idea whether that is true or not. It does not actually matter.
What DOES matter is that I am stuck at work and I'd rather be flying!! :( How about you? :)
 
Beware of the examiner that starts off with....

"If a pilot is your wish to be.....

Answer me these questions three...."

:yikes:
 
Weather was tough, as were the VOR questions. I hadn't started flying with them yet (only one flight in the books) when I took the written. I studied VOR's like crazy and they still made no sense to me. 5 min into using them in real life they made total sense. My tip would be to start flying concurrent with your ground school, especially if you are a hands-on learner like me.
 
Zeldman said:
Beware of the examiner that starts off with....

"If a pilot is your wish to be.....

Answer me these questions three...."

:yikes:
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I actually asked an aspiring pilot "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" ... and he started throwing out numeric guesses ... that is an immediate fail in any DPE's book. :D
Mind you, the aspiring pilot is a British bloke and supposedly (as he claims) a big MP fan as well. He caught a LOT of flak from me over this, believe me. ;)
 
I agree, outdated weather product questions, followed by Stupid Trivia Questions that you can look up in less than 5 minutes if you need them.

They took all the ADF stuff out, right?
 
BigBadLou said:
I actually asked an aspiring pilot "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" ... and he started throwing out numeric guesses ... that is an immediate fail in any DPE's book. :D
Mind you, the aspiring pilot is a British bloke and supposedly (as he claims) a big MP fan as well. He caught a LOT of flak from me over this, believe me. ;)
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Too funny.... What was his answer to migrating coconuts?


So if the Holy Grail beacon flashes white white yellow....

castle-2.jpg
 
BigBadLou said:
I actually asked an aspiring pilot "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" ... and he started throwing out numeric guesses ... that is an immediate fail in any DPE's book. :D
Mind you, the aspiring pilot is a British bloke and supposedly (as he claims) a big MP fan as well. He caught a LOT of flak from me over this, believe me. ;)
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When I was an active instructor, that was the bonus question for the pre-solo test....:lol:
 
Is the ADF Stuff finally out? I hated those damn questions with eight aircraft positioned in ten different locations/orientations with questions showing the RMI indicator pointing in various positions. Pick one... WTF even has an ADF in the plane anymore??? Yet not one RNAV/GPS question.
 
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