Written Exam prep courses

gitmo234

gitmo234

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gitmo234
Does anyone have any recommendation for courses that are specifically tailored to the FAA written exam?

Online will have to do, I guess.

I had one scheduled for this weekend, and the rest of my training schedule hinged upon that and I called to verify the course and was told that they would be canceling it. Had I not of called, I wouldn't have known. This really annoys the crap out of me since I'm getting ready to finalize plans to finish up my training and as of right now I dont have another free weekend until September.

I asked someone i know who teaches the same seminar if he would be willing to do it one on one for the usual rate, so lets see.
 
For private pilot? For instrument? Commercial?

For instrument and above, I second the suggestion of www.SheppardAir.com

But do be aware that there system is more a system of memorization of the questions and answers versus gaining a thorough grasp of the content. The former will help you pass the written. The latter is needed to do well in training and the oral exam.
 
murphey said:
sheppardair.com
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I don't think Sheppardair does Private, which I'm assuming the OP talking about since he did not specify.

There are actually quite a few options, depending on whether you want to do it online, by book or by video. I've always done the old school Gleim books, which are about the cheapest way to study. I've also done the Dauntless iPad knowledge test prep as well. Years ago for my instrument I did the King videos. All had their pluses and minuses. For the last eight years, I've commuted to work by subway so books and ipad apps worked better than videos.

What you end up choosing comes down to your learning style.
 
Sorry, I thought I specified private. I have the Sporty's ground school and as of right now it looks like I'll be spending the weekend sitting on my rear in front of my IPad with that.

I do better (by far) in person/classroom settings. Ive done ground school (in person and on ipad) but I was looking more for a customized test prep with an instructor saying I should do fine.

I'm a bit high on the P@#$ off scale right now. It appears it's either Ipad or fly to florida (and may be dallas).
 
Okay so far the plan is to cram the sporty's ground school test prep down my throat all weekend.

If I can pass the US Army Pathfinder school (a course in cramming overwhelming knowledge and testing on it the next day, for weeks), then I can do this too.

Either that or my timeline changes from a check ride in the next 30 days or so to waiting until October (maybe).
 
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I'll try and beat kenjr to this ;)


spend the $9 on the Sporty's study buddy test prep if you are getting in the 90's on that thing, you will ace your written
 
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Before you spend the bucks on Sportys, look at Gold Seal.

You can register and access 1/3 of the lessons for free. And you can use the complete quizzing engine without charge. If you like it, you can take the full course for $88. We just past a total of 28,000 registered members this week.

Check this out before making your decision.
www.OnlineGroundSchool.com
 
For what it's worth, mine was all self study using the Gleim study guide and the 9.99 Sporty's Study Buddy. Lots of time spent at the kitchen table working through the problems and doing the example tests, but I ended up only missing one on the written.

Getting ready for my checkride now and I study the FAR/AIM, PTSs, a "Ride Ready" app for iPad by Dauntless, the POH, the PHAK, a book by ASA for checkride prep, the airplane maintenance logbook, and a number of YouTube videos for good measure. If I can't coherently understand most of the main topics my DPE throws at me after trying to meld these study tools together, I don't deserve to get my wings anyway...

Best of luck to you!
 
Hobobiker said:
For what it's worth, mine was all self study using the Gleim study guide and the 9.99 Sporty's Study Buddy. Lots of time spent at the kitchen table working through the problems and doing the example tests, but I ended up only missing one on the written.

Getting ready for my checkride now and I study the FAR/AIM, PTSs, a "Ride Ready" app for iPad by Dauntless, the POH, the PHAK, a book by ASA for checkride prep, the airplane maintenance logbook, and a number of YouTube videos for good measure. If I can't coherently understand most of the main topics my DPE throws at me after trying to meld these study tools together, I don't deserve to get my wings anyway...

Best of luck to you!
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Would you do it again the same way?
I did the exact same and in hindsight, Gleim is sooo damn dry.
I think I should have gone with the kings. Cheesy but it as some life to it.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Would you do it again the same way?
I did the exact same and in hindsight, Gleim is sooo damn dry.
I think I should have gone with the kings. Cheesy but it as some life to it.
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Not sure Bryan, but I HAVE heard that the King's stuff can hold your interest a while longer and give some cheesy memory joggers. I remember seeing a YouTube video regarding taxiway signs where she was saying something like "...and remember, Black is where you're AT!"

I'll give ya a definitive answer when I pass this checkride and start my IFR training... LOL
 
www.asa2fly.com They have a number of products...some are books, some are online, some are on CD-ROM.

Bob Gardner
 
Thanks everyone. I have the sporty's ground school already on my ipad, and I ordered a King's school book on amazon awhile back to flip through. Between that and cramming, I can pick it up.

I don't feel ready now. I have 36 hours flying but I dont feel I have much common knowledge. Kinda feel a bit cheated in that sense. I can hop in a 172, follow the check list, take it up and land it but that's it. Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit. I feel like I dont have crap for technical/book knowledge but I can hit a 70% consistently on the Sportys tests.
 
gitmo234 said:
Thanks everyone. I have the sporty's ground school already on my ipad, and I ordered a King's school book on amazon awhile back to flip through. Between that and cramming, I can pick it up.

I don't feel ready now. I have 36 hours flying but I dont feel I have much common knowledge. Kinda feel a bit cheated in that sense. I can hop in a 172, follow the check list, take it up and land it but that's it. Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit. I feel like I dont have crap for technical/book knowledge but I can hit a 70% consistently on the Sportys tests.
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Ask your CFI to setup a mock oral exam with him or another CFI. At this point, try to identify what you're week and strong on. Go study, emphasizing the weak spots, then do another mock oral. Repeat if needed.

Doing a mock oral with one more more CFI's will help you understand how DPE's do this part of the checkride and help alleviate some test taking jitters. Then once you're doing it for real, it becomes a comfortable, but detailed, conversation about flying as a private pilot.
 
James331 said:
Dauntless has a PPL written prep

http://www.dauntless-soft.com/products/groundschool/private.asp

Shepard air for the rest

http://www.sheppardair.com

Or you can always use the kings, you'll learn more but it's not really set up for a wham bam rote to test in nothing flat arrangement

http://www.kingschools.com

Perhaps the mods should make a written prep sticky, seems like this is asked like once every few days.
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I ended up checking out the Dauntless software and it is amazing. $45 and I'm doing better/learning more than I did with sportys.

Thanks a million
 
How about a comprehensive CD-ROM or MP3 audio course for the instrument exam - other than Gleim?

I put it on my iPhone and have twice listened to the entire Gleim course (driving, gym, etc.) (this one). It certainly helped move me along, but it's definitely dry.

Any other options?
 
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I used the Gleim. study guide. Went through it about 3 or 4 times.
Went for the test, and took me about 20 min. or less, and aced it. I didn't cram, but worked through each and every question, as though I was taking the test for the first time. I also got real good at working my E6B, I didn't even carry a calculator in for the exam, just my e6b. (it's a circular slide rule, old school, before calculators)
 
gitmo234 said:
Does anyone have any recommendation for courses that are specifically tailored to the FAA written exam?

Online will have to do, I guess.

I had one scheduled for this weekend, and the rest of my training schedule hinged upon that and I called to verify the course and was told that they would be canceling it. Had I not of called, I wouldn't have known. This really annoys the crap out of me since I'm getting ready to finalize plans to finish up my training and as of right now I dont have another free weekend until September.

I asked someone i know who teaches the same seminar if he would be willing to do it one on one for the usual rate, so lets see.
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I used Prepware for Private Pilot, got a 90. The wife got a 95.

Here it is at the Pilot Store>..... http://tinyurl.com/l9mtcab
 
If you can't pass the exam with Gleim and Study Buddy...not matter how dry/boring...then you have other problems.

I used Study Buddy and Dauntless and really like the Dauntless materials...especially their ride ready stuff which gets in the weeds on the concepts/explanations. Helpful if you're having trouble with something.

I also bought the Sporty's DVD kit but really didn't use it. I skimmed through it a bit...it was marginally helpful when I started working on planning XC's and a little on weather (would take all the info I could get on that topic) but that was about it.
 
kenjr said:
really like the Dauntless materials...especially their ride ready stuff which gets in the weeds on the concepts/explanations. Helpful if you're having trouble with something.
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Elaborate on "gets in the weeds" please. I'm used to hearing "in the weeds" as a negative thing, especially in a kitchen.

Do you, gets in to good detail?
 
AggieMike88 said:
Elaborate on "gets in the weeds" please. I'm used to hearing "in the weeds" as a negative thing, especially in a kitchen.

Do you, gets in to good detail?
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I'm not KenJr, but I have some feedback. I have been using Sporty's Study Buddy and it's pretty good value for the buck. However, after I couldn't figure out how to get the correct answer using Sporty's explanation, I tried the Dauntless app. Big difference, at least for this particular question.

The question I struggled with was a holding pattern entry (direct, parallel, or teardrop) involving the following test diagram:

117.jpg


Here's a side-by-side comparison of Sporty's terse explanation and the more detailed one in Dauntless (click for bigger):

 
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AggieMike88 said:
Elaborate on "gets in the weeds" please. I'm used to hearing "in the weeds" as a negative thing, especially in a kitchen.

Do you, gets in to good detail?
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I mean it in a good way...like a lot of details. I was very happy with my purchase and will definitely use them for my IFR.
 
...I honestly just skipped over the ADF stuff. We have one in our plane and use it as a AM radio to pick up whatever we can on long trips. :) I spent enough time with it to get 1 of the 2 questions I saw on my exam right. That was good enough for me at this point.

It'll be out of our plane before I start my IFR, so I wasn't concerned with spending a bunch of time on it.
 
just over 48 hours of hitting the Dauntless Software test prep, I took the test a few hours ago and walked away with a 85%. Prior to hitting the books I was scoring a steady 60 or 62% on sportys practice exams
 
Good job.... But you studied 15% too much.
 
Thanks. Normally I'm very much a "70% is a 100%" kind of person but I didnt want to scrape by and then end up in my Oral exam and getting more scrutiny from my examiner because my test sheet is full.

Not even sure if that's something they do but I didnt want to take any chances.

Time for a drink now.
 
gitmo234 said:
Thanks. Normally I'm very much a "70% is a 100%" kind of person but I didnt want to scrape by and then end up in my Oral exam and getting more scrutiny from my examiner because my test sheet is full.

Not even sure if that's something they do but I didnt want to take any chances.

Time for a drink now.
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My checkride guy went right after a weather question i missed. It was the only question i also missed on the checkride oral - so unless you want to see them again, get them right on the written.
 
Meh, if you miss something you'll whant to go over it anyways.

However I've taken a few check rides and recommended and observed a ton, I've seen folks who got in the upper 90% have longer orals then 71%ers and vise versa.

Don't put much stock in the written to oral thing.
 
Just another data point from the instrument side... I used the King online class. Passed with an 80% so it did "work." The caveat I'd give to that is that the course was obviously assembled many moons ago and updates are patchy. The practice test questions weren't terribly reflective of what I saw on the exam, either. For your money, there are far better programs for sure.
 
Hobobiker said:
Not sure Bryan, but I HAVE heard that the King's stuff can hold your interest a while longer and give some cheesy memory joggers. I remember seeing a YouTube video regarding taxiway signs where she was saying something like "...and remember, Black is where you're AT!"

I'll give ya a definitive answer when I pass this checkride and start my IFR training... LOL
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I used King for my Private and was very happy with it
 
My instructor gave me a couple books to read, including the Pilots handbook of aeronautical knowledge and the Jeppesen private pilot manual, then told me to use the Gleim book. I basically ignored all the text in the Gleim book and treated it like one huge test. Once I did all that I did a bunch of practice tests using Prepware on my tablet (android) and once I was scoring in the 90s I took the written. Passed with an 85%, and a couple of the ones I missed were just dumb misreadings. This worked fine for me, but you do really have to be on yourself to get through it. If you need someone to teach you then this route probably isn't the best.
 
gitmo234 said:
Does anyone have any recommendation for courses that are specifically tailored to the FAA written exam?

Online will have to do, I guess.

I had one scheduled for this weekend, and the rest of my training schedule hinged upon that and I called to verify the course and was told that they would be canceling it. Had I not of called, I wouldn't have known. This really annoys the crap out of me since I'm getting ready to finalize plans to finish up my training and as of right now I dont have another free weekend until September.

I asked someone i know who teaches the same seminar if he would be willing to do it one on one for the usual rate, so lets see.
Click to expand...


Sheppardair
 
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