Written Test Before Training.

[youngflyer]

Is it smarter to get your written tests done before training or waiting until you are midway through your training? I would think that it is smarter to get it before training.

[HighFlyingIL]

Originally Posted by youngflyer

Is it smarter to get your written tests done before training or waiting until you are midway through your training? I would think that it is smarter to get it before training.

have you even started flying yet? If you can do your written tests before training your a pretty dang smart learner on your own. www.sportys.com is a GREAT site for Private, and Instrument practice tests, and study guide. For Commercial it sucks. If I were you i'd start flying first. When you go thru your training manual, start actually flying, things on your written practice tests come A LOT easier because you have real-world experience to back up your proof.

[athomeinthesky]

It is a really smart idea, you will save money & time. The above post is right that things come together easier when you have some flight time first but really you will save money if you get it out of the way first. I would suggest dauntless ($20-30/per test) to study for the written http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/GroundSchool/

[HighFlyingIL]

Originally Posted by athomeinthesky

It is a really smart idea, you will save money & time. The above post is right that things come together easier when you have some flight time first but really you will save money if you get it out of the way first. I would suggest dauntless ($20-30/per test) to study for the written http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/GroundSchool/

Agreed. Thats what I used for my Commercial test. That and the PTS guide.

To the original poster: If you bust your balls on studying for your license' you can knock out any written test very quickly. After high school I went straight into flight school. I did my Private in 3 weeks, Instrument in 2 months (took time to learn everything thuroughly with instrument), and my Commercial in just over 1 month. The next month after that I got my ass kicked by the American Flyers Flight Instructor school but well worth it. 5-6 months from knowing very little about flying to now teaching peoplel like you to fly!

[t-cart]

Dont really have anything for the OP,but Highflyer,If you are still on here ,got one for you.First,Welcome to the site,Dont think I have done that yet. Now,In your sig line,I know what all the ratings are till the last one,,,FOI,I thought that was one of the writtens.?Give me some help here.Thanks,and Welcome.,T.C.

[athomeinthesky]

FOI = I assume he means the written test fundamentals of instruction.

[Nihon_Ni]

Highflying, also why do you have "Private w/Instrument, Commercial"

You are either a commercial pilot or a private pilot, but not both.

[v1valarob]

I know this is going to sound harsh but...

As soon as HighFlyingIL posted that he had a friend at GoJet in another thread. Ive kind of stopped paying attention to his posts.

-Rob

[OldTownPilot]

and Current FOI and 5 bucks will get you a latte at starschmucks

[OldTownPilot]

and WTF is CFI A ?

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by athomeinthesky

FOI = I assume he means the written test fundamentals of instruction.

FOI, ha!! Don't need anything other than the Gleim book for that one. There's only like 200 questions in the test bank. I bought the book and took the test 4 hours later. 100%. By far the easiest of all the writtens I've taken. For the rest of though I would recommend some sort of computer based practice tests. For private I think Sportys even has study sessions you can use to study the questions, and then take as many practice tests as you want. Its all free.

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by OldTownPilot

and WTF is CFI A ?

Certified Flight Instructor - Airplane

[Stinger]

I started flying in August of '06 and took my private written the Monday after Thanksgiving break that year. All I did was read the test bank questions for 8 hours on the train going back to UND, memorized them, and took the test. 96% so it's a pretty easy test.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by youngflyer

Is it smarter to get your written tests done before training or waiting until you are midway through your training? I would think that it is smarter to get it before training.

I treated them as a barrier to be eliminated and not a learning event. I learned from other books, from instructors, and from flying the plane but the written test questions were rote memorization and test passage for me. That is how a lot of people treat them.

If you treat it like that then you might as well get them done before you start flying. You might not even understand all of it but in the process of memorizing all of it you will have been exposed to many things that you'll later learn in full.

[nosehair]

Originally Posted by athomeinthesky

The above post is right that things come together easier when you have some flight time first but really you will save money if you get it out of the way first.

A lot of people think it is smart to 'get it out of the way' first, and I understand the thinking, which is wrong, but I understand it.

I don't get how you think it will save you money. It costs the same whenever you do it...??

But...to the meat of it. You said that "things will come easier" when you have some flight time first. And that is important. Probably more important than is generally recognized. The industry tends to put money and convienence ahead of good training philosophy.

In the Instructor's Handbook, you will learn that the study of theory and practical should go hand-in-hand. Read/study a little, then put it into practice.

Trying to read/study a whole system of theory that requires practical experience to fully comprehend will, I repeat, will, cause some level of mis-understanding. When the mind has no experience in the practical, it 'makes up' a visualization of the practical experience, which may have some level of incorrectness, which has to be 'found', and corrected by the instructor when you later begin to try to put the theory to practice.

Ground school along with and coorelated to flight training has always been the best way to learn how to do this stuff. You learn mis-conceptions when you put all the ground training up front.

[seagull]

Originally Posted by nosehair

A lot of people think it is smart to 'get it out of the way' first, and I understand the thinking, which is wrong, but I understand it.

I don't get how you think it will save you money. It costs the same whenever you do it...??

But...to the meat of it. You said that "things will come easier" when you have some flight time first. And that is important. Probably more important than is generally recognized. The industry tends to put money and convienence ahead of good training philosophy.

In the Instructor's Handbook, you will learn that the study of theory and practical should go hand-in-hand. Read/study a little, then put it into practice.

Trying to read/study a whole system of theory that requires practical experience to fully comprehend will, I repeat, will, cause some level of mis-understanding. When the mind has no experience in the practical, it 'makes up' a visualization of the practical experience, which may have some level of incorrectness, which has to be 'found', and corrected by the instructor when you later begin to try to put the theory to practice.

Ground school along with and coorelated to flight training has always been the best way to learn how to do this stuff. You learn mis-conceptions when you put all the ground training up front.

I STRONGLY disagree. If this were true, then why would the airlines and military do the writtens and ground school FIRST? These are organizations that have spent a LOT of time and money to research the most efficient way to teach people. Just because the civilian world tends not to do this (flight schools are in business to make MONEY on the training, not SAVE it!), does not mean that is the best or correct.

[qflyer]

Originally Posted by nosehair

A lot of people think it is smart to 'get it out of the way' first, and I understand the thinking, which is wrong, but I understand it.

I don't get how you think it will save you money. It costs the same whenever you do it...??

But...to the meat of it. You said that "things will come easier" when you have some flight time first. And that is important. Probably more important than is generally recognized. The industry tends to put money and convienence ahead of good training philosophy.

In the Instructor's Handbook, you will learn that the study of theory and practical should go hand-in-hand. Read/study a little, then put it into practice.

Trying to read/study a whole system of theory that requires practical experience to fully comprehend will, I repeat, will, cause some level of mis-understanding. When the mind has no experience in the practical, it 'makes up' a visualization of the practical experience, which may have some level of incorrectness, which has to be 'found', and corrected by the instructor when you later begin to try to put the theory to practice.

Ground school along with and coorelated to flight training has always been the best way to learn how to do this stuff. You learn mis-conceptions when you put all the ground training up front.

Why do so many folks think the test isn't important? Anybody can read through the question bank a few times and pass a test - that doesn't mean they learned anything. I send my students for the test after they've finished the dual X-C part of training, so they have 30-40 hours real world experience and a lot of ground time with me by the time they test...I've never had one fail and the average score is just over 90%...most of the students have never seen the question bank. They pass because they learned the material - not just the answers.

[nosehair]

Originally Posted by seagull

why would the airlines and military do the writtens and ground school FIRST? These are organizations that have spent a LOT of time and money to research the most efficient way to teach people. Just because the civilian world tends not to do this (flight schools are in business to make MONEY on the training, not SAVE it!), does not mean that is the best or correct.

The miltary does not do ground school first. There are no airline schools, as such, that I know of.

The military does do some preliminary ground training at first, as it should be; some theory, some practical. Do your research and you will find the military school coorelates the theory with practice; which is the way it is recommended in all books on education theory and practical experience.

And I am speaking from many years of practical experience.

Yes, it is 'common wisdom' to do the written first, but that comes from, as you said, (flight schools are in the business to make MONEY on the training) and it is convenient to do flight and ground as a seperate animal, so that's how it has evolved, but, the OP was asking for information upon which to make a decision. I gave him my opinion, from my personal long-time experience of obseving the process.

[flyguy]

Originally Posted by nosehair

There are no airline schools, as such, that I know of.

Every airline has a ground school that new hires and upgrades must attend. It lasts several weeks, and is completed in its entirety before sim training begins.

[flyguy969]

Yes you can take the test first but don’t you think it would make A LOT more sense to at fly and study the material at least half way before taking the test? I feel taking any of the tests half way through is much better of a way to actually learn the material not just memorize it. And you get a better understanding of what you are doing

[athomeinthesky]

I most be an idiot because I actually needed to study to pass those tests. With the software I used if I got something wrong it explains it to you and tells you were you can find correlated information in the fars/aim/pilot handbook, etc. so I actually did learn from studying for the tests.

I stick by my opinion that you should get them out of the way before starting unless your taking one lesson a week and are taking your time. Better to be studying for your oral when your flight training than to still be studying for your written.

Obviously different strokes different folks but I would at least try to study for the written and if it isn't coming together then go to option B and start flight training.

[Stomp16]

If you want to practice taking the actual tests, Mywrittenexam.com has Private, Inst. and Commercial practice tests that you can take as many times as you want..........for free.

[flyguy969]

Hey good info. I used Sporty's with great success. I will try the link you sent.

[seagull]

Originally Posted by nosehair

The miltary does not do ground school first. There are no airline schools, as such, that I know of.

The military does do some preliminary ground training at first, as it should be; some theory, some practical. Do your research and you will find the military school coorelates the theory with practice; which is the way it is recommended in all books on education theory and practical experience.

And I am speaking from many years of practical experience.

Yes, it is 'common wisdom' to do the written first, but that comes from, as you said, (flight schools are in the business to make MONEY on the training) and it is convenient to do flight and ground as a seperate animal, so that's how it has evolved, but, the OP was asking for information upon which to make a decision. I gave him my opinion, from my personal long-time experience of obseving the process.

Well, I have yet to see any evidence that your method actually provides an applicant that truly understands the theory, at least, certainly no better than anyone that learned the theory before flying..

Your comment on airline training has been addressed already.

[mattp1803]

I think it's a great idea! I took my private written right before I took my check ride. I studied and took my instrument written before I even started my instrument training. You will definitely thank yourself in the end if you finish your writtens before you start training.