Question bank updates

Last updated October 27, 2026. What the practice questions are checked against, how a question is reviewed before students see it, and a dated log of changes to the bank.

Standards in use

Airman Certification Standards

Every FAA question cites a task code from the ACS for its certificate.

• Private Pilot for Airplane Category — FAA-S-ACS-6C
• Commercial Pilot for Airplane Category — FAA-S-ACS-7B
• Private Pilot for Rotorcraft Category (Helicopter) — FAA-S-ACS-15
• Commercial Pilot for Rotorcraft Category (Helicopter) — FAA-S-ACS-16
• Remote Pilot — Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems — FAA-S-ACS-10B

Regulations

• 14 CFR Parts 61, 91, 107 and 89 — Text from the eCFR, downloaded September 2026. Pilot certification (Part 61), general operating and flight rules (Part 91), small unmanned aircraft (Part 107) and Remote ID (Part 89).
• Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) — Basic edition effective February 20, 2025, with Changes 1, 2 and 3 (Change 3 effective July 9, 2026)

FAA handbooks

Questions and explanations are written from these handbooks. Their text is on file, so a citation to one can be checked against the chapter it names.

• Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge — FAA-H-8083-25C
• Airplane Flying Handbook — FAA-H-8083-3C
• Helicopter Flying Handbook — FAA-H-8083-21B
• Aviation Weather Handbook — FAA-H-8083-28B
• Instrument Procedures Handbook — FAA-H-8083-16B
• Weight & Balance Handbook — FAA-H-8083-1B
• Risk Management Handbook — FAA-H-8083-2

Links for the Helicopter Flying, Aviation Weather, Instrument Procedures, Weight & Balance and Risk Management handbooks go to the FAA handbooks and manuals index.

How a question is reviewed

1. Written from the public record. Drafted in our own words from the FAA handbooks, the Airman Certification Standards, 14 CFR and the AIM. Nothing here is a recalled test question, and we do not accept them.
2. Checked automatically. A new question stays hidden from students until it passes every check below. The options are shuffled when it is added, so the answer’s position gives nothing away. The checks run again at release, and if one question in a batch fails, none of the batch is released.
   • Three options, as on the FAA knowledge test, none blank and no two the same.
   • An answer key that points at one of those options, and an explanation of real substance.
   • A reference that cites at least one ACS task code, with every code it cites found in the ACS.
   • The right answer is not the longest option, and it is not the only option carrying a bracketed note.
   • No “all of the above”, “both” or “none of the above” options.
   • No more than three questions from one template (the same question with different numbers) in a subject.
   • Not a copy of a question already in the bank.
3. Enforced by the database. Whatever tool adds or edits a question, the database itself refuses one whose right answer is longer than every other option. The rule also runs when a question is released into exams.
4. A person reads a sample. Since 25 September 2026 a batch is released only after a person has read a random sample of it and passed it: all of a batch of 50 or fewer, otherwise 50 questions or 5% of the batch, whichever is more. Each verdict is logged by name against the exact version that was read, and one failed question, or one marked for a fix, holds back the whole batch. The sample checks what software cannot, such as whether the key is right and the explanation says what the source says; it is not a read of every question.
5. Every edit is on record. A change made in the question editor is written to a revision log: who made it, when, what changed, and the text before and after. The database will not let anyone alter or delete that log. Bulk repairs are backed up to a snapshot table before they run, so each one can be reversed.
6. Kept current. Every question carries the ACS task code and regulation it relies on. When the FAA revises either, we re-check the questions that cite it.

Spotted a mistake?

Use Report Error. It is in the exam toolbar during any practice test or drill, beside each question on your results and report, and at the bottom of Explain Answer. Choose what is wrong (answer key, reference, typo, diagram or calculation), add a short note and send: the question ID, its reference, the options and your answer are attached automatically. We check each report against the source and correct the question if it is wrong.

Change log

• September 25, 2026 — Every release now needs a logged human sample. A batch of new questions can no longer be released until a person has read a random sample of it and passed it: all of a batch of 50 or fewer, otherwise 50 questions or 5% of the batch, whichever is more. Each verdict is logged under the reviewer’s name against the exact version that was read. If a question changes afterwards, it has to be read again. One failed question, or one marked for a fix, holds back the whole batch until it is corrected and read again. Releases before this date went out on the automated checks, with no person’s read on record.
• September 24, 2026 — Questions returned after the ACS text was added. The five Airman Certification Standards documents were added to the reference library. Every task code cited by the 706 withdrawn questions was confirmed as real, and those questions returned to exams. The 3,199 generated calculation questions were deleted rather than kept in reserve.
• September 23, 2026 — FAA bank checked against the source text. The 3,199 held calculation questions were quarantined: they carried the wrong subject codes, no real citation and far more than three questions per template. 706 questions whose citation could not be matched to source text on file were taken out of exams for checking. They had not been shown to be wrong. The Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Airplane Flying Handbook, Helicopter Flying Handbook, Aviation Weather Handbook and Instrument Procedures Handbook were added to the searchable reference library, and the Weight & Balance and Risk Management handbooks to the citation checker.
• September 20, 2026 — Audit of a machine-generated import. A random 10% (258) of the questions that the source-text screen flagged in a machine-generated batch were checked against the text they cite. About 93% were correct with a real reference; the 8 found wrong or doubtful were taken out of exams. Questions with “both A and B” or “of the above” style options were deleted, and the review gate and release step now reject that pattern. A second generated file turned out to be two calculation questions repeated with different numbers. The 801 copies that had reached exams were removed and the rest were held back. An import had left 64% of correct answers in position A. They were rebalanced to about a third each across A, B and C.
• September 16, 2026 — Three answer choices, as on the FAA knowledge test. FAA knowledge tests offer three answer choices, so FAA questions now have three. The review gate rejects an FAA question with any other number. The older four-option FAA questions were then cut to three by removing the weakest distractor. By the 20 September audit every FAA question in exams had three.
• September 14, 2026 — Every FAA question must cite a real ACS task code. The review gate and the question editor now reject an FAA reference unless every ACS task code it cites exists in the Airman Certification Standards. All 364 FAA questions in the bank at the time already met the rule. 142 questions on rules common to airplanes and helicopters were shared between the two banks, and 19 duplicates of the same rule were taken out of exams.
• September 14, 2026 — The database blocks the longest-answer giveaway. A database rule now refuses any question whose right answer is longer than every other option. It runs on every new question, every change to a question’s options or answer key and every release into exams, whichever tool makes the change.
• September 14, 2026 — Less repetition within a sitting. Questions that differ only in their numbers now count as one template. A new question is rejected if its template already has three questions in that subject, and each exam draws every template once before any template twice.
• September 13, 2026 — First FAA questions released after a full audit. 321 FAA questions (Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot and Part 107) passed an integrity audit and were released into the bank. The Part 107 drafts had repeated the same items under invented scenario preambles. They were cut back to the distinct items and their wrong answers rewritten. One wrong answer key was fixed (the alternating red and green light signal). The same day’s bank-wide repair, which shuffled answer positions and removed the longest-option giveaway, covered FAA questions too.

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