I reached another training milestone today when I took and passed my written PPL knowledge exam with a score of 95.
I’ve been studying for the exam for quite awhile, both with the textbooks that my ground school kit came with and an online video ground school from King Schools. I was on the fence about ordering the King video course, but in the end I’m glad I did. The videos are certainly a bit cheesy but they do present the information well and give you some good tips and tricks that helped out with the actual test. There are also a bunch of videos on other topics that were included — things like prepping for the oral and practical exams, dealing with emergencies, and in-depth lessons on weather and cross country planning.
I finished up the videos and started taking the practice exams. I scored over 90 on all three practice exams. I wound up with a random day off of work today and decided that I might as well try and knock this thing out! I took one last practice exam — from the Gleim exam prep book — and scored in the high 80s. I figured I’d be as ready as I ever would (not exactly true) and I started calling around to see if could schedule the exam on short notice. I found a school in Bridgeport that was able to fit me in — I grabbed a big cup of coffee, my plotter and E6B, and I was off!
After some initial computer snafus trying to get me setup for the test (I seriously thought for a moment that the proctor was going to tell me to come back another day) I was ready to take the actual exam. I took my time and worked through all of the questions. A lot were easy, there were a few weight and balance and performance questions that required some simple math, and a few questions dealing with sectionals and reading various info from the charts. One thing that was conspicuously missing from my exam — cross country planning questions!
I was a bit miffed about this, honestly… I had practiced my butt off learning the ins and outs of my E6B and stepping through all of the questions regarding flight planning. I’m not sorry I put all of that time in — this is a real-world skill I’ll need to demonstrate on my oral and practical, but I was still upset I didn’t get to show off my new skills to the test computer.
Before I knew it, the test was over and I was ready to hit the grading button. When it told me I only got three questions wrong a wave of relief washed over me. I was done with the test! This wouldn’t be the end of my studying, but a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
A few tips if you are prepping to take the exam:
- Don’t bother bringing your own writing implements. I brought my favorite pen and a nice mechanical pencil perfect for drawing exact lines on the charts. I wasn’t allowed to bring them in — the test center provided a few pencils instead.
- Make sure your test center will provide calculators. Mine did, but I wasn’t sure going in and I forgot to ask the question. I wound up buying a cheap $4 calculator at Walgreens before the test to make sure I wouldn’t be doing W&B calculations by hand.
- Make your test reservations in advance. Don’t be impulsive like me and wake up and decide to take the test on a whim! It worked out in the end, but I had a brief panic after making the appointment with the flight school. I called them directly because the CATS number you have to call was putting me on perma-hold. However, the flight school told me I’d have to call CATS and schedule the test even though I made the appointment with the school. I called back a few times and finally got someone on the line and was able to set everything up, but my blood pressure was through the roof by the time I got through to them.
- Take your time preparing. Right before I went into the exam I was browsing through the Gleim book and found a few questions I wasn’t sharp on — things like the different types of hypoxia. The best idea would’ve been to spend a week or so brushing up on weak areas after going through the practice exams. My high scores on the practice tests led me to believe I was ready (plus, I am a “good test taker”). I didn’t want to wait and just wanted to get this over with. It worked out in my case, but I’ll admit it wasn’t the smartest approach to the exam. I should’ve spent some time going over every question in the Gleim book to make sure I wouldn’t be surprised by anything.
Oh well, I didn’t do everything perfectly but it all worked out in the end. As for the questions I got wrong — one was code PLT189 (regarding carb heat and the effect on mixture and engine performance), one was code PLT497 (transponder usage, I picked an answer that had a non-existent mode letter), and the last was code PLT509 (I messed up a question on wake turbulence vortices). All things I should’ve gotten right (and probably would’ve if I had reviewed a bit more before taking the exam). You can look up all of the question codes in this FAA document.
I’m a little glad I didn’t get 100% (no one likes a know-it-all) and I’m a lot glad I didn’t get a 70%. Hopefully my score will make my oral exam a little less grueling!