What is the best way to study for the Instrument Written Test?

For those who plan to use memorization as their study strategy, you better hurry along. The FAA (AFS-630) has announced that they're revamping the questions/answers. They are getting serious about thwarting what they call "question harvesting" which allow people to memorize the test questions. They have also mentioned moving into video questions, too, so it's likely we'll see some real changes to the testing process, possibly as early as 2021. Make sure to use a method that requires you to learn rather than memorize.
 
write-stuff said:
For those who plan to use memorization as their study strategy, you better hurry along. The FAA (AFS-630) has announced that they're revamping the questions/answers. They are getting serious about thwarting what they call "question harvesting" which allow people to memorize the test questions. They have also mentioned moving into video questions, too, so it's likely we'll see some real changes to the testing process, possibly as early as 2021. Make sure to use a method that requires you to learn rather than memorize.
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Is this for all testing levels?

Video questions eh? Interesting. How would that impact your product?
 
Testing for all airman certificates, Mike. It would have a minimal impact on Gold Seal products since they are all designed to teach the material. If you understand the concepts, it really doesn't matter how the questions are worded. The people most impacted will be those who try to memorize.

It's still a couple years away (in my estimate), but it will have a significant impact on a couple of other products that use memorization and memory-tricks to prepare people. GoldMethod will be essentially immune to that because of the way it is already programmed.
 
I used ShepherdAir software while I was in Afghanistan and the sporty’s IR course software videos. Shepherd Air was really helpful when I had questions. A specific question I had was on holding procedures how to decide which one to pick. They were very helpful and had a explanation video already on the website. If you don’t understand the concepts they will help you so its not just a memory type of study material if you take the time to learn what they have to offer. Granted you have the ability to just cram study using the software and memory list. I landed after a 16 hour flight from Dubai to Dallas and went and took it no problem. They know how to make software and have great customer support a huge plus for me.
 
Just passed the written earlier today. Started out with the Sporty's video series, used it for the written endorsement, and then spent free time over a week or two going through the full Sheppard Air study strategy.
 
The only correct answer is that you need to select a method that fits your learning style.

Caveat, the written exam does have some curve balls on it that Sheppard Air does a great job of calling out and you will not be surprised. Case in point: the holding pattern entry questions. Sometimes they don't give you enough information to select what they score as the correct answer. Sheppard Air also provides pretty in-depth explanations of the questions and answers with the appropriate regulation references and they have a 24/7 hotline if you are having trouble. So it is not like they are trying to get you through on rote memorization alone even though their method works great for rote memorization.

At the end of the day you will still need to know the information but sometimes having the written exam out of the way relieves some of the stress and lets you focus on the actual information you will be using/tested on the practical exam.

P.S. I used Sheppard Air after having many conversations with my instructor and scored 100% on the written. If you have aspirations of moving along (e.g. going to be a career pilot via instructing to build time), you should consider taking the IGI and FII exams as they are practically the same. They are good for 24 months.
 
SOB8604 said:
Currently what I'm doing, several friends who are recent IR/CPL through CFII pilots and the consensus is study for and pass the test then dive into the material. I'm doing sheppard and its slow tedious progress, also got the sportys course as I like the way they explain things visually in their videos.

I've logged a little bit of actual and about 12 hours of hood time, and the flying is awesome, I find it interesting, different and exciting...but studying for this damn written while working 80+ hours a week and balancing life is tough, I've pushed my date goal of getting certified by several times now. Now shooting to have it by the end of the summer. :eek:
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Just keep at it
 
Having gone though many a written test on the A&p and pilot side, I can say that you can't help but to memorize the answers as you go through each question and learn the answers via study material/FAA data/charts. I always go into them prepared to delve into them but I know the answers so I crank through them. So be prepared to really know the material, but if you know the answer by looking at it then great. The real learning comes after anyway.

Oh and ASA worked for me for all 5 writtens. Not as good as 10 years ago but still good.
 
hello there fellow pilots, just joined today. I am currently working on my IR.
 
I purchased Gold Seal after running through a few of their free modules. I’ve only just gotten into it but love it so far. I’m a visual learner, need to see it in action to understand it fully, and Gold Seal does that. And I can go back and repeat at my own pace anytime. Wouldn’t be able to do that so much in a traditional ground school. Love the videos and the interactive method they put forward. Looking to get the first couple modules solidly learned before my first lesson with my CFI next Saturday.
 
I took my written about a month ago. I used the Sporty's online course. I also watched a lot of youtube videos explaining different aspects of the rating. On the test there were a couple of questions that I had never seen anything about, it was easy to eliminate one answer, but after that it was a guess.
I still scored a 92. One more flight this afternoon and I've got 40+ in the book. Checkride tuesday.
 
Wagondriver said:
I took my written about a month ago. I used the Sporty's online course. I also watched a lot of youtube videos explaining different aspects of the rating. On the test there were a couple of questions that I had never seen anything about, it was easy to eliminate one answer, but after that it was a guess.
I still scored a 92. One more flight this afternoon and I've got 40+ in the book. Checkride tuesday.
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How was the checkride?
 
DPE would not do a check ride in IMC. Ceilings were a couple hundred under what we needed to maintain vfr. A couple hours later the ceilings were 300', then next day 500', the day after that 500'.

Now I am back home, looking for an instructor to get familiar with a different airplane and airport, and find a DPE.

But, with all this covid-19 crap, it might be a while.
 
Sorry to hear. Yes, this weather around here is also poor lately - either low cloud cover and rain or just low cloud cover
 
Why would DPE not do a ride in IMC? Isn’t the whole point of the rating to be safe and sound in IMC?
 
WannFly said:
Why would DPE not do a ride in IMC? Isn’t the whole point of the rating to be safe and sound in IMC?
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I’d rather not do the unusual attitude part in IMC. I did that once. Never again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
crash7 said:
I’d rather not do the unusual attitude part in IMC. I did that once. Never again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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doesnt make whole lot of sense... but thats probably just me. I would prefer to encounter a planned unusual attitude in IMC with a DPE on-board than a unplanned one with family on-board for the very first time.
 
I do not know why he wouldn't do the checkride in IMC. One suggestion was that he did not have a valid medical and therefore couldn't legally be PIC.
 
I just took the test today after using the King online course and got a 93%. I started working through their sections and took all the practice tests. I thought it was great and definitely isn't just a memorization type of course. Fortunately, that worked well because there were only a few of the questions on the exam that were the same as ones I had seen in the course. There were many similar, but you really seemed to have to know the material to do well.
 
Wagondriver said:
I do not know why he wouldn't do the checkride in IMC. One suggestion was that he did not have a valid medical and therefore couldn't legally be PIC.
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The FAA discourages (but does not outright prohibit) DPEs from being PIC during the ride. Note that DPEs are given special dispensation to not count as a passenger on a private checkride.
 
I've skimmed through this thread - lots of great advice! I passed my IR written last week. Used the King School course which I thought was really good. The videos helped me understand the concepts in ways that my self-study didn't (I used some ASA books that a friend gave me, also good). Sheppard Air has been highly recommended to me too. I also engaged two CFI's at two different times for some one-on-one ground school and that was as helpful as anything else.
 
BLUF: my studying has been really broken and disjointed and I'm seeking opinions on how I'll know I'm ready.

It's been a long on/off struggle for me to get my IR, and there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

I did a Part 141 instrument ground course back in winter of 2018. I had to travel for work often and missed probably 3/10 of the classes but did well enough on the exam at the end to get the endorsement/certificate. Toward the end of the course, when I was almost ready to schedule the written, I got order to deploy. Not wanting to add to all the pre-deployment things I needed to do and without knowing how quickly I could complete flight training after deployment, I skipped out on doing the written.

I studied a lot on my own throughout the deployment to try and keep the topics fresh on my mind, but as soon as I got home I got orders to move. I knew I didn't have time to do the written and all of the flight training and checkride before moving, so I pushed it off again.

I'm finally in a position where I know I'll be here for 2 more years without a deployment, I have an instructor ready and I'm about to start flight training. I've been going through the Sporty's instrument course now- almost all of it is familiar or I already know the material, but I wanted to see if, given my on again off again history with studying over the last 2+ years, are there any recommendations to help really be confident going forward?

Essentially, I feel like since my studying has been so broken up with life events I don't have a ton of confidence that I've done it the "right" way. I'm going to do the practice tests at the end of the Sporty's course, but is it safe to assume that if I do well on those then I'm ready for the test? Obviously I'll chat with my instructor about it, too, but thought I'd get opinions here. Thanks!
 
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Robert S. said:
I Highly Recommend Mzeroa.com.
They'll offer a Free one to week unlimited free trail.
Check it its awesome
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Interesting. I wasn’t even aware he had an instrument course (I don’t pay attention to him much). Of all the threads on “how to study for the instrument written”, and there are a freakin gazillion of them, I’ve never seen anyone recommend them. Also interesting they offer a free week. If u buckle down, u probably wouldn’t need more than a week to study for it.
 
I guess Sporty’s revamped their course in 2019. I haven’t seen them mentioned much lately. Any opinions?

I’m finding the self-driven, self-organized study model isn’t what I’m best at (i.e. crack open a book and read and take notes until your vision goes fuzzy). Ideally I would take the course that is most similar to a classroom style course - lecture, reading assignments, periodic quizzes, organized progression, etc. I travel a lot so would prefer something I can use without an internet connection.

Boldmethod’s videos have really worked well as review and for my style of learning.

I AM planning on taking something like the GoldMethod or Sheppardair as test prep. This is to learn the material.

Thanks for any updated thoughts.
 
Tinstafl said:
I guess Sporty’s revamped their course in 2019. I haven’t seen them mentioned much lately. Any opinions?

I’m finding the self-driven, self-organized study model isn’t what I’m best at (i.e. crack open a book and read and take notes until your vision goes fuzzy). Ideally I would take the course that is most similar to a classroom style course - lecture, reading assignments, periodic quizzes, organized progression, etc. I travel a lot so would prefer something I can use without an internet connection.

Boldmethod’s videos have really worked well as review and for my style of learning.

I AM planning on taking something like the GoldMethod or Sheppardair as test prep. This is to learn the material.

Thanks for any updated thoughts.
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Best way to learn the IFR basics? I thought Sportys was good for that. I took the course over the past year and thought it did a really nice job of giving the basics and overview of how the system works. I enjoyed the videos - short chunks are engaging and can allow you to study for small periods of time. I had read a lot of books in the years leading up but definitely got the most out of watching this video series. So for that purpose, I would highly recommend.

For test prep - Sportys is not so great. I'm using Sheppard Air for that (and will hopefully be posting in 1-2 weeks on my results).
 
I can vouch for Sporty's + Sheppard... I just passed my IFR knowledge test today! :) I originally started with the Sporty's Course, and I really like their videos / course material. After I completed the Sporty's course I still wasn't scoring as high as I wanted to on the practice tests, so I subscribed to Sheppard, and spent about a week of evenings going through that course. I must say that while Sporty's is a better prep for IFR operations (actual flying), I feel Sheppard does a much better in preparing learners for the knowledge test (FAR's, requirements, NOTAMS, etc). As I used the Sheppard software I tried to focus on actually learning the material vs memorizing the correct answers, and I am very glad I took that approach. On the actual test today I had quite a few questions that that were totally unfamiliar to me, and if I had just memorized the answers per Sheppard I think I would have scored much lower!

Good Luck!
 
Thanks guys! That confirms a few of my thoughts. Sounds like Sporty’s will give me what i’m looking for at this stage. I expect to have some test specific deficiencies after taking one of the ground school courses - at which point I’ll brush up with something like Sheppard.

Thanks again.
 
King schools and then review the gleim question bank
 
Piper_Pilot said:
I can vouch for Sporty's + Sheppard... I just passed my IFR knowledge test today! :) I originally started with the Sporty's Course, and I really like their videos / course material. After I completed the Sporty's course I still wasn't scoring as high as I wanted to on the practice tests, so I subscribed to Sheppard, and spent about a week of evenings going through that course. I must say that while Sporty's is a better prep for IFR operations (actual flying), I feel Sheppard does a much better in preparing learners for the knowledge test (FAR's, requirements, NOTAMS, etc). As I used the Sheppard software I tried to focus on actually learning the material vs memorizing the correct answers, and I am very glad I took that approach. On the actual test today I had quite a few questions that that were totally unfamiliar to me, and if I had just memorized the answers per Sheppard I think I would have scored much lower!

Good Luck!
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A belated congrats.

In addition to all of the hardcopy and online study materials, I record MP3 files of limitations and procedures for check rides then play them while driving or sleeping. If sleeping, I turn the sound down to where I can barely hear it and set it to loop.
 
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