A&P Practical Test 2026: The Oral and Practical With a DME

How does the A&P practical test work?

You find a DME and agree a date. Before the test, the examiner holds a pre-test interview to set the schedule and look at the codes on your test reports. The fee comes up here too: the FAA’s companion guide says designees may charge a reasonable fee, to be agreed before the test.

The examiner then generates your test from the FAA’s internet-based Mechanic Test Generator (MTG). It holds the questions, answers, projects and performance standards, and it’s specific to you. You’re not told beforehand which elements you’ll get, so prepare on everything in the ACS for your ratings. The examiner tests one applicant at a time.

FAA: Designee Locator ↗Who sets the examiner’s fee →

The oral test

The oral questions retest the subjects linked to the ACS codes on your knowledge test reports. If you scored 100% on a knowledge test, you get a minimum number of randomly chosen questions instead. You can’t use any reference material during the oral, and the examiner keeps the oral and practical parts separate.

The practical projects

The practical part is a set of projects, with questions about each one as you work. Here you may use references, but only the ones the examiner provides. The examiner supplies the tools, equipment and unmarked reference material, including regulations, Airworthiness Directives, advisory circulars and manufacturers’ manuals. Your own tools are allowed only if the examiner agrees, and a non-programmable calculator is allowed where it fits.

You must work to an approval for return to service standard and show you can find and apply the right data. Safety counts throughout: the companion guide says any disregard for safety will result in a failure.

What to bring

Two identically prepared FAA Forms 8610‑2 with original signatures
Your passing knowledge test reports, unless you’re a school student testing early under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 65.80
A valid government photo ID with a signature
Your eligibility proof: a school graduation document, the inspector’s signature in block V of Form 8610‑2, or a military Certificate of Eligibility

Missing documents can delay or end the test, the companion guide warns.

How to fill in Form 8610-2 →

Retests, your temporary certificate and looking up a certificate

Fail the oral and you retake the whole section you failed: General, Airframe or Powerplant. Fail the practical and you redo the failed projects and anything not tested. The 30-day rule in 14 CFR 65.19 applies here too, unless you bring a signed statement of extra instruction. Bring every earlier Form 8610‑2 that shows a failure or “not tested”, plus your passed test reports.

When you pass everything, the examiner issues a temporary certificate, signed by you both and valid for 120 days, while the FAA reviews your file and issues the permanent one. Once it’s issued, you can check a mechanic’s certificate in the FAA’s Search Airmen Records tool, which its records page links.

FAA: Search Airmen Records ↗FAA: Mechanic Certificates & Records ↗Later on: the inspection authorization →

Sources: FAA · PSI · GovInfo and 3 more. Checked November 2026.