Definition
In oral assessment, questions that ask the learner to recall specific information — names, dates, definitions, procedures, limits, or other discrete pieces of knowledge — without requiring analysis, judgment, or application. Fact questions test whether the learner remembers something, not whether they understand or can apply it.
Plain English
Questions that check what a student remembers. They have a single correct answer that the student either knows or doesn't.
Context Anchor
Used by flight and ground instructors during oral questioning, lesson reviews, and preparation for pilot tests.
Derivation
Fact comes from Latin factum, meaning something done or an act; over time it came to mean something known to be true. That helps here because a fact question is aimed at a definite answer, not an opinion or a discussion.
Why Pilots Care
They quickly confirm the student holds the foundational facts needed before the instructor moves on to scenario or judgment questions.
Intuition Check
Do not read fact questions as simply any questions about aviation facts. In this context, they are a specific kind of oral question used to check recall of a definite answer.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor opened the oral with a few fact questions to confirm the student had memorized the aircraft's V-speeds before moving on to scenario-based questions.
Example Sentence 2
Fact questions helped the examiner verify the student remembered the correct airspeed for best glide before discussing an engine-out scenario.