r/canadaguns • u/AutoModerator • Jul 17 '22

Weekly Newbies & FAQ Thread - Post your questions here for PAL/RPAL application, timelines, CFSC/CFSRC, references & requirements, or general new to firearms ownership -type questions

This thread will be used for the "new"-type questions, PAL/RPAL applications, references, CFSC/CFRSC requirements, storage/transport, or other general "new-to-me" firearms ownership questions.

In response to this thread, the community was quite positive for a thread to cover these subjects.

These threads will be stickied for a week, renewing every Sunday @ about 0600 AST. Previous threads here. Take a look, your question may have been answered!

If you have any suggestions for this thread, please feel free to ask here, or send the Mods a message.

Thank you!

19 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

684 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Melot9145 Jul 21 '22

So I’m taking my non-restricted course here in a few weeks and am wondering if there’s any tips/things I should do for me to pass the written exam. I hear that it’s more about common sense but I just want to make sure I am prepared in advance to pass the test. Thanks

2

u/connor2557 bc Jul 21 '22

I found alot of them to be common sense stuff, pay attention to what they teach you. if I remember right there were some about ACTS and PROVE, types of cartridges, cartridge interchangeability and some storage and law stuff, there's 4 diffrent tests I believe so I can only speak for the one I did, pretty sure about half the question is multiple choice and the other is True and false. make sure you read tge question well, they throw in some mind games. I answered all the ones I was confident in, hoping that they would be enough tk get me a pass, then answered my less confident one. just take your time, don't sweat it and pay attention in the class. hope that helps and good luck

1

u/Melot9145 Jul 21 '22

Thanks for the tips. Is it worth studying any of the muzzle loaders? That makes me feel much better that a lot of it is common sense. I studied the ACTS and PROVE and know them quite well now as the guy who I asked at the place I registered for it told me to study that.

1

u/connor2557 bc Jul 21 '22

it wouldn't hurt to know something about them, all I can remember is going through the progression of firearms( like flint lock, wheel lock) stuff like that, but that should be gone over in class, wouldn't hurt to know.

1

u/Melot9145 Jul 21 '22

I’ll study it just to be on the safe side so I’m not sitting there like “well I have no idea”.

1

u/knine71551 Jul 21 '22

There are tons of practice exams online you can practice with

1

u/SebWilms2002 Jul 21 '22

The courses and tests are standardized coast to coast, so any Canadian practice exams will work (Edit: This may not be true for Quebec/Ontario actually, not sure). The Silvercore Youtube channel has videos for people studying to get their PAL.

IMO it's much easier to fail the practical test than the written. You can study all the course material before going to class for the written part, but when it comes to safe handling of firearms, presumably the only practice you're getting is in class.

On the written test, some questions do try to trick you, so read every question twice. And for the practical test I think there's a bit of nepotism, because one firearm is the break action shotgun which is literally the easiest gun in the world to PROVE. If you get that on your practical, you know your instructor likes you. But just to reiterate, in my class I saw a few people on their phones during the period where you're supposed to be practicing with the firearms. And a few people went through and only PROVEd each firearm once, then sat back down. Those same faces left the practical exam looking pretty sullen. So use all your time handling the firearms.

1

u/Melot9145 Jul 21 '22

I’m personally not really worried about the practical test as I have experience with handling, unloading, and loading firearms. It’s more the written test as I just tend to second guess myself a lot then I screw myself over.

I guess I’ll just go through it carefully and not second guess myself lol.

1

u/Keating76 Jul 22 '22 edited Jul 22 '22

Read the questions. I got ONE question wrong on the written. It was something like “it is legal to store a loaded firearm in a locked room that is difficult to get into” and my brain hyper focused on the “locked room that is difficult to get into” and went blotto on the LOADED part. SMH

1

u/Melot9145 Jul 22 '22

I will make sure to definitely read the questions carefully. That sounds like a quite confusing question lol and I would’ve probably done the same as what you did.