How EASA Part 66 exams actually work
Question counts and time limits per module, straight from the regulation — plus how marking, guessing and resits really work.
8 min read
Every Part-66 basic knowledge exam works the same way: multiple choice, three answers per question, one of them correct. What changes between modules is how many questions you get and how long you have. Both numbers are fixed in the regulation rather than set by the examining organisation, so they are the same wherever you sit.
Questions and time, module by module
The time allowance works out at 75 seconds per question across the board. That is the single most useful thing to know going in: if you have spent more than a minute and a quarter on a question, you are behind.
| Module | B1 questions | B1 time | B2 questions | B2 time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1Mathematics | 32 | 40 min | 32 | 40 min |
| M2Physics | 52 | 65 min | 52 | 65 min |
| M3Electrical Fundamentals | 52 | 65 min | 52 | 65 min |
| M4Electronic Fundamentals | 20 | 25 min | 40 | 50 min |
| M5Digital Techniques / Electronic Instrument Systems | 40 | 50 min | 72 | 90 min |
| M6Materials and Hardware | 80 | 100 min | 60 | 75 min |
| M7Maintenance Practices | 80 | 100 min | 60 | 75 min |
| M8Basic Aerodynamics | 24 | 30 min | 24 | 30 min |
| M9Human Factors | 28 | 35 min | 28 | 35 min |
| M10Aviation Legislation | 44 | 55 min | 44 | 55 min |
| M11Aeroplane Aerodynamics, Structures and Systems | 140 | 175 min | — | — |
| M12Helicopter Aerodynamics, Structures and Systems | 128 | 160 min | — | — |
| M13Aircraft Aerodynamics, Structures and Systems | — | — | 188 | 235 min |
| M14Propulsion | — | — | 32 | 40 min |
| M15Gas Turbine Engine | 92 | 115 min | — | — |
| M16Piston Engine | 76 | 95 min | — | — |
| M17Propeller | 32 | 40 min | — | — |
The 75% pass mark
Every module is passed at 75% correct. There is no scaling, no curve and no compensation between modules — 75% in each one, on its own.
It is worth converting that into actual questions for the module you are sitting, because the percentage hides how little room you have. On a 20-question paper, 75% means 15 correct — you can afford five wrong. On the 140-question Module 11 paper you can afford 35. Candidates routinely over-estimate the margin on the short papers, where a couple of careless mistakes is the difference between a pass and a resit.
There is no negative marking — so never leave a blank
A wrong answer scores zero. An unanswered question also scores zero. Since the penalty is identical and there are three options, a pure guess is worth roughly a third of a mark and an educated guess considerably more. Leaving anything blank is throwing away free expected marks.
The practical technique: answer everything on the first pass, even where you are unsure, and flag the ones you want to revisit rather than skipping them. If the clock beats you, you still have an answer down on every question.
Getting value out of three options
- Eliminate first. Part-66 distractors are often wrong in an obvious way — a unit that does not match, a direction reversed, a component that belongs to a different system. Removing one option takes a guess from 33% to 50%.
- Watch for the absolute. Options containing “always”, “never” or “only” are more often the distractor than the key, because engineering answers usually carry a condition.
- Re-read the stem before committing. A surprising number of losses are to questions asking which statement is not correct.
The written essay component
Multiple choice is not the whole story for every module. Module 7 also has two essay questions for every category, 20 minutes each, marked separately: your answer has to cover 75% of the key points with no significant error. The essay asks you to explain a procedure or a requirement in your own words rather than pick an option. If you fail only the essay part or only the multiple-choice part, you retake just that part.
Modules 9 and 10 used to carry an essay too, but Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/989 dropped it from both (applicable 12 June 2024) and raised their multiple-choice counts to compensate — the table above already reflects the current MCQ-only papers. The UK CAA is a partial exception: it kept the essay on its own Module 10 paper even after EASA dropped it, so check the current UK CAA format if that is the exam you are sitting.
Our exam simulator covers the multiple-choice papers only, so treat a strong simulator score on Module 7 as covering one half of that particular exam rather than all of it.
Resits and the rules around them
Failing a module is common and it is not the end of anything — but there are limits worth knowing before you book a sitting you are not ready for.
- After a failed module you wait 90 days before retaking it, or 30 days if a Part-147 organisation gives you retraining tailored to the subjects you failed.
- You get at most three attempts at each exam in any 12-month period, and you have to tell the exam centre in writing about any attempts in the 12 months before.
- Each module pass is valid for 10 years towards your licence application, so passes collected many years apart may not all still count when you finally apply.
- Exams longer than 90 minutes may be split into two partial exams (three if longer than 180 minutes), each passed at 75% on its own.
These rules are in Appendix II and point 66.A.25 of Part-66. Your exam centre may add its own booking rules on top, so ask your Part-147 organisation or authority for their current written policy too.
On the day
- Calculators are not permitted for Module 1. The arithmetic is designed to be done by hand, which is exactly why it pays to practise it that way.
- Bring photographic identification. Examining organisations will refuse a sitting without it and the fee is generally not refunded.
- Expect a paper or on-screen sitting depending on the organisation. Both use the same question counts and time limits.
Practise against the real clock
The exam simulator uses the exact question count and time limit from the table above, marks you against the 75% pass mark, and explains every answer afterwards.