In this video, I will talk about my experience of preparing for and successfully passing
the part 107 remote pilot exam to fly drones commercially. I passed my exam in July of 2022
with a 90% score. On average, I spent 25-30 hours reading, practicing and taking online tests in
preparation for the exam and I had had no previous knowledge of aviation. If you are aspiring to get
the part 107 license, it is totally doable for any person capable of learning and memorizing
material. In my personal experience, learning material about U.S. air space, aerodynamics and
weather was fun and is truly valuable knowledge. The way this video is structured is that first,
I will talk about three studying strategies to get ready for the exam. Then, I will talk
about the method I chose and why. Specifically, I chose to use a study guide that cost me under $20.
I will also discuss various strategies and additional resources I used to better learn
the material. Finally, I will talk about things to know and what to expect on the day of exam.
You have three options to get ready for the part 107 exam. You can use free resources,
buy an online course or get a study guide textbook, typically costing under $20.
The first is to use free resources available from the FAA and other websites. The three
major resources available for free from FAA are: Remote Pilot - Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Study Guide (FAA-G-8082-22), Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25B) and
Aeronautical information Manual. You will also need the Airman Knowledge Testing
Supplement (FAA-CT-8080-2H). This supplement is the exact same book you will use during the exam
at your testing center. There are also many other study guides, free practice tests and
Youtube tutorials. I provided some of the links in the description below for these free resources.
The major benefit of this preparation method is that you will be learning right from the source
for free. There are several downsides to this though. First, there is a lot of material that you
do not necessarily need to know, so you will have to come up with a clear plan of attack. Second and
most importantly, there is no opportunity to test your knowledge as you learn this material
on the go. You can find and take free tests available online that will test you on everything,
but otherwise you will have to search the internet to find relevant questions on specific topics
that you just learned. Also, I saw many free study guides on the internet that contained
outdated information. This approach is absolutely doable, but will require a little bit of planning.
The second approach is to take one of the paid online courses. The advantages are that it is very
well structured with lots of reinforcing material, instructional videos, practice quizzes
and numerous sample exams. It is time-efficient, since courses are prepared by experts who already
know what you need for the test. The major drawback is the cost. These courses can
cost anywhere from $150 to $300. There are also in-person exams, where you go to the classroom
and learn material through lectures. I would lump this method along with the online courses,
however classroom courses tend to be much more expensive, around $500-$800 and you will
need to adhere to a stringent in-class schedule. Finally, the third option that I personally chose
is to use a study guide textbook. My personal goal was to balance dollar cost with time needed to
effectively prepare for the exam and I felt like the study guide approach suited well my needs.
While there are many study guides out there, it is important to choose the one that is produced
by a reputable company. After doing my independent research, I chose the paperback study guide from
Aviation Supplies and Academics, which specializes in producing aviation training materials for over
80 years. This is the study guide I used and I left the link down below in the description
for you to take a look at. As a disclaimer, I am not sponsored by this publishing company.
The benefits of using the ASA study guide are that it is regularly updated and contains
the most up-to-date material. This study guide was relatively inexpensive, costing me under $20
and it came along with the paperback version of the Airman Knowledge Testing Supplement that you
will use on your exam. This paperback supplement by itself costs around $10-12. The material in
this guide is very well organized and contains many questions at the end of each section. I
thought that this was the best part of the study guide. Also, this study guide provides you with
free access to 5 online tests with 60 questions each, which was very helpful. I would say that
about 60-70% of the questions I saw at my actual exam were either identical or very similar to
the ones I answered through this study guide. The drawback of this method is that you will have to
actually read through it, as opposed to watching instructional videos through online paid courses.
Also, sometimes you will have to research certain information that the book did not explain well,
which happened on a few rare occasions. All this knowledge you gain during your
study will be important later and will save you from a lot of trouble when you fly your drone.
The part 107 exam consists of 60 questions and you must answer 42 questions correctly in two
hours. Each question has 3 multiple choices. The study guide I used was broken down into
five chapters and you can expect that many of your questions will likely come from the
regulation topic. Of all the topics, the airspace system is probably what took me
the longest to master. Here you will be dealing with different airspace classes,
airport operations and topography. You will be using maps from the Airman Knowledge Testing
Supplement a lot and will have to figure out where you can or cannot fly and at what altitude.
Budget about 20 hours to complete the study guide. Taking practice tests took me about
5 hours. Reviewing material and questions took about 3-5 hours. In total, I spent about 25-30
hours on everything. If you can squeeze in 2-3 hours of study time each day, you would probably
need about 2 weeks to get ready for the exam. As I was going through the study guide, I would
note information that was the most challenging to understand. If necessary, I would Google
information to reinforce my learning. I would focus more on understanding the logic behind
the material, rather than memorizing it. Doing so will let you retain and remember material for
much longer. Also, it will let you recognize trick questions faster. Each section of the topic in the
study guide contains numerous quiz questions. If I answered certain questions incorrectly, I was sure
to fully understand why. I would also circle those questions with a pencil and come back and review
them later to test myself again. Also, I noticed that certain questions in the book tested you on
material that was not covered or poorly covered by the preceding reading material. I Googled this
information and made sure that I understood the material well. This happened on a few occasions.
After I completed the guide, I took one of the five free exams included with the book
every day. You will have to go to the prepware.com website, create an account and use a subscription
code included with your purchased book to gain access to those five tests. The scores on these
tests are indicative of your expected actual score with plus or minus 5 to 10% deviation.
On average, I scored 93% on those five tests. I also took other free tests available online.
On average, I scored above 90% on them. I provided links to these free tests in the
description down below. Completing each of these tests took me about 20-40 minutes on average.
Then, a few days before the exam, I took another 3-5 hours to review the study
guide focusing on challenging material. I also quickly reviewed all of the questions from the
book and practice tests with an emphasis on the questions I previously got wrong.
On the day of the exam, you have to report to your test center 15 minutes before your test time. At
check-in, you need to show necessary documents to proof your identity and physical address.
After the check-in, the test center staff will take all of your belongings in a secure place.
In my case, they put my belonging in a bag that they locked and even let
me take it with me. They also provided me with the Airman Knowledge Testing
Supplement (FAA-CT-8080-2H), scratch paper, pencil and a calculator. I did not need any of that,
except for the supplement. In case you wear bulky second layer clothes, such as sweaters,
they may ask you to empty your pockets or even take those clothing items off. Also,
you can take bathroom breaks despite all the warnings on the internet that you should avoid
them. These breaks will count towards your test time though. Overall, the test center
personnel were very friendly and helpful. The computer I was assigned to was a bit slow,
but everything was in working condition. Some people advise you to write down all the
memorized numbers and facts on the provided scratch paper immediately as you sit down.
I did not do any of that and I am not sure it would help me in any way, except for creating
more stress to recollect those facts. I would say that about 30-40% of the questions on my exam were
identical to the ones I saw in my study guide. Another 30%-40% of the questions were similar,
but worded a bit differently. The other 20% of the questions tested material I knew. And then
10% of the questions asked me about something I have not seen or vaguely recollected, but
was still able to logically think through it. It took me about 35 minutes to answer all questions,
and 10-15 minutes to review everything. After I submitted the answers,
the test center staff told me my results immediately. They printed out my test
report with the results and instructions on how to get the remote pilot license.
Unfortunately, the testing center did not provide explanations for questions I answered incorrectly,
since I received the passing grade. However, they listed references to materials for the questions
I got wrong. The staff also told me that if you do not pass the exam, the report will provide
more details on why you failed with more detailed explanations on areas that you need improvement.
That’s it for my exam experience and tips. I would recommend not waiting and taking
the exam soon because the cost may go up further with time and the FAA may
create more regulations for getting a license. I hope this video was helpful and inspired you
to prepare for and pass the remote pilot exam! In summary, you have many options to get ready
for the exam. I personally preferred the study guide for reasons mentioned above.
Please like and subscribe to our channel. We will have more material coming out soon related to
passing the part 107 exam in the playlist linked above. We also regularly post travel guide videos
and photography tutorials. I wish you best of luck and happy flying your unmanned aircrafts!