Written Test Costs

marcoseddi

marcoseddi

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Hi Guys not sure if its consistent around the country, or if it varies but what's the cost for taking the Written Test I could have sworn my CFI said it was $150..
 
It was $150 at probably 2 or 3 places I called within 100 miles of each other. However, those places only did the test Mon - Fri.

I ended up paying almost $200 at a place that was open on the weekend because:

Fee for not being a club member (they pay 150)

Fee for paying credit card and not cash

Etc.

I got ripped off and the guy there at this flight school where they train ATP's and even rent multi said something like "I have dinner reservations so I hope you don't take the entire 2 hours" (or whatever the time slot is). Even then I'd made the appt only to have the owner call 3 days later saying "we're not open on weekends for testing, don't know who you talked to."

So yea, my test sucked.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
It was $150 at probably 2 or 3 places I called within 100 miles of each other. However, those places only did the test Mon - Fri.

I ended up paying almost $200 at a place that was open on the weekend because:

Fee for not being a club member (they pay 150)

Fee for paying credit card and not cash

Etc.

I got ripped off and the guy there at this flight school where they train ATP's and even rent multi said something like "I have dinner reservations so I hope you don't take the entire 2 hours" (or whatever the time slot is). Even then I'd made the appt only to have the owner call 3 days later saying "we're not open on weekends for testing, don't know who you talked to."

So yea, my test sucked.
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Sounds like a pain n the ass! Love the comment from the guy hope your not going to take the time like hey thanks for adding pressure because you want to go eat dinner!
 
$150 sounds about right for today.

There are some schools (like American Flyers) that have a good price for weekend cram refresher courses that include the cost of the exam.

IIRC, I paid about $450 for the 2.5 day class plus the exam and scored in the 90's.
 
Just scheduled one thru cats the other day. $150


-VanDy
 
$150, CATS locations give a $10 AOPA discount.
 
About 2 years ago CATS & LaserGrade convinced the FAA they were the only viable companies for FAA testing. And the $150 is pretty much the fixed price for each exam, all over the country at either company ($10 discount for membership in AOPA, EAA, etc). The rationale they gave was they could ensure security by having a real, live, human monitoring the exams. This put a number of small testing centers out of business, such as Metro State College/University of Denver Aviation Dept. The reason given was that the computer systems were not compatible....so I was told by one of the senior faculty. No, he didn't keep a straight face when he said it, either. He knew he was "explaining" to a computer geek. Because MSCD didn't make a profit, they could offer the exams at $60-70 each.

The profit margin for those exams are about $50 each. You pay $150 (or $140) and the testing center gets $50, the rest goes to CATS or LaserGrade. That's why they can offer the $10 discount.

Somewhere, in all this, there's an anti-trust suit or perhaps price fixing, but no one's challenged it yet.
 
In the "good old days" you walked into the FSDO office and wrote the test for free. PP, Inst, Comm, CFI and FOI were all free....back in the day.
 
LDJones said:
In the "good old days" you walked into the FSDO office and wrote the test for free. PP, Inst, Comm, CFI and FOI were all free....back in the day.
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Yup.... I took mine with about 15 other people in a small room at Showalters at Hernden Field in Orlando in 1981.. I seem to remember it was 10 bucks or so and the FAA guy sat in the front of the room to watch us.

Those were the good ol days..:yes:
 
N801BH said:
Yup.... I took mine with about 15 other people in a small room at Showalters at Hernden Field in Orlando in 1981.. I seem to remember it was 10 bucks or so and the FAA guy sat in the front of the room to watch us.

Those were the good ol days..:yes:
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That was when movies were a quarter and popcorn was a nickel right... :goofy:

I don't even remember the last time I said the word nickel its not even in my vocab
 
marcoseddi said:
That was when movies were a quarter and popcorn was a nickel right... :goofy:

I don't even remember the last time I said the word nickel its not even in my vocab
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Yeah.. But.....

It is basically the same test and absolutely no liability on the test givers part, and we have computers to grade the test now so in reality it should be the same cost or CHEAPER..... 150.00 for .08 cents worth of paper and a few seconds for the computer to spit out the grade is a bit excessive, don't ya think?
 
N801BH said:
Yeah.. But.....

It is basically the same test and absolutely no liability on the test givers part, and we have computers to grade the test now so in reality it should be the same cost or CHEAPER..... 150.00 for .08 cents worth of paper and a few seconds for the computer to spit out the grade is a bit excessive, don't ya think?
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I think its ridiculous $150.00 to take a test and like you said its done by computers! What about having to pay $500.00 my CFI said for the oral and checkride! Now thats crazy plus have to rent the plane as well. CMoonn
 
Bet they justify it by saying its a small percentage of a students overall cost but it all add up.
 
ja_user said:
$150, CATS locations give a $10 AOPA discount.
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This (for me anyway). Took the test at HFD.

On a side note, there was another student in there with me and he was taking a differen test (not sure which one). He finished in about 13 minutes and scored a 97%. The proctor said that he set a new shortest time record. If only my memory recall was that fast.
 
I payed $140 for my test also ($150 - $10 AOPA discount). Just to note that the computer test has an E6B computer you can use. No need to pull the old school slide flight computer unless you like using it. :D
 
numl0ck said:
This (for me anyway). Took the test at HFD.

On a side note, there was another student in there with me and he was taking a differen test (not sure which one). He finished in about 13 minutes and scored a 97%. The proctor said that he set a new shortest time record. If only my memory recall was that fast.
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I did a couple in less than 15 minutes.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I got ripped off and the guy there at this flight school where they train ATP's and even rent multi said something like "I have dinner reservations so I hope you don't take the entire 2 hours" (or whatever the time slot is).
So yea, my test sucked.
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Umm.. wow.

If they caught me in a very bad mood with that, I would answer all questions except a very simple one and just sit around until 1 minute left on the clock. Then submit a test.

And for charging you more for paying with a credit card, I'd go as far as to dispute portion of charges. I work in industry that deals with credit cards a LOT. Typical credit card fee varies from 2.5% to 3.7%. So if you paid something more than that in extra fees, that's a dispute.

My test was easier. $150 for LaserGrade test. Very friendly atmosphere. But somewhat paranoid too. They won't even let me take my own pencil to test room. I was given tracing paper, their own pencil, and charts book.
 
Meanee said:
Umm.. wow.

If they caught me in a very bad mood with that, I would answer all questions except a very simple one and just sit around until 1 minute left on the clock. Then submit a test.

And for charging you more for paying with a credit card, I'd go as far as to dispute portion of charges. I work in industry that deals with credit cards a LOT. Typical credit card fee varies from 2.5% to 3.7%. So if you paid something more than that in extra fees, that's a dispute.

My test was easier. $150 for LaserGrade test. Very friendly atmosphere. But somewhat paranoid too. They won't even let me take my own pencil to test room. I was given tracing paper, their own pencil, and charts book.
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I wasn't allowed to take my phone, and I could understand that. As far as CC fees, I believe that you are not allowed to charge extra for credit cards. It's part of the merchant agreement. Of course, you can give a discount for cash, so it's semantics. They may have changed this recently, but I know this is how it was.
 
rbridges said:
As far as CC fees, I believe that you are not allowed to charge extra for credit cards. It's part of the merchant agreement.
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That is correct and you can report it to the CC company, I have and they have refunded the difference within a few days. :yes:


ja_user said:
I did a couple in less than 15 minutes.
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I must have had a slow pencil...:goofy:it took me about an hour.
 
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rbridges said:
I wasn't allowed to take my phone, and I could understand that. As far as CC fees, I believe that you are not allowed to charge extra for credit cards. It's part of the merchant agreement. Of course, you can give a discount for cash, so it's semantics. They may have changed this recently, but I know this is how it was.
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I do believe now you cannot ask for "minimum charge" for a credit card, or ask higher price for credit card.

Some industries can go around it somehow (gas stations) and I've seen Ikea receipts, where they say that if you use your card as a debit card instead of credit card, you get 1% of your purchase price as a store credit.
 
Meanee said:
Umm.. wow.

My test was easier. $150 for LaserGrade test. Very friendly atmosphere. But somewhat paranoid too. They won't even let me take my own pencil to test room. I was given tracing paper, their own pencil, and charts book.
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They were not paranoid, I believe it is an FAA requirement. I carry a beeper and could not even bring that in.
 
douglas393 said:
They were not paranoid, I believe it is an FAA requirement. I carry a beeper and could not even bring that in.
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I can understand some text pagers can receive "help" but bringing your own pencil being a no-no just seemed a bit over the top. Obvious things were not allowed, like my cell phone, tablet.

Overall, for some reason, beginning of the test seemed scarier than the actual test haha
 
Oh that is not the worst of it.

So the guy, to get me set up on the computer, asks for the things on screen.

Name

Social Security Number

Etc

Then he turns to me and says "are you married"?

UM DUDE I'M PRETTY SURE THAT IS NOT ON THE F'ING SCREEN.
 
I paid $150 for the 5 writtens I have taken so far. Good thing that I likely only ever have to take 2 more of those tests (CFII and ATP).
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Oh that is not the worst of it.

So the guy, to get me set up on the computer, asks for the things on screen.

Name

Social Security Number

Etc

Then he turns to me and says "are you married"?

UM DUDE I'M PRETTY SURE THAT IS NOT ON THE F'ING SCREEN.
Click to expand...

And IIRC, you're not required to give the SSN either, unless they've changed the rules.
 
What was the cost of your written? Especially for pilots who've had their license for at least 10 years.

My cost was $100 per test in 2005-2006 and I cried like a little girl cause gas was $4 a gallon. I'll take that any day now.
 
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