Instrument Rating

The knowledge test is a multiple-choice, computer-delivered exam taken at an FAA-approved testing center. Expect scenario-based items that pair a chart, a text description, or a reported flight situation with several answer choices. The companion practical test is an oral and flight check with a designated examiner. Item counts and time limits are set by the testing provider, so confirm them before you schedule.

Most pilots find it harder, because it tests interpretation rather than recall. Instead of naming a rule, you read an approach plate, decode a clearance, or decide what a failed instrument means for the flight. Candidates who can explain why an answer is right generally score well above candidates who only recognize the right answer.

This page does not publish a passing score, item count, duration, or testing fee, and those values are revised periodically. Check the current FAA testing standards and your testing provider's scheduling page for the figures in force on the day you book. Do not rely on numbers quoted in an older study guide or forum post.

Retakes are permitted, but this page does not publish retake intervals or fees, so confirm the current rules with your testing center. After a failure you receive a score report listing the knowledge areas you missed. That report is the most useful study document you will get, so work through those areas with an instructor before you reschedule.

This page does not list a validity period, and the rule has changed over time, so verify the current figure with the FAA before planning a long gap between the knowledge test and the practical test. Treat an expiring score as a scheduling problem: book the checkride first, then work backward from that date.

Start with the instrument system and instrument scanning, then attitude instrument flying, then ATC clearances and procedures, then departure, en route, arrival, and approach charts, then navigation systems and emergency operations, and finish with postflight and logging considerations. Fly each block within a week of studying it; the rating is a skill test as much as a knowledge test.

Memorizing answer keys without understanding the chart or clearance behind them; weak clearance copying and readback; rushed approach briefings that miss minimums, the missed approach, or course reversals; and shaky partial-panel or unusual-attitude recognition. Examiners and test writers probe the reasoning behind the answer, so practice saying your rationale out loud.

Yes, the rating carries aeronautical experience requirements, including instrument time and cross-country work, but the specific totals are regulatory and are not reproduced on this page. Ask your instructor to audit your logbook early, because shortfalls usually hide in the instrument-time and instrument-approach categories rather than in total time.

Usually yes, and many pilots do. Studying early gives you the vocabulary and chart-reading habits you need in the airplane, and it spreads the cost. Just keep the written and the flying close together; material learned months before the practical test tends to decay unless you are actively flying the same tasks.