I got signed off to take them this week at the FSDO. I did it via civil experience working under my dad. I know of a few schools that offer week long cram sessions and the you walk out with a certificate. Who has done this and where did you go? I am looking into options to get this done in January.

Did this research a while back and concluded that Bakers School in Nashville was the best. They say it takes more like 10 days to a couple of weeks. Passing is guaranteed. How long it takes is not.

I plan on going late this coming spring.

Federal Exams in OK City ,Ok -written and practical same place .

Personally, I think the cram courses are a bit oversold. A technique that worked for me and hundred of others, absolutely free:
1. Get the official FAA Test Books, the ones with all 1,000 questions.
2. Get 4 different collared highlighters.
3. Go throughout he questions and answer them.
4. Mark each question you got wrong with yellow.
5. Study only the questions in yellow.
6. Take it again, mark the incorrect ones with pink.
7. Study only the pink ones now.
8. Repeat until you can achieve a score of better than 80%.
9. Take the test.

BTW, you do not have to take all 4 tests at once.

It is essentially what they charge you for, doing the same from the comfort of your own home works just as well. Oral and practical, the Oral is really up to the DME giving it. Do some research from others who have used him, some DME's will even give you guidelines. The practical, well if you can't do that part, become a barista instead.

If you want to go that route I recommend Baker in TN and Federal Exams in OK. I did self study for the writtens with the King DVDs and then went to Federal Exams for the O&P along with a prep for just it. I'll go back there for my IA when I get around to it.

Thanks guys. I'll probably take the written on my own. Still sorting out my options but I appreciate the input. I'd like to combine it with a little XC in the wagon.

I hope...

...that when an ATP pilot goes to have his heart bypass the surgeon didn't study the answers to the questions until he/she could pass the test. Learning the answers wasn't like that in "the day." One actually had to know the material.

Obama must be to blame.

Bob(the dinosaur)

z3skybolt wrote:I hope...

...that when an ATP pilot goes to have his heart bypass the surgeon didn't study the answers to the questions until he/she could pass the test. Learning the answers wasn't like that in "the day." One actually had to know the material.

Obama must be to blame.

Bob(the dinosaur)

Knowing everything on the test sounds great in theory but there is sooo much crap on there that will never be used by an A&P.

Don't get me wrong there is some stuff that you do need to know.

It would be nice if the tests were a little more "practical"

The test mostly covers BS. It has radial engine questions, but almost no small turbine questions. Extensive questions on carbon pile voltage regulators, none on solid state systems. It is dated and has not been revised much. As a practical test for real wold information, it fails badly. Basically, the most valuable item for an A&P is the time spent as an apprentice. The method I suggested is what I used when I took my tests, I got a 98, 94, 92 and an 88 in scores (I took it in 1987).

In reality getting an A&P is a license to learn. When we hire a fresh licensee, he will spend a year doing the simple jobs and playing tool monkey for a much more experienced mechanic. Eventually, depending on his/her uptake, we will assign jobs that are more complicated. Sheet metal is where some get it and some don't. My personal weakness, I can't weld, I'm a melter. I can, on the other hand, troubleshoot a FADEC, install and test avionics and just last week, pull the RGB off a PT-6 and pull the Hot Section for investigation by the FAA. It seems my little gliding experience with the Caravan this month was not a governor, but a Nose Gearbox Failure. It took a bit of troubleshooting to get there. You kind of start with the simple answers and work your way up. It turned out the Hot Section has defects it should not have at 20 hours SMOH. So if the gearbox hadn't failed, the Hot Section would have.

More to the point, not one question related to PT-6 engines on the tests. Not one question on turbine blades. Your A&P license lets you do this kind of work, right out of the box. If the test was valuable, it should have covered some systems and items related to the real world, not Beech 18's systems and carbon piles.

Metal in the prop shaft, there was more in the gearbox:


Coating Failure on the CT Blades, 20.5 hours, tsk, tsk.

Gotta agree. When I started out in the USAF I was a jet mechanic, they trained me. I spent nearly 20yrs turning wrenches on turbines in the military and out (under supervision until I got my A&P). Went to school on PT6s, got experience on them, so on. When I took the writtens, nothing...I mean really nothing, was on the turbines I've been working on all these years. Just some theory stuff.

You guys have it to easy down there, in canada it takes 15 months of school, after which you can write 4 exams on engines and airframe related stuff, min pass of 70 out of 100 questons, no questions available before hand, you study the text books you have been using throughout school. Then it's 2 yrs or so as an "apprentice" which is where I am right now, where you keep a log book from Transport Canada full of "tasks", which you must do a minimum of 70% in each category, that must get signed out by a licensed AME after you are competent in doing them. After that, you can write the CARS exam, again no pre study material, except the CARS themselves. After that, you're a licensed Engineer, and you can start making the "big" bucks.

The military really got me to that A&P. They trained me, worked me, and after about 5 or 6 years someone told me I could get FAA approval to test for the A&P due to my experience. I took my military records to the FSDO, walk in actually in Anchorage, and about 15 minutes later had the signatures to test. It only took me 10 years after that before I actually got around to taking the tests...haha. I procrastinated since I didn't need the A&P in the military to do my job, but as soon as I retired I realized I should finally get it done. Wish I hadn't put it off so long though as I could have my IA by now. One more year and I'll go get that.

dogpilot wrote:The test mostly covers BS. It has radial engine questions, but almost no small turbine questions. Extensive questions on carbon pile voltage regulators, none on solid state systems. If the test was valuable, it should have covered some systems and items related to the real world, not Beech 18's systems and carbon piles.

That all depends......it fit me perfectly, as I was going right to work on radials and Beech 18's, DC-3's, Beavers, Otters, Norseman, Goose, etc. There's more than one side to it all the time, but I do agree, it needs updating. That being said, I've been in GA for almost 30 years and have spent more time working on old aircraft than new....it just depends on what end of it you're headed to. I'd hate to see them get ahold of it and "change" it to be all airline stuff......that would be even more worthless in my opinion!
John

Study the book, memorize the answers. Your dad has taught you more about the real world that any school will ever teach you. Don't sweat the practical.

BTracy wrote:Study the book, memorize the answers. Your dad has taught you more about the real world that any school will ever teach you. Don't sweat the practical.

You told me this same thing nearly two years ago, and you were right.