Sheppard Air reviews…

Sport Pilot

Sport Pilot

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I just purchased Sheppard Air for my studies. It indicates that you follow their curriculum, you will pass.

What are your thoughts on this curriculum and does it work?
 
There are multiple threads on the topic. Search is your friend.
 
Sport Pilot said:
I just purchased Sheppard Air for my studies. It indicates that you follow their curriculum, you will pass.

What are your thoughts on this curriculum and does it work?
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You will pass the test. You won't get smarter and you'll still have to eventually learn the material that the knowledge test was intended to measure.
 
Thank you for the responses. I have had one day going through the instructions and coursework. It seems to me it is set-up as a rote memorization tool to pass the test.
 
I just bought one of their courses for my commercial. 1 day into it I just had the thought that I'm not learning anything at all so I'm shelving it in favor of something else.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just bought one of their courses for my commercial. 1 day into it I just had the thought that I'm not learning anything at all so I'm shelving it in favor of something else.
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why don't you use shepp for the first time you take it and something else the second time so you can compare?

:happydance:
 
Sport Pilot said:
Thank you for the responses. I have had one day going through the instructions and coursework. It seems to me it is set-up as a rote memorization tool to pass the test.
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That is exactly what it is, and they are clear about that. Follow their program to a T, and you will pass. I highly recommend it and don't have a bit of guilt about it just because the FAA written test are so poorly designed and written that book knowledge alone won't guarantee a pass.
 
I highly recommend it and don't have a bit of guilt about it
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That is exactly why I created this post. When I studied for my pilot certificate, I used Gleim and read and learned all the material for my written. Now that I am using Sheppard, my usual studying pattern is deviated to acclimate to Sheppard’s coursework. I am ok with it, I just feel like I am cheating on the test and cheating myself.

I suppose after I take and pass the written test, I can go back and study how I always have to learn the material.
 
Used it for the ATP written back in 2016. You won’t learn anything but you’ll pass the test guaranteed lol.
 
Sport Pilot said:
That is exactly why I created this post. When I studied for my pilot certificate, I used Gleim and read and learned all the material for my written. Now that I am using Sheppard, my usual studying pattern is deviated to acclimate to Sheppard’s coursework. I am ok with it, I just feel like I am cheating on the test and cheating myself.

I suppose after I take and pass the written test, I can go back and study how I always have to learn the material.
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That is the one caveat, Sheppard is to pass the test and nothing more. You still need to learn the material.
 
jordane93 said:
Used it for the ATP written back in 2016. You won’t learn anything but you’ll pass the test guaranteed lol.
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From what I've seen, nearly all the ATP holders in your age group have used Shep to get through the ATP knowledge exam. It's seems to be what is largely recommended by recruiters for the regional airlines.
 
Htaylor said:
From what I've seen, nearly all the ATP holders in your age group have used Shep to get through the ATP knowledge exam. It's seems to be what is largely recommended by recruiters for the regional airlines.
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It’s the best/easiest prep. I think if you score below a 90 they give you your money. At least they were offering that when I took the written.
 
Get the Sporty's training (or Gleim if you like to use books) to learn the material. Then drill for the written test using the Sheppard.
 
Sport Pilot said:
I just purchased Sheppard Air for my studies. It indicates that you follow their curriculum, you will pass.

What are your thoughts on this curriculum and does it work?
Click to expand...
After being a long time believer in Kings I used Sheppard for my last two written, FOI and FIA

The approach and methodology are certainly different but I scored the highest I'd ever scored on exams..
 
write-stuff said:
It's a glorified random quiz generator. Its appeal is that it appears to be a shortcut.
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Russ, how do the quizzes/pretest associated with your course compare to the Sheppard tests? I have completed your Instrument course, have read the IFH, reading the IPH, and in the process of repeating your course. I am considering taking the Sheppard test prep also but I am getting the feeling, based on my understanding of the material presented by Gold Seal and my pretest performance that it may not be needed. Comments?
 
Make sure you take the written before PSI changes up the test. Part of the purpose of the rewrite is to defeat the memorizers.
 
Lindberg said:
Make sure you take the written before PSI changes up the test. Part of the purpose of the rewrite is to defeat the memorizers.
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Correct. That has been a stated, major goal of AFS-630, the Airman Testing Branch. I suspect the days of memorization for tests is drawing to a close.
 
robin ardoin said:
Russ, how do the quizzes/pretest associated with your course compare to the Sheppard tests? I have completed your Instrument course, have read the IFH, reading the IPH, and in the process of repeating your course. I am considering taking the Sheppard test prep also but I am getting the feeling, based on my understanding of the material presented by Gold Seal and my pretest performance that it may not be needed. Comments?
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HI, Robin. For instruments, I'm pretty sure Shepard had a larger database of questions. But ours is totally sufficient. Gold Seal is not a memorization tool and never will be. If you understand the concepts, it doesn't matter how the questions are phrased.
 
write-stuff said:
Correct. That has been a stated, major goal of AFS-630, the Airman Testing Branch. I suspect the days of memorization for tests is drawing to a close.
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I remember pre 2000ish the test question bank was actually published. The FAA around that time made a big noise about changing things up to stop memorization. Their first big step, randomizing the order of the answers. Ummm....yeah....
 
Used it for both FIA and FOI and with about a week of study time for each and scored in the 90s on both
 
midwestpa24 said:
I remember pre 2000ish the test question bank was actually published. The FAA around that time made a big noise about changing things up to stop memorization. Their first big step, randomizing the order of the answers. Ummm....yeah....
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At college in the '90s, I satisfied a science requirement with a private pilot ground school class in the engineering school. The texts were the FAA handbook and the test question bank, and the final was a selection of those questions simulating the PPL written. The class was filled with mouth breathers who had no interest in aeronautics and just memorized the answers. I already had my certificate, so it was a gimmie for me too, but for a different reason.
 
Sport Pilot said:
Thank you for the responses. I have had one day going through the instructions and coursework. It seems to me it is set-up as a rote memorization tool to pass the test.
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It’s not simply rote memorization- you need to spend time on working out the problems that are within the questions. You need to have understanding in order to work out those answers. There are several “bad” questions on the tests- and you will memorize those. I think there were over 1100 practice questions for the CPL - you aren’t going to memorize that many answers IMO.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I remember pre 2000ish the test question bank was actually published. The FAA around that time made a big noise about changing things up to stop memorization. Their first big step, randomizing the order of the answers. Ummm....yeah....
Click to expand...
They published the question database until 2008. In the last couple of years, the FAA has contracted with PSI to completely overhaul the testing process. They seem to be slowly working in that direction. They are changing questions/answers more frequently now and will ultimately do away with the Knowledge Test Supplement. You won't know the charts and figures in advance.

This short article describes it:
Knowledge Test Prep - Why Memorization is a Bad Idea - Gold Seal Online Ground School
 
I used printed texts like gliem and others for my PPL and Instrument written exams. Nearly 20 years ago. My strategy for the commercial written I took last December paid off. I used gold seal for a year ago off and on. A then a few months with sheppard air making sure to follow every rabbit hole in the referenced documents to actually read the right answers or material from the FAA published documents. Then go through the study strategy to prep for the test.
 
write-stuff said:
They published the question database until 2008. In the last couple of years, the FAA has contracted with PSI to completely overhaul the testing process. They seem to be slowly working in that direction. They are changing questions/answers more frequently now and will ultimately do away with the Knowledge Test Supplement. You won't know the charts and figures in advance.

This short article describes it:
Knowledge Test Prep - Why Memorization is a Bad Idea - Gold Seal Online Ground School
Click to expand...

Hopefully with a testing company actually writing the test, it will become better written. The current FAA questions and answers are just bad. There are several questions with 2 technically correct answers, and the only way to know the right one is rote memorization. Others have questions that are just so poorly worded, you have to read them ten times just to try to understand it.
 
100 on my instrument, high 90s on my commercial using Sheppard, and I'm REALLY not that smart. Sheppard is great for passing the test, however, it's a good idea to supplement that with other training material to actually learn the stuff.
 
Worked quite well for my instrument written 2 years ago. I think I missed one question (misread the question and answered with the ILS mins instead of LOC mins). There were definitely questions and tactics provided by Sheppard to ensure the dumb questions are easy.

I did however enjoy quality time with John and Martha King so I understood the concepts more deeply.
 
Sport Pilot said:
I just purchased Sheppard Air for my studies. It indicates that you follow their curriculum, you will pass.

What are your thoughts on this curriculum and does it work?
Click to expand...

I used it for commercial, FOI AGI & IGI. Will probably use it for the CFI. I would agree with other posters that it basically helps you memorize answers to the questions. It should be a supplement to studying the material. I made sure I looked up all answers I missed and understood why I missed them. Scored over 90 on all exams I used it for.
 
Soooo..... What I'm hearing is I should just do my FOI, FIA, FII now.
 
kaiser said:
Soooo..... What I'm hearing is I should just do my FOI, FIA, FII now.
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I’ve had that same thought, but given the knowledge test is only good for two years and I’m not planning on any of those checkrides in the mext month or so then I might as well just learn the material anyways and spend the 3x $175 testing fees on good bourbon right now.
 
TCABM said:
I’ve had that same thought, but given the knowledge test is only good for two years and I’m not planning on any of those checkrides in the mext month or so then I might as well just learn the material anyways and spend the 3x $175 testing fees on good bourbon right now.
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Sure. And I'm banned from any new certs in 2023 (because I got 2 and tailwheel last year and my family still has to eat). But in my head it's better to go with the devil you know, than the one you don't.
 
It's test prep not material presentation. Ideally, you're reading/learning for some other source and doing your real world training/talking with your CFI first. Then you use the Sheppard Air to figure out what you don't know and go look it up/memorize regulatory minutia/understand the bass ackwards way the FAA asks about certain things.

Honestly, knowing how to fly the plane/navigate the system and passing the knowledge test are two different skills that are slightly related. That's probably why there's an oral, practical, and written tests. One tests if you're able to fly, another tests if you know what you're doing, another tests if you know why you're doing it I suppose.
 
Aside from the many basic oral questions, you will be asked the questions that you got wrong on the written during the oral portion of the check ride. Get the ASA oral prep book for the check ride
 
It's popular to bash on Sheppard as purely a testing prep software. There's truth in that of course (it's how they market it themselves after all) but I found it to be an excellent tool for actually learning the material as well. It's all in how you choose to use it. For me it provided the focus for where I targeted my own studying. The descriptions provided for each question are usually quite good while also providing the ancillary benefit of helping to get familiar with the individual test questions. The biggest benefit was providing a very focused and direct reference to the source material - which I would grind my way through until I understood it in detail.

For me, it took about a month of intensively studying question by question in my weak areas until I felt like I truly understood them. That meant a lot of diving into the source materials and asking questions of CFIs and other pilots. I often found the other options (like Sportys) felt way too superficial and didn't get into the nitty gritty of the topics - so I would end up with a general understanding but not the depth I needed. Flashy graphics but low content value. You have to do a lot of outside studying with all systems, but Sheppard kept the additional research more focused. High passing grades on the writtens and (what felt like) casual oral exams meant it worked well for me.

After the month of studying I would repeat the Sheppard system exactly as prescribed - and it worked then as advertised despite having a terrible mind for rote memorization.
 
I agree. You will always have only a superficial grasp of much of the material on the written until you use it in the air as part of your rating/certificate. Of course you have to know the regs and memorize them, too. Shepard is intense study - but I also used the Jepp Instrument/Commercial book, the oral test prep and an excellent instructor.
 
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