The most common mistakes are due to three things: Not reading the question carefully The provided figures not being to scale Not using the scratch paper to help draw out your work to solve the question The first is easy, slow down, pay attention to words like and, or, beside, under, and not.  These small conditional statements are placed there for a reason, they are not trying to trick you.  The FAA simply is testing not only your knowledge but your attention to detail. The second is quite frankly, very annoying.  For many years the FAA has provided test supplements (books with figures and pictures in them) that are not to scale.  If you try to use a ruler or chart plotter to measure distance, the maps shown in the FAA booklet are often off by about 10% or so.  You can "calibrate" your chart plotter scale against the scale printed on the map and do the math conversion in your head.  We walk you through that process in our "Take the test the right way" lesson here. Third is generally from folks rushing and not taking the time to draw out questions to help visualize the location of the aircraft in relation to some reference on the ground.  Our Written Prep BootCamps will walk you through how to "draw out" certain types of questions so you will be prepared for them on the test.