What is the PSTAR?

The PSTAR is a fifty-question written test that Canadian flight students must pass with a mark of ninety percent or higher, before they can fly solo. It once stood for something like Pre-Solo Test of Air Regulations, but that was too simple to be a government document. You can write the PSTAR at your flying school whenever you are ready to. If you don't score at least 90% you will have to write it again, using a different version of the test.

What is the Study and Reference Guide?

In order for you to prepare for the PSTAR, all the possible questions are published in a Transport Canada document called Study and Reference Guide: Student Pilot Permit or Private Pilot Licence for Foreign and Military Applicants, Air Regulations. That official Study & Reference Guide directs you to more government documents where the answers can be found, but it doesn't specify or explain the answers. Most students spend a couple of hours decoding the A.I.P. and the CARs, and then turn to their flight instructors for help.

What is Robyn's Improved PSTAR Study Guide?

At the flying school where I used to work, we went down to the Airport Restaurant and my students provide me with pie while I answered all their questions about the PSTAR. This web page attempts to duplicate that experience for my students, and any other Canadian flight students who are preparing for the PSTAR.

How is it "Improved"?

I have reproduced the fourteen PSTAR sections just as they appear in the Transport Canada document, then added:

• the correct choice shown in boldface for each multiple choice question
• links to the applicable paragraphs of the Canadian Aviation Regulations
• explanations of tricky or ambiguous questions
• pictures and study tips to help you remember the rules

My guide is written with fixed wing pilots in mind, but if you are training to fly another type of aircraft, you are welcome to use it. If you find this site helps you pass the PSTAR, maybe sometime after you get your licence you'll find me and buy me a slice of pie.