Private pilot written exam practice test
Twenty questions drawn at random from a 42-question bank, in the same three-answer format as the FAA knowledge test. Every answer comes with the reasoning and the regulation behind it, and you get a breakdown by subject at the end.
| Subject area | Score | % |
|---|
These are original practice questions written in the FAA format to test the same knowledge areas. They are not copies of live FAA test items, and no question bank predicts the exact questions you will see. Nothing you do here is stored or sent anywhere.
Aim for 90, not 70
The FAA private pilot knowledge test is 60 questions in 2 hours 30 minutes, and 70% is a pass. That much most people know. What almost nobody is told beforehand is what happens to the questions you get wrong.
Every missed question is reported on your Airman Knowledge Test Report as an ACS code, and your examiner is required to cover those codes during the oral portion of your checkride. Scrape through at 71% and you hand the examiner a list of eighteen topics to work through with you. Walk in at 93% and there are four.
So treat the percentage at the end of this quiz as a study signal rather than a grade. The subject breakdown is the useful part — if airspace comes back at 40% twice in a row, that is where the next two evenings go.
Take it a few times. The twenty questions are drawn at random from the bank each run, so you will get a different mix.
The eight areas this quiz covers
The FAA does not publish an official percentage split, so treat these as the areas rather than a weighting. Every question on the real test maps to a code in the Airman Certification Standards, which is why studying by ACS area beats grinding a question bank at random.
| Area | What it actually asks you |
|---|---|
| Regulations | Currency, flight reviews, fuel reserves, oxygen, alcohol, required equipment and documents. The most memorisable section and the cheapest marks on the test. |
| Airspace | Class A through G, entry requirements, and the VFR visibility and cloud clearance table. Worth over-learning if you fly in Los Angeles. |
| Weather | Stability, fronts, fog types, thunderstorm stages, and reading METARs and TAFs. Usually the section people score worst on. |
| Aerodynamics | Angle of attack, load factor, stability, left-turning tendencies and ground effect. |
| Performance | Density altitude, takeoff and landing charts, weight and balance. |
| Navigation | Chart symbols, magnetic variation, VOR use and accuracy checks, dead reckoning. |
| Operations | Right of way, traffic patterns, airport markings and lighting, radio procedure. |
| Aeromedical | Hypoxia, hyperventilation, spatial disorientation, vision at night, diving and flying. |
A quiz will not get you the endorsement
Under 14 CFR 61.35 you need evidence of ground training before you can sit the knowledge test — either an endorsement from an authorised instructor or a graduation certificate from an accepted ground school course. A practice test is a diagnostic, not a substitute.
Ground school is included
Every private pilot programme here includes ground instruction: 3 hours on Standard and Premium, 10 hours on Comprehensive. Books and training materials are included in all three.
Taught by the people who fly with you
The instructor covering airspace with you on the ground is the one taking you under the LAX Class B shelf the following week. That link is the whole argument for in-person ground work.
Weather days become study days
Van Nuys gives you 355 flyable days a year, but June mornings are unreliable. Those slots become ground school or Redbird simulator time rather than a lost week.
Where the knowledge stops being theory
Radio work, airspace transitions and instrument scan are all things you can read about and still fumble the first time. A full-motion simulator is where they become automatic, and it is never cancelled for a ceiling.
Simulator hours are built into every private pilot programme — 2 hours on Standard and Premium, 5 hours on Comprehensive. A standalone session is $189.
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Prices that do not move
The number you enroll at is the number you finish at. Books and ground school included.
Get the ground work sorted properly
If you are already studying, the free consultation is twenty minutes on your timeline, your written exam date and which programme has enough ground time for how you learn. If you have not flown yet, start with a $229 discovery flight — the hour is logged and it makes every page of the handbook make more sense.
The written exam
the full private pilot written exam guideprivate pilot ground school in Los Angeleswhat the oral exam coverswhat the examiner actually teststhe aviation glossaryQuestions about the private pilot written exam
Short answers with the numbers. The full guide goes deeper.
The FAA Private Pilot Airplane knowledge test is 60 multiple-choice questions with three answer options each. You have 2 hours 30 minutes, and you need 70% to pass, which means 42 correct answers.
No. These are original practice questions written in the FAA format to test the same knowledge areas across the same eight subjects. No practice bank predicts the exact questions on the live test, and anyone claiming otherwise is overselling.
Aim for 90% or better on practice tests. A 70% pass is legal but every question you miss is reported as an ACS code that your examiner must cover at the oral portion of the checkride, so a marginal pass makes the checkride longer and harder.
Most people need roughly 40 to 60 hours of study spread over 6 to 10 weeks alongside flying. Doing it in a concentrated block works, but retention is better when ground study runs in parallel with the flights that use it.
Yes. 14 CFR 61.35 requires evidence of ground training before you can sit the knowledge test, either a logbook endorsement from an authorised instructor or a graduation certificate from an accepted ground school course.
24 calendar months. Your practical test must be completed within that window or you will need to retake the knowledge test.
You can retake it, but you need an endorsement from an authorised instructor certifying that you have had additional instruction and are competent to pass. The regulation imposes no fixed waiting period.
Yes, and many people do. The only constraint worth planning around is the 24-month validity, so taking it very early can put pressure on the back end if your training stretches out.
Regulations, airspace, weather, aerodynamics, aircraft systems, performance and weight and balance, navigation, radio and ATC procedures, aeromedical factors and decision making. The FAA does not publish an official percentage weighting.
It is a memorisation and comprehension test rather than a trick test, and the pass mark is 70%. Most people who struggle do so because they studied from a question bank alone rather than from the Airman Certification Standards and the FAA handbooks.
Every question on the test maps to a code in the Airman Certification Standards, such as PA.I.B.K1. Any question you miss is reported by code on your Airman Knowledge Test Report, and your examiner is required to cover those areas during the oral.
Yes. Every private pilot programme includes ground instruction: 3 hours on the Standard at $10,900, 10 hours on the Comprehensive at $15,900, and 3 hours on the Premium at $22,500. Books and training materials are included in all three.
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