I completed the writtens in advance (every one of them) and am thrilled that I did. I could not care less what everybody else at the training center did or did not do. Because you did not complete them, you will end up carving out time from your schedule to study…and this will be a pain and may set you back. Of course other students who didn’t complete the writtens in advance are going to argue in favor of the approach THEY used. It takes a mature person to admit there was a better way…
I have had to dedicate ZERO time to study for the written tests since I started in August and I am 40 days ahead of schedule. Another advantage, because I complete every CFI written, I have a CFI class date and I haven’t even completed my first commercial checkride yet. What does that mean? I secured a class seat at the CFI academy while my peers, who are still working on the CAX test, haven’t even started thinking about the academy and may fall behind because of it. Think about how much of an advantage that provides me.
Getting the writtens done in advance is easy if you have a couple months to study. If you don’t, not having every test done isn’t going to ruin your life or your experience but it will require more time and effort during an already compressed training timeline.
Don’t follow the pack,
Trey