A candidate fails Module 7. Ninety days later they sit it again, and half the questions are ones they have already seen. They pass. Did they learn the material, or did they remember the answers?
Nobody can tell, and that is the problem. Every time a question is shown to a candidate it becomes a little less secret. Questions get remembered, written down after the sitting, and passed on to the next cohort. Collections of "real exam questions" are widely shared among students. An organisation that keeps drawing the same questions eventually runs an exam that the well-prepared candidate passes on memory, not knowledge.
This is sometimes called exam farming, and it is one of the main reasons EASA opened its review of Part-147.
Why this matters now
- Question security is already a requirement. Under 147.A.135, your examination staff must ensure the security of all questions. A question that every resitting candidate has already seen is not secure in any meaningful sense.
- Your authority looks at your question bank. EASA confirms that competent authorities do not supply your questions, but must sample check and review your question bank and examination process as part of their oversight.
- The rules are tightening. EASA's review of Part-147 (RMT.0544, NPA 2023-10) was proposed to eliminate or reduce fraud in maintenance licence examinations. Commentary on the proposal points to question randomisation and a crackdown on exam farming. Whatever final form it takes, an organisation that already rotates its questions will not need to change its approach.
How many times can a candidate sit a module?
The Part-66 basic examination standard sets the rhythm of resits. A failed module may not be retaken for at least 90 days, or 30 days if a Part-147 organisation runs retraining tailored to the failed subjects. After three consecutive failed attempts, a 12-month waiting period applies before the candidate can try again.
So a single candidate can meet the same module exam three times in one series, and more after a waiting period. Every one of those sittings is a chance to see questions again, and every sitting also exposes questions to the rest of the cohort.
Two kinds of exposure
Across time: resits and later cohorts
The resitting candidate who meets familiar questions, and the next intake who have been told which questions come up. The defence is to make sure each attempt draws on questions the candidate has not seen before, and to keep refreshing the bank so that what circulated last year is no longer on the paper.
Across space: the candidate at the next desk
In a room of candidates sitting the same module, a neighbour's screen or paper is a temptation. Physical spacing helps, but the simplest defence is to show each candidate the questions in a different order with the answer options shuffled, so that a glance across the room is useless.
How big does your question bank need to be?
This is the question most organisations have never worked out, and the answer is usually "bigger than it is".
If you want a candidate to sit three attempts without meeting a single repeated question, then every part of the syllabus that the exam draws from needs at least three times as many approved questions as the exam takes from it. Four times gives you room for a further sitting.
| The exam draws from a sub-module | Approved questions needed for unique attempts |
|---|---|
| 6 questions | 18 for three attempts, 24 for four |
| 10 questions | 30 for three attempts, 40 for four |
| 15 questions | 45 for three attempts, 60 for four |
The weak point is rarely the module as a whole. It is the small sub-module with only a handful of questions behind it, where the same few questions come up at every sitting. Work through your exam blueprint one syllabus area at a time and you will usually find two or three thin spots worth fixing first.
Six practical measures
Stopping question exposure
Keep practice tests separate from the examination bank. Practice questions are meant to be seen repeatedly; examination questions are not.
What to put in your MTOE
Question rotation belongs in the examination sections of your exposition, typically 2.10 Security and preparation of examination material: how questions are approved, how papers are assembled, how attempts are kept apart, how often the bank is reviewed, and who can see it. If your inspector sample checks the bank, this is the section they will read first.
How AMTOS handles it
AMTOS separates the two kinds of exposure. Across time, the question bank is divided into separate slices for each attempt: when the bank holds at least four times the questions an exam needs, attempts one to four share no questions at all. When it is smaller, questions are spread across attempts to keep overlap to a minimum. Across the room, every candidate in a sitting gets the same questions for that attempt, but in their own order and with the answer letters shuffled, and the order survives a browser refresh or reconnection.
The exam blueprint editor shows, rule by rule, how many unique attempts your current bank can support, and flags the syllabus areas that need more questions. The resit rules themselves are enforced before a sitting can start: the 90-day interval, the 30-day interval after tailored retraining, and the 12-month waiting period after three consecutive failed attempts. Questions go through approval before they can appear in a live exam, practice tests are kept out of formal records, and item analysis highlights questions that are performing oddly.
Quick answers
Can a Part-66 resit use the same questions as the failed attempt?
Part-66 does not spell out a rule on this, but Part-147 requires examination questions to be kept secure, and reusing the same questions lets a candidate pass on memory. Question exposure of this kind is exactly the examination fraud EASA's review of Part-147 aims to reduce, so the safe practice is to give every attempt a different set of questions.
How many questions does a Part-66 question bank need?
For a candidate to sit three attempts without meeting a repeated question, each area of the syllabus needs at least three times as many approved questions as the exam draws from it. If an exam takes six questions from a sub-module, that sub-module needs at least eighteen.
What is exam farming?
Exam farming is when candidates pass by memorising examination questions and answers, collected from earlier sittings or circulated between students, rather than by learning the subject.
Sources
- EASA, Part-147 FAQs (question bank oversight)
- EASA, NPA 2023-10: Review of Part-147 (RMT.0544)
- Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014, Annex III (Part-66) Appendix II, Basic examination standard
- SAS Sofia, EASA Part-147 & Part-66 regulatory and forthcoming changes