How did you find R-Nav ATPL, 5th May 2005

[HON1R.DEP]

How did everyone who took Radio Navigation find the paper this Months exams (5Th May 2005)

I personally found it very difficult, ambiguos and not precise in the question for example:

They specify "locator" is in terms of Marker Beacons OR NDB'S?

And about DR Mode.

Be interested in anyones opinion regarding this exam.

Cheers

[Playtime_fontayne]

I thought it wasnt too bad generally, although the locator one did stump me! Personally, i thought it was a NDB, probably wrong though!! Good luck anyway

[acw350]

i found the test very difficult. I can say that there is a lot of new questions campared to the feedback that we have from our school. A lot on Area Nav and yes i agree on the question about the ils locator. the question did not specify that it had an ndb. Oh well resits for this one then.

[9mm]

I didn't sit it personally but an old buddy did and he said it was terrible so it seems there may be a general consensus forming.

I told him that perversely the exams that I had thought I'd really cocked up came back passed. Don’t write yourself off until it’s in black and white.

9mm

[richarjm]

Myself and others on my course found it quite tough and not as close to the feedback as we had hoped for several questions. It seemed to be hitting back at all the people who had said just do the feedback and you'll be fine...

[G SXTY]

Not a nice exam at all. 8 questions on GPS, at least 1 of which had 2 correct answers.

Still you can't blame the CAA - crediting all those performance resits last month must have cost them a few quid, and they've got to get the money back somehow. ;)

[CarbHeatIn]

The general consensus on my course (even from the phantom geek's....ahem...Lee!) was that Radio Nav was horrible. I also thought there were a few tricky one's in IFR comms...:eek:

[AndyDRHuddleston]

I and most on my course didn't find it too bad. All depends on the question bank your school has I guess! I personally found FPL and HPL the two trickier ones of thoses that I sat.

No use in worrying before the results are out, just enjoy the free time whilst you have it, and worry about the results when they come through.

Good luck everyone, fingers crossed!

ADRH

[Number Cruncher]

Rado nav has had a 90% success rate in recent months. Typical I should sit the May exam. It was awful - for somebody who's based their study on feedback!! I was counting on it as a banker!

Air Law on the other hand was 99% feedback.

VFR comms was, as usual a piece of pi**. IFR on the other hand was a slightly different story. How they justify an exam each for those two subjects is beyond me....

Gen nav was, well, gen nav. Not as bad as i had axpected and instruments could have been worst.

In general, i think the CAA realise people are passing thses exams on feedback basis and are starting to do something about it. I just wish they had waited another few months.

[what who me?]

In general, i think the CAA realise people are passing thses exams on feedback basis and are starting to do something about it.If that is the case I congratulate them! A pass should be based on understanding the subject, not recognising the questions.

And before anybody has a go at me for having passed them before JAR, I'd be happy to re-sit them every 5 or 10 years. Now that would free up a few airline jobs!

[Stoney X]

what who me?, please don't suggest that to the CAA. At £55 an exam it would be a perfect money making system, which, in a way, seems to fit in with their current exam philosophy.

I also found last weeks radio nav to be much harder than expected. When you don't even understand the first question it doesn't bode well for the rest of the exam. Hopefully I've done enough to jump through the hoop and avoid a re-sit.

Regards
Stoney

[G SXTY]

A pass should be based on understanding the subject, not recognising the questions.

I totally agree. In theory.

Unfortunately, in CAA / JAA land, questions are too often ambiguous, poorly translated from another language (e.g. anemometer instead of airspeed indicator), have more than one correct answer, or are just plain incorrect. Witness 2 RAF FJ pilots in my Instruments class getting a question on HUDs ‘wrong’.

So, in practice, learning the questions is every bit as important as learning the subject. And so the exams are widely regarded as a pointless hoop-jumping exercise.

Sad, but true. :hmm: