Passing your FAA Private Pilot Exam could possibly be the most difficult part of getting your Private Pilots License depending upon who you are. It was said during WWII that farm boys from west and midwest quickly adapted to a stuck and rudder from their experience running farm equipment. Farm equipment back then required a lot more fancy footwork, dexterity, and muscle to operate.
Navigation, especially dead reckoning has been around since the time of the first sail in sea. Dead reckoning is either short for an original acronym called "deduced reckoning" or "ded, reckoning" for short. Others think it was from a position being, "dead" in the water, dead level, dead even, dead ahead, and so on. Dead reckoning for pilots hasn't changed much and nor has the equipment used to figure it out. The old E-6B is fairly simple to use and requires no batteries. I have a small one in my flight case I've had for over 34 years. This is something you will need to master to figure speed, time, and distance considering winds aloft and mag variance.
Aviating gets easier as time and experience goes by but in order to fly as a private pilot you have to pass the FAA exam. Well, actually you can fly solo after your first solo but you are still restricted by FBO, FAA, and insurance policy. So, concentrate on getting through that written exam and get that behind you so you can put that bookwork into practice. You will need it in everyday flying anyhow.
Some people can study and learn easily with little study and can't dance. Some people are great with a stick and rudder but have to study long and hard to get through material. I am one of those who has to study like crazy. One thing I have found useful however is to do what you just figured out over and over and over. Take weight and balance for example.
Weight x arm = moment is a formula used to figure weight and balance for airplanes and is something far too many pilots take for granted and don't run before flight. However, there are performance charts in the airplane that will help you. But, you have to learn it. It could be painfully evident if you don't learn it and bend a prop.
If you are one who procrastinates on studying you have to buckle down and do it. I sometimes went to the FBO and studied there because of the aviation environment.
The exam has 60 questions from a host of hundreds. You only need 70% to pass. That leaves a lot of room for failure. After you get through the exam you need to go over the areas you got wrong so you get 100% of the knowledge needed to fly. If the questions you missed were all weight and balance or weather interpretation, you could be an accident waiting to happen. So learn it all even if you got it wrong.
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