FAILURE TO MONITOR PRECESSION ON HER DG LEADS STUDENT PLT OF C152 ASTRAY.

Narrative

I DEPARTED ZZZ AND TWR TOLD ME TO FOLLOW A HDG OF 110 DEGS; EVEN THOUGH MY HDG TO GO BACK HOME WAS 119 DEGS. MY FIRST COUPLE OF CHKPOINTS SEEMED TO GO SMOOTHLY. I CROSSED THEM ON TIME WITH THE RADIALS FROM THE ABC VOR. ORIGINALLY I THOUGHT NOTHING OF THE 110 DEG HDG. I FIGURED THEY WERE SENDING ME 9 DEGS OFF BECAUSE THEY WERE DIVERTING ME FROM TFC. YET THEY NEVER RE-CORRECTED MY HDG; AND THAT IS WHEN I THINK I STARTED TO GET LOST. I HAD BEEN CRUISING FOR ABOUT 20 MINS NOW; AND I BEGAN TO REALIZE THAT I COULDN'T FIND OR RECOGNIZE ANY OF MY DISTANT CHKPOINTS. I TRIED XCHKING WITH VOR'S AND CONTACTING ZZZ1 AND ZZZ2. NOTHING WAS WORKING THOUGH BECAUSE I LATER REALIZED I WAS TOO FAR AWAY TO COME IN CONTACT WITH ANY OF THEM. SO AS I WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE I WAS; I ALL OF A SUDDEN CAME UPON A BIG CITY. I IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED IT TO BE XYZ CITY BECAUSE OF ALL THE LAKES AROUND IT. IMMEDIATELY I CONTACTED ZZZ3 APCH AND ASKED FOR A HDG TO GET BACK HOME. THEY TOLD ME 55 DEGS; AND I TURNED IN THE DIRECTION; BUT MY HDG STILL SEEMED OFF. APCH CONTACTED ME AND TOLD ME I WAS FLYING A HDG OF 120 DEGS INSTEAD OF 55 DEGS. MY HDG INDICATOR WAS OFF BY 65 DEGS; AND THIS IS WHAT WAS ULTIMATELY THROWING ME OFF COURSE. I HADN'T CHKED THE HDG INDICATOR FOR PRECESSION FOR AT LEAST 30 MINS; BUT I DIDN'T THINK TO. THIS WAS MAINLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT ON THE FIRST AND SECOND LEGS THE HDG INDICATOR HAD BARELY PRECESSED AT ALL. I THEN CHANGED MY HDG AND GOT BACK TO ZZZ2 WITH THE MAGNETIC COMPASS ONLY. I COULDN'T GO ALL THE WAY BACK HOME BECAUSE OF A COUPLE OF REASONS. FIRST; I WAS CLOSE TO EXCEEDING THE LIMIT OF 1 HR OF FUEL LEFT DAY OR NIGHT ACCORDING TO THE SOP'S AT THE FLT SCHOOL. I LANDED AT ZZZ2 WITH 8.5 GALLONS OF FUEL LEFT. SECONDLY; I DIDN'T HAVE A NIGHT SOLO ENDORSEMENT; AND IT WAS A FEW MINS BEFORE IT WAS ACTUALLY CONSIDERED NIGHTTIME WHEN I LANDED AT ZZZ2. AFTER LNDG; I TAXIED OVER TO THE FBO AND WAITED FOR MY FLT INSTRUCTOR TO PICK ME UP AND TAKE ME BACK HOME. THERE WERE A FEW PROBS I HAD ENCOUNTERED AT ZZZ; AND I BELIEVE THEY ADDED NO HELP TO THE SITUATION TO BEGIN WITH. AFTER I LANDED AT ZZZ (MY DEST ON THE SECOND LEG OF MY XCOUNTRY) AND GOTTEN FUEL; I CONTACTED TWR LIKE THEY HAD REQUESTED AFTER I HAD GOTTEN THERE. TWR TOLD ME TO TAXI TO RWY 7 BY B-9 AND THEY ALSO TOLD ME TO CONTACT DEP. I THOUGHT THAT TO BE WEIRD SINCE TWR HAS TO GIVE THE CLRNC TO TKOF/LAND NOT DEP. YET; AS SOON AS I CONTACTED DEP; THEY GOT IRRITATED AND TOLD ME TO BACK TO TWR. THEY OBVIOUSLY HAD COM PROBS; AND IT WAS ALL VERY CONFUSING. ALSO; MY PUSH-TO-TALK BUTTON BARELY WORKED ON MY YOKE. I HAD TO CLICK IT 5 OR 6 TIMES JUST TO GIVE AN UNDERSTANDABLE RESPONSE TO THE TL TWR. THESE THINGS I BELIEVE DIDN'T HELP THE SITUATION AT ALL. OVERALL; I FEEL I COULD'VE DONE A FEW THINGS BETTER TO HELP PREVENT ME FROM GETTING LOST. IN THE FIRST PLACE; I SHOULD'VE CHKED THE HDG INDICATOR EVERY 15 MINS FOR PRECESSION LIKE I HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO. INSTEAD; I RELIED ON THE FACT THAT THE FIRST 2 LEGS IT HAD BARELY PRECESSED AT ALL; WHICH WASN'T A VERY SMART THING TO DO. ALSO; WHEN I HAD GOTTEN LOST; I COULD'VE CONTACTED FLT WATCH; OR CLBED HIGHER TO BETTER GET MY BEARINGS. I DID DO A FEW THINGS RIGHT THOUGH. I WAS AWARE OF THE FACT THAT I DIDN'T HAVE A SOLO NIGHT ENDORSEMENT SO I MADE SURE THAT I WOULDN'T BREAK A REG BY GETTING ON THE GND BEFORE IT TURNED TO NIGHTTIME. I ALSO XCHKED WITH VOR'S AND TRIED CONTACTING CTLED ARPTS. THESE WERE GOOD LOST PROCS THAT I FOLLOWED TO HELP ME FIND WHERE I WAS. GETTING LOST WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE; AND I HOPE TO NEVER MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AGAIN THAT I MADE ON MY LAST FLT.