The PSTAR is the Transport Canada written exam taken by Student Pilot Permit applicants, and by military and foreign applicants for the Private Pilot Licence. This page gives you free practice sets by topic, worked answers, the verified pass mark and time limit, and a plan for using them alongside the official study guide.
The PSTAR has 50 questions and takes about 1.5 hours[1][2] (Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421, verified Oct 22, 2026).
Numbers in brackets link to the official sources listed under Sources & last verified. Dates that have passed are removed automatically.
| Item | Detail | Source · Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Number of questions | 50 questions[1] | Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421 · Oct 22, 2026 |
| Time limit | 1.5 hours (up to +20% for non-English/French mother tongue)[2] | Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421 · Oct 22, 2026 |
| Passing score | 90% (45 of 50 correct before first solo)[2] | Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421 · Oct 22, 2026 |
| Retake policy | Rewrite any time after notice of failure and review of weak areas[3] | laws-lois.justice.gc.ca · Oct 21, 2026 |
| Delivery | Written at an authorized flight training unit or a Transport Canada Regional office[1] | Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421 · Oct 22, 2026 |
According to Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421, “PSTAR consists of 50 questions selected from this guide.”[1]
PSTAR stands for Pre Solo Test of Air Regulation. Transport Canada authorizes certain flight training units to develop and administer it for Student Pilot Permit applicants, and for military and foreign applicants for the Private Pilot Licence. It is written at an authorized flight training unit or a Transport Canada Regional office.
The exam has 50 questions, selected from the official Transport Canada study guide. The pass mark is 90%, so you must answer at least 45 of the 50 questions correctly before your first solo flight can be authorized.
The time limit is 1.5 hours. Applicants whose mother tongue is other than English or French may receive up to 20% more time.
If you fail, you may rewrite the exam at any time after you receive notice of the failure and have reviewed your weak areas. Treat that review as real work: find which topics cost you marks and practise those before sitting again.
This page does not list fees, booking steps or school-specific procedures, because they can differ between flight training units. Ask your flight school or the Transport Canada Regional office, and check the official Transport Canada publications for the current rules. Our practice questions are written by us with AI tools. They are not real exam questions.
The content areas below are copied from the official PSTAR content outline published by Transport Canada (Civil Aviation) — Canadian Aviation Regulations, Standard 421. The right-hand column shows which of our practice sets covers it.
| Official content area | Practice on this site |
|---|---|
| Aeronautical Information Circulars[1] | PSTAR Air Traffic Rules and Procedures Learn what kind of notices circulars carry and how a pilot is expected to find and apply them before flight. |
| Air Traffic Control Clearances and Instructions[1] | PSTAR Radio Communications and Phraseology Practise reading back clearances correctly and knowing when an instruction must be followed or queried. |
| Air Traffic Control procedures as they apply to the control of VFR traffic at controlled airports[1] | PSTAR Air Traffic Rules and Procedures Work through taxi, takeoff, circuit and landing procedures for VFR aircraft at airports with an operating control tower. |
| Air Traffic procedures at uncontrolled airports and aerodromes[1] | PSTAR Radio Communications and Phraseology Practise position reports, traffic circuit entry and the radio calls used where no controller is giving instructions. |
| Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs)[1] | PSTAR Pilot Certification and Eligibility ... Practise licence and permit privileges, airspace rules and general operating requirements, then confirm details in the regulations. |
| NOTAMs[1] | Mixed practice tests above Read the official guide on how NOTAMs are issued and what they warn about, then check that you can explain why a pilot reviews them before flight. |
| Special VFR Regulations[1] | PSTAR Airspace Classification and Requirem... Understand when a special VFR clearance is needed, who may request it and what conditions apply. |
Prepare for the PSTAR - Pre Solo Test of Air Regulation exam with our free practice test modules. Each quiz covers key topics to help you pass on your first try.
These are practice questions written for this site, not questions from the real exam. Each explanation shows why the right answer is right and why the others are wrong.
Question: What action should a pilot take if experiencing radio failure in VFR conditions?
Answer: C. Squawk 7600, continue under VFR, and land at the destination
Explanation:
Option C is correct: squawk 7600, continue under VFR, and land at the destination. Radio failure in VFR conditions does not turn the flight into an emergency diversion. You keep flying the planned VFR flight, show controllers that you have lost communications, and let ATC know by other means.
Option A is wrong because nothing requires an immediate landing at the nearest airport. Option B is wrong because 7500 is the code for unlawful interference, not for lost communications. Option D is wrong because climbing to 18,000 feet and waiting for contact has no basis in the procedure and would take a VFR pilot into conditions the flight was never planned for.
Rule to remember: the transponder code for communications failure is 7600, and VFR stays VFR.
Question: What are the standard VFR weather minimums in Class E airspace above 10,000 feet MSL?
Answer: B. 5 miles, 1000-1000-2000 clearance
Explanation:
Option B is the answer in our question: 5 miles visibility with 1000-1000-2000 cloud clearance in Class E airspace above 10,000 feet MSL. The idea behind it is that aircraft fly faster at higher altitudes, so pilots need more distance to see and avoid each other.
Option A, 3 miles with 500-1000-2000, is the smaller set of values that applies at lower levels, so it is too lenient here. Options C and D, 3 miles and 1 mile clear of clouds, are far too small for this altitude band and belong to much more limited situations.
Rule to remember: required visibility and cloud clearance grow with altitude. Our question is a practice item, so confirm the exact minimums for each airspace and altitude in the Canadian Aviation Regulations and the official study guide.
Question: Which procedure is recommended to ensure that the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) has not been activated?
Answer: C. Monitor 121.5 before engine shutdown
Explanation:
Option C is correct: monitor 121.5 before engine shutdown. An ELT transmits a distress signal on that frequency, so if it has been activated, for example by a hard landing, you can hear it before you leave the aircraft and shut off the radios.
Option A is wrong because switching the ELT off after landing does not tell you whether it was transmitting, and switching it off is not the checking procedure. Option B is wrong because asking the tower depends on someone else listening on the right frequency and is not a reliable check. Monitoring it yourself is direct and takes little time.
Rule to remember: an inadvertent ELT activation can start an unnecessary search, so check by listening on 121.5 while the radio is still on.
Start with the official Transport Canada study guide, because the 50 exam questions are selected from it. Read a section, then do the matching practice set on this page while the material is fresh.
Work through the sets by topic rather than in a random mix. After each set, read every explanation, including the questions you got right, and write down the rule behind any answer you guessed. Where an explanation here and the official guide seem to differ, trust the guide and the Canadian Aviation Regulations.
Give extra time to the areas the exam body lists: regulations, NOTAMs, circulars, Special VFR, and procedures at controlled and uncontrolled airports. Radio phrases and clearance read-backs are easier to learn by saying them aloud than by reading them.
Because the pass mark is 90%, aim to get nearly every question in a set right before you book. Repeat sets where you miss questions until the reasons are clear to you, not just the letters. A day or so before the test, do a timed run through mixed questions, keeping the 1.5 hour limit in mind. Ask your flight training unit about anything specific to how they run the exam.
The pass mark is 90%. Before first solo flight can be authorized, you must correctly answer at least 45 of the 50 questions on the exam paper. That leaves very little room for error, so aim to understand the reasoning behind each answer rather than memorizing option letters.
The time limit is 1.5 hours. Applicants whose mother tongue is other than English or French can receive up to 20% additional time. If this may apply to you, ask your flight training unit or the Transport Canada Regional office how the extra time is arranged.
The exam has 50 questions, selected from the official Transport Canada study guide. That is why reading the guide matters: the exam draws from it directly. Use the practice sets here to test your recall, and use the guide itself as your source of truth.
It is written at an authorized flight training unit or a Transport Canada Regional office. Certain flight training units are authorized by Transport Canada to develop and administer it. Booking and procedures can differ between locations, so contact your flight school or the Regional office directly.
Yes. You may rewrite the exam at any time after you have received notice of the failure and have reviewed your weak areas. Use that review to find which topics cost you marks, then practise those areas before sitting again.
No. The questions were written by us with AI tools to help you practise the topics, and they are not taken from the real exam. Use them to find gaps in your knowledge, and check the official Transport Canada study guide and regulations for the authoritative answer.
How we verify: editorial & fact-checking policy. Report an error: contact us.