Changes to FAA written test

crfguy51 said:
Why?
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One could argue that:
MedicRyan said:
I wouldn't be opposed to even higher than that...if you pass a primary test with 70% you shouldn't be flying...I don't care how greasy your landings are.
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In the current written test environment, I would be inclined to agree. Especially because, for many, it's a matter of "memorize and go." You will incidentally learn a lot of the required aeronautical knowledge anyway, but you could conceivably walk into a cram course knowing jack about aviation, walk out, and ace the written if you're having a really good day. And still not know Jack.

I can see the upside to the argument. I'll raise you something I think is more useful and more in line with assessing someone's worthiness for certification.

I'd rather see a more difficult test that more people get more "average" (e.g. 70-80) grades on, than simply slamming through the motions, if I had my druthers. A friendly reminder, a C is supposed to be average, even in this era of inflated expectations.
 
People just memorize it, then forget it as soon as they walk out the door with the written report. Sure some study and understand the material, but these tests are outdated. The real knowledge test is that few hours you spend with a DE, if you can't convince him then maybe you shouldn't be "at the controls"... but you guys sure put a lot of faith in a knowledge test with outdated questions, and multiple published banks of answers.

Before everyone jumps me, I do think you can eek out a 70% on the tests pretty easily...yeah you are a lazy bastard and probably not cut out for it if you find it impossible dedicate a few days to "studying".... But it's also a joke that someone can study for 2 days memorizing everything...little to no comprehension and get above 80% then forget 90% of it a day later.

I just think the whole concept is flawed and outdated, I mean really... they have computer software that just shows you the correct question so you can cram and just remember where (not even what the answer itself, the location among the answers) on the test (top, middle, bottom) I was studying with some people who didn't even read beyond the first few words of a question but already knew the "middle one" was right. How does that help anyone?

If you wanted to make these tests legit, mix up the question banks. Update it, don't publish everything... just release a few sample questions for each subject and force people to understand what they are clicking on. And randomly swap the order of the answers on the test.
 
News alert! News alert!

I just took the FOI after getting 98s of my practice tests and flunked it with flying colors. Until the 3rd party vendors update their test banks, you have to read the newest version of the Aviation Instructor's Handbook to hope to get anykind of a decent score. It seems to be a night and day difference between the two versions. That is all...
 
I just took the Instrument written a few weeks ago...No suprises and I passed with an 82 (not as high as my average scores on the practice exams using ASA prepware, but good enough). On some of the questions, there were two correct answers and others were worded kind of strange. If I wasn't stupid on two of the questions, I would have got an 86% (in my mind I understood 90% of the test, just didn't pick the right answers).

I don't think I agree with the crowd that is saying, "If you only get a 70%, you shouldn't be flying." Alot of the stuff on the FAA written's is trivial and is not what you're actually going to be doing in an airplane (and I know there is some important stuff on there such as weather chart decoding, interpretation of IAP charts, flight planning, and FAR questions). Remeber, if you have a good DPE you're not going to be reciting answers during the oral that you read in the Gleim book. You're going to be applying the concepts in a scenario based way-that is the true test.
 
MedicRyan said:
News alert! News alert!

I just took the FOI after getting 98s of my practice tests and flunked it with flying colors. Until the 3rd party vendors update their test banks, you have to read the newest version of the Aviation Instructor's Handbook to hope to get anykind of a decent score. It seems to be a night and day difference between the two versions. That is all...
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I heard about this.

You tell Patrick yet?
 
MedicRyan said:
News alert! News alert!

I just took the FOI after getting 98s of my practice tests and flunked it with flying colors. Until the 3rd party vendors update their test banks, you have to read the newest version of the Aviation Instructor's Handbook to hope to get anykind of a decent score. It seems to be a night and day difference between the two versions. That is all...
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Even with the updated test bank there are still some surprises. Same with the CFI written. There were about 10 questions on subjects that werent even covered in the Gleim book/software on my test. I ended up passing but was definitely nervous.
 
Adler said:
I heard about this.

You tell Patrick yet?
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No, I'm going to talk to him and the director in the morning to let them know the written prep class needs a serious update. It sucks because the new AIH is so different. The only way to study for it is just to read the thing and hope you read the questions they are going to ask. I'm just glad the PTS is still going off the old version or else I'm be up the creek.
 
I too failed the FOI miserably two weeks ago with a 44. I had been using my universities software and made 98s on practice tests... Extremely frustrating!! I read the AIH extensively and had been helping other CFI candidates learn it, so it wasn't a matter of not knowing the material, it was a HARD test. The question now is, what do we do?!?
 
My brother flies in Brazil but wanted to get his FAA ATP last time he was in the US for his sim training. He didn't have much time to study but still got 88%. They refunded him. No questions asked.
 
Is Aviation Instructors Handbook FAA-H-8083-9A the new version? It still has 2008 inside on the first page but says it supersedes H-8083-9.
 
agpilot 13 said:
Is Aviation Instructors Handbook FAA-H-8083-9A the new version? It still has 2008 inside on the first page but says it supersedes H-8083-9.
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Yes, that is the newest version and that is where the new questions are coming from. If you had a copy of the last version (1999), you could see how much it's changed
 
Homa Bird said:
so the question is where do you study for FOI/CFI written?
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So have the test bank questions changed in the FOI or the CFI exams? Or both? I thought that changes were going to take effect in June (ish) timeframe.

Edit: (Note to self, read thread again if you need to) I just re-read the thread.
 
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