Is the Part 107 Test Hard? What the FAA's Pass Rate and Missed-Topic Data Show

Forum threads answer this question with stories. The FAA answers it with numbers: it publishes yearly pass rates and average scores for every airman knowledge test, and a quarterly list of the test topics candidates miss most. Here is what that data shows for the Part 107 test, the Unmanned Aircraft General – Small (UAG).

The FAA's Part 107 pass rate and average score

From the FAA's Airman Knowledge Test Statistics page, checked October 27, 2026:

The conversions to correct answers are Passy's arithmetic. With 42 correct needed to pass, the average 2025 test landed about 5.6 questions above the line. That isn't a large cushion: a handful of extra misses separates an average result from a fail.

For context, the same 2025 table shows an 89.56% pass rate across all 293,516 airman knowledge tests. The UAG was the highest-volume test in the table, well ahead of Private Pilot Airplane at 44,657.

What the Part 107 pass rate can't tell you

Read these figures for what they are:

• They count tests, not people. The table doesn't separate first attempts from retests, so it doesn't give a first-time pass rate.
• They don't describe preparation. Someone who studied for a month and someone who walked in cold are in the same number.
• They aren't your odds. An 82.96% pass rate is a description of 2025's test-takers. It isn't a probability for you, and no practice score converts into one.
• They predate October 26, 2026. From that date, the FAA added image-based chart questions built on its latest sectional charts. Neither year's figures reflect that change.

A more useful question than "is it hard?" is "am I consistently above 42 out of 60, with margin, across all five areas?" The format and passing score guide shows how the 60 questions split.

The topic Part 107 candidates miss most: declarations of compliance

Every quarter, the FAA publishes a "Frequently Missed Knowledge Test ACS Codes" report. Per the FAA's September 2026 advisory, it lists ACS codes asked at least 100 times and missed more than 70% of the time. In each of the last four reports on the FAA's page, the UAG has exactly one entry, the same code:

Each report covers a rolling 12-month window, so the periods overlap: read the table as one steady signal, not four separate findings.

In the ACS, UA.I.E.K13 is "Declaration of Compliance (DoC)," part of the Operations Over People task. Here is the rule set those questions draw on, from Subpart D of 14 CFR Part 107:

The points that turn a DoC question:

• Who submits it. Under 14 CFR 107.160, an "applicant" submits the declaration for FAA acceptance, and 107.165 describes that applicant as someone who produces, designs or modifies the aircraft. The remote pilot's job, under 107.115 and 107.125, is to use an aircraft that is listed on an FAA-accepted declaration and labeled for that category.
• Labels. If a Category 2 or 3 label is damaged or missing, 107.135 makes the remote pilot re-label the aircraft in English, legibly and for the whole flight, before flying over people.
• Rescission. Under 107.160(d), no one may operate an aircraft identified on a declaration the FAA has rescinded while the rescission stands.
• Category 3 limits. No flight over open-air assemblies, and flight over people only within a closed or restricted-access site where they're on notice, or without sustained flight over anyone not participating or not under cover (107.125).

Because it's the only UAG code on these lists, this is an efficient place to win back points. If you study best by recall, the 460 flashcards planned for Part 107 prep, built for the facts that cost points, are one way to drill it once full prep opens.

Why the Part 107 test feels hard to newcomers

The difficulty is mostly breadth and vocabulary, not math:

• Regulations is 48% of the test. Under PSI's specifications effective September 29, 2025, almost half the questions test rules, and the rules pair numbers with conditions that are easy to mix up: 400 feet AGL versus 400 feet above a structure's top within a 400-foot radius of it, or 500 feet below a cloud versus 2,000 feet horizontally from it.
• Aviation language. Sectional chart symbols, METAR and TAF codes, CTAF and traffic patterns come from manned aviation. The ACS tests all of them.
• One best answer. The ACS says only one choice is "complete and correct," and the others are "either incomplete or erroneous." Partly right is still wrong.
• Chart images you can't preview. Since October 26, 2026, some chart questions use images from the latest sectionals that aren't in the testing supplement, and the FAA says those images can't be previewed. The Part 107 sectional chart guide explains how to prepare.

Weighting matters when you choose practice material. Planned Part 107 practice puts 408 of its 850 questions in Regulations, roughly in line with the 48% share, and the rest across the other four areas.

How to judge whether you're ready for the Part 107 test

A practical approach, not an FAA rule:

1. Take timed practice that covers all five content areas, not just regulations.
2. Look for consistent scores comfortably above 70%, not one good run.
3. Check your weakest area by name. A strong overall score can hide a weak Airspace area, which is about 12 questions.
4. Read 14 CFR 107.100 to 107.165 once in full, because of the declaration-of-compliance data above.
5. Try PSI's free sample test under "Exam Resources" at faa.psiexams.com. PSI says it doesn't represent the full range of content or difficulty, so use it to learn the format.

For step 3, the Weak Spot challenge in planned Part 107 prep drills your lowest-accuracy content area five questions at a time. Today you can start with the free Part 107 practice questions and use the Part 107 study plan guide to schedule the rest.