FAA - Gleim?

[Chitty's Leader]

Hi all.
A friend is about to commence her FAA PPL, and has been recommended the Gleim test prep CD as preparation for her Ground examination. As I have no idea about the FAA system nor study materials, I am hoping someone out there can assist. She has been informed that this is the question bank from which the FAA draw their questions - would this be correct?
Hoping you may help.

[D'vay]

you are corect about the question bank. If the school wishes the student to study the Gleim manual then surely they must have a copy that they could send to her. Some schools would do this for the price of post and packaging. Also try Ebay. I did my FAA PPL in 4 and a half weeks from stracth. I was able to study for the Written exam and understand it (as oposed to remembering questions) in this time. Studying after groundschool on bad weather days and in a lovely cafe in Tulsa in the evenings. I also had plenty of time to enjoy myself and fly! What school is she going to?
Regards
D'vay

[EchoMike]

Re Gleim:

I'm an FAA AGI (advanced ground school instructor) and I teach the CAA ground school at OBA here in Florida, so I can make some comparisons between the FAA approach to tests and the CAA approach to tests.

Gleim *is* the FAA test bank - under the Freedom Of Information act, the FAA test banks for all ratings are public record, and Gleim (among others) has repackaged them into a handy book with some (not much) of their own commentary.

Your friend *can* use this to pass the FAA written, but it really should be supplememented by other materials. The test bank by itself does not engender understanding, it is necessary to connect it to the real world, in a larger context.

The FAA picks their test questions on the basis of "so and so bent his airplane, what didn't he know that caused this accident?" The FAA questions are very much safety and procedure oriented. It is possible to pass the test and not know very much about airplanes.

The CAA seems to pick the test questions on the basis of "how arcane can we get?" and their technology stops dead in 1940. Knowing the difference between monocoque and semi-monocoque construction of an aircraft, and knowing the composition of the atmosphere are utterly useless to pilots, and figuring the cloud height with a wet-bulb thermometer defies description. I'm 60 years of age, been flying 30+ years, and I've never even SEEN a wet bulb thermometer or even a picture of one - but I have read a description of it, thank you Google.

It is also quite possible to pass the CAA tests and not know very much about airplanes.

My suggestion is for your friend to ATTEND THE GROUND SCHOOL where ever she goes for her flight training, and use the printed materials (Gleim, ASA, Jepps, whoever) as a SUPPLEMENT instead of a replacement for the ground school. She'll learn what she needs to know in the ground school, and if she pays attention (and the instructor is any good), then the Gleim book will be icing on the cake.

And tell her to have a good time - she'll love it!

Best Regards,

EchoMike

[itsbrokenagain]

Save the money go to sportys.com click on pilot shop and there is a link there for the test prep and the study buddy. Or try faatest.com I have used this product and its great too , but I used the sportys one for my ppl and instrument tests and it was great.

PS echo mike, I am just 35 and had wet bulb thermometers in my school classrooms ! And dewpoint can and was in the past calculated from the wet bulb temperature , and surely you tell your students the significance of the dry bulb / dewpoint spread and its effects on what cloud or fog you can get. I too have taught the CAA syllabus up to ATPL level, and find it different, not arcane, it has a lot of useful info in it. ( ps I have taught Australian, Malaysian, South African, UK, JAA and FAA flight training in my 16 years in the industry and there all different, and have their pros and cons)

[Chitty's Leader]

Many thanks for all of your replies - they're very much appreciated!
I have no doubt at all that groundschool will be taken, and thus the test prep cd used solely as the "icing on the cake" as EM said.

Thanks once again for your input and I will pas this info on.

[Sensible]

Thanks for those words itsbrokenagain I was feeling somewhat obsolete having used the wet and dry bulb technique to determine relative humidity for many years. The method of comparing the readings obtained against a chart seems too easy to discard! I suppose the answer to how does one determine relative humidity and dewpoint in 2006 is "look it up on the internet"

[B200Drvr]

Chitty's Leader
I had a somewhat different approach with my FAA PPL,IR,Comm, CFIMEII and ATP. I used only the Gleim CD disks to study for the written as just that, a written. I then went into all the books afterwards to study and understand for the oral exam. This way I got the written out of the way quickly and with no chance of failure and had more time to dedicate to learning and understanding what I needed to know for the appropriate rating.
It worked for me

[OneIn60rule]

Acquired the gleim for my FAA IR and just learned all the answers so I could get the written test out of the way immediatly. Took me a week but afterwards my instructor and I went through all the bits and in depth material in order to pass the oral part of the IR.

By all means get the gleim so you can pass the written test but don't expect to pass the oral with it. The PTS manual is okay but you really need to practice with other students/instructors in order to properly understand everything. Everything is basically: How to read the approach plate, what does everything on it mean? Maltese cross is what? precision approach minima is? Is it viable as an alternate i.e. does it say that you can use it as an alternate? 1-1-2-3 and S.I.A.P. what does it mean? What do you do if you have a radio failure?
Know your aircraft, it's speeds, tire pressures, fuel is supplied how? Can you draw the fuel system? What is the six pack, explain to me all 6. What does this weather chart say? how long is it valid for? Where on this chart is D airspace? Show me a C.O.P. on this chart, what is it? Where can you start to descend/climb on this airway (knocked me off that did!).

I could go on forever but I'll end it here.