Private pilot written test - just aced it!

FlyingMonkey

FlyingMonkey

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FlyingMonkey
Very excited as I just finished the private pilot written exam and scored 100%! That was my goal. Looking forward to finishing my training and passing the check ride soon!!

There were a couple questions I was unsure of but it looks like I made two correct guesses. Both questions had to do with weather theory which is the most abstract for me.

:D
 
You just shrunk the oral portion of your checkride.

Congratulations!
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Very excited as I just finished the private pilot written exam and scored 100%! That was my goal. Looking forward to finishing my training and passing the check ride soon!!

There were a couple questions I was unsure of but it looks like I made two correct guesses. Both questions had to do with weather theory which is the most abstract for me.

:D
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Congrats
 
I used a combination of different sources:

1) old Cessna Cleared for Takeoff cD Roms that I dug up from some initial training I did 15 years ago
2) Gold seal online ground school (not as good as the Cessna cd Roms even though they were super old
3) sportys study buddy iPad app
4) Internet search for anything I didn't understand or wanted to investigate further
5) http://www.exams4pilots.org - stumbled across this site on a search and read through all 900+ questions and answers

I read a lot of the FAA handbook of aeronautical knowledge but found it very dry and an overload of seemingly unnecessary information.
 
Good for you congrats
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
You just shrunk the oral portion of your checkride.

Congratulations!
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jordane93 said:
Awesome. Should be short oral!
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Not really. Depending upon the DPE (or Inspector) it's their discretion. Personally when I was doing it I would still cover all items regardless of the written score. The written is to test the knowledge of the applicant, the practical test is to see how the applicant can apply this knowledge in a practical sense.

Be prepared. (which it appears the OP is)
 
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One of my students aced his written (think it was his CPL though), I recall it being a longer than normal oral for that DPE.
 
congrats man! Yes, I wouldn't relax and expect an easy oral...I suspect with your preparation you won't. I only missed a few questions on my written and I still had an almost 3 hour oral with my DPE. It was borderline ridiculous...but he is notorious for that. I never expected at the end of a PPL checkride I'd have a DPE telling me that he learned something...but I digress...

Hopefully you have a better DPE experience than I did. :)

Good luck man! Go get this thing done!
 
Sounds like I won't rest on my laurels for the oral. I will be prepared for a grueling one while hoping to be let off easy. Thank you for the advice!
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Sounds like I won't rest on my laurels for the oral. I will be prepared for a grueling one while hoping to be let off easy. Thank you for the advice!
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Trust me, you'll do fine.

However, as a pilot you must understand efficiency. Any score over passing is wasted effort and energy. :lol:

;)
 
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RotorAndWing said:
Not really. Depending upon the DPE (or Inspector) it's their discretion. Personally when I was doing it I would still cover all items regardless of the written score. The written is to test the knowledge of the applicant, the practical test is to see how the applicant can apply this knowledge in a practical sense.

Be prepared. (which it appears the OP is)
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I would think the DPE or Inspector would make it a shorter one but yes it all depends. I've scored in the high 80's and low 90's on pretty much all my writtens but still had orals that lasted several hours. My most recent commercial oral was about 3 hours and I think I scored something like an 88 or 86 on the written.
 
jordane93 said:
I would think the DPE or Inspector would make it a shorter one but yes it all depends. I've scored in the high 80's and low 90's on pretty much all my writtens but still had orals that lasted several hours. My most recent commercial oral was about 3 hours and I think I scored something like an 88 or 86 on the written.
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Understand that the knowledge test is just that, knowledge. The practical test is, again, as the name implies a test to see how you apply the knowledge in a "practical" sense.

If someone went through and just memorized all of the answers without having any real knowledge this will show up during the oral.
 
Congrats on the good score. I made a 97 on mine and even though the DPE kept saying "that's a good grade on the written" several times, he still went over all the areas he needed to. It took like 1:45-2:00 hours. I was prepared and did well on the oral. I did notice he would hit a certain topic, ask the basic question, get the answer and then fish around it trying to hook me on something. He finally got me on some legal question on taking a passenger, I cant remember the exact question/scenario. Even though it was a BS question, my reply was not what he wanted, and he scored on it. The next thing he said was "lets go fly". Good luck!
 
RotorAndWing said:
Understand that the knowledge test is just that, knowledge. The practical test is, again, as the name implies a test to see how you apply the knowledge in a "practical" sense.

If someone went through and just memorized all of the answers without having any real knowledge this will show up during the oral.
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Yes this is how I understand it. I have tried to make sure I understand all the concepts and not just memorize things. I've done a lot of extra research on density altitude because I am interested in mountain flying and watched some webinars about mountain flying dangers.

The part I enjoy the most is planning a X-C trip and putting the knowledge to work and seeing it all come together. I'm sure after I get my PPL I will mostly use an iPad app for this process but it's nice to know the long form way of doing it.
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Yes this is how I understand it. I have tried to make sure I understand all the concepts and not just memorize things. I've done a lot of extra research on density altitude because I am interested in mountain flying and watched some webinars about mountain flying dangers.

The part I enjoy the most is planning a X-C trip and putting the knowledge to work and seeing it all come together. I'm sure after I get my PPL I will mostly use an iPad app for this process but it's nice to know the long form way of doing it.
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You should do just fine.

Good Luck!
 
I aced my written and my oral was kind of long. It wasn't real hard. The DPE just asked questions till he found something that he could teach me a little about.
 
BTW, informal survey results: women's check rides tend to run long, because DPEs tend to be men, who tend to like to talk to women....
 
RotorAndWing said:
Not really. Depending upon the DPE (or Inspector) it's their discretion. Personally when I was doing it I would still cover all items regardless of the written score. The written is to test the knowledge of the applicant, the practical test is to see how the applicant can apply this knowledge in a practical sense.

Be prepared. (which it appears the OP is)
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:yes:

I got a 100 on PPL and 95 on IR. I still felt violated after the oral portion of the instrument checkride.
 
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