Faa knowledge test change

Rotor2Wing

Rotor2Wing

Unapologetically American
I have heard from a couple of different people that the FAA is changing all the questions and adding thousands to the bank this June. I have searched all over and can't find any information confirming this. All I have found is an AOPA article from last year where the FAA is talking about making changes. Does anyone have a link to show whats coming? Thanks!
 
I read the same thing but can't remember where. It seemed that it was a complete overhaul, which isn't a bad thing. As with any thing government, I wouldn't hold my breath on seeing it any time soon.
 
I have heard the same thing. As far as I know it is the FAA's response to candidates consistently scoring very high on the written tests. They apparently believe that people are memorizing the questions and the information is remaining rote.
 
zulu99 said:
I have heard the same thing. As far as I know it is the FAA's response to candidates consistently scoring very high on the written tests. They apparently believe that people are memorizing the questions and the information is remaining rote.
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Uh, yep...especially the FOI written. (How ironic.)

(In all seriousness, FOI is really really useful, but the written itself is like most/all other FA writtens - read, read, read, regurgitate.)
 
This is the only article I can find that says anything about the change. It does say the MLS is now out of the question bank. I agree that it does need some work but the questions need to be real world questions not the tricky worded outdated crap thats on there now. Some of the questions have to be memorized because there is not logical answer IMO. How is all the test prep companies going to make it if they make the question bank 100,000 questions?

http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2010/100623faa.html
 
zulu99 said:
I have heard the same thing. As far as I know it is the FAA's response to candidates consistently scoring very high on the written tests. They apparently believe that people are memorizing the questions and the information is remaining rote.
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Shocking!! How could this be?!?


:sarcasm:
 
How is this going to prevent memorization? Sure, you can create new questions to prevent it in the short term, but what about 3 years from now?
 
A150K said:
How is this going to prevent memorization? Sure, you can create new questions to prevent it in the short term, but what about 3 years from now?
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Considering the instrument knowledge test still has charts from the 80's, I won't hold my breath.
 
A150K said:
How is this going to prevent memorization? Sure, you can create new questions to prevent it in the short term, but what about 3 years from now?
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From what i heard (here-say) they were changing the ATP written test bank from 1000 or so questions to over 20,000 questions.....that may make it harder to memorize.
 
If the FAA wants people to stop memorizing questions on the ATP written at least, then they need to create questions that are answerable in the allowable time. Some of the flight planning questions are ridiculous in their implementation, and if you don't estimate the "right" way (which, by the way, nobody tells you how to round or estimate for the written tests) you'll get the question wrong. Until they start focusing on realistic questions, no one will take the tests seriously and will continue to memorize, even if there are 100,000 questions.
 
What are they going do, rewrite the questions in a different format while saying the same thing for 10 questions? There's only so much they can test us on.
 
Well I sent an email to King Schools today to get their opinion of whats going on. I asked them the exact thing posted in my OP. This is what they said.


You should know the purpose of all our knowledge test courses is to help you understand principles and concepts the FAA wants you to know and use as a pilot. Where possible, we use actual FAA questions in our courses to let you see how the FAA may test you on a subject. We know that if you understand the underlying concept, you should be able to answer any question about the subject. The FAA wants you to be able to think as a pilot— not just feedback memorized information when you take the test.

For that reason, as of June 2009, the FAA ceased releasing all test banks to the public. This includes King Schools as well as all other companies that provide similar aviation knowledge courses.

We preserved our database, so we are able to offer to you the questions and explanations which contain the last full test bank that was available from the FAA. Most of the test questions never change because information on aerodynamics, weather and many procedures are constant. What does change are things like regulations and flight operations issues, so we review those changes by the FAA and create sample questions for you to study. We do this in several ways. When the FAA adds new or revised material to the references they use to derive test questions, we know that soon there will be some new questions on the test. Also, when there is a spectacular accident such as Colgan Air in Buffalo, the investigation results showing the probable cause of an accident will eventually result in some new questions.


Wishing you continued success in your aviation pursuits.


Kind regards,




xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx
Cessna Pilot Center Advocate
King Schools
"



So from that I guess that the ASA books and prepware are useless now if they do not contain the whole question bank. Again I am all for testing the right concepts but the FAA questions are not real world questions. I really hated all the crazy flight instrument questions. Some were real world but a lot were so bad or outdated it was sad to look at. I remember when I took my pvt helicopter test I had 3 questions about gliders on it.
 
For what its worth the IA test pool has never been public and it wasn't hard to study for, as long as you understand the concepts you're fine

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Well I have mixed emotions about this but I'm sure they will change it for the worst, all the while maintaining the best intentions.
 
Douglas said:
Well I have mixed emotions about this but I'm sure they will change it for the worst, all the while maintaining the best intentions.
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This is exactly how I feel! The FAA is really good at making things very interesting!

I honestly think they should just do away with the written. A complete oral exam followed by a thourough checkride is where its determined if you make the cut and have the knowledge. I know a lot of companies make huge $$ on the writtens but think how much money it would save the FAA. It will never happen!
 
Douglas said:
Well I have mixed emotions about this but I'm sure they will change it for the worst, all the while maintaining the best intentions.
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I would like them to at least update the bank to reflect the change in medical certificate duration that happened like 3 years ago.
 
The prerred nomenclature is "Europeanish". Kind of like Canadia!
 
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