FAA Written Test Changes in 2026: What Is Different

All five Airman Testing Community Advisories the FAA published in 2026 carry the same project: knowledge test questions that carry their own chart image instead of pointing you to a figure in the printed supplement. The effective date moved once, the list of affected tests grew twice, and the FAA still has not set a date for taking the supplements out of test centers. Everything below comes from those advisories, posted on the FAA's Airman Testing page (last updated September 17, 2026), and from the FAA Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix revised September 25, 2026.

What changed, and when

The FAA calls the image work the Graphics Conversion Project. Its own words, from the April 2026 edition: "In partnership with PSI, the FAA is upgrading its airman knowledge testing system by incorporating images directly into test questions, eliminating the need for printed test supplements." The table tracks what each edition added.

Dates and wording in the table are taken from the February, April, June and August 2026 editions and the September 2026 Special Edition, all linked from the FAA Airman Testing page.

One detail is easy to get wrong because the FAA itself got it wrong first. The April and June editions said October 27, 2026 for the IRA and UAG change. The August edition carries a footnote: "Corrected date from the previous edition of this advisory." The date is October 26, 2026. If a study guide or forum post still says the 27th, it was written from the earlier edition.

What embedded graphics mean when you sit down

The question and its picture arrive together on the screen. The sample items the FAA printed in the June and August editions show the pattern. One is an excerpt of IFR Enroute Low Altitude chart L-11 asking for the minimum crossing altitude at DUBOIS (DBS) VORTAC northbound on V21 (8,600 feet). Another is an L-12 excerpt asking what a flag at RENAE intersection indicates (a minimum reception altitude of 13,000 feet MSL). The sectional samples, cut from the Washington and Las Vegas charts dated 12 June 2025 to 7 August 2025, ask about the airspace at Millville (MIV) and the CTAF at Grand Canyon (GCN) when the tower is closed (119.0).

Two things follow from that. The images are current. The FAA says they come "from the latest Sectional Charts, Instrument Approach Charts, and Low Altitude Enroute Charts," so symbology matches what you fly with, not a figure printed years ago. And the images are secret: "Once an image is embedded in a test question, it becomes an integral part of that question. Consequently, the specific images used in active test questions cannot be previewed."

The supplement has not gone anywhere yet. The August edition says applicants "will continue to have access to the testing supplement for their exam" until a removal date is announced. Expect a mix: some questions send you to a supplement figure, others carry their own image.

On measuring, the FAA has said only this: "We recognize that some test questions may require specific measuring tools. For those questions, applicants will have the tools they need to respond accurately." It "cannot provide details about the design or operation of on-screen tools," and promises advance notice through the advisory before any new tool appears. Plan on not having a plotter in your hand for an embedded chart.

The PSI portal and scheduling

PSI, the FAA's testing vendor under the Airman Certificate Testing Service contract, is moving its exams to what it calls the Test Taker Portal. The FAA's description, repeated in every edition from April on: "a fully paperless experience. FAA exam content, standards, oversight, and security remain unchanged." The April and June editions gave a Fall 2026 target. The August and September editions dropped the date and give an email instead, faachangequestions@psionline.com.

Until that cutover, scheduling works as it does today at faa.psiexams.com. You need your FAA Tracking Number from IACRA and an authenticator app for multi-factor sign-in. PSI's page says you may reschedule up to 24 hours before the appointment, and cancel for a full refund up to 24 hours before if the payment was made within the past year.

Fees are the murky part. No 2026 advisory mentions the fee, and PSI's own landing page shows two figures: $175 in its FAQ, and a side panel reading "$96*" with the note "Price may vary depending on testing location." Confirm the price when you book, and budget for a retake when you cost out the certificate.

What did not change

The passing grade, question counts and time limits for the common pilot tests are unchanged in the September 25, 2026 matrix. The three that matter to most readers of this blog:

Values are from the FAA Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix, revised September 25, 2026.

Your passing report is still good for the practical test taken "within the 24-calendar-month period preceding the month the applicant completes the practical test" (14 CFR 61.39(a)(1)(i)). The content standard is unchanged too. Where the FAA describes PSI's ongoing assessment of several tests, it says the work "does not change test question content, and all questions will continue to align with the applicable ACS codes and references." Of the 91 knowledge tests the FAA offers, 33 print ACS codes on the test report. The private pilot subjects and codes have their own post.

How to prepare for figure-based questions

Practice reading charts on a screen, not only on paper. The FAA points applicants to PSI's sample tests, linked as "Airman Knowledge Sample Tests" from the Airman Testing page, "to access sample test questions and become familiar with the new format." Work them on a laptop at arm's length, which is roughly how a test center monitor sits.

Learn the current legend. The embedded images are cut from current charts, so the symbols most likely to catch you are the ones you have only ever seen on a supplement figure. The FAA's own samples point at three: the Class E surface-area boundary at Millville, the flag that marks a minimum reception altitude at RENAE, and the IR313/IR300 label that marks an IFR military training route on L-11. The FAA's Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide is the legend the chart makers publish.

Keep the supplement in your study rotation anyway. Until the FAA names a removal date, the private and instrument tests still draw on FAA-CT-8080-2H (2018) and FAA-CT-8080-3F (2017), and a question can reference a figure number as it always has.

Then check the FAA's Frequently Missed Knowledge Test ACS Codes report, linked from the same page. It lists codes missed more than 70 percent of the time on tests where the code was administered at least 100 times. It is the closest the FAA comes to telling you where the test bites.

How this post is kept current

The FAA publishes an Airman Testing Community Advisory roughly every two months, plus special editions, and offers email notification when the page changes. We re-read each edition as it appears. The dated line under the byline moves only when something in the test itself changes.

Pass rates are not covered here on purpose. The FAA publishes them on its Airman Knowledge Test Statistics page, with calendar year 2025 the latest at the time of writing. Anything about scores that is not on that page or in an advisory has not been checked. So it is left out.

If your instrument written is scheduled after October 26, 2026, open the current L-chart for your area tonight. Read it until the MCA and MRA symbols are boring.

This article is educational and is not a substitute for the current regulations, the AIM, official weather briefings, or instruction from a CFI. Check the current text at the linked sources before you rely on any detail.