AggieMike88
Touchdown! Greaser!
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
.... onward to the FII and IGI.
Used Sheppard Air to prep. AGI had about 780-ish questions to review. FIA about 640.
Between the two, they shared 70% of the same questions. Zero rotor craft questions.
FIA had a larger quantity of calculation questions, but most were just a few more of the same "theme" that AGI had. For example, Figure 36 of the supplement is a weight and balance question. AGI has only 4 questions from that figure. FIA has 9, including the 4 from AGI.
But if you know how to work your E6B to get the answers, none of the calculation questions are difficult. And now where near as gnarly as a few in the Instrument Airplane exam.
Other parts of the exam are areas where you "should" already know, such as airspaces (including details about size, chart depiction, Class C radii, cloud clearance and visibility), details on a sectional, airport and runway markings, ANDS/ONUS compass items, West is Best versus East is Least, calculations that include day/night VFR fuel minimums, and other topics that are part of what you tested on in Private, IFR, and Commercial.
In the end, I enjoyed the process and the review.
Suggestions for those currently prepping for these two or in the middle of prep...
1. I also had the ASA prepbook which also gave me access to their online resource. While good, it didn't match the simplicity and best use of the Law of Primacy that Sheppard Air has. So if asked which Prep System for these two exams, I'd recommend Sheppard Air.
2. Definitely followed the study strategy Sheppard Air shows you. I got bogged down on a hybrid of my own and it did make things a bit more difficult and ate up more time. But when I got back on track with their strategy, I was picking up the concepts better and faster.
3. Allow a few hours each day to get through each of the sections, and try to finish each section 100%. A few times I would only do one partially. But doing a complete section gave me a big sense of accomplishment and encouragement to tackle the next one.
4. Develop your own memory aid sheet. For the Instrument Airplane exam, Sheppard Air provides you with a Memory Aid sheet that is exceptionally beneficial during the test. There were 8 different topics that I was always stumbling on, each with 3-7 questions. So after figuring out the "commonality" of the questions, I determined a memory aid for that topic. Then I practiced re-creating my half page of memory aids onto a blank sheet of paper. This included the 4 or 5 questions Sheppard's editors said were being scored in a weird way. During the actual exam today, the test hit 4 of the times on my Memory Aid sheet. Having the "answers" already written down made it super simple to mark the correct answer and move on.
An example of this are the "Off Course" questions. The question said something like that your "off course heading is XXX°. What do you need to steer to get back on course?
Rather than memorize the mathematical method that the explanation provided, I noted that the easy way to know the answer was
Off course of 141°, answer 14°. So just drop the third digit and remember 141 = 14
Off course of 150°, answer 6°. So just add 1 to 5 and you get 6
Off course of 240°, answer 21°. Of the three choices, only one had a 2 in front or was close to "24"
Rather than memorize the mathematical method that the explanation provided, I noted that the easy way to know the answer was
Off course of 141°, answer 14°. So just drop the third digit and remember 141 = 14
Off course of 150°, answer 6°. So just add 1 to 5 and you get 6
Off course of 240°, answer 21°. Of the three choices, only one had a 2 in front or was close to "24"
So for my memory aid sheet, I had memorized writing down a short table of
And when I got the question with 150° as the parameter, I quickly knew the correct answer was 6°
141 = 14
150 = 6
240 = 21
150 = 6
240 = 21
And when I got the question with 150° as the parameter, I quickly knew the correct answer was 6°
One observational criticism was that these two exams had some good questions about the commercial pilot maneuvers, particularly 8's on pylons, lazy 8's, and the Chandelle. Which I say is good because they are part of the CFI practical exam. And I found the knowledge the imparted to be useful. But why aren't they part of the CAX exam? To me, because the pilot will first encounter performing the maneuvers for CPL, it makes sense to test on these details at that point in addition to FIA.
Hit me up with any questions and I'll do my best to answer.
PS. Sheppard Air cost for the AGI was $45.00 and then just $10.00 for the "add on" FIA. I called a bit ago to get the IGI activated. Since I had used them for my IFR, IGI was also just $10.00.
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