As I see it, the problem is both the questions in the exams themselves, plus the fact that students generally study for them primarily alone by self-study. As has been pointed out, many of the questions are irrelevant. But when studying alone, and very new to flying, it's often not possible to see the relevance to actual flying. I spent an hour or so recently with a student who couldn't see the point of Human Performance, just going through the book and relating some of the theory to actual flying...it gave him a new perception of the whole thing. If you make the exams harder, we'll lose people. They are already hard enough for people without a technical or scientific background...but they may need stuff explained if they're to learn what it means and not just how to pass the exam.
So...perhaps a short compulsory groundschool element? With instructors paid for it of course! I know it would add to the cost, but I'm tired of cost always being the deciding element here. I would have loved someone to explain the mysteries of helicopter aerodynamics to me; no-one did, and I struggled with it up to my CPL and beyond. And I do have a scientific background, of sorts anyway.
Multiple choice is fine. Otherwise the exams will depend on a student's ability to express himself well on paper, which is not really relevant. And it works the other way round too. I discovered at university that I had a knack of being able to know a little about a subject and sound like an expert; it comes of being able to write well, and people mistake my ability fto express myself on paper for real knowledge. For that reason, I personally hate multiple choice!!! I can't fool anyone.
But, joking part, we need questions that are clear and comprehensible, not ones where instructors can't work out the answer because it's not clear what the question means.
FFF,
There was a case once, described fairly recently in Pilot magazine, where a student went out for a first solo, then someone crashed on the runway, and she eventually had to fly to another airfield to land!!! It's rare, and full marks to her for coping, because I suspect some students wouldn't. However, EVERYONE should realise that going out to do circuits may not be just that...accidents happen, weather can change suddenly and unexpectedly, or whatever. So I think that at the very least first solo students should know about Air Law, but the relevant stuff, not all the stuff about...dunno, I've forgotten what was irrelevant because I never use it.
