CAA finally publish ATPL pass rates

[Alex Whittingham]

I'm pleased to say that the CAA, under pressure from Flyer magazine, have published this (http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/175/UK%20JAR-FCL%20ATPL%28A%29.pdf) which shows the ATPL pass rates consistently rising to May 04 with an average of about 84% and then falling off a little in June. These seem to be the percentage of candidates passing for all attempts, including re-sits which drag down the averages. If they showed the first time pass rates they would be a bit higher.

The pass rate was were allegedly about 75% under the old CAA system.

[Flypuppy]

Interesting that it shows a significant dip in January 2002. I remember sitting them - and they were vicious, I had heard rumours that one of the papers (cant remember which one) had only 26% of candidates Europe wide passing.

What does this information tell us though? The schools are getting better at teaching?

[Send Clowns]

That might have been the infamous P of F paper, Flypup, although that figure was 20%. The following month 80% passed. Mmmmmmm, overcompensation perhaps?

[carb]

The exams can be wildly inconsistent in difficulty and content. I'd like to see the pass rate stats broken down by subject, and groundschool...

[Alex Whittingham]

I can show you them broken down by subject but I can't show you other groundschool's pass rates. The CAA consider that commercially sensitive. You've got to watch out for statistics quoted by flight schools:

"100% pass rate in January" = "both our students passed"
"85% average in March" = "True, but don't ask about February or April"
"85% first time pass rate" = "It's the re-sits that drag our marks down"
"Best pass rates in the UK" = "We can't check this but no-one else can either so its worth a shot, someone might believe it"
"Best pass rates in Europe" = "We're trying it on, how gullible are you?"

The pass rates by subject for June are here (http://jals.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=210). They also include our students' pass rates. If anyone objects to this I can chop the link.

[BIG MISTER]

Maybe a daft question ( my average daftness is 95 % ) but how many questions are there per paper per subject ?

:}

[WX Man]

Varies between 12 questions in the Comms papers to over 100 in Met. Some questions have more marks than others.

[BIG MISTER]

100 in MET - WOW - better have yet another look at MET

Is it just me or do other people forget everything there is to know about MET every 3 to 4 days ?

Come to think if it maybe I'm not alone. The guy on the BBC said that today would be a wash out......the only reason I came in from the garden was the computer saying 'Youve Got E-mail' ! ! !

I wonder if Michel Fish would pass a 100 question MET exam ?

:} :} :}

[carb]

Interesting stats!

When I took Met in April it was a walk in the park - half of it straight from feedback, and another big block of marks for the taking simply for reading stuff off weather charts, I still had to guess a lot of 1-mark answers but ended up scoring 94%.

Conversely I can't believe the June 2004 stats are showing a 90-100% pass rate in Radio Nav! It must have been a piece of cake compared to the paper I sat this week which was a nightmare and I will be happy just if I scored 50%.

Do the CAA really not have any clue whatsoever as to how to moderate exam standards?

As I've had a few resits I can testify to the fact that they obviously don't!

[Northern Highflyer]

The number of questions in each exam is :


Airframe/systems/powerplant 76 Questions
Instruments 56
M & B 22
Performance 34
Flight Planning 56
Human Perf. 47
Met. 90
Gen Nav 54
Radio Nav 59
Ops Procedures 50
Principles of flight 44
VFR Comms 23
IFR Comms 23
Air Law 75

[Dean Johnston]

It's strange how the CAA change there minds. I remember trying to get these figures from the authority and them saying it was'nt in the public domain. Alex suggested that I quote the ' Freedom of information act' and guess what, yes a little white envolope turned up on my doorstep with the information I had asked for.

I'm just glad all that 5hit is out of the way.

D.J.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Interesting stuff. Thanks to Alex for highlighting this new source of information.

WWW

[el dorado]

Alex,

Check your PM inbox. Would simply have written "PM" but I have to write at least 15 words in order not to waste bandwidth.

That should do it...