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newSchoolWorks.com › VoTechWorks › Technology & Design › GIS / Surveying / Drone Operations › Certification Exam Preparation: FAA Part 107, Esri ArcGIS Pro, and NSPS CST Levels 1–2 › Lesson 1
TEC-GIS45-11 · Lesson 1 · 12 clock hours · practice

Diagnostic Assessment and Gap Analysis Across All Three Credentials

Objective. Learners complete diagnostic practice tests for all three credential exams, score and categorize every wrong answer by published exam domain, and produce a written gap-analysis study plan.

⚠ Pending professional review

This lesson, its worked examples and its practice questions has not yet been verified by an industry-certified professional or by a certification or approval body. It is a study draft and may contain errors. Do not use it as instructions for work on a job site or on live equipment. Always follow your instructor, your supervising professional, and current official references and regulations.

VoTechWorks program approval and accreditation are still in progress. Credentials are issued only by the certifying bodies named in each program, after their own exams.

Why Diagnostic Testing Comes First

Before you can build an efficient study plan, you need accurate data about where you actually stand. A diagnostic assessment is a practice test taken under realistic conditions before you have finished reviewing the content. Its purpose is not to make you feel ready — it is to expose gaps honestly so you can direct limited study time toward the areas that will move your score the most. This lesson walks you through diagnostic practice for all three credentials: FAA Part 107, Esri ArcGIS Pro Associate, and NSPS CST Levels 1–2.

The FAA Part 107 Diagnostic

The official FAA Remote Pilot knowledge test is administered at an FAA-approved testing center. The published Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for Remote Pilot organizes all tested content into task codes that map to specific knowledge areas: airspace classification, weather interpretation, loading and performance, regulations, and aeronautical chart reading, among others.

For your diagnostic, you will complete 60 questions under timed conditions — roughly the same length as the real exam. Use only the official FAA sample knowledge-test questions and the ACS answer key; unofficial question banks sometimes contain errors or outdated regulatory information. After scoring, write the ACS task code next to every question you missed. Group your errors by task code category and count how many you missed in each. A category where you miss more than one-third of questions is a priority gap. Pay attention to aeronautical chart questions: they require you to interpret sectional chart symbols, airspace rings, and ceiling/floor altitudes accurately. An error on a chart question in the field is not just a test failure — it is a potential airspace violation with legal consequences.

Safety note: The regulations tested in Part 107 — particularly those covering controlled airspace authorization, night operations, and visual-line-of-sight requirements — exist to protect manned aircraft and people on the ground. Treat every wrong answer in the regulations and airspace domains as a gap that has real-world safety implications, not just an exam score issue.

The Esri ArcGIS Pro Associate Diagnostic

Esri publishes an exam guide listing the content domains for the ArcGIS Pro Associate certification. Current domains include project and data management, map and scene visualization, spatial analysis, and sharing and output. The weighting of domains is published in the exam guide; domains weighted more heavily deserve proportionally more study time.

Complete your 50-question diagnostic without pausing to look things up. Afterward, sort your wrong answers by domain and calculate a percentage score for each. Enter these scores in your personal tracking spreadsheet — one row per domain, one column for the diagnostic score, and blank columns for re-assessment scores you will fill in later. A domain score below roughly 70% signals a gap that needs direct review of Esri documentation and hands-on software practice. A score below 50% means you likely need to revisit the foundational workflows for that domain entirely before attempting practice questions again.

Note that the ArcGIS Pro environment updates regularly. Always use the exam guide edition that matches the currently tested software version; the instructor will confirm the current version at the start of this course.

The NSPS CST Levels 1 and 2 Diagnostic

The Certified Survey Technician credential is offered in progressive levels. Level 1 covers foundational topics: distance and angle measurement, leveling, and basic equipment operation. Level 2 adds traverse calculations, legal descriptions, deed research, and equipment calibration. Your combined diagnostic covers content from both levels so you can see your readiness for each independently.

The CST exams permit a non-programmable calculator. Use only that type of calculator for your diagnostic so you practice under accurate conditions. Score your answers by NSPS content category — do not lump Level 1 and Level 2 results together, because you may be stronger at one level than the other. Traverse closures and legal description interpretation involve arithmetic where a single unit error or sign mistake changes the answer entirely; tag those errors carefully.

Safety note: Surveying fieldwork involves work near traffic, on slopes, and around energized infrastructure. Although this lesson is a written diagnostic, your exam preparation should reinforce that knowing safe field practices — including high-visibility PPE requirements and traffic-control procedures — is itself testable content in the CST exams.

Building Your Gap-Analysis Study Plan

Once all three diagnostics are scored, produce a gap-analysis document following this structure:

1. List every content domain for each credential (use the official ACS task code list, Esri exam guide, and NSPS study guide as your source of record).

2. Record your diagnostic score for each domain.

3. Rank domains within each credential from lowest score to highest.

4. Assign study weeks across a 6-week schedule, front-loading the weakest domains while keeping stronger domains on a lighter review rotation so you do not forget what you already know.

5. Identify cross-credential connections — for example, weather evaluation appears in Part 107 and is also relevant to safe drone-based survey operations; coordinate geometry underlies both CST traverse work and GIS spatial analysis.

A gap-analysis plan is only useful if it is honest. Inflating your diagnostic scores or skipping domains where you guessed correctly by luck will leave real gaps that show up on exam day. Record what the test actually showed, not what you hoped.

Keeping Records

Your tracking spreadsheet is a living document. Update it every time you complete a topic review or a practice set. Watching domain scores improve over six weeks is motivating and also alerts you early if a domain is not responding to your current study approach — which means you need to change strategy, not just spend more hours on the same material.

Key terms10

Airman Certification Standards (ACS)The FAA document that defines the knowledge, skill, and risk-management elements tested on each airman knowledge test, organized by task codes; the authoritative reference for Part 107 exam content.
Task codeAn alphanumeric label in the FAA ACS that identifies a specific knowledge or skill element; used to categorize wrong answers on the Part 107 diagnostic so gaps map directly to the official exam outline.
Diagnostic assessmentA practice test taken before completing a full course review, used to measure current performance by domain and reveal priority study gaps rather than confirm existing knowledge.
Gap analysisThe process of comparing current diagnostic scores against passing benchmarks for each exam domain, then identifying and prioritizing the content areas that need the most study attention.
Content domainA major category of tested knowledge defined by a credentialing body (e.g., Esri, NSPS, FAA); each exam is divided into multiple domains, each with a defined percentage weight.
CST (Certified Survey Technician)A progressive, nationally recognized credential issued by the National Society of Professional Surveyors that certifies competency in surveying technical skills at sequential levels of difficulty.
Non-programmable calculatorA calculator that performs arithmetic and standard scientific functions but cannot store user-written programs or alphanumeric data; required for CST exams to ensure uniform testing conditions.
Sectional chartAn aeronautical chart published by the FAA at a scale that shows airspace classes, terrain, obstacles, and navigation aids; primary reference for airspace interpretation questions on the Part 107 exam.
TraverseA series of connected survey lines whose lengths and angles are measured to determine positions; traverse closure calculations are a core CST Level 2 topic and a common source of diagnostic errors.
Domain weightingThe percentage of an exam's total questions allocated to each content domain, as published in the official exam guide; higher-weighted domains produce larger score swings and deserve proportionally more study time.

Worked examples3

1. After completing the FAA Part 107 diagnostic, a learner missed 7 questions total: 3 in Airspace Classification, 2 in Weather, 1 in Loading/Performance, and 1 in Regulations. Each domain had 12 questions. Calculate the percentage score for each domain and identify which domain is the highest-priority gap.
  1. Step 1 — Calculate correct answers per domain. Airspace: 12 − 3 = 9 correct. Weather: 12 − 2 = 10 correct. Loading/Performance: 12 − 1 = 11 correct. Regulations: 12 − 1 = 11 correct.
  2. Step 2 — Calculate percentage score per domain. Airspace: 9 ÷ 12 = 0.75 = 75%. Weather: 10 ÷ 12 = 0.833 ≈ 83%. Loading/Performance: 11 ÷ 12 = 0.917 ≈ 92%. Regulations: 11 ÷ 12 = 0.917 ≈ 92%.
  3. Step 3 — Rank domains from lowest to highest score: Airspace Classification (75%), Weather (83%), Loading/Performance (92%), Regulations (92%).
  4. Step 4 — Identify the highest-priority gap: Airspace Classification has the lowest score (75%) and the most missed questions (3), so it receives the most study time in Week 1 of the plan.
Answer: Airspace Classification is the highest-priority gap at 75%; it should be scheduled first in the study plan.
2. A learner's Esri ArcGIS Pro diagnostic results are: Project/Data Management — 14 correct out of 15 questions; Visualization — 8 correct out of 14 questions; Analysis — 9 correct out of 14 questions; Sharing — 5 correct out of 7 questions. Calculate the domain percentage score for each area.
  1. Step 1 — Project/Data Management: 14 ÷ 15 = 0.933 ≈ 93%.
  2. Step 2 — Visualization: 8 ÷ 14 = 0.571 ≈ 57%.
  3. Step 3 — Analysis: 9 ÷ 14 = 0.643 ≈ 64%.
  4. Step 4 — Sharing: 5 ÷ 7 = 0.714 ≈ 71%.
  5. Step 5 — Rank from lowest: Visualization (57%), Analysis (64%), Sharing (71%), Project/Data Management (93%). Visualization is below 70% and is the top-priority domain for review.
Answer: Visualization: 57% (highest priority); Analysis: 64%; Sharing: 71%; Project/Data Management: 93%.
3. A learner runs a simple closed traverse with three lines and computes the following departures (east-west components) and latitudes (north-south components). Departure sum = +0.32 ft; Latitude sum = −0.18 ft. The total traverse perimeter is 856.00 ft. Calculate the linear closure error and the precision ratio.
  1. Step 1 — Calculate the linear closure error using the Pythagorean theorem. Closure error = √(0.32² + 0.18²) = √(0.1024 + 0.0324) = √0.1348 ≈ 0.367 ft.
  2. Step 2 — Calculate the precision ratio. Precision ratio = perimeter ÷ closure error = 856.00 ÷ 0.367 ≈ 2,333.
  3. Step 3 — Express as 1 in N form. Precision ≈ 1:2,333, meaning for every 2,333 feet measured, the closure error is approximately 1 foot.
  4. Step 4 — Evaluate: A precision of 1:2,333 is below the 1:5,000 minimum commonly required for boundary surveys. The learner should tag this CST traverse-calculation topic as a gap and review the calculation and field procedure.
Answer: Linear closure error ≈ 0.367 ft; precision ratio ≈ 1:2,333. This traverse does not meet typical boundary-survey precision standards and the topic is a study priority.

The math in this lesson1

Learners convert domain scores to percentages, e.g., 9 of 12 = 75%, to rank study gaps.
7.RP.3
Brush up in the math halls at newSchoolWorks.com:
In class: Take a 60-question timed FAA Part 107 diagnostic covering airspace classification, weather, loading/performance, regulations, and aeronautical charts; self-score using the FAA Airman Certification Standards (ACS) answer key and tag each error to its ACS task code. · Complete a 50-question Esri ArcGIS Pro Associate diagnostic drawn from published Esri exam objectives (project/data management, visualization, analysis, sharing); record domain-level percentage scores in a personal tracking spreadsheet. · Work through a combined CST Level 1 and Level 2 diagnostic—covering distance/angle measurement, leveling, traverse calculation, legal descriptions, deed research, and equipment calibration—score by NSPS content category, and rank all three credentials from weakest to strongest domain.
Materials: FAA Airman Certification Standards for Remote Pilot (current edition), FAA sample knowledge-test questions (official), Esri ArcGIS Pro certification exam guide (current), NSPS CST Level 1 and Level 2 study guides, blank answer sheets, personal tracking spreadsheet template, pencils, calculator (non-programmable, per CST rules)
Check: Learner submits a completed gap-analysis document listing every content domain for all three credentials, the diagnostic score for each domain, and a prioritized 6-week study schedule; accepted when all domains are addressed and scores are accurately recorded.

Practice check8

Answer each question, then check it. Nothing is recorded; this is your own practice.

FAA Part 107 — Airspace Classification
1. A learner misses questions tagged to ACS task code PA.I.B (Airspace Classification) on the Part 107 diagnostic. What is the most appropriate immediate action in the gap-analysis plan?
FAA Part 107 — Exam strategy / diagnostic methodology
2. During the Part 107 diagnostic, a student correctly answers a question by eliminating three wrong options without fully understanding the rule. How should this result be recorded in the gap-analysis spreadsheet?
Esri ArcGIS Pro — Analysis
3. On the Esri ArcGIS Pro diagnostic, a learner scores 55% in the Analysis domain. According to standard gap-analysis practice, what should the learner do first when scheduling study time for this domain?
NSPS CST — Exam rules and conditions
4. Which calculator type is permitted during the CST Level 1 and Level 2 exams?
NSPS CST Level 2 — Traverse calculation
5. A learner's CST diagnostic shows a precision ratio of 1:1,200 on a traverse problem. The NSPS study guide notes that many boundary surveys require at minimum 1:5,000 precision. What does this result indicate?
Diagnostic methodology — all credentials
6. What is the primary purpose of mapping wrong answers to their official exam domain during a diagnostic assessment?
FAA Part 107 — Regulations and airspace
7. A student preparing for the Part 107 exam misses several questions involving controlled airspace authorization. Beyond exam score impact, why is mastery of this topic especially important?
Diagnostic methodology — all credentials
8. After completing all three diagnostics, a learner's weakest domains are: FAA Airspace (68%), Esri Visualization (57%), and CST Traverse Calculation (61%). Using gap-analysis principles, which domain should receive the most study hours in Week 1?
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