Becoming a Private Pilot – Step by Step - EAA
To be a private pilot, you must have what's called a medical certificate, which you get from an FAA-approved doctor after a physical examination. While the exam ...
some tips
Once you've finished your ground school, whether independently or as part of a class, it's time to take the written test. An endorsement from your instructor or the course provider is required, and the test must be taken by appointment at an FAA-approved testing facility. It's generally up to you to decide when you want to take the FAA written exam for your private pilot certificate, but our recommendation is that sooner is better. Here are <anchor>some tips</anchor> to help you understand what goes into passing the test.
How I Aced the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam Before I Soloed - Hangar Flying
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# How I Aced the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam Before I Soloed

How I Aced the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam Before I Soloed

Seven
weeks ago, my instructor Jamie Pittman, EAA 439727, told me he wanted me to
take the FAA private pilot written exam by early January — before I solo and
with only a few lessons in. I laughed at him, then realized he was serious. I
thought about it for the next few days, understanding that I’m going into the
worst time of year to start learning to fly (winter), so I entertained the
idea, but wouldn’t yet commit. It turns out this was the best challenge my
instructor had given me yet — I walked out of the testing facility with a 98
percent on the exam less than two months later.

There are
probably 100 ways to take this exam. This is just what worked for me, someone
who hasn’t taken an exam in almost 20 years. Memorizing is key to passing the
exam, but that is not how I wanted to go about this process. It was important that
I understand the concepts enough to know why the answers were what they were,
and that I knew how to compute the problems such as density altitude, takeoff
distance, cross-country flight planning, VOR, and weight and balance so that I understood
how the answers were derived. Also, there was no way I was going to be ok just
getting 70 percent — I don’t do things that I’m passionate about halfway! I
wanted to be proud of the effort I put into this exam and learn what I could out
of it. I knew the majority of the material wouldn’t be used in my day-to-day
flying, but I still wanted to give it my best and have the foundational
knowledge so my flight training will make more sense. I also knew a better
score may impact how the examiner will approach my oral and practical exam, and
I’ll do what I can to make any part of this process easier on me.



So, my seven week’s ago self said, where do I even start? How on earth do I know what to study in the sea of all there is to know about aviation? I opened up various private pilot manuals that are hundreds and hundreds of pages long, looked at my dogs, and laughed. Overwhelmed was a huge understatement. How could I possibly tackle all of this in a reasonable time having gone through hardly any flight lessons? So, I did what I always do when I need aviation advice — reached out to my aviation community. Just like always, the support and suggestions came flooding in. One thing I’ve learned is that you should listen to advice but be choosy in what advice you take because it can be just as overwhelming and confusing. And it can cause you to buy a bunch of books you won’t really use.

In the
process, I ran into a post that a social media CFI friend, Nancy Bradshaw,
posted covering her recommendations on how to pass the written exam. The moral
of the story was to get it done early so you aren’t doing it during flight
training. At first I thought that idea was nuts, but she was now the second CFI
to say this. She said it’s hard and exhausting enough learning to fly, and separating
the time and pressure of studying for the written exam from flight training
will improve your overall wellbeing. She’s right. That is when I decided, yes,
Sara, you are doing this by early January so you can focus on flying and the
really important learning.

So, how
did I do it? Well, the first mistake I made was buying way too many books while
in a slight panic when thinking about how I’d ever tackle all the things I
needed to learn when I barely knew anything (I didn’t even know what an aileron
or rudder actually did). I highly recommend not
doing that. Here is what I do
recommend: First, ask your instructor what book they recommend to learn from during
ground school lessons. Ground school is a major part of learning to fly even after
you take the exam, so use a book that works for you both. Jamie chose _The_
_Student Pilot’s Flight Manual_ by William Kershner and I found it
to be helpful in my written exam studying.

The most
critical component for me was purchasing an online ground school. I didn’t want
to rely solely upon my instructor to learn all the fundamentals, and reading those
books was simply too overwhelming. The online practice exams are absolutely the
reason I did so well. There are a lot of options out there, but I chose Sporty’s  
Online Learn to Fly Course. Sporty’s has a great partnership with
EAA and has helped many Young Eagles and Eagle Flights participants with their
flight training. Sporty’s helped me focus on the things that were important for
the written exam, and its video series and practice tests were critical to me
passing this exam.



A few
other necessary items that helped a great deal were the ASA  
2019 Private Pilot Test Prep book, an ASA CX-3 flight  
computer (I borrowed one but it’s a must-have in solving so many
aviation problems), and a plotter. I learned the basics of the E6-B, and plan
to use it in my flight training, but for the purposes of the test, the flight
computer was the way to go to answer many of the questions. The book I actually
read the most was _Rod_
_Machado’s Private Pilot Handbook_ that I borrowed from a co-worker
(I highly recommend borrowing as much as you can for the exam, but be sure the
books are as current as possible). I purchased a few others that I just didn’t
need much for this process. But, because I had them, I did reference a few
different books on the more difficult concepts because each gave a different
perspective. There are many other resources out there to help prepare you, such
as ASA, Gleim Aviation and King Schools, but these are just what I ended up
choosing. The options can be overwhelming, so take input from others, but
ultimately just pick a direction and run with it.

I started by watching the Sporty’s videos in the Learn to Fly Course any chance I got. After I got through the solo section, I moved to the Private Pilot Test Prep book. There are 11 topic sections in this book, more than 989 questions, so I literally crossed out every single wrong answer and highlighted the right ones so I would only focus on the right answers when studying the materials. I then studied the book by section, understanding what the questions were focused on, and reading about the overall concepts in one or more of my books. I then focused on the correct answers and why the answer was what it was.





I made notes on important elements of the topics, equations, things I had difficulty with, or helpful tips that I could reference back to as needed during practice tests. Really understanding the core of the topics allowed me to be able to make educated decisions should the actual FAA questions be a bit different.

After I
completed a thorough review on a section in the Private Pilot Test Prep book, I went to the Sporty’s app to take
the learning mode test on that section to see how I did. My goal was to hit 90
percent correct for each section, but I rarely made it. As long as I got near
or over 85 percent, I moved on to the next section. I did this with each
section, but also went back to old sections to retake those learning tests so I
could keep studying what I’d gotten wrong. I saved the hardest sections for
last (flight planning, weather, navigation), and while I think it’s normally good
to get the tough stuff done first, by the time I got to them I had built up my
confidence that I could tackle them.

My life
outside of work became studying for this test. I didn’t have a social life for
seven weeks — my social circle knew I had to put this first — and I spent hours
each night and all-day sessions during the weekend. It was tough, but it was
worth it. I tried to find a place to study outside of my house so things at
home wouldn’t distract me. But I often found public places were more
distracting, so I made sure I focused at home at my kitchen table for at least
an hour each day (it was almost always much more). Make sure you find what
works for you to spend at least an hour daily without any outside interference.
This piece is non-negotiable, you have to commit to studying every day for a
solid amount of time.

Once I was
2/3 of the way done studying the sections in the private pilot test prep and I
was making at least 90 percent in those Sporty’s learning tests, I made an appointment.
I needed a real deadline to work toward. I hadn’t taken any actual practice
tests through Sporty’s yet, which selects 60 questions from the 989 out there like
the real exam. I decided I was going to wait until about two weeks prior to the
exam so that I felt more comfortable with the material and wouldn’t let it discourage
me too early. Once I started those I was consistently getting more than 90
percent — sometimes 100 percent. So, I kept practicing and kept taking learning
tests and practice tests. I focused on what I was getting wrong so I could
memorize those answers and made sure I understood the reasons behind it. I
sometimes found myself making silly mistakes because I was doing so many tests
and wasn’t truly paying attention. When that happened, I put the tests down for
the day.

Another reason
Sporty’s is critical to this process, and why you shouldn’t just use the book,
is it consistently updates its questions based on what’s coming through on the
FAA written exam. Two days before my exam, about 20 new questions came through
so using Sporty’s allowed me to study the most current information. And, yes, I
saw a few of those 20 on the actual test. It was nice to have both the book and
online tests to study from because I learned different ways from both. Also,
the book provided the supplemental charts and figures you need to solve some of
the test questions. Sporty’s only delivered them online, which makes many of
them impossible to use.



January 7,
exam day, arrived and I was much calmer than I expected. Until I saw the first
question. It was the simplest question, but one I didn’t know or have in my
study questions. It ended up being the only one I got wrong. I decided not to answer
it right away and went to the next question. I said to myself Sara, you knew you’d
see a question you didn’t study, so don’t let this first question bring you
down. I answered all the questions I knew, and by question 40 I knew I’d at
least pass. But I wanted to make sure I did the very best I could, so I thought
through every question, and reviewed every one again, which included redoing
the problems. There were a few I had never seen before, and a number that were worded
differently than the practice questions. But those were close enough that,
because I spent the time I did, I could answer them correctly. The result — 98
percent and a huge smile on my face.

Immersing
myself into a study-first mindset has greatly changed the way I approach my
flight training. This type of approach will benefit my entire aviation
experience because learning is one thing that never stops when you fly. It has set
the foundation for incorporating time into my training to learn what I need to
in order to be the best pilot I can be, and pass all of the exams that come
with it. I have a lot of learning and studying ahead of me still, but I now get
to focus on having fun, enjoying the process, and learning what I really need
to know to be a solid, safe pilot. Next stop in my journey — solo!

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