FAA Written Test Prep: Private Pilot, Instrument, Commercial and ATP

v1prep was built in Europe for EASA exams and Airbus and Boeing interviews. It now has an FAA side: question banks for the four FAA writtens — Private Pilot, Instrument, Commercial and ATP — written from the FAA’s own handbooks and cited to the page, plus a US airline interview set (the technical quick-fire, the behavioural round, the hiring process). Switch the home page to FAA and the theory cards change with it.

The four FAA written-test banks

1. FAA Private Pilot — Airplane (PAR) — 10 banks, one per Private Pilot ACS area: aerodynamics, airports and airspace, weather and weather products, navigation, performance, systems, regulations and human factors. Written from the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, the Airplane Flying Handbook, the AIM and 14 CFR Parts 61 and 91.
2. Instrument Rating — Airplane (IRA) — 8 banks: instruments, charts, approaches, IFR navigation, ATC procedures, weather, regulations and human factors, from the Instrument Flying Handbook, the Instrument Procedures Handbook and the AIM.
3. Commercial Pilot — Airplane (CAX) — 8 banks, including commercial operations and the Part 119/135 boundary.
4. ATP — Multiengine Airplane (ATM) — 8 banks aligned with the ATP-CTP syllabus: Part 121 and 117, transport aerodynamics, turbine systems, transport performance, weather hazards, PBN and RVSM, CRM and fatigue, airline operations and dispatch.

Alongside them, the US airline interview set: 41 technical questions with model answers, 42 behavioural questions answered in STAR form, and 27 on the hiring process itself — the R-ATP, the PRD, the sim evaluation, the conditional job offer. The first bank of every FAA test and the technical interview set are free with an account; Ground School (€10 a month) opens every theory bank, EASA and FAA.

What else works for a US pilot

• A320 and B737 systems banks — 5,500+ questions on hydraulics, electrics, pneumatics, flight controls, FMS, limitations and abnormals, every answer cited to the FCOM or FCTM page. An Airbus is an Airbus in Atlanta or in Amsterdam; nothing here is regulator-specific.
• Interview preparation — technical, CRM and human-factors question sets used by candidates at the majors and regionals, plus the complete interview guide.
• US airline requirement guides — Delta, American, United, Southwest and Air Canada: hours, certificates, hiring status, selection process, how to prepare.
• Airline pilot jobs in the USA and Canada — 25 airlines, which are hiring, what each publishes.

How the FAA questions are built

The same way the Airbus questions are built, with one advantage: the FAA’s handbooks are public domain, so every answer can quote the source page outright. Each question carries its ACS code (the FAA’s own map of what the test can ask, e.g. PA.I.C.K1 for weather information) and the handbook chapter and page it comes from. The FAA stopped publishing its full question banks in 2012; what it publishes is the ACS and sample questions. We write to the ACS and cite the handbook — we do not copy anyone’s question bank, and the explanations are written to teach the concept, not the answer key.

Terminology follows the FAA: certificate not licence, written or knowledge test not exam, checkride not skill test, statute miles and inches of mercury where the FAA uses them. When you switch the home page to FAA, the theory cards and the references change with it.

Six guides to start with

• FAA Private Pilot Written Test 2026: Format, ACS Areas, Cost and How to Pass
• FAA ATP Written Test (ATM) 2026: ATP-CTP, 125 Questions, Cost and Validity
• Restricted ATP Explained: 750, 1,000 or 1,250 Hours and Who Qualifies
• FAA vs EASA Pilot Licence: The Differences, and How to Convert Each Way
• How to Become an Airline Pilot in the USA: Zero to a Major, Step by Step
• FAA Medical Certificates Explained: First, Second, Third Class and BasicMed

Common questions

Does v1prep work for FAA pilots today? Yes. The four FAA written-test banks (Private Pilot, Instrument, Commercial, ATP) are live, with 34 banks and 1,450+ questions cited to the FAA handbooks. The A320 and B737 banks and the interview sets are regulator-neutral, and the US airline interview set, the US airline requirement guides and the USA/Canada jobs board are written for the US market.

What is free? The first bank of each FAA test (Private Pilot airspace, Instrument regulations, Commercial regulations, ATP regulations) and the US technical interview set, with a free account. Ground School at €10 a month opens every theory bank, EASA and FAA; PRO adds the A320, B737 and the rest of the interview sets.

Are the FAA questions the real test questions? No one has the real bank: the FAA stopped publishing it in 2012. v1prep writes its own questions to the Airman Certification Standards and cites the FAA handbook page or regulation behind every answer, so you learn the material the test is written from.

Will prices be in dollars? Prices are set in euros and your card is charged in your own currency at its rate. When the home page is switched to FAA, an approximate dollar figure is shown beside each price.

Can I use the EASA theory banks as well? Yes, Ground School includes both. Aerodynamics, meteorology, human performance and much of navigation are the same physics under either regulator, and the ATPL banks go deeper than the FAA writtens. Air law, airspace, weather products and procedures are different: study those from the FAA banks.