Search for Part 107 training and you will be told, with great confidence and by people selling courses, that you need one. Before you spend anything, three facts are worth having straight — all of them from the FAA rather than from anyone with something to sell.
What the FAA actually says. No course is required: its Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix states the UAG test "Requires NO instructor endorsement or other form of written authorization." No course is endorsed: the FAA names no commercial provider anywhere, in either direction. And it will not give you credit for training you already have — asked whether it recognises previous UAS or drone training, the FAA's published answer is one word. "No."
That last one catches career changers hardest. Military UAS experience, an existing pilot certificate, years of commercial flying — none of it shortens the path to a first Part 107 certificate, though the FAA does allow that it "may be helpful to new applicants preparing for the aeronautical knowledge test."
Disclosure before we go further: we sell Part 107 study material. Weigh what follows accordingly, and note that everything in the next section is free and we are telling you about it anyway.
The exam you are actually preparing for
From the FAA's Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix, revised 22 October 2025:
| Unmanned Aircraft General — Small (UAG) | |
|---|---|
| Questions | 60 |
| Time allowed | 2.0 hours |
| Passing score | 70 |
| Minimum age to test | 14 |
| Endorsement needed | None |
| Where | An FAA-approved Knowledge Testing Center, operated by PSI Services |
One wrinkle worth catching: you may take the test at 14, but you must be 16 to hold the certificate. A fourteen-year-old can pass and then wait. Note also that "FAA-approved" in this context describes the testing centre. It has never described a course, and any provider implying otherwise is trading on the ambiguity.
The syllabus is a public document, and it is free
The exam is not written from a secret list. It maps to the Airman Certification Standards, FAA-S-ACS-10B, effective 6 April 2021 — the authoritative statement of what you are expected to know. Any course worth paying for is, structurally, a repackaging of that document.
The FAA also publishes free study material:
- FAA-S-ACS-10B — the ACS itself. Read it first, even if you buy something else. It tells you the shape of the test.
- FAA-G-8082-22, the Remote Pilot Study Guide — the FAA's own preparation document.
- FAA-H-8083-25B, the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge — vastly broader than you need, and the best free explanation of weather and airspace anywhere.
The detail that explains the entire paid-course market. FAA-G-8082-22, the FAA's free study guide, is dated August 2016, and we could not find any later edition. The ACS was last revised in April 2021. Night operations stopped requiring a waiver in April 2021. The Remote ID compliance date landed in March 2024. A 2016 study guide cannot have covered any of it — and that gap, rather than any FAA endorsement, is what a good paid course is selling you.
How to judge a course in ten minutes
Given no course is endorsed, the burden of evaluation is yours. These are the questions that actually separate them:
- Does it map explicitly to the ACS? A course that names its ACS areas is telling you it was built from the syllabus. One that presents an idiosyncratic list of "modules" may have been built from another course.
- Is it current past 2021 and 2024? Check how it handles night operations and Remote ID. If night is presented as needing a waiver, the material predates April 2021 and nobody has revisited it. That single check disqualifies a surprising amount of what is on sale.
- Does it teach chart reading, or only quiz you on it? Sectionals are a skill. Video of somebody reading a chart aloud is not practice; you need reps with a chart in front of you.
- Are the practice questions explained? A bank that tells you the right letter teaches recognition. One that explains why the other three are wrong teaches the thing being tested.
- What exactly does a "pass guarantee" pay out? Usually a free repeat of the course you have already decided did not work, rather than your test fee back. Read the term, not the badge.
- Does it claim FAA approval? If so, that is disqualifying on its own. The FAA approves testing centres. It does not approve courses.
Do you need one at all?
An honest answer depends on where you are starting.
If you already read sectional charts and decode METARs — a Part 61 certificate holder, say, or an air traffic background — the free material plus a question bank is very likely enough. If you have never seen a sectional in your life, the free study guide's age becomes a real problem, and structure is worth paying for.
Either way, the sequencing that works is the same: read the ACS to learn the shape of the exam, spend the bulk of your time on sectional charts and weather products because they carry disproportionate marks and reward practice, then move to timed full-length papers. Our 30-day study plan lays that out day by day, and the five topics that trip most people up is a fair map of where the marks actually go.
And if it goes wrong, it goes wrong cheaply in administrative terms: no endorsement is needed to retake either, and the wait is fourteen calendar days.
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm the current test fee from any FAA source. No faa.gov page or FAA document states a dollar figure — the ACS says only to "make financial arrangements for test payment." The fee is set by PSI. Check it at booking.
- We could not find any FAA statement endorsing or disclaiming commercial test prep providers. The agency is simply silent on the subject, which means claims in either direction — including ours — are inference rather than citation.
- We could not verify any edition of FAA-G-8082-22 later than August 2016, or any ACS revision after FAA-S-ACS-10B in April 2021. If a newer edition exists we did not find it on faa.gov.
- Pass rates, whether overall or by provider, are not something we have verified data on. Any figure quoted in course marketing deserves a source before you believe it.
- We could not confirm whether PSI or the FAA imposes any limit on the number of attempts. Nothing in Part 107 does.
The short version
No course is required, no course is endorsed, and prior UAS training earns you nothing — the FAA's answer on that is a flat "No." The syllabus is public: FAA-S-ACS-10B, effective April 2021, and reading it costs nothing. The FAA's free study guide is genuinely useful and genuinely dated to August 2016, which means it predates the 2021 night rule and the 2024 Remote ID compliance date, and that gap is the honest case for buying something. When you evaluate what to buy, check it against the ACS, check how it handles night and Remote ID, and treat any claim of FAA approval as a reason to close the tab. Sixty questions, two hours, 70 to pass, test at 14, certificate at 16.
For what it is worth from a vendor: start with the free FAA material, then use question practice to find your gaps. The Flycensed iOS app is free and has 485+ questions with explanations, the Part 107 Practice Exams give you timed full-length papers, and the Part 107 Complete Study Guide ($14.99) covers the ACS areas across 20 chapters with the post-2021 rules actually in them.
Study kit
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you. We only list gear we would actually put on a job.
- Avery Mini 3-Ring Binder, holds 5.5 x 8.5 in — Half-letter is the right size for a study binder you will actually carry around for a month.
- Half-size Sheet Protectors, 5.5 x 8.5 in (200) — Dry-wipe over a sleeved sectional excerpt is the cheapest chart-reading practice there is.
- Scotch Thermal Laminator (TL901X) — Worth it only if you are printing a lot; two rollers, so pages come out flat rather than rippled.