On my instrument ride, the day was very windy giving moderate turbulence
down low and probably a 40K wind higher up. It took me about 3 circuits
to get the holding pattern nailed on both wind correction angle and
timing, but the DE saw that I was getting it closer each time and that
was all he cared about. I think demonstrating good judgement and good
situational awareness is much more important than holding the needle
centered all the time.

Me similar. I got blown right across the inbound track on the first
outbound. Luckily I caught it and my SA recovered enough that I was quickly
back on the inbound course. The only thing he dinged me for was not using
the localizer for added SA on an NDB hold (I was trying to do the NDB hold
without "cheating", I guess).

-- David Brooks