During your FAA exam, if you see questions referencing METAR or TAF reports, they’ll either cite Figure 12 or Figure 15, or they might just include the text you should interpret within the question itself, meaning you might be asked to interpret a report you’ve never seen before.
So no, you do NOT need to memorize everything that’s in the code glossary or how to exactly interpret Figure 12 or Figure 15. It’s more about learning to interpret those sequences in general, not needing to memorize every abbreviation or acronym.
So no, you do NOT need to memorize everything that’s in the code glossary or how to exactly interpret Figure 12 or Figure 15. It’s more about learning to interpret those sequences in general, not needing to memorize every abbreviation or acronym.
We’ve included everything as a means of being thorough, but here are the codes that we specifically want to call out. These are the ones that tend to show up.
BKN = broken
OVC = overcast
BR = mist
SH = showers
RA = rain
Two big things we hear about from our students who get METAR or TAF questions are 1) understanding how to pick out specific dates and times, either when the report is valid until or when certain weather conditions start or are forecasted through; and 2) knowing how to read the wind speeds and gusts.
If you can do those two things, and also familiarize yourself with the specific codes in our lesson quizzes and practice tests, you’ll be aptly prepared.
