Instrument written questions

[azure]

I retook my instrument written today. I got two questions wrong for a score of 97%. I'd like to understand why I got them wrong but I can't. One of them I answered correctly according to both King and ASA, and in the other I am pretty sure none of the answers is correct, and told them so in my post-test survey questionnaire.

The glide slope and localizer are centered, but the airspeed is too fast. Which should be adjusted initially?

A) Pitch and power.
B) Power only.
C) Pitch only.

I said B, power only even though in actual practice I would certainly adjust both. But the question said *initially*, and both King and ASA say that at first, only the power should be adjusted. Martha even made a point of saying that this is how the FAA wants you to do it. Apparently they changed their mind. Does anyone know what their current recommendation is?

The other one is not in either the ASA or King database so I'm quoting it from memory and my wording is very much paraphrased I'm sure, and perhaps not even accurate: an instrument rated pilot wishes to operate IFR on July 10 of this year. What condition must be met for him to satisfy the recent experience requirements?

A) Perform the required tasks and iterations between January 10 and July 10 of this year in an airplane or approved flight simulator or training device.
B) Perform the required tasks and iterations no earlier than February 10 of this year.
C) Successfully complete an IPC between August 1 of last year and July 1 of this year.

I contend that none of these MUST be met, though I chose A, reading "required tasks and iterations" to refer to 6HITS, because doing 6HITS after Jan 10 would actually satisfy the recency requirement, and the answer doesn't itself imply something incorrect. But 6HITS on Jan 1 through Jan 9 would also work, since 61.57 says calendar months. Anything in February would work too of course, but there is nothing special about Feb 10 and the answer explicitly said "no earlier than", that much I am very sure of. An IPC would only meet the requirement if it was done Jan 1 or later. But again, the way the question is worded, what MUST be met, an IPC is never really necessary unless your currency lapses for more than 6 months.

Hope someone can explain what is wrong with my thinking here.

 

[kimberlyanne546]

Overall, how many "new" questions that weren't in your study guide did you get? I heard they were changing the tests but he study people haven't caught up (Kings etc).

I am a long way off, and when I took the Private I didn't get any surprises that I could tell, though I heard they changed it right after I took it. I think I took mine in May or June of last year.

 

[azure]

Most of the questions were straight from the study guide, or else only had some changes of altitude. There was a flight planning question that said "use the forecast wind closest to the flight planned altitude", where the winds aloft forecast had 12,000 and 18,000 and the flight planned altitude was 15,000. I think that was different from the study guide, but it wouldn't have made enough of a difference in the answer to matter regardless of which altitude you used.

I think the 61.57 one was the only one I hadn't seen before. Figures that I'd get that one wrong.

 

[DouglasBader]

It's well known that not all the answers on the FAA knowledge exams are correct; the FAA has been known to use the wrong answers, and I've seen study guides that contain wrong answers, too.

Yes, if your airspeed is high but you're on the glide path, you can't do anything but reduce thrust.

Depending on the aircraft you're flying, you may have a corresponding pitch change, however, so the correct answer that the question is probably seeking is pitch and power.

The debate over pitch power is endless (and stupid), but in this case if you reduce power and experience a corresponding decrease in pitch, you will need to trim up, or increase pitch. This may be necessary to maintain the glideslope.

Intuitively, it appears to suggest that you couldn't be pitching, because that might cause you to deviate off the glideslope, but as you make a power reduction, very often you must also adjust pitch.

If you're in a Lake Amphib and reduce power, the airplane will pitch up, because the center of thrust is above the long axis of the airplane.

You got a high score. Good enough.

 

[denverpilot]

A) Perform the required tasks and iterations between January 10 and July 10 of this year in an airplane or approved flight simulator or training device.
B) Perform the required tasks and iterations no earlier than February 10 of this year.
C) Successfully complete an IPC between August 1 of last year and July 1 of this year.

I contend that none of these MUST be met, though I chose A, reading "required tasks and iterations" to refer to 6HITS, because doing 6HITS after Jan 10 would actually satisfy the recency requirement, and the answer doesn't itself imply something incorrect. But 6HITS on Jan 1 through Jan 9 would also work, since 61.57 says calendar months. Anything in February would work too of course, but there is nothing special about Feb 10 and the answer explicitly said "no earlier than", that much I am very sure of. An IPC would only meet the requirement if it was done Jan 1 or later. But again, the way the question is worded, what MUST be met, an IPC is never really necessary unless your currency lapses for more than 6 months.

Hope someone can explain what is wrong with my thinking here.

In that question, I believe one of the answers left off holding as one of the required items in your paraphrased a and b.

They're usually playing around with the calendar month vs straight dates thing, the individual required items, whether or not an IPC is required, and there's three or four variants of that question with only one that meets the req.

 

[Velocity173]

Congrats. 97 is pretty darn good for a instrument test.

 

[azure]

In that question, I believe one of the answers left off holding as one of the required items in your paraphrased a and b.

Neither A or B said what the required tasks were. They just said "required tasks and iterations", and the dates were both wrong.

They're usually playing around with the calendar month vs straight dates thing, the individual required items, whether or not an IPC is required, and there's three or four variants of that question with only one that meets the req.

Yep. But this isn't one of them, it's a new twist. And the wording of the question was about something the pilot MUST have done, which to me says that he's let his currency lapse too long and now needs an IPC. I stared at that question for a while trying to make it say that, but couldn't. Maybe I was just tired out by then, dunno.

 

[somorris]

I would have answered both questions the same as you did. I think those are the correct answers (but glad I don't have to re-take the test!).

Congrats on the 97%. I think you did fantastically and deserve the glass of wine to celebrate!

 

[DouglasBader]

What is a 6HITS?

 

[denverpilot]

Neither A or B said what the required tasks were. They just said "required tasks and iterations", and the dates were both wrong.


Yep. But this isn't one of them, it's a new twist. And the wording of the question was about something the pilot MUST have done, which to me says that he's let his currency lapse too long and now needs an IPC. I stared at that question for a while trying to make it say that, but couldn't. Maybe I was just tired out by then, dunno.

It's paraphrased. She said so. It's missing the key items to answer the question as posed, so I'm just going from memory on what that type of question was usually looking for and the games the question writer was playing.

 

[azure]

It's paraphrased. She said so. It's missing the key items to answer the question as posed, so I'm just going from memory on what that type of question was usually looking for and the games the question writer was playing.

Umm... that was me too. I meant I stared at the question on the test trying to make it say or imply something about lapsed currency. Eventually I got to where I couldn't even think of a way to phrase a question along those lines (specified date) that would both make sense and have needing an IPC as the correct answer, so probably I just overthought it. I thought about writing it down, but you can't even take your scratch paper out of the testing room.

Stacey, I think probably I answered the question as I interpreted it correctly, but it might just have been FAAese for something else. It will probably be obvious which answer is correct if the FAA ever releases that one publicly.

Doug, 6HITS is the shorthand some people use for "6 approaches, Holds, Intercepting and Tracking courses using navigational Systems".

 

[poadeleted20]

For the first question, you have to adjust both pitch and power. If you adjust power only while holding pitch the same, you'll get slower, but also sink faster and go below glide path. If you adjust pitch only while holding power the same, you'll get slower, but you'll also reduce your sink rate and go above glide path. The optimum solution is to adjust pitch (trim, really) to increase AoA so you slow to the desired speed, while simultaneously reducing power to the lower level required for the same glide path at a lower airspeed.

For the second question, all three answers are wrong, so take your best guess and hope it's the one the test-writer wanted.

 

[azure]

For the first question, you have to adjust both pitch and power. If you adjust power only while holding pitch the same, you'll get slower, but also sink faster and go below glide path. If you adjust pitch only while holding power the same, you'll get slower, but you'll also reduce your sink rate and go above glide path. The optimum solution is to adjust pitch (trim, really) to increase AoA so you slow to the desired speed, while simultaneously reducing power to the lower level required for the same glide path at a lower airspeed.

Yep, that's why I said that in actual practice, I would adjust both. But the question said *initially*, and again like I said, the Kings made quite a point of that and saying "yes you adjust both BUT the FAA wants you to adjust power FIRST".

It's frustrating, because there USED to be the correct answer, and the FAA answer, and they weren't the same answer. Now maybe they are, but they don't tell you which answer they consider correct, so we're just guessing.

For the second question, all three answers are wrong, so take your best guess and hope it's the one the test-writer wanted.

Yeah... IF my paraphrase was accurate. That one twisted me around so badly that I couldn't swear to it.

 

[\__[Ô]__/]

Yeah... IF my paraphrase was accurate. That one twisted me around so badly that I couldn't swear to it.

I recall a question on my written (a year or two ago) very similar to your paraphrase. I remember staring at it, thinking they were all wrong. After a couple minutes trying to figure out what i was missing, i just guessed and moved on.

 

[bgdriveway]

Wait.... You mean that the FAA has a test that the right answer isn't actually right?

(Please note the extreme sarcasm in the above statement due to personal experience.)

 

[azure]

I recall a question on my written (a year or two ago) very similar to your paraphrase. I remember staring at it, thinking they were all wrong. After a couple minutes trying to figure out what i was missing, i just guessed and moved on.

The one thing I had never seen before on those questions was the "required tasks and iterations" wording. That's so vague that I was leery of those answers because of it. Do you remember if that was the wording on your question?

With the benefit of some sleep I'm ready to just to chalk it all up to experience... and try to make sure I never have to take the test again. :wink2: Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[dtuuri]

I'll say both answers should be "C". The first asks for ONE thing, the INITIAL thing, that you should do. Pitch, of course. Why would anyone think something else?

The second question is about "calendar months", so the first two answers don't apply. No need to read the third choice out of process of elimination.

dtuuri

 

[Ghery]

With the benefit of some sleep I'm ready to just to chalk it all up to experience... and try to make sure I never have to take the test again. :wink2: Thanks for the feedback everyone!

That's the plan. Finish your IR before you have to take that thing again. I got a 97 on mine, too. As some have said, 27 points more than I needed. Good for you on passing it, now go finish.

 

[\__[Ô]__/]

The one thing I had never seen before on those questions was the "required tasks and iterations" wording. That's so vague that I was leery of those answers because of it. Do you remember if that was the wording on your question?

I don't recall the exact wording, but i know it didn't explicitly list the items that had to be done.

 

[somorris]

Yep, that's why I said that in actual practice, I would adjust both. But the question said *initially*, and again like I said, the Kings made quite a point of that and saying "yes you adjust both BUT the FAA wants you to adjust power FIRST".

That is exactly what I would do too Liz. That is why I agreed with your answer. Actual practice and FAA tests don't always agree .

 

[azure]

I'll say both answers should be "C". The first asks for ONE thing, the INITIAL thing, that you should do. Pitch, of course. Why would anyone think something else?

Umm... maybe because slowing by pitch alone will take you above glide slope? The question does NOT ask for one thing. Pitch and power was one of the answers. That's what I'd actually do (and then retrim). But the study guide answer (two different study guides) was power only. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure many CFIIs teach power for airspeed, pitch for glide path when established on a precision approach final segment.

The second question is about "calendar months", so the first two answers don't apply. No need to read the third choice out of process of elimination.

Yeah and that's probably the right answer. But it didn't seem to fit the question (no lapse in currency implied as far as I could tell). Thanks for your input.

 

[denverpilot]

I bet the key in the question writer's head for that question is based off of the old FAA guidance of "command" order of operations (weren't those called power-performance and comand-performance or something like that?)

All I remember is that there were two competing theories and one or the other would be in vogue for a while, then they'd swap... whatever those were called.

I remember seeing some other questions that were worded specifically based on those venerable training models.

Having taken the written multiple times over a long period of time, plus having had classroom mock written exams decades ago, I got to see the differences over that long timeframe.

Every few years there were always questions in the pool that seemed to be changed to lean more toward whether or not you'd been taught their particular methodology that was fashionable at the time -- rather than you being tested on the knowledge that less power plus less pitch equals go down.

I was almost mildly surprised there weren't re-written questions that led one toward the "stabilized approach" FAA craze of the 2000's.

And the tailplane icing stuff that was being trailed when I took my last written was so blatently targeted at avoiding Buffalo, NY again, it was as if a politician had walked into an FAA staffer's office and told them they were adding such questions immediately as a way to plug the knowledge hole in most newly hired low-time regional pilot's heads.

Sometimes it just helps to "think about why the bureaucracy put that question I the test" on some of the weirder questions. And some are just outdated. The ones about which way to TURN a knob on a non-slaved compass are silly. You turn it and if you're going the wrong way in numbers, you turn it back. Haha. Stupid. You don't need to know if it's left or right to get there. It may save you a whopping one second in the airplane. And you've got a 50/50 shot.

 

[dtuuri]

Umm... maybe because slowing by pitch alone will take you above glide slope? The question does NOT ask for one thing. Pitch and power was one of the answers. That's what I'd actually do (and then retrim). But the study guide answer (two different study guides) was power only. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure many CFIIs teach power for airspeed, pitch for glide path when established on a precision approach final segment.

Actually, I didn't read the question right. I thought, and don't know why, the plane was below glideslope. But since it's on course and GS, reduce power initially, so "B" would be my first impression. But, ever leery of the word "only", "A" is probably what the tricksters are fishing for. If I have time tomorrow I'll try to find the reference they had in mind.

Yeah and that's probably the right answer. But it didn't seem to fit the question (no lapse in currency implied as far as I could tell). Thanks for your input.

Here too, I answered off the cuff too quickly. An IPC on August 1, wouldn't be recent enough on its own. So, "A" is probably the better choice of the three, since it meets the calendar requirements. The word "must" in the question threw me off track here, I think.

dtuuri

 

[azure]

Having taken the written multiple times over a long period of time, plus having had classroom mock written exams decades ago, I got to see the differences over that long timeframe.

That's one thing in which I hope to never equal you in experience Nate, taking the instrument written. :wink2:

The ones about which way to TURN a knob on a non-slaved compass are silly. You turn it and if you're going the wrong way in numbers, you turn it back. Haha. Stupid. You don't need to know if it's left or right to get there. It may save you a whopping one second in the airplane. And you've got a 50/50 shot.

And if you actually NEED to use the knob, chances are your remote gyro is going bad anyway and you'll have to do it again shortly. I flew one a few years ago that had that problem, and eventually (over Lake Michigan on a hazy summer day no less) it went totally TU and started drifting freely. Some slaved compasses don't even have the free mode correction knob -- mine is like that, no way to adjust it without some magic incantation my avionics tech wouldn't even teach me since he said it wasn't legally user-adjustable.

(It surprised me that it doesn't have the free/slaved switch and knob doodad, since I thought that was standard equipment with the original King HSI installation, and supposedly all they did when they installed the Sandel was swap out the analog indicator for the electronic one.)

 

[azure]

Here too, I answered off the cuff too quickly. An IPC on August 1, wouldn't be recent enough on its own. So, "A" is probably the better choice of the three, since it meets the calendar requirements. The word "must" in the question threw me off track here, I think.

Even the IPC isn't a "must" though, right? Not unless currency has lapsed more than 6 months. Otherwise you can just go up with a safety pilot and do 6HITS. That's what threw me, none of the answers fit the situation as I read it.

 

[dtuuri]

Even the IPC isn't a "must" though, right? Not unless currency has lapsed more than 6 months. Otherwise you can just go up with a safety pilot and do 6HITS. That's what threw me, none of the answers fit the situation as I read it.

The questions are tricky these days. As a stand alone answer, no, an IPC isn't a "must", but in context with the other choices, i.e., you "must" choose one--it does, er, can. To an FAA test writer at least. The question, imo, should just be, "Which of the following meets the currency requirement for an IFR flight on July 10?"

dtuuri

 

[discusfa]

within the preceding 6 calendar months

My CFII told me you have to count the current month.

1 2 3 4 5 6
July June May April March February

 

[dtuuri]

within the preceding 6 calendar months

My CFII told me you have to count the current month.

1 2 3 4 5 6
July June May April March February

But if you made all the requirements in February, there would only be five calendar months by the end of July: March (1), April (2), May (3), June (4), and July (5).

And welcome to the board!

dtuuri

 

[TMetzinger]

One other thing... how do you KNOW which questions you got wrong? Unless something's changed, all you get back are knowledge codes, right? Are the correlations between questions and knowledge codes still published or is that information the King/Gleim/Etc best guess as well as the answer?

 

[\__[Ô]__/]

The report only has the codes, but at the end of the exam, the test software shows you the questions you got wrong (but not the answers).

 

[azure]

One other thing... how do you KNOW which questions you got wrong? Unless something's changed, all you get back are knowledge codes, right? Are the correlations between questions and knowledge codes still published or is that information the King/Gleim/Etc best guess as well as the answer?

I was wondering when someone would ask that! Yes, something has changed. When the exam is over, after they give you your score, they now give you the option of reviewing missed questions. The proctor has to permit it by typing in an authorization code, but it is possible now to see the exact questions, although the answers are still not given. When you get the report, it still only has the codes.

At least, that's how CATS does it now.

 

[azure]

within the preceding 6 calendar months

My CFII told me you have to count the current month.

1 2 3 4 5 6
July June May April March February

You don't count the current month, it's not considered to be "preceding".

 

[gismo]

You don't count the current month, it's not considered to be "preceding".

Correct. The easiest way I've found to remember that is to consider a variation where the rule states "in the previous (1) calendar month". In that case it's pretty obvious (at least to me) that the current calendar month is excluded.

WRT the actual question, are you certain there wasn't something you left out in your paraphrased example that would have dictated that an IPC was needed? E.G. "A pilot who hadn't flown between July 1 and Dec 1 of the previous year..."

If not then I agree that NONE of the choices you provided could be correct if you stated the question accurately. This (bad question) was a common occurrence in the past and now that the FAA has gone back to attempting to keep the Q&A database secret there's not even any way to rectify the situation. The other question you missed is also very bad. First of all, it doesn't make the slightest difference safety-wise whether which you adjust first nor is the effect their order consistent among different airplanes. As long as you realize that every pitch adjustment will affect airspeed and every power adjustment will affect sink rate you've got the required knowledge to respond correctly to deviations on a glideslope. With the FAA's continued ineptitude at test question concocting I'd consider a 97 score to be the FAA equivalent of perfect. Chances are you got a greater percentage of "correct" answers than the FAA's percentage of good questions in the whole Q&A database.

 

[azure]

WRT the actual question, are you certain there wasn't something you left out in your paraphrased example that would have dictated that an IPC was needed? E.G. "A pilot who hadn't flown between July 1 and Dec 1 of the previous year..."

I'm about 95% certain, but still there's that 5% of doubt... it was one of the later questions on the test, I was tired, and by the time it was over and it was time to review missed questions, I was a bit punchy from staring at that one so long.

Nonetheless, I am 100% certain of the dates in the answers given and EVEN IF an IPC was required due to something I misread in the question, it could still have been performed been July 1 and July 9. There is no circumstance I can think of where the IPC would HAVE TO HAVE BEEN done in the 11 calendar months between August 1 and July 1 to qualify for a flight on July 10. That seems like another piece of bait aimed to ferret out misunderstandings of "calendar months".

 

[gismo]

I'm about 95% certain, but still there's that 5% of doubt... it was one of the later questions on the test, I was tired, and by the time it was over and it was time to review missed questions, I was a bit punchy from staring at that one so long.

Nonetheless, I am 100% certain of the dates in the answers given and EVEN IF an IPC was required due to something I misread in the question, it could still have been performed been July 1 and July 9. There is no circumstance I can think of where the IPC would HAVE TO HAVE BEEN done in the 11 calendar months between August 1 and July 1 to qualify for a flight on July 10. That seems like another piece of bait aimed to ferret out misunderstandings of "calendar months".

I'd say there's at least a 99% chance you're entirely correct in your memory of the question and I can't really think of any circumstances other than a mention of no actual or simulated instrument currency tasks during certain periods (including the current July) that could make any of the given choices correct. These days to mess things up usually takes a computer but to really mess things up you need the government's help.

 

[dtuuri]

There is no circumstance I can think of where the IPC would HAVE TO HAVE BEEN done in the 11 calendar months between August 1 and July 1 to qualify for a flight on July 10. That seems like another piece of bait aimed to ferret out misunderstandings of "calendar months".

If it was done between July 1 and August 1, LAST YEAR, you could still "satisfy" the requirements by July 10 this year in time for the trip by doing the "tasks and iterations". Are you sure of the order of the dates?

Btw, I still haven't had time to research the first question. Maybe later.

dtuuri

 

[azure]

If it was done between July 1 and August 1, LAST YEAR, you could still "satisfy" the requirements by July 10 this year in time for the trip by doing the "tasks and iterations". Are you sure of the order of the dates?

I'm sure of the order in which they were given. It's possible that they reversed the order and said "between August 1 of last year and July 1 of last year" and I mentally replaced the second "last" with "first".

But I still can't think of a way they could have posed a question where that was the correct answer in such a way that I would have interpreted it the way I did. Because they would have had to specify a time at which the "tasks and iterations" since the IPC were done, and also a >6 month lapse in currency prior to July 1 of last year. It seems the wording of the question would have to have been quite... well, byzantine, and I didn't get the impression that it was. It struck me as a simple question to which none of the answers fit.

 

[dtuuri]

The Instrument Flying Handbook has this to say on Page 7-42, my emphasis:

"The heaviest demand on pilot technique occurs during descent from the OM to the MM, when you maintain the localizer course, adjust pitch attitude to maintain the proper rate of descent, and adjust power to maintain proper airspeed."​

As for the second question, I dunno. It harkens back to when I was studying for FAA writtens before the FAA published question books. At Meacham Field in Ft Worth the FSDO (GADO?) was upstairs right over ACME School of Aeronautics. It was a written test crash course mill and they published test guides and explanations. Whenever one of their students took a test they'd memorize, or tried to, certain question numbers and ran downstairs to be debriefed by ACME instructors. Then we'd buy their books and hope they were right. Often, they weren't. Certain nuances were missing in the test guides that affected the correct answer to the FAA questions. Your second question seems to be either a very poor one or, like way back then, something's amiss in the translation. Welcome to the 1960s!

dtuuri

 

[denverpilot]

The Instrument Flying Handbook has this to say on Page 7-42, my emphasis:

"The heaviest demand on pilot technique occurs during descent from the OM to the MM, when you maintain the localizer course, adjust pitch attitude to maintain the proper rate of descent, and adjust power to maintain proper airspeed."​

That mist be why they're decommissioning all the middle markers! To make approaches easier!

 

[Jaybird180]

"The heaviest demand on pilot technique occurs during descent from the OM to the MM, when you maintain the localizer course, adjust pitch attitude to maintain the proper rate of descent, and adjust power to maintain proper airspeed."

The FAA recommends PP and IR pilots learn to pitch and power bass ackward?