Well this wasn't for the private but for the instrument rating. And it
shouldn't have been such a hard question. He asked "how will you know
if you have the proper take-off power?". And I didn't know the
numbers. It isn't in the Seminole P.O.H., and my instructor never
said, "you need 28 inches and 2700 RPM". So I had to say I don't know,
and feel like an idiot. Turns out this particular examiner also flies
for Air Canada and has appeared as an expert witness in a case where a
pilot took off and did not have full power available, with bad results.
So I guess it's one of his pet peeves. Good point though. Now I
check for the specific numbers instead of glancing at the guages and
saying "Yup, looks about right."

--Kevin