Theoretical knowledge Examination
As part of the application for a private pilot licence, you will need to take and pass exams in the following subject areas:
Please note: Exams administered by the UK CAA are only available in English.
Human Performance
Meteorology
Communications
Navigation
Operational Procedures
Flight Performance & Planning
Aircraft General Knowledge
Getting Ready for your exams
There are various text books produced which will cover the subject matter for each of the required examinations and these will be the core to your understanding of the subjects. The books are published by a variety of publishers and your flying school will almost certainly have a preference as to which you use, so it is worth talking to them before you invest in these.
Portal Registration
The Civil Aviation Authority Portal
Although these exams are official CAA exams you will be able to take them at your training organisation.
The exams are completed using a computer based online system. You will need to set up a CAA Customer Portal to enable your flying school to book the exams for you and for you to access them when the time comes for you to sit them.
What order you sit your exams is up to you, however its recommended to sit Air Law first as it is required to go solo, other exams like Navigation make more sense after you’ve covered the basics in the air.
Revise & Practice
Find & rectify knowledge deficiencies
Having made a good start on the course materials such as the Pooleys Air pilots Manuals 1-7. You will be ready to test your knowledge on certain subjects to see if you are ready to take your exams.
This is where we come in, our question banks will help your find out your knowledge gaps, and our explanations will help fill them.
The key is to retain knowledge that will help you through practice.
Before you may attempt any exams, you must have completed sufficient study in the subject(s) for the Head of Training of your Training Organisation to be satisfied that you are ready to attempt the relevant exam(s).
The Head of Training must then record a recommendation for you to attempt the exams in your student training records.
A recommendation to take your exams from a Training Organisation will be valid for 12 months. After this time, if you have not taken at least one exam you will need another recommendation to take them.
To obtain this recommendation, further training may be required.
Take your Exam
Start crossing the exams off the list
You will use a laptop or computer to sit exams of 12-16 multiple choice questions.
Results are often emailed within a few minutes of finishing. When you have completed an exam, if you can remember any questions Please submit them to us to add to our question bank to help other aspiring aviators, it’s this feedback that helped you!It is not necessary to take all of the exams at the same time, often training organisations will suggest that you take them progressively throughout your training. There are other schools who specialise in teaching towards the Theoretical Knowledge exams and these will often provide a condensed course of training over much shorter period of time with the exams at the end of their training course. Whichever you choose, you must pass all of the examinations within 18 months, counted from the end of the calendar month in which you first attempted your first exam.
The pass mark is 75%.
Validity of passed theoretical knowledge exams