Grinding through the FOI

scooter2525

scooter2525

Very well Member
I'm slowly on my way to a CFI cert, and I'm having a difficulty retaining the FOI terminology. I've been reading the FAA :cry: Instructors Handbook and taking outlined notes as I go. In addition I have had a couple of other "guides" that have good acronyms and flashcards. (Thanks JordanD !) For whatever reason, I'm struggling with retaining the key points. Most information sticks after going through the flashcards over and over, but if I don't have anything in front of me, I have a had time recalling those key points. Suggestions how to get this down PAT so I'm over prepared to be an instructor?
 
Any specific ones that are giving you trouble?

(Keep in mind I drool a bit and am required to wear a football helmet outside the house, so take it with a grain of salt ;) )
 
I had the same first experience, my first reading of the Aviation Instructors Handbook had me pulling my hair out screaming "who wrote this crap!?". But, you gotta know it according to the FAA and you need to know their language... so, suck it up. The best recommendation I can give you is to outline the main points while you read. Review your outline. Rinse and repeat, until you can pretty much write the outline for each area and explain the main ideas and terminology.

There is some good info burried in there too, so keep an open mind and just plug your way through it.
 
There is some good info there indeed. If you haven't before, take someone up flying for the first time and try to teach them for an hour or so ( or take a low hour PPL up and teach him some unofficial instrument stuff)

At least it will give you some context for how that stuff helps!
 
I'm not so much concerned about taking the FOI as in being well prepared as an instructor and obviously passing the check ride. I've taken the FOI a few times over the years for various reasons and they have expired. The concepts in the handbook are fairly easy to understand, but my concern is retention and being able to explain them. JordanD, I'm working through the first two chapters. I would like the cert to instruct on the side and help out a few family members who want to learn to fly.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
There is some good info there indeed. If you haven't before, take someone up flying for the first time and try to teach them for an hour or so ( or take a low hour PPL up and teach him some unofficial instrument stuff)

At least it will give you some context for how that stuff helps!
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That's not a bad idea. Being able to practice teaching would help provide insight to being a CFI.


See what I did there?
 
I focused so much on the FOI part and it ended up being about 5 minutes of the oral. The other 7 hours and 55 minutes was spent on teaching the subject he gave me and then giving me lots of scenarios. As long as I knew the gist of what was in the Instructors Handbook he moved on. It was funny because I kept referencing FOI stuff and he eventually said, "I don't care about that now, just teach me how to fly the airplane".

Do you know who you're doing your checkride with?
 
FWIW, on my checkride the FOI stuff took almost 3 hours so it's better to be prepared. Get the PTS and for every single item try to come up with two sentences that describe it (like Learning theory. <Sentence #1> <Sentence #2> (...) Rationalization. <Sentence #1> <Sentence #2> etc) A lot of it is just common sense, you probably don't need to read the Aviation Instructors Handbook to come up with two sentences that describe Denial. If you do then make sure to write it down and study. Use acronyms for lists (here's a bunch, I often build my own acronyms and mnemonics if it's easier to remember). That's how I prepared for my test and passed it with flying colors.

ASA Oral Exam guide have most of the material in easy to parse Question-Answer format. Also make sure you can give some examples for each concept mentioned, ideally but not necessarily aviation related. If you can't think of anything, ask your instructor.

I know FOI does look like a useless crap until you actually start teaching. But after some 10 students you'll have a chance to see plenty of defense mechanisms, hazardous attitudes and whatnot and it all will start making sense.
 
It may not work for you, but I'll tell you what worked for me. I looked at passing the written, passing the oral and being a good flight instructor as three different things. I also came in with some non aviation instruction experience, so that helped. The short version of the story of passing my FOI written is I borrowed the Gleim book from a friend and read the question bank over and over one evening. I'd read the question and ONLY the correct answer. If I remember right, there are only about 200 questions so it didn't take that long. The next morning I drove to the test site, and reread all of the questions and answers again in my car in the parking lot before walking in. When I actually took the test, it was a breeze. The correct answers jumped out at me, nothing else seemed right. I answered all the questions and double checked them in fifteen minutes flat. When I walked out of the testing room, the proctor told me that I can't leave the room before my test was over. I told him I was done and he gave me my results with 100% on top.

This method will certainly offend some people, and they might even so far as to call it cheating. I call it doing what works. I can also say that I knew the information.

For the oral, I was able to fit all of the memorization stuff on one piece of paper. All the types of questions, the stages of learning and so on. If you can memorize those simple lists and hold a good conversation, you should be fine on the oral. I passed the Light Sport Instructor with a DPE and the CFI with the FAA both on the first try.

I'd say the most important thing to being a good instructor is having good CFI mentors wherever you end up working. Short of that, I was really helped by a few education books, including Punished by Rewards. The books that have helped me the most haven't been about teaching, but just relating to people. My favorite there would be Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior.

Hope this helps!
 
Wolfy said:
...The short version of the story of passing my FOI written is I borrowed the Gleim book from a friend and read the question bank over and over one evening. I'd read the question and ONLY the correct answer. If I remember right, there are only about 200 questions so it didn't take that long. The next morning I drove to the test site, and reread all of the questions and answers again in my car in the parking lot before walking in...
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Did you take your FOI written prior to the 2011 test changes? Your story is pretty typical of how people used to pass it, but after the 2011 changes it became more difficult.
 
rframe said:
Did you take your FOI written prior to the 2011 test changes? Your story is pretty typical of how people used to pass it, but after the 2011 changes it became more difficult.
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Did they change it again after everyone was failing the new test? I seem to remember something like that but that was long before I started working on my CFI
 
JordanD said:
Did they change it again after everyone was failing the new test? I seem to remember something like that but that was long before I started working on my CFI
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As I recall, they removed a dozen or so questions from the new pool after pressure from NAFI, SAFE, and AOPA and some people had their tests re-scored after that. As far as I know it's been a pretty steady test pool since about June 2011... but I haven't paid that close attention.
 
I was one of those lucky SOBs that had their test re-scored over the summer of 2011 from a 68 to a 72; woo-hoo!!! I scored around 90 and up on other tests. The examiner who did my CFI-A looked at that test result with the correction and chuckled without asking anything about it. So they knew what was up...

as far as FOI studying...jeez...most of this stuff is common sense for the oral portion. Remember REEPIR, and those other basics (see a post I did here for that one) and as far as how to teach? practice on friends, start with the basics. My girlfriend got a lesson on lift and basic aerodynamics. She's a space cadet artist and I was able to teach it to her. Try it, you'll see.

As for the FOI written? Take up religion. Any one will do. Or, memorize the AIH as the question / answers (at least when I failed it initially in spring 2011) are downright awful. Most did not make any logical sense, and the only way you could answer them was by memorizing the text. There are several heated discussions about that on this forum from 2011. I also used the 2011 Gleim test prep which was 110% out of date for the 2011 FOI written. Not one question was on the test.

Have you looked into Sheppard Air for the FOI? I would highly recommend it.

And again, I took this test in 2011 before the NAFI/AOPA reform, so it might be more logical / rewritten now.

Good luck - and remember - teaching is much more of a breeze than all the work you're doing for it now, so keep your eyes on the prize!
 
Just checking back in on this thread after a week away from it. Thanks for the posts everyone! Lots of great advice. I have flash cards with the main points when it comes to the FOI.

Cessnaflyer said:
I focused so much on the FOI part and it ended up being about 5 minutes of the oral. The other 7 hours and 55 minutes was spent on teaching the subject he gave me and then giving me lots of scenarios. As long as I knew the gist of what was in the Instructors Handbook he moved on. It was funny because I kept referencing FOI stuff and he eventually said, "I don't care about that now, just teach me how to fly the airplane".

Do you know who you're doing your checkride with?
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I dont know who I'll be doing it with. This is all self study from the PTS and when I feel solid, I'll hit up a CFI and review with him before I schedule the check ride.

Whatusername said:
Re-reading right now it doesn't seem too bad. What parts are you having issues with?
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The first two chapters of the instructors handbook mainly. Some sections are strait forward but others like characstics of learning and principals of learning, I'm struggling to retain the specific words. Reading through the FOI, they make sense and if I could remember them I can describe them. Even with flash cards and repetitive review of the acronyms the retention is a challenge.

After reading some of these posts, I think I'll move on to the other chapters. I think I'm getting hung up on the first two chapters and its becoming frustrating so I find myself feeling like its insurmountable.

Thanks again for the words of encouragement.
 
I just try to simplify the terms as much as I can and it helped me a lot. Lets take the principles of learning.
Readiness: You have to be motivated and want to learn.
Exercise: Use it or lose it!
Effect: If you feel good about what you're doing you'll remember better... If you're getting barked at/chewed out/having unpleasant experiences... Not so much.
Primacy: First impressions stick!
Intensity: Making learning fun makes remembering easier.
Recency: Do you remember a skill you learned last week better than something you learned once in school a decade ago? You bet.
 
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