FAA Part 107 Study Guide 2026 — Pass the Drone Pilot Exam

If you want to get paid to fly a drone in the United States, you need the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. There's no way around it. The certificate is earned by passing a single aeronautical knowledge test — 60 multiple-choice questions, 120 minutes, and a 70% pass line. Get 42 right and you're a certificated remote pilot.

The good news: the pass rate sits around 83–84%, and the average score is roughly 79–80%. The catch: that number rewards people who actually studied airspace and sectional charts, which is where most failures happen. This guide covers exactly what's on the test, the numbers you have to memorize, and a one-to-two-week plan to get you there.

What the Part 107 certificate is — and who needs it

The Part 107 certificate is what the FAA requires to fly a small drone (a small unmanned aircraft system, or sUAS, under 55 lb) commercially in the US. "Commercially" means any paid or business-purpose work.

The people who need it:

• Real estate and aerial photographers
• Roof, tower, solar, and bridge inspectors
• Agriculture, surveying, and mapping operators
• Public-safety pilots
• Hobbyists going pro

Important distinction: Part 107 is not the same as the recreational TRUST certificate. TRUST is a free, hobby-only credential. Part 107 is the commercial license — it involves a paid exam, TSA vetting, and real regulatory knowledge. If your flying makes money, you're in Part 107 territory. Don't conflate the two.

You can sit the exam if you are at least 16 years old, can read, speak, write, and understand English, and pass TSA security vetting. The certificate is issued after that vetting clears through IACRA.

Exam structure

The test is officially the Unmanned Aircraft General – Small (UAG) exam. You'll see it referred to by the test code UAG.

• 60 multiple-choice questions
• 120 minutes
• Passing score: 70% — 42 of 60 correct
• In-person, computer-based, at an FAA-approved PSI Knowledge Testing Center
• Closed-book, except the FAA supplies a figure/chart supplement you use for the airspace and chart questions
• Cost: ~$175 per attempt, paid at the testing center
• Fail it, and you must wait 14 days before retaking

The test volume tells you how fast this field is growing — roughly 67,000 attempts in 2024 and about 74,000 in 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing FAA certificates.

The five knowledge areas (and their weights)

Every question maps to one of five areas. The weights are approximate, but they tell you where to spend your hours:

Operations is the single biggest area. It covers crew resource management, radio communications, airport operations, night operations, physiology, aeronautical decision-making and judgment, emergency procedures, and maintenance and preflight. If one area deserves extra study time, it's this one.

But there's a twist. Operations is the biggest by question count. Airspace and charts is where people actually lose the exam — the material is unfamiliar to anyone who hasn't flown before, and it's the hardest to reason your way through. So the smart split is: give Operations the most raw hours because it's the largest, but treat airspace and charts as your make-or-break section.

Highest-yield material

Sectional charts and airspace

You get an FAA chart supplement in the exam, so this is about reading charts, not memorizing maps. Learn what the colored lines and shading mean:

• Solid blue = Class B
• Magenta = Class C
• Dashed blue = Class D
• Dashed magenta = Class E to the surface
• Magenta vignette (fade) = Class E floor
• Class G = uncontrolled airspace

Controlled airspace (B, C, D, and surface-level E) requires authorization before you fly — that's where LAANC and FAA authorizations come in. You'll also see TFRs (temporary flight restrictions) and NOTAMs (notices to air missions) tested here. Drill chart reading until identifying an airspace class from its border is automatic.

Weather: METARs and TAFs

Weather is 11–16% of the exam, and it's mostly about decoding two report formats:

• METAR — a current surface weather observation
• TAF — a terminal aerodrome forecast

Know how to pull visibility, wind, cloud layers, and ceilings out of both. Beyond decoding, understand density altitude (how heat and elevation rob your drone of performance) and atmospheric stability.

The core Part 107 rules and numbers

These come up constantly across Operations and Regulations. Memorize them cold:

• Max altitude: 400 ft AGL — or within 400 ft of a structure
• Max groundspeed: 100 mph (87 knots)
• Minimum visibility: 3 statute miles from the control station
• Cloud clearance: stay 500 ft below and 2,000 ft horizontally from clouds
• Maintain visual line of sight (VLOS) at all times
• Fly in daylight or civil twilight — and night operations are now allowed with anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles
• One drone per remote pilot — you can't operate more than one at a time
• Report an accident to the FAA within 10 days if there's serious injury or at least $500 in property damage
• Remote ID is required
• Register any drone over 0.55 lb
• No alcohol within 8 hours of flying; 0.04 BAC limit

Memory aids

• "3-500-2000" for cloud clearance: 3 statute miles visibility, 500 ft below clouds, 2,000 ft horizontal. Note there's no "above" requirement — a common trap answer.
• "I'M SAFE" for the pre-flight self-assessment: Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion.
• "8 and 0.04" for alcohol: 8 hours bottle-to-throttle, 0.04 BAC limit.

A 1–2 week study plan

This is a focused exam. Most candidates don't need months. Here's a compressed plan you can run in one to two weeks.

Days 1–2: Regulations and the core numbers

Read through the Part 107 rules and lock in every number above. This is the cheapest section to bank — the rules don't require reasoning, just recall.

Days 3–5: Airspace and sectional charts

Your heaviest block. Learn the chart colors, airspace classes, and where authorization is needed. Practice reading a sectional until the borders are second nature. This is the section that decides pass or fail.

Days 6–7: Weather

Decode METARs and TAFs until it's mechanical. Add density altitude and stability.

Days 8–10: Operations

The largest area by question count. Work through crew resource management, radio and airport operations, night ops, physiology, decision-making, emergencies, and maintenance/preflight.

Days 11–14: Loading, performance, and full practice tests

Cover loading and performance (the smallest area), then spend the back half of your prep taking full-length practice tests. Aim to score consistently above the 70% line — ideally in the 80s — before you book. Review every wrong answer; each one is a future right answer.

If you have a compressed timeline, cut it to a single focused week by pairing every reading block with practice questions the same day.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the Part 107 exam cost in 2026?

About $175 per attempt, paid directly at the PSI testing center.

What's the passing score?

70% — 42 of the 60 questions correct.

How many questions are on the exam?

60 multiple-choice questions, with 120 minutes to answer them.

Does the certificate expire?

Not the old way. Since April 6, 2021, staying current means completing a free online recurrent training on FAASafety.gov every 24 calendar months. This replaced the former in-person recurrent test — if you're studying from older material that says you have to retake a paid test, that's outdated.

Can I fly at night?

Yes. Night operations are now allowed as long as your drone has anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles. The old "night requires a waiver" guidance no longer applies.

How is Part 107 different from TRUST?

Part 107 is the commercial license — paid UAG exam plus TSA vetting. TRUST is the free recreational-flyer certificate for hobbyists. If you're getting paid, you need Part 107.

Next step

Reading the rules gets you familiar; answering questions gets you certified. The single best predictor of passing is how you score on realistic practice questions — especially on airspace and charts.

Once you've built your foundation, the how to pass the Part 107 exam breakdown walks through the fastest path from here to test day.

Test yourself. Run free practice questions on FAA Part 107 — no card, no email-trap — and find out exactly where your airspace knowledge stands before you pay the $175.