Exam Prep
How to Pass the FAA Part 107 Exam: A 14-Day Study Plan
Two weeks is enough if you spend the time where the exam does. Since September 2025 that is somewhere different from what most study guides still tell you.
Key takeaway
Regulations is 48 percent of the current exam — nearly half — after the blueprint that took effect on 29 September 2025. Study plans built on the older ACS bands send you to the wrong topics.
Two weeks of focused study is enough for most people to pass the Part 107 knowledge test. What decides the outcome is not hours — it is whether those hours go where the questions actually are.
Since 29 September 2025 that is somewhere different from what most study guides still say. The FAA adopted a new test blueprint that makes the percentage bands in FAA-S-ACS-10B obsolete. Here is what the exam is now made of:
| Content area | Share of the exam | Questions out of 60 |
|---|---|---|
| Regulations | 48% | about 29 |
| Operations | 25% | about 15 |
| Airspace Classification and Operating Requirements | 20% | about 12 |
| Weather | 5% | about 3 |
| Loading and Performance | 2% | about 1 |
Nearly half the test is regulations. Weather and loading together are 7 percent — roughly four questions. Any plan that gives them equal billing is spending a third of your time on a fourteenth of the exam. See what changed and when for the source documents.
The exam, in numbers
- 60 scored questions, plus 5 unscored validation questions that do not count either way
- 120 minutes — two minutes per question, which is generous
- 70 percent to pass, so you can miss 18 and still pass
- No instructor endorsement required to take it
- 14-day wait before retesting after a failure
- Taken at a PSI testing center; the certificate itself is applied for afterward through IACRA
The 14-day plan
The structure below assumes about 90 minutes a day. Compress it into a week if you have longer days available; stretch it to three weeks if you have less. The proportions are what matter.
Days 1–2: Baseline and the framework
Take a mixed practice test before studying anything. A baseline you score 45 percent on is far more useful than a chapter you have read twice, because it tells you which of the five areas is actually weak rather than which one feels unfamiliar.
Then read one overview of how the certificate works: who needs it, what the aircraft limits are, what the certificate does and does not permit.
Days 3–7: Regulations, because it is half the exam
Five of your fourteen days go here, and this is the single highest-value decision in the plan.
Work through part 107 in the order the regulation is written, because the exam largely follows it:
- Subpart A — applicability and definitions. What counts as a small unmanned aircraft, what "operate" means, when part 107 does not apply.
- Subpart B — operating rules. The four numbers in 107.51, visual line of sight, visual observers, right of way, operations over people and moving vehicles, careless or reckless operation, in-flight emergencies, and the condition-for-safe-operation check.
- Subpart C — certification. Eligibility, the knowledge test, recurrent training, medical condition, alcohol and drugs, and the offenses that cost you the certificate.
- Subpart D — waivers. What is waivable under 107.205 and what is not, plus airspace authorization as a separate thing from a waiver.
- Registration and Remote ID. Which aircraft must be registered, where the marking goes, and the three Remote ID routes.
The most reliable way to study this is to answer questions rather than read. Regulations questions are recall-heavy, and recall is built by retrieval, not by rereading.
Days 8–10: Operations
A quarter of the exam. This area is broader than regulations and less about memorizing numbers:
- Preflight assessment and the six duties in 107.49
- Aeronautical decision-making, the DECIDE model, and the five hazardous attitudes
- Crew resource management and briefing a visual observer
- Airport operations, traffic patterns, and radio procedures
- Lost link, fly-away and emergency response
- Battery handling and maintenance decisions
- Physiology: fatigue, stress, dehydration, medication, IMSAFE
Days 11–12: Airspace and charts
A fifth of the exam, and the part most people find hardest because it is a skill rather than a fact.
Do not try to memorize charts. Learn one procedure and apply it:
- Find the exact point in question.
- Read the boundary around it: solid blue is Class B, solid magenta Class C, dashed blue Class D, dashed magenta surface Class E, faded magenta means Class E from 700 feet AGL.
- Read boxed numbers as ceiling over floor, in hundreds of feet MSL.
- Read obstruction figures as MSL on top, AGL in brackets.
- Decide what the rule requires you to do.
From 27 October 2026 the exam embeds chart images taken from current charts rather than a fixed supplement, which makes the procedure approach the only one that works. Practice it in the sectional chart trainer.
Day 13: Weather and loading
One day. Together these are 7 percent of the exam — about four questions. Cover:
- Reading a METAR and identifying the ceiling
- The 3 statute mile and 500/2,000 cloud clearance rules in 107.51
- Stability, fronts, and thunderstorm hazards at a recognition level
- Density altitude: what it is and what raises it
- Center of gravity and the effect of added weight
That is a day well spent, and a week spent here is a week stolen from regulations.
Day 14: Full mock and targeted repair
Take a full timed mock exam under real conditions — 60 questions, 120 minutes, no notes. Then review every question you were unsure about, including the ones you got right by luck. Guessed-correct answers are the ones that turn into misses on test day.
How to tell you are actually ready
A single good score is not readiness. Look for four things together:
- Coverage. You have studied every area at least once, and no area is untouched.
- Consistency. Two or three mock exams in the 80s, not one.
- Stability across areas. No area sitting below 70 percent, especially regulations.
- Timing margin. You finish with 20+ minutes to spare, so a hard chart question does not put you in a rush.
Aim for the mid-80s in practice, not 70. Practice conditions are more comfortable than a testing center, and the margin absorbs the difference.
The mistakes that cost people the pass
Studying to the old weighting. The single most expensive mistake right now. Material published before late 2025 points you at weather and operations at the expense of regulations.
Reading instead of retrieving. Rereading a chapter feels productive and builds almost nothing. Answering questions with the book closed builds recall.
Memorizing chart figures. Learn the procedure, not the picture. This stops working entirely once embedded images arrive.
Reviewing only wrong answers. A question you guessed right is a question you do not know.
Skipping the timed run. Pacing is a skill. Two hours is comfortable if you have rehearsed it, and stressful if you have not.
Treating a practice score as a prediction. No prep platform can guarantee an FAA result. A readiness score is a decision aid.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to study for the Part 107 exam?
Most candidates need 15 to 20 hours of focused study, which fits into about two weeks at 90 minutes a day. Prior aviation experience shortens it considerably; no prior experience with charts or airspace usually lengthens it.
How hard is the Part 107 exam?
It is a 60-question multiple-choice test with a 70 percent pass mark and two hours to complete it, so you can miss 18 questions and still pass. The material is broad rather than deep, and airspace and sectional chart interpretation are the parts most candidates find difficult.
What is the passing score for the Part 107 test?
Seventy percent, which means 42 of the 60 scored questions correct. Five additional validation questions are administered but do not count toward your score.
What should I study most for Part 107?
Regulations, which is 48 percent of the current exam under the blueprint effective 29 September 2025. Operations is 25 percent and airspace 20 percent. Weather and loading together account for only 7 percent.
Can I retake the Part 107 test if I fail?
Yes. There is a 14-day waiting period before retesting, and no instructor endorsement is required. You must present the failed Airman Knowledge Test Report to the testing center before retesting.
Is the Part 107 test open book?
No. It is a closed-book, proctored test at a PSI testing center. You are provided with the testing supplement of figures, and from 27 October 2026 some chart images appear embedded in the questions themselves.
Start with a baseline rather than a chapter. The free readiness assessment gives you a topic-by-topic breakdown in about fifteen minutes, and no account is required.
Sources
Put this guide into practice.
Take the free assessment to see how this topic fits into your current exam readiness.
Start free practice