FAA Written Changed & Scores are Falling: How to Study
TLDR
The FAA Written Exam for Private Pilot and Sport Pilot students has updated once again. In 2020, the FAA announced an overhaul in how they test students on their knowledge. This included cycling through the questions they use on the exam every few months in order to get rid of “question harvesting”. However, no changes were observed until 2023 and then again, just recently in December of 2025. The FAA is asking less calculation type questions, a more random assortment of questions, and more on safety in critical phases of flight (read article to see certain subjects). The goal of the FAA is for students to have to actually learn the fundamental concepts of piloting rather than memorizing test questions. It has always been Part Time Pilot’s goal of teaching students these concepts at the fundamental level in our comprehensive online ground school and that is now more important than ever. Students need to understand the why and how behind each concept to be prepared for any question. Part Time Pilot online ground school has already added 100s of new test questions, updated several lessons and upgraded graphics and visuals to better aid students in understanding the material.
Over the past few weeks, student pilot FAA written exam scores have dropped by an average of 7–10%. While no Part Time Pilot students have failed, many aren’t scoring as high as they expected. This isn’t random, it’s the result of quiet but significant changes to the FAA knowledge exam.
In this article, we’ll cover:
- What’s changing on the FAA private and sport pilot written exams
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Why this is happening now
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What students should do to prepare and pass
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What Part Time Pilot is doing to stay ahead of these changes
What has Changed on the FAA Written Exam
At Part Time Pilot, we closely track how students perform on our practice exams compared to their actual FAA knowledge exams for private, sport, and instrument ratings. Historically, our students have scored the same or better on the FAA exam than on our practice tests… by design. We intentionally make our practice tests challenging and emphasize true understanding over memorization.
However, in the last few weeks, that trend has changed. Student scores on the actual FAA exam have dropped by about 7–10% on average. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this .
The good news is… none of our students have failed the exam, they just didn’t get the scores they were expecting. This is because of the comprehensive nature of our online ground school and our emphasis on understanding the material at the fundamental level. This way, students are still prepared to answer any question.
The last major drop occurred in spring 2023, when the FAA quietly rolled out a new batch of test questions and altered the mix of topics being tested. We detected the change because of the score trend, investigated it, and even spoke directly with the FAA. At that time, we learned the FAA had:
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Shortened the exam to two hours
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Removed time‑consuming interpolation and multi‑step calculation problems
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Shifted focus toward critical phases of flight, such as taxi, takeoff, and landing
Fast forward to 2025, and we’re seeing another shift. This change actually started years ago. Back in 2020, the FAA contracted a new Airman Certificate Testing Service and announced plans to modernize testing. One of their main goals was to eliminate “question harvesting.”
Question harvesting is when test prep providers collect reports of exact test questions, sometimes illegally, and train students to memorize answers rather than understand concepts. The FAA wanted to end this by:
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Rotating questions more frequently
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Expanding beyond simple rote memorization
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Potentially introducing new question formats (though exams are still multiple choice for now)
As with many FAA initiatives, the rollout was slow and quiet, but now we’re clearly seeing the effects. Based on recent student reports and performance trends, today’s FAA written exam includes:
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More scenario‑based questions
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Increased focus on risk management
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Emphasis on hazardous conditions and critical phases of flight
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Questions that feel more like a checkride oral exam than a traditional written test
The FAA is clearly shifting toward testing real‑world decision‑making and safety‑critical knowledge, the things that actually keep pilots safe.
How Students should Prepare to Pass the FAA Written Exam
You can look at these changes one of two ways:
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“This sucks… now I have to study more instead of memorizing questions.”
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“This is forcing me to actually learn the material and become a safer pilot.”
I’m firmly in the second camp. For years, many students treated the FAA written exam as something to “get out of the way” using cheap test‑prep books and memorization tactics, postponing real learning until just before the checkride. That approach:
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Creates unsafe solo pilots
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Leads to more mistakes in flight training
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Increases training costs due to repeated lessons
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Turns the written exam into a wasted opportunity
More than ever, students should complete ground school comprehensively and early in their training, ideally before or alongside flight lessons.
The FAA is placing extra emphasis on safety‑of‑flight topics, including:
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Takeoffs & Landibngs
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Weather hazards
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Aircraft control and stalls
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Wake turbulence
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Stabilized approaches
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Crosswinds
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Slips, skids, and spins
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Hydroplaning
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Icing
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Go‑arounds
- Emergency Procedures
That said, there are still no guarantees. The exam is a random draw. One student may see multiple weather and airspace questions, while another sees none. There are no shortcuts — students must still understand everything outlined in the Airman Certification Standards (ACS).
What Part Time Pilot is doing to Prepare Students to Stay Ahead of the Changes
We’ve already taken action to ensure our students continue to succeed:
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Added new lessons previously found only in checkride prep
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Expanded and deepened those lessons inside ground school
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Added 50–100 new practice questions (with more coming)
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Introduced more visual learning tools, including animations and moving graphics
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Signed a contract to produce new in‑flight video lessons
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Continued improving support for all learning styles such as video, audio, and written
When we built this course, the goal was simple: make it work for everyone. Some students prefer reading, others audio, others video, and sometimes it just takes the right explanation or right visual for a concept to click.
That philosophy hasn’t changed… but the course keeps evolving.
The number 1 way to ensure your success in becoming a pilot is by properly managing your time & money
And the easiest way to properly manage your time & money is by doing ground school before it’s too late and ACTUALLY understanding the material
5 years ago I saw NO ONE mentoring unsuspecting students on the traps in flight training that was costing them $1000s
This is why I created the Part Time Pilot Online Ground Schools
The ground schools were created with these ideas at the heart of our mission statement:
- Mentoring students from start to finish
- Providing content that saves time & money & provides a deep understanding
How does Part Time Pilot compare to other Online Ground Schools?
I went to the website of each of the Top 10 Online Ground Schools and gathered ALL the relevant info a student pilot like you needs to make an informed decision.
Things like cost, student ratings, lifetime access or not, types of lessons, bonuses included, scholarships included, support available and more.
Then, I lined them all up and compared them all in a single table so that student pilots could make the best, most informed decision on their training.
Comprehensive Sport Pilot Online Ground School & Test Prep Updated for MOSAIC
Part Time Pilot stays up to date on all FAA regulations and testing changes to immediately incorporate them into our Online Ground Schools.
And, rather than just tell you to take the Private Pilot course, Part Time Pilot is one of the only Online Ground Schools to have a dedicated Sport Pilot option that is specific to Sport Pilot operations.
All the favorite features of our Private Pilot & IFR courses such as downloadable audio lessons, flash cards, written and video lessons with step by step examples, interactive AI tools, study groups and more are included and specifically tailored to the Sport Pilot Online Ground School.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some frequently asked questions about the topic of the the FAA Written Exam.
How do I get an Endorsement for the FAA Written Exam
In order to take the FAA Knowledge Exam (Written Exam) a student needs to receive an endorsement from an FAA certified ground or flight instructor and that instructor must have knowledge that you have done the appropriate studying and are prepared to pass the exam. The FAA doesn’t want instructors handing them out to anyone, so you will need to usually show them or prove you are ready. Usually an instructor will want to see you score a certain percentage on FAA practice exams before they provide the endorsement. The endorsement can be provided by online ground schools as well, like Part Time Pilot as long as they are signed off by a certified instructor who can prove you’ve completed the work and are ready for the exam.
How do I schedule the FAA Written Exam
The FAA partners with PSI testing centers around the United States to proctor their exams. To schedule the exam you need to go to the PSI FAA webpage, find a testing center near you, choose a time and tell PSI which way you qualify for the exam. You can qualify for the exam with an endorsement form a certified instructor if you choose an online ground school or home study route or with a course completion certificate if you chose a Part 141 course for your ground training. Here is a video showing each step of how to schedule on the FAA PSI website:
Where can I take the FAA Written Exam?
The FAA partners with PSI testing centers around the United States to proctor their exams. To schedule the exam and find a testing center near you, you need to go to the PSI FAA webpage and create an account.
What are the Acceptable Forms of ID the FAA Accepts for the FAA Written Exam?
Acceptable forms of ID to obtain an FAA pilot certificate include US Driver’s License, US Government IDs, Military IDs, Passports or Alien Residency Cards. The FAA lists all acceptable forms of ID at this page here.
Does Part Time Pilot have Flash Cards or Practice Tests?
Yes, Part Time Pilot has digital Flash Cards as well as a downloadable PDF of the Flash Cards with over 1500 practice questions. Students can utilize these 60 at a time, simulating unlimited FAA Written Practice Tests. On top of that, once students complete our comprehensive ground school lessons that are available in written text, audio and video, students will be asked to take 3 uniquely curated tests based off latest FAA Written Exam trends. Part Time Pilot will then create a custom practice test report with subjects to review based upon the student’s results and then provide the student with more practice tests or their endorsement for the exam. To learn more about what is in our Online Ground School and how we have gotten a 99.9% success rate on our students passing the exam, click here.
