Self doubt or bad pilot?

[RRAT]

I have like 55 hours now. I got a 83 on my written and most of my questions I got wrong were about vor’s which is weird because they’re not that difficult. maybe it was trick answers idk

A low passing score on the written is still a passing score and works the same as high score. Don't worry about it, but study what you missed. However, the DPE has to review all the categories you missed on the written. That drags out the oral. I hate oral exams, but kind of enjoy the written. My instructor suggested I retake the written to improve my grade and therefore shorten the oral. Just remember, the whole process is pass/fail. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to pass and that is as good as it gets.

 

[Joseph Matties]

What do you base this on?

On them being a tool... provides no actual value to the conversation and is an ignorant comment. Some people don't take test well. Any DPE will tell you the test has no correlation to how you do on the practical. there have been people with 100 that failed checkrides.

 

[Clip4]

Really??? I

Yes, really.

I guess one could reference his own test score experience, but not every applicant gets the same test questions and every test doesn’t have the same level difficulty. Some higher test scores are a result of a test with less difficult questions.

Every person is also different. Work/school demand, education level, experience taking tests, comprehension skills, home study v ground school, age, employment demands, ect.

Here are the average scores for all the FAA written tests in 2019. As you will see, 83.5% is the average on the private pilot written test. So when you claim 84% score is a bad score, you are telling me how uninformed you are when it comes to pilot ground training because I know how much study my ground school students do to post an 87% average score.

https://www.faa.gov/data_research/a.../media/2019/annual/2019_Annual_Statistics.pdf

And if you want a shocker, the basic ground instructor and instructor sport powered parachute exams have a 1/3 failed rate and the average score was 75%.

 

[cmsuav8r]

As was mentioned, don't be afraid to pull out the FAR/AIM to look something up. Obviously you need to know the majority of the material and can't look everything up, but the DPE would much rather you look something up then try to make up an answer. I looked up answers on my private/instrument/commercial rides and passed them all the first time. Knowing that you don't have to have every last detail memorized helped me relax and focus on learning the bigger picture type of things.

 

[JVerb]

When I took mine a year ago, I was confident in the practical, but was worried about the oral. Turns out, I was worried for no reason. did I know everything? of course not. They're going to find where your knowledge gaps are. But, I spent the week before the Oral going through and tabbing my FAR, getting all my docs in extremely need order, creating checklists for what docs he'd need to review & tabbing them, etc. The DPE knew I was well prepared by seeing how I had it all laid out, and he was very accommodating when/if I didn't know an answer. Because the FAR was tabbed, I could find the answer very quickly.

My weakness is weather. I knew the gists; I have learned a lot in the last year, and probably will continue to learn more over time! But don't worry. Know the basics; difference between warm/cold front, what types of weather do each cause, and learn to think through it rather than just a quick-response. Then you won't go wrong.

I'm betting you're just getting nervous. Go into the oral like it's a conversation rather than a pass/fail test, and you'll be fine.

 

[brcase]

I am at the very end stage of my private, we’re starting to look at examiner availability but I am becoming far more doubtful that I am capable of passing a checkride currently. Multiple instructors have told me I fly good but my maneuvers still feel sloppy, much worse that a few months ago. But I cannot have a good ground lesson. Went through every section of preflight prep with my instructor and did pretty well, did a mock oral with a different instructor and it was a disaster. I was nervous and blanked on way too much of the questions being asked, weather specifically. Or the mock checkride instructor asked me stuff far more in depth then i’ve ever talked about with my cfi. I really don’t think i’m even gonna get signed off at this point and i’m disappointed in myself but at the same time I don’t know if I want to continue on.

Sorry for the long self pity post. I just need to get the thoughts out there and see if it makes any sense.

For the flying part, pull out the ACS for each flight maneuver you could be asked to perform write up a 3x5 card on the requirements (Skills). I call the Skills section the "how to fail a checkride" section
an example (And how to do it wrong)

A. Pilotage and Dead Reckoning.
1. Prepare and use a Flight Log (don't do one or do a very bad one)
2. Navigate by Pilotage (don't look out the window or identify landmarks)
3. using Pre-computed headings, groundspeeds and elapsed times. (Dont use the headings you figured out, or don't time your enroute time)
4. use the magnetic heading indicator (don't use it, go the wrong direction)
5. verify position 3 miles from 1st check point (route) (be more than 3 miles off course, or verify the wrong point)
6. arrive within 5 minutes of eta ( be more than 5 minutes off or don't revise ETA if needed, or get lost)
7. maintain altitude +-200 feet and heading +- 15 degrees ( deviate from assigned or desired altitude and or heading)

Do remember that momentarily busting any one of these is not necessarily a failure, IF you recognize the issue and apply corrective measures promptly then it will not likely be an issue. it when you don't even know you did something wrong or recognize a problem that tend to cause checkride failures. Flying the wrong heading for a couple minutes will probably bust you.
I would simplify my 3x5 card to something like.

1. Note take-off or On-Course time.
2. Maintain Compass heading +-15 and altitude +-200
3. Check ETA seems reasonable revise if required
4. Identify when at check point (be within 3 miles) Prefer directly over.
5. Note time and confirm within 5 minutes of ETA.

My card for Steep Turns would read something like

1. Clear the Area
2. Set speed to XXX (for your airplane)
3. Say altitude and heading (or reference point) you are holding/using
4. Roll to 45deg bank +-5,
5. Hold altitude +-100
6. Hold Airspeed +-10
7. Roll out on entry heading +-10

The biggest problem I see with student pilots is they don't really know the maneuver and the standards. Writing up the card will help you cement these into your brain, and you can refer back to them as a reference.

Also Checkride preps tend to be much harder than the checkride themselves, simply because the instructor needs to prepare you for anything the examiner might ask, the examiner will probably only ask you half as much.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL