Full time job + Distance Learning(HOW???)

[Epic_mg]

To all those dedicated people who are studying for or who have passed their ATPL's while distance learning and working full time/part time please can you help me with the following.

I ve been studying for my ATPL's via distance learning for the past 2 months and would be interested in hearing about techniques and advice on how people have firstly, retained the colossal amount of information needed for the exams and how you ve organised your study time?? Secondly, how people have prepared themselves for the examinations (passed papers etc) and find/found the isolation of hours sat at your desk reading through the syllabus, plus what sort of time period has it taken to pass all 14 exams while working fulltime.
I m finding the distance learning quite a struggle and frustrating mainly due to my fulltime job, so much so that I am now considering a fulltime ATPL course or distant learning fulltime and resigning from my job.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers All,

Epic_mg

[GoldenMonkey]

Hello Epic_mg

I did my course through Brizzle Ground School. Basically I followed their prescribed order of subject study. Don't know who you are with but basically they break the 14 subjects into 2 modules. Per module there are 12 or so frames. A frame will typically contain a few chapters from 2 or 3 subjects. At the end of those chapters there will be tests.
I did almost all of my study on the London underground. 1 hour each way and then what ever it took to get through the tests in the evenings (maybe another 2 hours per week). I tried to get through a frame a week.
I remember feeling towards the end of each module that I had forgotton the subject content from the earlier chapters. I did a couple of weeks revision (again on the tube) before going to the 2 weeks brush up at Bristol. At the end of that, felt up to speed.

I worked fulltime and finished in 12 months. Lost my social life and saved a lot of cash that would have gone to the local land lord.

Hope this is of some use?!?

Cheers


GM

[EGCC4284]

Epic_mg

Check your PM

[Darlick]

I did distance learning whilst working full time and having two young children and had exactly the same fears as you've got. However, don't worry too much. Just do as much study as you can and don't worry about learning things in too much detail, Also don't worry about remembering it once you've moved on.

I say this because when you go on the brush up course at your school prior to taking the exams you will find that all of that forgotten stuff will come flooding back and you will do MOST of your learning there. The school will go through the whole sylabus and give you loads of feedback papers (ie loads of known/past actual exam questions). These brush up courses are hard work - all day in the classroon and then up 'till gone midnight studying but you will learn it all.

At the start of each of my two brush up's i didn't have a clue and would never have passed any of the exams but because of the quality of the courses i got 13 out 14 first time - and i'm fairly thick!!!

Good luck. The course notes are totally daunting but the actual exams are not that hard if you have a basic knowledge.

[Sky Wave]

Darlick is correct.

I think the idea of the distance phase is for you to read and understand the principles. I don’t think the vast majority of people can remember much of what they learnt before they go on the brush up. When you go on the brush up it all comes flooding back very quickly. I had a lot on with my full time job during the Mod 2 distance phase so I simply read it through, took the progress tests (Which I nearly always failed) and moved on to the next subject. I understood everything I had read but I couldn’t remember more than 25% of it. Once on the brush up, away from home and work with nothing to do every evening except study you can soon get all of the facts and figures in your head.

My only advice with both the brush up and the exams is lodge away. Even if your Mum and Dad own the house next door to the training school, and your Auntie lives at Gatwick, don't tell them you're in town and check into a B&B. Secondly, don’t go home on the weekend in the middle of the brush up. Have a lie in on the Saturday morning, do a bit of study, go out for a couple of hours perhaps and then get straight back into it. It's a hard 3 weeks but worth it when the results drop on your mat.

Good Luck

SW

[Epic_mg]

Cheers guys, feeling much more confident with the distance learning now.

Epic_mg

[helicopter-redeye]

Guess the short answer is that it isn't easy.

Needs iron will, discipline and focus.

Set time aside but leave time for yourself and the other things in life.

Cut out the crap that you do rather than the high value things, so keep up sport/ gym/ not too heavy nights out and chop trash TV/ heavy nights and general time wasting.

That will buy you a lot of time.

Do some study if you have to travel.

Set targets (not too big) and hit them. Then you progress.

Take your time and work at your pace (till you take the first exams, when the clock starts...).

My (personal) advice (works for me but not everybody), is do the study, do the course, then have a gap before the exam to absorb what you learned in the 2 weeker before heading for the big room.

The exam feedback for the 'learnable' subjects, if you note it down lasts for ever and you can revise from anytime. The 'subjects you need to know' like Gen Nav/ Flt Plng/ Met you need to be hot on so leave/ plan/ make time in the run up to get hot.

The exam feedback I used from GTS gave me on average 65% of the questions in the papers from the 'learnables'. Personally, I needed the time from the course to the exam to absorb the techniques etc and get hot.

Hope that helps (NB, my views, worked, so please nobody say I'm wrong for me)