Yeah that was the thought. So glad I did all that shit before I had kids. I can’t imagine trying to cram like that now. Don’t know how people do it while working and juggling kids.
Rob, I used Shepard for my commercial written and it works great BUT you have to follow the instructions that come with it word for word if you do not it will not work.
the second BUT: if you are looking to truly understand the knowledge Shepard will not teach you it unfortunately it’s primary PPO purpose is to teach you exactly what the answers are for each test question so when you see them you instantly know the answer. That is the only purpose of the Shepard test prep and yes it works great at that.
For learning the aviation knowledge I’ve tried several different study guides, books, and online courses … The best course material I have found is made by Jeppeson their books are by far the best written, they have incorporated a lot of helpful highlighted areas and study questions truely in my opinion a night and day comparison to the other material out there.
Also Jeppeson has work books and study guides for each course that I find just as high quality as their main text books.
There is a down side however, I don’t believe there still producing new books so you’ll have to search online for them but they aren’t hard to find they range in price and are considerably higher priced then say ASA or Gliem however if you search around you can usually find a used copy that’ll go for cheap.
I can send you some photos of the course materials I have from Jeppeson I have their private pilot course books and there Commercial/Instrument (they combined the material from both into one book) along with a few other course prep books they offer.
If I ever go the CFI route as long as the material remains relevant I will be using the Jeppeson materials to teach my students
Interesting…
I took an instrument ground class when I was in collage that used Jeppeson and I really liked the material! (I was already a CFI at the time, but it worked out schedule / credit wise for me so I went through it)
My current plan is reading Airplane Flying Handbook and Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge as a refresher. I agree, the Jeppeson would be better, but I already have those books.
I’m mainly looking to use Shepard so that I have firsthand knowledge of it when talking with others. The AGI isn’t really useful to me, but I like to “collect” ratings so I figured this would be a good opportunity to check it out.
I’m actually interested in getting my AGI when I was attending the 141 program my self and a few students proposed to the dean it should be added to the course list but it never went anywhere.
If youd like I can send you my private pilot Jeppeson book with the condition if I ever go the CFI route I can get it back lol
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I appreciate the offer man!
Trying not to put too much time/effort into this endeavor over the summer, so the FAA stuff will be fine.
I’m already halfway through the AFH and several chapters into the PHOAK so no turning back now! haha
Hey Rob, just listening to the latest episode. I’ve used SheppardAir for every written test, and I’ve even done their test prep for AGI. I really like their program and their question bank, at least in my experience, almost perfectly matches the actual written. Even after going through the FAA books (which I know was the end goal of taking the test in the first place), I’d still recommend using some kind of test prep software. At the time I did my test prep I was a current CFI teaching full time and plenty of the questions caught me off guard and were confusing to me because the material covered by AGI is very far reaching and dipped into topics far past what a CFI teaching in light singles would be familiar with. I remember their being questions on helicopter ops, high altitude jet characteristics, and upper atmospheric weather.
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I didn’t realize the scope was that big… Will definitely be using Sheppard to avoid a failure on something that I don’t really need anyway.
Welcome To Pilot Ground!!!
How long have you been a CFI for?
I just passed the two year mark for my CFI earlier this year. I used to listen to the podcast in my student pilot days and while working on instrument and commercial. I was pleasantly surprised to see it reactivate!
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We are glad to hear you got something out of the show. It is enjoyable for the 3 of us as well now that we’re not adhering to a frequent/rigid show schedule. haha
Retapping this conversation- I have both IRA and FII written exams next week so I will be sure to let you all know. I will say, as I have gone through Sheppard’s study strategy, I feel very intimately familiar with the questions now. At this point I’ve seen every question and the answers 3+ times. This is different than any other way I’ve studied before, but I do feel confident going into next week with these last few days to finish studying.
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Nice keep us posted… I’m about to sign up here in the next couple of weeks to start test prep myself.
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