I Thought I Knew It All

I flat flunked my first private pilot exam. It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. "Why?", well, I really thought I knew all I needed to know. What I did was study like a madman every chance I got for the exam. You can find the actual exam and study all the questions and answers without really knowing how to solve real problems or employ mathematical formulas to get at the answers.

Remember, there are 60 questions and all you need to pass is a 70%. But, if you pass with a 70% and the 30 % you flunked dealt with weight and balance calculations, pressure altitude calculation, and magnetic variation calculation, you could potentially be a licensed problem.

One thing you need to do after passing the exam is have your instructor go over everything you got wrong and fix it. Most instructors will do this anyway but some will not. I know because I have flown with many of them.  Most instructors use this time to build time to more lofty goals and you could be losing valuable information. If you do not have an instructor go over this with you do it yourself.

Things like weight and balance are important, if for no other reason you were ramped. Having that information handy and knowing how to use it can keep you out of trouble.