Private Pilot Test Prep
reviews and complaints

Just took my written and scored a 95%! Easy to use! The best thing about it was that it had the question on the top when you went to use the chart or figure so you didn’t have to go back and forth looking at the question. Save function was okay, but if you didn’t answer a question it took you back to the beginning of the test. Really a pain when you are going through all 800+ questions. Overall I would recommend this over ASA’s app. Thanks Sporty’s!

Most of my studies were with this app. 80% sporty’s 20% FARAIM and PHAK. Once I was consistently scoring above 90% on the practice exams my instructor endorsed me and I scheduled the real exam. Many questions were close to the ones on this app.

-The difficulty comes when you try to determine distance on the sectionals within the app on an iPhone screen. Also, shooting multiple radials to find a specific point. Would have been a bit easier if I had a tablet. The supplements are great though!

After training for almost 4 years on and off I turned to this app to help me study for my written. Well I must say it definitely did the job. I must've taken the practice test at least 30 times over the last week and a half (took me about 30 mins each time) and I saw my score gradually increase from 50's to an average of 88. Took the exam today and I passed with a 77%!

There are a few questions on the written that were not on my practice tests but most of them are verbatim. This app was definitely well worth it.

This app is very useful. It beats having to lug a book and supplement with you all over. There's something like 700+ questions to practice. I took the knowledge test yesterday and got a 97% first time. All the questions were in this app, no surprises. The knowledge test was a little heavy on the navigation questions (time en route, mag/compass heading). The only two questions I missed were due to my own mistakes. It would be nice to save some questions so you could focus on certain problem questions. Overall great app!

This is the only test prep I used while studying for my written and I just took the test today and passed with an 80%. I was getting 80%-90% on the practice exams before I took the real thing, and saw a majority of the same questions. Of course, there were some questions I hadn't seen before on it as well. But, if you study regularly and are passing the practice exams with a high score they should be no sweat. Do yourself a favor and buy this app if you're preparing for your written test! You won't regret it. Now... Onto my check ride! Good luck!

The way that the app is set up, on the "learning mode"all the answers and explanations for the right and wrong answers are listed in a pop up multiple choice quiz.

The Flash card section is a bonus section that makes you "recall" the answer instead of recognize the answer.

These are the exact same questions (word for word) as in the learning "mode" section.

You can use the learning section as flash cards if you want to.

The questions are all organized by topic and are very easy to find the answer if you can not recall the answer with a good explanation.

I used this app almost exclusively for my studying and passed the test with 92% (you only need 70%). I got through about 500 of the questions through this app, and I would say only one or two of the questions on the actual test I hadn't seen before in the practice tests.

My only complaint and why I didn't give it 5 stars is that it would be nice if you could mark questions and save them across sessions. As it is anything you mark is only accessible during a given session, whereas there are some trickier questions I'd have preferred to save for review at anytime.

Just got a 98% on my written. I used the Jeppeson study guide and after that exclusively studied with this app. It was so similar to the actual test! It was nice for me to have the study guide as well so I had a hard copy of the testing supplements. I’m a new mom and has to study as efficiently as possible (during nap time) and this was just perfect. Thank you Sporty’s! I’d recommend to anybody! To those still studying: remember that you have to match the map scale in the supplements and not your actual plotter! I didn’t know that when I started out and got very frustrated!

I had used other online sources for testing from places like Gliem but there soft ware was hard to use and inconvenient. I was recommended this from a friend and bought it, which for $10 I thought was very reasonable. The app has all the questions you will see on the test and many are word for word the same as what I saw. The best part is you can take many practice tests and find out what you missed, restudy and take them again. With the app on my iPhone it was a great way to burn time and prep for the test. I would definitely recommend the app and I will be getting the IFR version in a year or so when I go for my instrument rating.

I used this app along with many other study sources. This app was my #1 study resource.

Because of this app, I scored a 97% on my written test. On the actual written test itself, I only found one question that I wasn't familiar with.

Some recommendations/notes I would advice everyone is to check if the figures in the app match your actual figures book, as the figures book in the app did not match the current figures book. Lots of questions are repeated in the section, which isn't a big complaint for me because it helped me remember the question, but could be annoying for other people.

If you want to be like me and score a 97% (or greater), I really recommend buying this app! Make sure you study EVERYTHING!

Could be very useful if it weren't for the blackout bug. When I view a figure or if my screen rotates the screen will go black and will not return unless I completely close the program (open the multi tasking menu and close out completely), thus negating all my my progress in the test or study session. Thankfully I have hard copies of all the test figures, but that defeats the purpose of a portable device for studying.

Outside of that issue I think the layout is good and the flashcard mode is a nice way to test your knowledge rather than your ability to remember the questions and their answers in a multiple choice format.

I would like to see interactive forms that (for example) allow you to draw lines on the maps and receive feedback on the angle and distance of that line in place of trying to use a plotter on your iPad screen.

Overall, Lots of potential, but currently not very useful.

For the price this is a very nice FAA Test Prep APP for private pilot. It is very similar to Sporty’s online FAA test prep or Gleim’s online FAA test prep. I am currently using Gleim’s FAA test prep; the questions in this app are the same or very similar.

The online versions give you better control and options for testing yourself on missed and flag questions.

I use this app on an iPad and it works very nicely, maps, charts and chart supplements are easy to read. Is is also very useful to purchase the “Airmen Knowledge Testing Supplement for Sport Pilot, Recreational Pilot, Remote Pilot, and Private Pilot” (FAA-CT-8080-2H, or most current version). The testing supplement has all of the maps, charts and chart supplements that you will use on the test. It is a great complement to either the iPad and especially the iPhone.

One area where this app suffers is there is no way to test yourself on only flagged questions. This app needs to aggregate flagged questions within each section to easily access them for review or for testing.

Just took my private pilot exam today and scored a 93%. I'm amazed at how much this app helped me prepare and highly recommend it. For $10 compared the the thousands spent on training it's a no-brainer. I'll share my studying strategy with it for anyone interested in case it helps give you ideas. It's essentially just studying the test over and over again but it definitely helped me iron out some weak areas and help me grasp certain concepts better. So, the total time between downloading the app and taking the test was about three weeks for me. The first two weeks I took the test a few times a day with a day or two off here and there to let things breath. During this time I didn't review my wrong answers as intensely as in week three but I did skip around through some of the flash card study drills. I had two scores in the high 60s early on and several high 70s. By the end of week two I was in the 80s. During the third week I only took the test portion once per day. But I started aggressively reviewing my wrong answers at this point and reworking the longer problems and taking screen shots on my phone of questions I got wrong and the correct answers to review. I consistently scored in the 90s this third week and as high as 95%. The morning of my exam I didn't take a practice test but focused on the flash card learning drills with an emphasis on questions I hadn't seen before. I hope this helps. Note that even with all this review I did see two questions I had never come across before on the actual exam. But, if you can get all the other questions correct it still puts you in the 90s. Good luck aviators!

GOOD: The format/functionality of the app is great; the different learning modes for aspiring/beginner pilots preparing for their written FAA exams could almost serve as a direct replacement to many expensive ground school courses intended to help an aspiring pilot pass the written*** exam. If your goal is to just (barely) pass the written exam with the minimum amount of time invested, and you have no aspirations to become a professional pilot where those test scores actually reflect on you personally, GREAT! Especially if you love your iPad/iPhone and hate reading through those troublesome books with all that extra stuff actually explaining why things work the way they do in flight, and prefer the brute-force method of just learning the correct answers to specific questions for the most(*) part. *(see ugly)

BAD: When in "Learning Mode" and you touch "Show Explanations", it would be generous of me to say that half the questions actually have explanations helpful in building your knowledge rather than just brute-forcing you through to the correct answer for when you take the written test. Questions involving "see figure XX" are at best 'sufficient' on the simple questions (e.g. taxi w/x-wind, basic guages, etc.), but much more likely require you swap back & forth between the question and figure so often that it's easier to just write down the question on some scrap paper while you look at the figure. Given that a good 10-20% of the "see figure XX" questions require plotters and measurements impossible to accomplish accurately on your iDevice, you can mitigate this by simply printing off all the "figure XX's" on paper, in the correct scale, and referencing those instead of touching the "see figure" button. Would still be nice to have the question stay on the screen while viewing the figure for those 80% of questions accurate plotter measurements aren't required.

UGLY: So far on this app, I'm about 250+ questions into what looks like around 800 programmed into the app, and have already encountered flat-out incorrect/out-of-date answers. Not little things, either.. serious stuff like causing a runway incursion that could result in (at best) ATC instructing you to file a mandatory report and maybe getting your license pulled/reviewed, or (at worst) even contributing to a ground collision on an active runway.. This is an example of a regulation that went into force in mid-2010, the Sporty's app v1.0 was released in early 2011. Here we are, 3+ years and a bunch of app updates later, and I'm still getting taught how to ignore the aviation equivalent of "STOP" or "RR X-ing" signs. Maybe all the other 800+/- answers are correct, but once you hit one so wrong that it puts your license & life in jeopardy, it kinda shakes your confidence in the app to teach you the rest.

END RESULT: Still a great and helpful app to *helpyou with the written exam, when used in concert with actual flight training from a CFI and ground school curriculum.. NOT any kind of substitute to save $$ unless you just don't care about your record showing a 'barely passing' score and are just getting your license for fun.. ;-)

Useless $10.

There are not nearly as many questions as the ASA prepware book has. Also no ability to search for specific questions. Waste of $10.

If you have never compared multiple private pilot study guides,then you probably think this is an excellent tool. It’s not. Not even close

App is okish. Looks like it was designed when windows 98 was a thing... best suggestion is not to buy from this store. Awful experiences all around.

This is a great app overall but I would have to recommend the ASA app over this one for the strict fact that they stay up to date on the latest FAA questions.

Overall great app but the reason I’m giving it one star is because in the test mode I’ve had the app crash on several occasions. Nothing more frustrating than almost completing a test and losing all you progress.

I tought this app would let you pick sections or topics and test you on them. This app just gives you either a full blown test or a flashcard mode with no option of giving you multiple choice on that. I would not recommend this product to anybody studying for their private pilot's license.

My major issue with this software is how limited the user options are; for example, what if I want to practice by choosing 30 random questions in three subject areas? No deal.

Sorry, but I dont always have time TO GO THROUGH 700 QUESTIONS.

Come on Sporty's. I can get better practice online for free.