I literally just took the exam last night and passed with a 94. Your videos have helped me tremendously! The fact that I woke up the next morning and you have posted a video of yourself taking the exam, especially around the same time period as I did, is an honour and quite the surprise!
Hey Don, Thanks for retaking the Advanced Certification test and sharing it with your channel’s fans again. I was right there with you all the way. I commiserated with you throughout your commentary both times. With each tricky question I thought of those ESL test-takers and my own frequent misreading of normal sentences. I got through my Advanced test at the time it came out in 2019 on my second attempt. Though I had no previous aviation experience before getting into drone Ops I thought I knew my stuff after taking courses and almost 3 years of flying. Wrong. The test was so difficult that good drone operators I knew at the time gave up after repeated fails - that was before your Study Guides became essential reading! I got 82% and was distraught I had just squeaked by before becoming relieved that I had a PASS! When you revealed your 84% this time I was re-traumatized. We know you know your stuff! I like to think I know enough - but thank God for Recency!
Thanks, Paul! Yeah...I was actually horrified, surprised, and a bit embarrassed by my 84%. I really thought I had done better...and then frustrated ...again... when the feedback didn't help at all.
Thanks to all of your great videos, Don. I passed the Basic RPAS exam then 3 weeks later I passed the Advanced RPAS exam. Not sure I could have done this without your help. At 65, learning is a bit tougher.
Excellent, thank you. Does still seem to be over engineered and irrelevant in places. Surely in 2025 we have enough collective experience to generate new relevant questions are help adapt behaviours and prevent problems or help you problem solve. Thanks for doing this Don, much appreciated.
Thanks. The bigger, underlying problem is the set of 'knowledge requirements' that drive the questions. Weird stuff that we really do not need to know as drone pilots. Yes, these need to change! (BTW, DPAC has just recently been asked by TC to help with exam questions for the next tier of exams...stay tuned!)
Congratulations Don. Considering you did not study and many questions do not relate to droning you did well. Perhaps someone is a little hard on himself lol. Again congratulations
Thanks, Irene! Yeah...I just really felt confident that I had done better. And with the nebulous feedback they provide, there is no good way to improve or correct misconceptions.
Spoiler alert - I think I guessed the answer - it's brave of you to take this on, but it speaks volumes about the nature of the exam that one of Canada's most knowledgeable drone pilots cannot take a pass for granted.
And...and I was so diligent to learn about Hypoxic and Anemic Hypoxia and the minutes remaining to LOC at a given altitude. Now I'm so depressed. I need air! P.s. I passed the "Advanced" because of you BTW. Having the glossary page open is always a good thing. Edit: nobody knows the answer to the first question on any exam. If ATC tells you something about your drone near the runway, reply that your holding short on taxi. /sarc
Well, I was wrong: you passed ;) Congrats! Have they removed a lot of silly questions? Looks to me there is still a ton of them in there! Also, I think the fact you fly jets makes a huge difference, you should know all the stuff about airports and such. Makes me laugh everything they mention you talking to the tower and you being on the runway ;)
Thanks. BTW, when I said "I'm the type of guy who flies his own jets", I meant the expression that I use my own products...ie study guide PDFs. I don't fly manned aircraft, only drones.
I suggest you download my free Training Roadmap pdf with links to my pertinent videos: www.pocketwatchpurveyor.com/collections/drone-study-guides/products/dons-rpas-training-roadmap
When talking to the control tower.... I would love to see the face of an air controler if you called them about your drone that very far away (because you are not allower to fly a drone close to an airport) ;) Man, these questions are still completelly irrelevant even if they corrected the tests. I hope they are not asking about converting pounds of fuel into flight time anymore ;) Also. If you have to google search for information, that means you do not know the information and the test makes the answer irrelevant! This stuff will never be remembered because we have no use for it. This is ridiculous government bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy. Maybe they should let a drone pilot make the questionaire so that what is asked is acutally related and usufull for drone pilots!
I used Microsoft CoPilot for mine. It was really handy for search. I’d use prompts like “search for Xyz in Part 9 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations” and most of the time it was quite helpful. The biggest thing it was good for was finding meteorological definitions that I couldn’t find on Google alone.
The general aviation questions that "dont apply directly to drones" are a result of flying .Period. Want to avoid the exams, get a boat or a crawler,or a car,or a.. .but stay on the ground/water .This will never be the way it was a few years ago.Those days are gone.
Just because we are flying drones, does not mean we need to know about all things flying. I don't need to know the names of clouds to safely fly a drone, or load factors in banked turns, or the benefits of brushed motors, or or or or.
@DonJoyce I understand and agree fully.But we are driven by common sense....not policies,procedures , committees and the taxpayers dollar There seems to be a lot of job justification in government rolls.
I am writting this before watching the video. Let's see if I am right on my prediction: I think you will fail. The reason is that 90% of the stuff in the exam is useless to drone pilots. Almost everything is for actual pilots. We don't use any of it, and unless you have perfect memory, you are not gonna remember stuff you learned 5 years ago just to psss the exam when none of it was used since. Let's see if I am right ;)
I literally just took the exam last night and passed with a 94. Your videos have helped me tremendously!
The fact that I woke up the next morning and you have posted a video of yourself taking the exam, especially around the same time period as I did, is an honour and quite the surprise!
Congrats, well done!
Hey, congratulations on passing the Advanced! And best wishes on your flight review!
Hey Don, Thanks for retaking the Advanced Certification test and sharing it with your channel’s fans again. I was right there with you all the way. I commiserated with you throughout your commentary both times. With each tricky question I thought of those ESL test-takers and my own frequent misreading of normal sentences. I got through my Advanced test at the time it came out in 2019 on my second attempt. Though I had no previous aviation experience before getting into drone Ops I thought I knew my stuff after taking courses and almost 3 years of flying. Wrong. The test was so difficult that good drone operators I knew at the time gave up after repeated fails - that was before your Study Guides became essential reading! I got 82% and was distraught I had just squeaked by before becoming relieved that I had a PASS! When you revealed your 84% this time I was re-traumatized. We know you know your stuff! I like to think I know enough - but thank God for Recency!
Thanks, Paul! Yeah...I was actually horrified, surprised, and a bit embarrassed by my 84%. I really thought I had done better...and then frustrated ...again... when the feedback didn't help at all.
Thanks to all of your great videos, Don. I passed the Basic RPAS exam then 3 weeks later I passed the Advanced RPAS exam. Not sure I could have done this without your help. At 65, learning is a bit tougher.
Congratulations on passing both your Basic and Advanced exams, Claude! I'm glad my material helped. I hear you...I'm also 65!
Good on you Don for doing this again! Reference material is definitely a must!
Thanks, Doug!
Big likes and a few laughs as well only because I've been through it and recall some out-of-the-box questions. Well done BTW.
Thanks!
Excellent, thank you. Does still seem to be over engineered and irrelevant in places. Surely in 2025 we have enough collective experience to generate new relevant questions are help adapt behaviours and prevent problems or help you problem solve. Thanks for doing this Don, much appreciated.
Thanks. The bigger, underlying problem is the set of 'knowledge requirements' that drive the questions. Weird stuff that we really do not need to know as drone pilots. Yes, these need to change! (BTW, DPAC has just recently been asked by TC to help with exam questions for the next tier of exams...stay tuned!)
Don, your brave for doing this. Thank you
Hey, it was kinda fun. I also do roller coasters and sky dives.
I wish you luck, you will rock it
I did! Thanks!
Congratulations Don. Considering you did not study and many questions do not relate to droning you did well. Perhaps someone is a little hard on himself lol. Again congratulations
Thanks, Irene! Yeah...I just really felt confident that I had done better. And with the nebulous feedback they provide, there is no good way to improve or correct misconceptions.
Spoiler alert - I think I guessed the answer - it's brave of you to take this on, but it speaks volumes about the nature of the exam that one of Canada's most knowledgeable drone pilots cannot take a pass for granted.
Yeah, it is definitely not a sure thing. I did much worse that I thought I had done.
And...and I was so diligent to learn about Hypoxic and Anemic Hypoxia and the minutes remaining to LOC at a given altitude.
Now I'm so depressed. I need air!
P.s. I passed the "Advanced" because of you BTW.
Having the glossary page open is always a good thing. Edit: nobody knows the answer to the first question on any exam.
If ATC tells you something about your drone near the runway, reply that your holding short on taxi. /sarc
Ha ha!
Well, I was wrong: you passed ;) Congrats! Have they removed a lot of silly questions? Looks to me there is still a ton of them in there! Also, I think the fact you fly jets makes a huge difference, you should know all the stuff about airports and such. Makes me laugh everything they mention you talking to the tower and you being on the runway ;)
Thanks. BTW, when I said "I'm the type of guy who flies his own jets", I meant the expression that I use my own products...ie study guide PDFs. I don't fly manned aircraft, only drones.
good stuff Don but like the basic exam there is so much info related to flying manned aircraft and info most drone pilots would never encounter
Yep. It could still improve...a lot!
Attempting my Advanced in January 2025. Thank you as always.
I suggest you download my free Training Roadmap pdf with links to my pertinent videos: www.pocketwatchpurveyor.com/collections/drone-study-guides/products/dons-rpas-training-roadmap
When talking to the control tower.... I would love to see the face of an air controler if you called them about your drone that very far away (because you are not allower to fly a drone close to an airport) ;) Man, these questions are still completelly irrelevant even if they corrected the tests. I hope they are not asking about converting pounds of fuel into flight time anymore ;) Also. If you have to google search for information, that means you do not know the information and the test makes the answer irrelevant! This stuff will never be remembered because we have no use for it. This is ridiculous government bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy. Maybe they should let a drone pilot make the questionaire so that what is asked is acutally related and usufull for drone pilots!
Yeah...that's why we created the DPAC Safety Course...as an example of combined learning, testing, and feedback.
🏆🌟🌟🌟
Thanks!
I wonder if a person can just get all answers from A.I. or even just chatGPT?
I used Microsoft CoPilot for mine. It was really handy for search. I’d use prompts like “search for Xyz in Part 9 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations” and most of the time it was quite helpful. The biggest thing it was good for was finding meteorological definitions that I couldn’t find on Google alone.
I wouldn't trust any AI for this, but it would certainly help you on some.
The general aviation questions that "dont apply directly to drones" are a result of flying .Period.
Want to avoid the exams, get a boat or a crawler,or a car,or a.. .but stay on the ground/water
.This will never be the way it was a few years ago.Those days are gone.
Just because we are flying drones, does not mean we need to know about all things flying. I don't need to know the names of clouds to safely fly a drone, or load factors in banked turns, or the benefits of brushed motors, or or or or.
@DonJoyce I understand and agree fully.But we are driven by common sense....not policies,procedures , committees and the taxpayers dollar
There seems to be a lot of job justification in government rolls.
Next time test how well ChatGPT does on the exam….😅
Don't tempt me .
@@DonJoyceChatGPT would not do well in questions with images….
I am writting this before watching the video. Let's see if I am right on my prediction: I think you will fail. The reason is that 90% of the stuff in the exam is useless to drone pilots. Almost everything is for actual pilots. We don't use any of it, and unless you have perfect memory, you are not gonna remember stuff you learned 5 years ago just to psss the exam when none of it was used since. Let's see if I am right ;)
You will soon see...