Recommend some study material for FAA written?

[Randal McSandal]

Looking for a good set of study material/practice exams for the FAA written. I've heard good things about the Gleim CD..

Thanks in advance!

[Katamarino]

I like the Gleim question book, and Rod Machado's PPL Handbook for the material. His jokes are incredibly corny but it's more readable than most and it's quite well presented and organised.

[Randal McSandal]

Awesome, I have Rod's book and agree that it isn't a bad read, the corny jokes keep it interesting.

[dont overfil]

There is an Iphone app for the FARs. Good for quick reference. It's about £4.00 IIRC.
D.O.

[172driver]

Agree with Katamarino. Used Rod Machado's book many moons ago - these corny (aren't they just!) jokes really help in memorizing and understanding the stuff!

[Tinstaafl]

Pilot Practice Page (http://www.exams4pilots.org)

Also any of the Gleim, Jepp or ASA preparation texts.

[silvereagle]

Gleim is always good. I used the books and CDs when I took the CPL(A)/MEIR 10 years ago. I understand they are still the business. I managed 100% on the IR exam and 98% on the CPL so they clearly work. I liked the CDs for more formal study but liked the books as I could read them while commuting/when away from home/on the bog. Good luck. By the way, if this is your first set of exams you should have no trouble passing. The CAA/JAA/EASA (or whatever they are called these days) are much more of a challenge. The FAA requirements are much more sensible in terms of depth of knowledge required to actually fly rather than design and build an airliner from scratch.

[peterh337]

I used the ASA stuff. One book for the PPL, one for the IR, one for the CPL. And you get a CD in there with the computer exam software, IIRC.

Gleim has been recommended by many, but I never tried it.

If you actually fly for real already, the FAA theory is mostly easy enough. I just read through the books once, and did a load of computer exams. There is only about 20% dross, against some 90% in the JAA theory. The FAA PPL did have a fair few tricks in it though, like asking about weather over Michigan but not providing a map showing where Michigan is :) Wouldn't work very well in the UK, would it? :)

[proudprivate]

1. Rod Machado's book - unputdownable and hilariously funny - but you already have that. Some of the material could do with an update.

2. ASA Flight School and Ground School books for in depth reading and reference
3. ASA's test prep questions
4. A copy of FAR/AIM for reference if you don't have permanent online access

and, depending on how you commute to work, for review until you sit the exam...

5a. Rod Machado's book on CD for in the car
or
5b. ASA's PPL video series on a laptop in the train - although the latter are a bit too much focused on "just the question database material".


The FAA requirements are much more sensible in terms of depth of knowledge required to actually fly


Agreed, but he's from Indiana. Anybody in Indiana going for an JAA/EASA license should immediately contact their AME to determine whether some form of restricted medical certificate can still be issued.

The exam-program also includes useful software nowadays. Check with the examination provider (CATS/Lasergrade/etc...) about wind triangles/metric conversions/weight and balance etc...

[bluesideoops]

I am using the ASA prepware software at the moment and seems pretty good - anyone got experience of the actual exam that has used the ASA stuff?? is it enough to pass the test on it's own??
Cheers

[this is my username]

I used the ASA Test Prep books and then the ASA Test Prep software to generate the required authorisation to sit the exam. There were a couple of questions on the IR test which weren't covered by ASA (mostly about GPS) but it wasn't enough to materially affect the outcome.

The Gleim books are on very poor quality paper compared to the ASA ones - that annoyed me enough that I didn't like them regardless of the relative quality of the content!