2-Minute Tuesday Let's CFI faster Issue 33
Performance Based Objectives FI.I.C.K3b
Why This Matters
"The student will have knowledge of pilotage." What does that actually mean? Knowledge to what depth? Demonstrated how? Measured against what?
An objective that can't be measured can't tell you, or your student, whether the lesson worked. Last week covered the two types of objectives. This week is the mechanics: how to write a performance-based objective that leaves no room for interpretation.
The Three Elements: DCC
Every performance-based objective has three parts. The mnemonic is DCC:
Description: The desired outcome, stated as a change in knowledge, skill, or attitude
Conditions: The rules for how the skill gets demonstrated
Criteria: The standards that measure whether it was accomplished
Each part must mean the same thing to any knowledgeable reader. Write them to survive time, faulty recall, and a substitute instructor picking up your lesson cold.
Description: Make It Measurable
The description states what the student will actually do, in concrete, measurable terms.
Avoid: "knowledge of…", "awareness of…", "understanding of…" - none of these can be measured. You can't watch a student be aware.
Use: verbs you can observe. "Able to select from a list of…", "able to repeat the steps to…", "able to navigate from…"
Start here: "Navigate from point A to point B."
That's measurable, but it's not enough yet. Ten students would do it ten different ways.
Conditions: Set the Rules
Conditions narrow how the skill gets demonstrated. Things like equipment, tools, reference material, limiting parameters.
Add conditions: "Using appropriate charts, a prepared flight log, and a training aircraft, navigate from point A to point B while maintaining standard hemispheric altitudes."
The test for good conditions: if a reader says "But what if…?", your conditions are unclear and need work
Criteria: Remove All Doubt
Criteria are the standards that measure accomplishment. Good criteria leave no question whether the performance met the objective.
Add criteria: "…arriving at point B within 5 minutes of planned arrival time, maintaining cruise altitude within 200 feet during the en route phase."
Now the objective is complete, and it works the same way for you, the student, and anyone else who reads it.
One practical note: conditions and criteria often shift as you refine an objective. That's normal, and the AIH expects it. Real objective-writing is iterative.
Performance-Based Objectives
Objectives Do Double Duty
Once written, a good objective hands you most of a lesson plan:
The elements of the lesson and the schedule of events
The equipment needed
The instructor and learner actions during the lesson
The completion standards (your criteria, already written)
And there's a benefit for the student: clear objectives show them the big picture and exactly what's expected, which removes a real source of uncertainty and frustration.
Checkride Q&A
DPE Might Ask
"A lesson plan says "The student will have knowledge of steep turns." What's wrong with that objective, and how would you rewrite it? "
Weak Answer
"It's too vague. I'd make it more specific. Something like 'the student will demonstrate steep turns to ACS standards. "
Why this fails
Spots the vagueness but only fixes part of it. "Demonstrate to ACS standards" still lacks stated conditions, and it outsources the criteria to a document instead of stating them. The candidate hasn't shown they know the three elements or can build one.
Strong Answer
"The problem is 'knowledge of.’ You can't measure knowledge, so there's no way to tell whether the objective was met. A performance-based objective needs three elements: a description, conditions, and criteria. I'd rewrite it as: 'In the training aircraft at a safe maneuvering altitude, the student will perform two 360-degree steep turns at 45 degrees of bank, maintaining altitude within 100 feet, airspeed within 10 knots, and rolling out within 10 degrees of the entry heading.' The description is performing the steep turns, the conditions are the aircraft and altitude, and the criteria are the specific tolerances, so there's no question whether the student met it."
The mock checkride on backseatpilot.app asks questions like this across every element in Task I.C.
Nate is a CFI, CFII, and MEI, former USAF C-17 Instructor Pilot, and current airline pilot with 8,500+ flight hours. He writes 2-Minute Tuesday to make CFI checkride prep clearer, simpler, and more logical, one ACS element at a time.
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