How the spatial test works
Each picture shows a plain map with a large aircraft, a small aircraft and a box with the word LEFT or RIGHT. Imagine you are the pilot of the large aircraft, looking where its nose points. If the small aircraft is on the side the word says, the answer is true. The large aircraft can point any way, so when it faces down the screen its left is on your right.
The second part adds an eye to some pictures. Candidates describe it directly in front of the large aircraft, facing it, so judging from the eye swaps left and right. Pictures are reported to stay up for about two seconds and move on if you have not answered. Since the test moved to Pearson VUE, candidates report answering with the T and F keys.
How to solve a spatial picture
Use the same four checks, in the same order, on every picture:
- Nose: find where the large aircraft points. That is the way you face.
- Side: decide which side of that line the small aircraft is on, from the cockpit. Turning the picture in your head so the nose points up the screen makes left and right read normally.
- Eye: if the eye is there, swap your answer. It faces the pilot, so its left is the pilot’s right.
- Word: compare with LEFT or RIGHT and press T or F.
Worked example
The large aircraft points to the left edge of the screen, and the small aircraft sits above it, nearer the top of the screen. The word is RIGHT.
Facing the left edge of the screen, the top of the screen is on your right, so from the cockpit the small aircraft is on the right: true. Now put the eye in front of the nose, facing back. From the eye the small aircraft is on its left, so the same picture with RIGHT is false.
Tips for the real spatial test
- Drill pictures with the nose pointing down the screen until the reversal is automatic.
- Look for the eye on every picture in part 2. Candidates say the real one is small, flat and easy to miss.
- Answer from your first read. A picture you leave moves on, and a late answer is worth no more than a missed one.
- Keep two fingers resting on T and F before each part starts, and practise with those keys rather than a mouse.
- Use the practice round to check the keys and the eye before the scored pictures.
Practise the spatial test on CogniPrep
Our spatial game runs two parts of 60 pictures, 120 in all, each on screen for 2 seconds with a short gap before the next. Part 2 puts the eye on about half the pictures. You answer with T and F, or tap True and False on a phone. Your score out of 100 is right answers minus wrong ones over all pictures, so guessing gains nothing on average and an unanswered picture scores zero. The picture counts and scoring are ours, because the FAA publishes neither.