100 credits
$3939¢ a credit
- ≈ 200 multiple-choice questions
- 2 full-length mock exams
- About 4 hours of study
For the FAA Private Pilot knowledge test
Study with an AI DPE, not a question bank
Every question written from the FAA references. Every answer graded like the checkride oral.
Sign in with Google, Apple or an email code. No card, nothing to install.
Watch a real session
See it before you sign up
A real study session, start to finish
Recorded in FirstSolo on a phone. This ten-question session used 10.1 credits, so your 50 free credits cover about five like it.
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Pick mixed study, one topic or a timed exam, and how many questions. Your questions are then written from FAA sources and checked by a second AI.
Pick mixed study, one topic or a timed exam, and how many questions. Your questions are then written from FAA sources and checked by a second AI.
Try one now. No account needed.
Three choices, and the rule behind them
Multiple-choice questions work the way the real test does: three answer choices, one correct. Here, the moment you answer, you also get the reasoning and the regulation or handbook page it came from.
Free-text and calculation questions go to the AI DPE, which can ask follow-ups before it grades.
VFR weather minimums and cloud clearances by airspace
What flight visibility does VFR flight in Class C airspace require?
Ready to start studying?
First, sign in. It takes a moment.With Google, Apple or an email code; no password to remember. Your account and your 50 free credits are ready the moment you sign in.
Next, pick a topic, or let your weak spots pick.Study sessions draw from the subtopics you know least. A mock exam puts 60 questions on the clock.
Then, answer and be examined.Multiple choice is marked at once. Free-text answers go to the AI DPE, which asks follow-ups when something is unclear.
Written from the FAA references
No question bank to memorize
Every question is written when you need it, from reference notes we keep for each of the 164 subtopics. A second AI checks the answer key, the rubric and the citation before you see it; doubtful questions are rewritten, never served.
14 CFRAIMPHAKAFHAdvisory circulars54 FAA figures
Generated questions can still contain mistakes. That is why every one shows its source.
The knowledge test
60 questions2 hours70% to pass
Taken at an FAA-approved testing center for $175. A pass stays valid for 24 calendar months.
- From age 15
- You can take it at 15. The certificate itself needs 17.
- Endorsed first
- By your instructor, or with a pilot school’s graduation certificate.
- Misses carry over
- Missed questions go on your report as ACS codes for your checkride.
Where the 60 questions come from
Preflight preparation and takeoffs and landings make up 42% of the test. The rest is spread across nine more areas of the Private Pilot ACS.
Share of test items by ACS Area of Operation, from PSI’s Private Pilot Airplane bulletin (based on the FAA’s 2020 job task analysis), with the approximate number of the 60 questions. Area X, multiengine operations, is not on this test.
- IPreflight Preparation22%≈ 13
- IIPreflight Procedures13%≈ 8
- IIIAirport and Seaplane Base Operations7%≈ 4
- IVTakeoffs, Landings, and Go-Arounds20%≈ 12
- VPerformance and Ground Reference Maneuvers3%≈ 2
- VINavigation8%≈ 5
- VIISlow Flight and Stalls8%≈ 5
- VIIIBasic Instrument Maneuvers7%≈ 4
- IXEmergency Operations7%≈ 4
- XINight Operations3%≈ 2
- XIIPostflight Procedures2%≈ 1
The knowledge test in 2025
Most people pass. The average score is 81.6%.
That is less than 12 points above the pass mark. Every question you miss goes on your test report as an ACS code, and your examiner reviews those areas with you in the checkride oral. FirstSolo tracks mastery in each of the 164 subtopics, so you can see which codes still need work before test day.
- tests taken
- 44,657
- passed
- 89.6%
- average score
- 81.6%
Source: FAA Airman Knowledge Test statistics, calendar year 2025, Private Pilot Airplane. Counts test sittings, retakes included.
What you study from
17 topics164 subtopics946 notes
Every note cites 14 CFR, the AIM, the PHAK, the AFH or an advisory circular, and follows the Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C).
Every topic on the test
In the order of the Airman Certification Standards, each with its own mastery score.
I.APilot Qualifications
I.BAirworthiness Requirements
I.CWeather Information
I.DCross-Country Flight Planning
I.ENational Airspace System
I.FPerformance and Limitations
I.GOperation of Systems
I.HHuman Factors
IIPreflight Procedures
IIIAirport Operations
IVTakeoffs, Landings, and Go-Arounds
VPerformance and Ground Reference Maneuvers
VINavigation
VIISlow Flight and Stalls
VIIIBasic Instrument Maneuvers
IXEmergency Operations
XINight Operations- 164underneathSubtopics, each with its own notes
Free, no account
An E6B that lives in your browser
Wind triangle and crosswind, true airspeed, pressure and density altitude, time, speed and distance, fuel, climb and glide, weight and balance, and the conversions a checkride asks for. It works on a phone and needs no sign-in.
or press E anywhere on this page
Your free start
50 credits≈ 100 questionsNo card
Every new account starts with 50 credits: about 100 multiple-choice questions, or a full-length mock exam. You pay only for what you see; writing and checking questions is on us.
Pricing
Priced like fuel, not like a course
When the free credits run out, buy a pack. There’s no subscription, and credits never expire.
500 credits
$5911.8¢ a credit
- ≈ 1,000 multiple-choice questions
- 14 full-length mock exams
- About 18 hours of study
1,000 credits
$999.9¢ a credit
- ≈ 2,000 multiple-choice questions
- 29 full-length mock exams
- About 37 hours of study
You sign in first (Google, Apple or an email code), then pay on Stripe’s checkout page. Prices in US dollars; tax is added at checkout where it applies.
- Checkout by Stripe
- Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay
- No subscription
- Credits never expire
- Unused credits refundable for 14 days
What an hour of study costs
An hour with the AI DPE costs from $2.68
An hour here is about thirty questions, a third of them free text with follow-ups, which comes to 27.1 credits. Do the ground work here until you pass mock exams consistently, then spend instructor time on the flying and the endorsement.
- Flight instructor (CFI), ground or air$65–90+
- AI DPE · 100-credit pack$10.57
- AI DPE · 500-credit pack$3.20
- AI DPE · 1,000-credit pack$2.68
Bars to scale. Instructor rates are typical 2026 published prices at US flight schools, higher in big cities; the hatched part is the range.
For scale
$992,000 questions29 mock exams
PSI charges $175 plus tax each time you sit the knowledge test. The 1,000-credit pack costs less than one sitting.
Your questions, answered
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Write to support.
No. FirstSolo is an independent study tool for the FAA Private Pilot Airplane knowledge test (PAR). It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FAA. You take the real test at an FAA-approved testing center.
No. Under 14 CFR 61.35 you need an endorsement from an authorized instructor, or a graduation certificate from an FAA-certificated pilot school. Study here, then ask your instructor to endorse you.
No. The FAA does not publish its live test questions. Ours are written from the same references the test draws on and tagged with the ACS code they cover, so you learn the material rather than memorize answers.
No. It covers the expensive part of the ground work: drilling the knowledge until it sticks. Your instructor still teaches you to fly, reviews what you found hard, and signs the endorsement you need to take the knowledge test.
Yes. FirstSolo runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers. There is nothing to install.
60 questions in 2 hours, and 70% passes. You take it at an FAA-approved testing center; PSI charges $175 plus tax. You can take it from age 15, and a pass stays valid for 24 calendar months.
Your test report lists them as ACS codes. You bring the report to your checkride, and the examiner reviews those areas with you during the oral.
They are written on demand from reference notes we keep for each subtopic, built on 14 CFR, the AIM, the PHAK, the AFH and advisory circulars, and checked by a second AI before you see them. Generated questions can still contain mistakes, so every one shows its citation for you to check.
A Designated Pilot Examiner is the pilot the FAA designates to conduct the practical test, the checkride, including its oral questioning. Our AI DPE is software modelled on that oral: it asks, probes and grades the way a DPE does. It is not an FAA designee and it does not issue certificates.
A question you answer in your own words, as in the oral part of the checkride. The AI DPE grades it against a rubric fixed before you answered, may ask up to three follow-up questions, and then locks a verdict with full feedback.
It can. A second AI checks every question before you see it and doubtful ones are rewritten, but mistakes can still get through. That is why every question and verdict shows its source: open it and check.
Nothing to start. Every new account gets 50 free credits, no card needed. After that you buy credits in packs: 100 credits for $39, 500 for $59 or 1,000 for $99. A multiple-choice question is 0.5 credits, and writing and checking questions costs nothing.
Every pack buys the same things; bigger packs cost less per credit. Studying at a steady pace, about 27 credits an hour, 100 credits last about four hours, 500 about 18 hours and 1,000 about 37 hours. The 1,000-credit pack is the lowest price per credit, 9.9¢.
Through Stripe's checkout, with a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Your card details go to Stripe and never reach us. Prices are in US dollars, sales tax or VAT is added at checkout where it applies, and the charge shows on your statement as FIRSTSOLO.AI.
Neither. Each pack is a one-off purchase: nothing renews, and your credits stay on your account until you use them.
Yes. Write to [email protected] within 14 days of a purchase and we refund the unused part of it, the credits it added that you have not spent, to the card you paid with. Credits already spent on questions, grading or discussion are not refundable, because the work was done.
A session in progress always finishes the questions it has already prepared, and a mock exam always runs to the end. Top up whenever you like: 100 credits for $39, 500 for $59 or 1,000 for $99.
