FAA AIRMAN KNOWLEDGE TEST STATISTICS · 2023 TO 2025
How hard the FAA A&P written tests are, in the FAA’s own numbers
In 2025 the FAA counted 22,585 A&P General tests with 69.59% passing, 16,885 Airframe tests at 74.01%, and 17,572 Powerplant tests at 63.04%. Powerplant has been the hardest of the three in every year the FAA has published from 2023 on, and the average score on every test sits only a few points above the 70% needed to pass. These are the FAA’s own figures, and they count test events, not people: someone who fails in March and passes in May is in the volume twice.
Read from the FAA’s Airman Knowledge Test statistics on 6 September 2026.
The 2025 A&P pass rates, test by test
- 69.59%A&P GENERAL · AMG22,585 tests, average score 74.02%
- 74.01%A&P AIRFRAME · AMA16,885 tests, average score 75.9%
- 63.04%A&P POWERPLANT · AMP17,572 tests, average score 72.58%
- 69.59%The FAA’s 2025 pass rate for the A&P General knowledge test (AMG): 22,585 tests taken, 6,868 of them not passed, average score 74.02%.FAA · 2025
- 74.01%The FAA’s 2025 pass rate for the A&P Airframe knowledge test (AMA): 16,885 tests taken, 4,388 of them not passed, average score 75.9%.FAA · 2025
- 63.04%The FAA’s 2025 pass rate for the A&P Powerplant knowledge test (AMP): 17,572 tests taken, 6,495 of them not passed, average score 72.58%.FAA · 2025
A&P pass rates by year, as the FAA printed them
One row per test per year, copied from the FAA’s reports. The FAA titles the rows “Aviation Maintenance Technician” where the certificate says Mechanic; they are the same three tests.
| Test | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A&P GeneralAMG | 72.41%15,815 testsavg 74.78% | 70.76%18,689 testsavg 74.31% | 69.59%22,585 testsavg 74.02% |
| A&P AirframeAMA | 74.5%12,557 testsavg 75.67% | 72.63%14,213 testsavg 75.4% | 74.01%16,885 testsavg 75.9% |
| A&P PowerplantAMP | 67.26%12,864 testsavg 73.81% | 64.39%14,306 testsavg 73.08% | 63.04%17,572 testsavg 72.58% |
| All three | 41,236 tests | 47,208 tests | 57,042 tests |
What an A&P pass rate tells you, and what it does not
The typical pass is narrow. 70% passes, and the FAA’s average score in 2025 was 74.02% on General, 75.9% on Airframe and 72.58% on Powerplant. That average includes the people who failed, so a candidate who passes typically passes by a handful of questions. This matters more on the A&P than on most tests, because every ACS code you miss is printed on your report and comes back as a question at the oral: from 4 questions if your written was clean, up to 34 on Airframe if you barely passed. The mechanics of that are on the oral and practical page.
Powerplant is the one to respect. In every year from 2023 to 2025 it had the lowest pass rate and the lowest average score of the three. The FAA publishes no reason and we will not guess at one. What the test is: 100 questions in 2 hours, which is about 72 seconds a question, across 13 subject areas that include propellers. What is on it is on the FAA A&P Powerplant page.
More people are testing. The FAA counted 41,236 mechanic test events in 2023 and 57,042 in 2025, a rise of about 38% in 2 years, while the pass rates barely moved. The tests are not getting easier or harder in any way the numbers show. More people are sitting them.
The rate counts tests, not people. A 63.04% pass rate does not mean 37 of every 100 candidates never get a Powerplant rating. It means that of every 100 times the test was sat, about 37 did not pass that sitting. Retests are in the volume, and nobody publishes how many people pass eventually.
What is on each A&P test
- FAA A&P General testAMG · 60 Q · 69.59% PASSED IN 2025
- FAA A&P Airframe testAMA · 100 Q · 74.01% PASSED IN 2025
- FAA A&P Powerplant testAMP · 100 Q · 63.04% PASSED IN 2025
The tests are one stage of a longer route. The rest of it, from being allowed to test to the day the examiner hands you the certificate, is on how to get your FAA A&P mechanic certificate.
Questions people ask about A&P pass rates
Q.01What is the pass rate for the A&P General test?
69.59% in 2025, across 22,585 tests taken, with an average score of 74.02%. That is the FAA’s own figure from its 2025 Airman Knowledge Test report, where the row is titled "Aviation Maintenance Technician General". It counts test events, so a candidate who failed once and passed once is in it twice.
Q.02Which A&P written test is the hardest?
Powerplant, by the FAA’s numbers. In 2025 it had the lowest pass rate of the three at 63.04%, against 69.59% for General and 74.01% for Airframe, and the lowest average score at 72.58%. It has been the lowest of the three in every year the FAA has published from 2023 on. The FAA gives no reason. What the test is: 100 questions in 2 hours across 13 subject areas, propellers included.
Q.03Does the FAA publish A&P pass rates?
Yes, every year, as part of its Airman Knowledge Test statistics: one PDF per calendar year listing every knowledge test it gives with the volume, the pass rate and the average score. The mechanic tests appear as "Aviation Maintenance Technician General", "Airframe" and "Powerplant". The reports for 2023, 2024, 2025 are linked at the foot of this page. We read them on 6 September 2026.
Q.04What score do you need to pass the A&P written tests?
70% on each test, set by 14 CFR § 65.17(c). Set that beside the FAA’s average scores, which sat between 72.58% and 75.9% in 2025, and you can see how narrow the typical pass is. The rules around the tests are on the knowledge tests page.
Q.05Does the FAA’s A&P pass rate count people or tests?
Tests. The FAA’s column is headed "Volume" and counts every test event in the year, and "Pass Rate" is the share of those events that passed. Someone who fails in March and passes in May is one person, two events, one pass and one fail. So the share of people who eventually pass is higher than the figure on this page, and nobody publishes that number.
Read the documents, not us
Every fact on this page was read from these on 6 September 2026. They are the authority and we are the summary. If we and one of them disagree, they are right.
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