Pre-Solo Test of Air Regulations (PSTAR) common mistakes
Pre-Solo Test of Air Regulations (PSTAR) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the CARs minimum fuel and VFR weather minima as one number to memorize, then applying the same cloud-clearance and visibility value in a control zone as in uncontrolled airspace at 3,000 feet AGL.
Candidates study the VFR weather minima table as a single block and never build the mental structure that separates controlled airspace from uncontrolled airspace, and low altitude from higher altitude, so values blur together under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Rebuild the table from the structure: first ask 'controlled or uncontrolled?', then 'at or below 1,000 feet AGL or above?', then read the row. Write the table out from memory three times on separate days and check against the CARs each time. For each cell, state in one sentence why the value is stricter where it is.
Answering airspace and control-zone questions by recalling the letter class alone, without converting the class into the actual pilot requirements (clearance required or not, radio required or not, VFR minima, transponder and equipment).
Class A through G letters are easy to memorize as a sequence, so candidates learn the alphabet instead of the operating consequences, and questions phrased as scenarios rather than as 'what class is this' defeat them.
What to do instead
Make a five-column table: class, ATC clearance needed, two-way radio, VFR weather minima, other equipment. Fill it from the CARs and Part 6 airspace descriptions. Then practise converting a scenario into the table row before looking at the answers.
Confusing the documents that must be on board the aircraft with the documents the pilot must carry, and with the documents that must be kept elsewhere (journey log, maintenance records).
The lists overlap in wording (licence, certificate of registration, certificate of airworthiness, radio licence, journey log) and candidates group them by familiarity instead of by where they must physically be.
What to do instead
Sort every document into three buckets: on board the aircraft, on the pilot's person, retained by the owner but not carried. Learn the aircraft-side list as a fixed sequence (registration, airworthiness, radio station licence where applicable, operating limitations, weight and balance, journey log) and check each against the CARs 605 series.
Reading a clearance or radio exchange literally and missing the required readback, or reading back only part of an instruction that contains an altitude, a heading, and a frequency.
Candidates focus on understanding what they are being told and treat the readback as a formality, so they omit the elements ATC must hear confirmed.
What to do instead
Memorize the readback rule as a checklist: altitudes, headings, speeds, frequencies, and runway assignments are always read back, and 'hold short' instructions are always read back in full. Practise by reading a sample clearance aloud and reading back every number, then compare.
Applying the right-of-way rules in the wrong order, for example giving way to an aircraft on the right before considering that one aircraft is landing, or that one is towing or less manoeuvrable.
The rules are learned as a list rather than a hierarchy, so the first rule encountered wins instead of the most specific rule.
What to do instead
Learn the hierarchy explicitly: aircraft in distress, then landing aircraft over others, then categories such as balloons, gliders, and aircraft towing, then the converging same-category rule (give way to the right), then head-on and overtaking. Work through ten scenario pairs and state which rule in the hierarchy decided each one.
Mixing up the cruising altitude rule, using odd or even thousands plus 500 feet in the wrong direction, or applying the rule outside the band of altitudes where it applies.
The magnetic track rule is simple but is remembered as a slogan ('east is odd') without the 500-foot offset, the magnetic track basis, or the altitude band limits.
What to do instead
Write the rule as a formula: magnetic track 0 to 179 degrees uses odd thousands plus 500 feet; 180 to 359 degrees uses even thousands plus 500 feet, within the applicable altitude band for the flight. Then answer ten track-to-altitude conversions without looking at notes.
Treating the medical category and validity period as a single fact, so a candidate cannot say which category a student pilot needs, how long it lasts at a given age, or what happens when it expires mid-training.
The category letter and the validity table are studied separately, and the age-based variation in validity is glossed over.
What to do instead
Build a small table of category, what it permits, and validity by age bracket, and add a column for the student pilot case. Then answer questions phrased as 'the candidate is 42 and holds X, is the flight legal today' rather than as recall questions.
Describing an occurrence report from memory in general terms, without the specific reporting threshold, the timeframe, or who must be notified.
Candidates read the occurrence reporting rules once and remember that 'serious things must be reported' without the categories, the immediate notification requirement, or the written follow-up.
What to do instead
Learn the reporting structure in three layers: immediate notification to the responsible authority for serious occurrences, a written report within the specified period, and the internal safety reporting that follows. For each layer, memorize what triggers it, the time limit, and the recipient, then test yourself with five short scenarios.
Answering human factors questions with common-sense psychology rather than the aviation-specific concept being tested, such as confusing hypoxia with hyperventilation, or describing the antidote to spatial disorientation as 'trust the instruments' without the specific recognition-and-recovery step.
Human factors feels like general knowledge, so candidates do not study it with the same rigour as regulations and answer from intuition.
What to do instead
For each condition (hypoxia, hyperventilation, spatial disorientation, carbon monoxide, fatigue, dehydration), learn four things: cause, recognizable symptoms, correct response, and prevention. Test by matching symptoms to conditions in both directions, since exams ask both ways.
Calculating weight and balance or performance from the wrong datum or the wrong units, and then choosing the answer that matches the arithmetic rather than checking whether the result is within limits.
Candidates rush the arithmetic under time pressure and skip the final sanity check that the answer is legal as well as arithmetically correct.
What to do instead
Fix a written procedure: identify the datum and units first, convert everything to one unit set before calculating, then compare the result against the limit and state 'within limits' or 'exceeds' explicitly. Practise with a stopwatch so the procedure survives time pressure.