Failed ppl written | TheaterFire

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Anthem00@reddit

It won’t hurt your chances in the long run because any future employers won’t see this. But what exactly are you doing to prepare for the written ? Failing it twice tells me you are woefully under prepared or something else is going on. Not to be harsh but failing it twice is a very very low threshold.

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Ok_Main7399@reddit

Ii

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Alpha6899086@reddit (OP)

I did the sportys ground school been doing their practice exams

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Anthem00@reddit

And what are you scoring in their practice exams ? Most people take those 10-20x and you shouldn’t be going until regularly score 90+.

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Alpha6899086@reddit (OP)

I was scoring 85-95 consistently

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rfearn@reddit

How many tests? The question bank is something like 900 possible questions. You need to do a LOT of practice exams to get a good feel and whatever your average is after say 50+ tests knock off 15-20 points and that’s likely what you’ll score on the actual written.

For example, I’m historically a good test taker and I did a couple hundred practice exams and on the last maybe 20 I scored 100%. In the real exam I scored an 83. I wasn’t nervous or overly confident there were just some tricky questions with two answers to my never even been in a small plane before brain that could seemingly be right and I picked wrong. There were also probably 15 questions on things that were both not in my groundschool and never came up on the practice exams but I got almost all of them right because I had a decent basis to figure it out.

As for how bad this will hurt you, I can’t say but I’d say minimally. I don’t think the written matters as much as busting a checkride and if it ever came up just be honest and say you did it before ever flying because a lot of things make wayyyy more sense once you get 15+ hours in your book.

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Safe_Gold5801@reddit

Sounds like you are just a bad test taker. I never scored above a 90 on practice tests and passed with a pretty good score.

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Puzzleheaded_Sea5976@reddit

If you’re consistently performing very well on the Sporty’s practice tests, it may be time to consider paying for a different online test prep that will give you exposure to a different question set. Gleim has a good one and you don’t have to pay for the whole ground school program. Either that or you may be dealing with test anxiety. If you’re looking at your score report and your reaction when you see the questions missed is, “but I absolutely know how to do that!” test anxiety may in fact be your problem. If that is the case, you can google some great strategies for dealing with that.

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Anthem00@reddit

It’s almost impossible you see regularly scoring 85-95 and you fail twice. Seriously. Unless you get serious anxiety or something. But either you arent actually regularly scoring that or you’re deceiving yourself.

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UpdateDesk1112@reddit

Why are you taking the written multiple times before flight training?

Many concepts will seem complicated and confusing until you do them in real life. Start flying and it will make more sense.

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ItsReallyLebron@reddit

Contrary ive heard its good to knock out all your writtens prior to

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UpdateDesk1112@reddit

Heard from whom?

In the age of Sheppard Air and studying just to pass the test I guess it’s possible to know the answers to questions before you understand what they mean, but I think that is bad advice.

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ItsReallyLebron@reddit

From experience, Blue Line recommended students come in with their writtens done ahead of time

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UpdateDesk1112@reddit

I don’t know who that is, but still think it is bad advice.

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ShieldPilot@reddit

There’s no Sheppard for the PPL.

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UpdateDesk1112@reddit

So it’s even harder to understand what the questions are asking without any practical explanation experience.

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RegionalJet@reddit

I've heard that from this sub too, but it's not good advice. It takes so much more time to study for a written test when you don't understand any of the content because you haven't done any ground school or flight training. And if you take the written test beforehand, you must be absolutely sure that you'll finish your rating in the two-year time limit before the test expires, or else you'll have to retake it. There's no benefit at all to doing any tests before the training.

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ItsReallyLebron@reddit

If someone else has heard of this i guess im not going crazy then

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Alpha6899086@reddit (OP)

This is what I was thinking

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Melodic_Visual1595@reddit

Get the ASA Prepware App. It’s like $15 and they have the closest bank you can get to the actual test. Go through every section and mark which ones you get wrong and go back and study those REPEATEDLY. When you get down to the last 100 or so that you seem to get wrong every time, force yourself to write the whole question and answer on paper. You can also purchase the test supplement book so you can have the actual figures in front of you to work with. Make the process interactive. I did this and pulled a 98.

Also, acknowledge as early as possible that you’re not out of the water once you pass this test. Every single rating and cert you go for will require this same amount of commitment to studying, so find a method that actually works for you and repeat it. I emphasize repetition because you will forget some of this information and you will need it again.

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Accomplished_Beat418@reddit

I have a student right now that is hyper focused on passing the written, but has only logged 3.6 hours.

He, like you, attempted to complete a digital ground school and pass the written exam before ever stepping in an airplane.

I understand the up and coming generation has always prepared for written exams, and focus on attaining high scores, but I’ll tell you what I told him:

The only person who sees that number is you. The only 3 people that will look at that printed report sheet are you, your instructor, and your evaluator.

The written exam is a requirement to sit for the practical exam. It is not a demonstration of proficiency in any given subject area, and especially not key elements of being a pilot in command. Becoming a pilot is about decision making, stick-and-rudder ability, and most importantly, safety. The written exam is a standardized set of questions with specific answers that anyone can commit to rote memorization. Being able to understand, apply, and correlate those topics is the natural progression of learning.

Take a step back and recognize that being a pilot is more than a multiple choice test. It’s not whackamole or a coin toss when SHTF. We can’t play multiple-guess when our lives, or the lives of our loved ones, are flying through the air over 100 miles per hour, thousands of feet in the sky.

I highly recommend reframing your mind around gathering the basic foundation of aviation training, and focus on performing with your instructor. What you don’t have memorized the next time you sit for the test, you’ll be able to analyze and interpret exactly what is being asked, and recall specific moments with during your training. Once you receive that training, you’ll be confident in your ability to select the best answer, given that prior knowledge and experience. Once you complete a the flight training curriculum with your flight instructor, you’ll pass the written exam with ease, and continue on to become a private pilot.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me. I say to all of my students that any digital education is an hourly rate of $0. It takes seconds to send a message that might unlock hours or years of potential.

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cbardner92@reddit

Don’t know who you are but what a nice post

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Accomplished_Beat418@reddit

Just a passionate CFI, to be honest - not anyone important.

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cbardner92@reddit

You do any private studying? I’m based in Philly and looking for a CFI to help me

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Accomplished_Beat418@reddit

PM’d - I’m in South Florida, but we can figure something out.

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Familiar-Ninja-9763@reddit

Would I be able to reach out to you about items I don’t understand with my ground training ?

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Accomplished_Beat418@reddit

Absolutely. PM here and I’ll always be willing to help!

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Ok-Result5291@reddit

I personally completed my online ground school (Gold Seal) before ever flying. Then started flying to pick up anything I may have forgotten or did not completely understand. Took my written with about 25 hours of flight time. From my own experience the written is about 50% questions you have seen on gold seal or kings ppl practice exam and the other 50% are from else ware.

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Brief_General_8747@reddit

Aren’t all the FAA pilot exams rote memorization…?? Repetition is the key, get the reps in just like how you would work out. It’s that simple.

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Rictor_Scale@reddit

Repeat online practice exams (Sporty's, King, etc) until you're getting almost 98-100% every time. Every time you miss a question make sure you learn the theory behind the correct answer and not just use rote memorization. Also, get some hours under your belt, perhaps even a cross-country, before you try again.

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KCPilot17@reddit

again

How many times have you taken it? Did you change/update your study techniques to study your weak areas?

It won't ruin any airline goals, but it does show a trend to not being able to study well...which will be a problem.

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ReadyplayerParzival1@reddit

I’ve seen this in some students recently. It’s younger folk whose parents want to see commitment. But without a good ground school or instructor your just throwing shots in the dark

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New_Fuel5126@reddit

Don't give up

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Mysterious_Set_8558@reddit

Recently got my ppl. I used sporty's for ground. Ended up getting 95. Like everyone mentioned here, some concepts are hard without experience in the flight. But its doable. Take the sporty's faa practice test over and over again until you are consistent with above 90 score. But main thing is understanding the concepts. If you are planning on just memorizing the practice test and try to pass, it would be really difficult especially during checkride. Honestly the writen is not that hard. Just need learn thing not memorizing them. Good luck!

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outdoorarkie@reddit

I used Sporty’s and didn’t take mine until I was making 90%+ every practice test. I made an 83 on my test and only missed questions one would expect a 10 hour trainee goober to miss. Get some lessons and a ground or two under your belt, study hard and go pass it. It won’t cause you any problems moving forward.

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Dgreen7312@reddit

Not to worry at all! There is a trick in taking the exams. The instrument and ATP Will be a cakewalk. I also had a challenge with the commercial exam and the instrument and 727 flight engineer exam were a breeze!

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ndem763@reddit

The good news is no one cares about the written test. How are you studying? The private written is the only "hard" one in that it isn't covered by Sheppard air. But there's still the sporty's study buddy that is essentially the same thing.

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10FourGudBuddy@reddit

Kings has stuff too. That’s what I used.

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Take_the_Bridge@reddit

I failed those written tests several times. They are/were the bane of my entire existence.

Yes I used Sheppard air. Yes I studied. I’m just awful at those tests. Never failed a checkride and have not had a problem landing a forever aviation job.

Don’t let one bump on the road derail your dream.

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shadalicious@reddit

I'm surprised you didn't pass when you were getting high scores in the practice tests. Was it nerves?

Maybe try a different online ground school? Another good suggestion I saw was fly a little, my instructor reviews ground concepts w me before and after flights and it helped tie things together neatly. And make sure you get a good night's sleep and eat well the day of the exam.

For contrast, and not to make you feel too bad, I'm a 49 year old grandma who has worked in healthcare admin all her life and isn't good at math whose midlife crisis is "omg, I think I'd like to be a pilot" and I passed on the first try after studying for two months using Kings. I almost cried when the nice girl at the frontdesk printed my results and gave them to me. I got 77% and my last practice test score was 90%

If I can do this, you can certainly do it too.

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J3Wjensen@reddit

Bro literally just take the sportys practice test until you get a 90% or more consistently. You will pass with flying colors. Also, go fly!!

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ltcterry@reddit

I’m a big fan of preparing for the written after starting flying so ground school is in context.

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Safe_Gold5801@reddit

The airlines don't even know about failed writtens. It is not a big deal at all.

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NeutralArt12@reddit

No one is going to care about your written tests in the future. But as a CFI I taught a lot of students- and only one ever failed a written test. They were one of my weakest students ever and we had to work really hard on the oral portions

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NlCKSATAN@reddit

Are you using an online course? How are you preparing?

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Clunk500CM@reddit

What is going on that you are failing?

You should not take the actual test until you pass 3 practice tests with scores greater than 90%. FWIW I used Gleim.

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nickstavros2@reddit

To be honest, having no flying experience probably doesn’t help. You learn some of these things w/ actual flight experience (depending on the question).

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Signal_Name_638@reddit

Use sporty pilot to study the same exact questions would be there

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Personal-Economist50@reddit

try a different software, like Gleim or the ASA question bank, if you consistently score 90+ in all then it may be test anxiety or lack of real world flying experience that’s keeping you back from passing

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Federal_Departure387@reddit

when you take the practice exams where r u scoring low. have u reviewed those cocepts. if your not able.to master.those.concepts get additional help. this is a wakeup call that ur not ready. if you passed with a 70.u.might have.fooled urself.

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FatherOfMittens@reddit

I passed it on Friday and am down to help however I can. Just DM me 🫡🤝

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rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Honestly, I am feeling extremely disappointed today. I failed my written exam again with a 68%, even after studying really hard. I haven’t even started my actual aviation training yet, and I’m worried this might have a negative effect on my future my goal is to become an airline pilot, and setbacks like this make me wonder if I’m cut out for it Has anyone else been through this? Will this hurt my chances in the long run? Any advice or encouragement would mean a lot.

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