knowledge test results coming back to haunt you

Andrew Gideon wrote
No, of course the score on your written exams isn't an absolute measure of
your quality as a pilot. But why not shoot for perfection? Why not be the
best possible, even if it involves actually working hard?

Because you could be working hard on something that actually matters.

FAA written tests contain a huge amount of worthless drivel. Why
bother studying that, when you could be learning about weather, the
systems in your airplane, or something else that could actually help
you.

I used to go with your approach. I would get the book, study hard,
and never score less than 95. On my last written (the ATP) I
realized, about halfway through, that I was wasting time. After I
took this test, I would never care about rest periods for supplemental
carriers, how many landings you could substitute for hours before you
could use published mins, or how many hours your dispatch was good for
if you were a flag carrier ever again. And then I realized how much
useless FAA trivia I was carrying in my head from all the other tests
I took, and how much more of it I had forgotten. And so I walked in,
took the test, and scored my lowest ever. But I passed.

If FAA written tests were actually well-designed and not full of trick
questions and useless trivia, I would feel differently. And if my
plane had turbines, it would burn kerosene. When it comes to
preparing for your oral and flight test, do your best. Learn to fly
to the privileges of the certificate, not just to pass a test. Learn
what you need to fly, not to convince a DE to give you a ticket. But
when it comes to the written, do the minimum and save your effort for
where it matters. Nobody cares about your score on the written.

The FAA does keep those results, and they will release those numbers
if you authorize it. If the people doing the hiring really wanted to
know how you did, they would have you sign a release form and get them
from the FAA. But they never do.

Michael