Good books for studying for instrument rating?

I got this one for free in the mail from American Flyers called Instrument Rating Learning Guide The complete program for faa written and flight test preparation. Not sure if its any good since it was sent as as an advertisemient of the school. Any other suggestions would help. should i get one of those expensive training kits that gleim asa and jeppesen are offering?

Well for overall kowledge for the rating the Instrument Flying Handbook and Instrument Procedures Book is available from the FAA for free in PDF format or you can buy them cheap on Amazon if you want the paper version. For just the knowledge test prep you can not beat Sheppard Air's software.

So those faa books are pretty decsent dont have to get the pricier ones from asa or gleim

The FAA ones cover everything you need to know. And they are free

How can i get them for free? The printed ones seem all to be for sale.

PDF on the FAA website. You can print them for the cost of paper

Also if you happen to have an IPad, pod, or phone you can download the free ATP Flight School App. It has all the FAA publications on it for free too.

I think printing it will cost as much as buying the printed version. Ill check out the atp app on my ipad thnx

So if all you need are those two faa books whats the point of all these companies selling expensive study kits.

Some people just learn differently. The FAA books are full of great material and I have them all on my iPad but they're not exactly a textbook. They're a great reference but maybe not the best way to learn the material.

If you like his style and humor check out Rod Machado's instrument textbook. He also has a book call the Instrument Survival Guide but that's more for after you have your instrument. Also, if you plan on going beyond the instrument rating I'd highly recommend getting a copy of Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot. It's another great reference with a unique presentation that many (including myself) really enjoy.

Also highly recommend getting software to do as many practice writtens as you can. I used Dauntless Soft witch has a package for $130 for any FAA written out there, from Sport Pilot through ATP, FEX, all CFi tests,etc. lots of people swear by the Sheppard Air stuff which I haven't tried, but I'd compare pricing between the two before you make your decision.

Ok thank you ill check out those books. I used Dauntless for my PPL oral study its a great software.

Same material, just presented differently.

Teaching in a classroom? I prefer the Jeppesen books myself. For self study? The FAA pubs are good too. For PPL ground school stuff? king or sporty's videos are totally fine.

Many of the kits are set up to help memorize questions on the written exams - will help you pass them, but not necessarily understand the underlying material.

If you can learn effectively from reading, the FAA books are all you need (and all I used for pretty much every rating)

Well i think ill order rod machados book, download the faa stuff on the ipad, and maybe get one of the softwares just gotta figure out which one.


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I agree, but I don't think they offer IR prepware.

They do now. They offer both the IRA and CAX prep along with all the ones they have had in the past.

Of course they did...They purposely waited until almost a year after I had to suffer through John and Martha while getting ready for my IRA and CAX . I used sheppard for both of my CFI writtens and will never use anything else again.

I know the feeling. I know a couple of people that used the IRA prepware over a weekend and both scored in the 90s. Sheppard can't be beat IMO.

The thing about the IRA written vs. the others is that it actually has some relevence to IFR flying/procedures, so taking the time to actually learn most of it isn't necessarily a wiast of time.

Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot-great book