time to complete ground studies

[thejakes]

Hi guys, I need a little encouragement. At the moment I'm halfway through module one of the ATPL's with Bristol while working a full-time job. It has taken me just under 3 months so far. I'm interested to know how long others have taken to complete module 1 (and indeed both modules together) as it is taking longer than I expected. This is not necessarily a worry for me, but I'm a little concerned I may have completely forgotton the earlier material by the time I come round to revision!

Also, once all the material has been covered, what is the general process of revision - do you guys make more notes and do questions? How do you go about it? And if I take 6 months to complete the material, roughly how long may I expect to be revising for? Any ideas, input and previous experience would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, and well done to all those who've just passed their exams!

Matt.

[G SXTY]

I took 13 months to finish the lot (also with BGS). From memory, around 6 months for mod 1, a couple of months off, then 5 months for mod 2.

What you describe is perfectly normal. Read the section, do the progress test, get over 75%, move on. I forgot much of it within hours of doing the test, but don’t worry, it’s all tucked away in long-term memory. The brush-up courses are very intense (mod 1 in particular) so expect to put the rest of your life on hold for a few weeks, but they are extremely effective. Alex has an excellent team there, and they are very good at what they do. Trust me, by the end of the 2nd week, you’ll be dreaming exam questions in your sleep. Literally. :ooh:

As for revision, I allowed a month between finishing mod 1 and going to Bristol, which I used to go over the subjects I’d found hardest (gyros and long-range plotting). It helped a bit, as I felt more prepared psychologically, but with hindsight I’m not sure it was that necessary. For mod 2, I went straight from progress tests to the school, and didn’t feel any less prepared.

However you do it, it’s a long hard slog - wait till you get to law questions about the size of registration letters on hot air balloons:) - but look on the bright side – once they’re done, you can get on with the flying!

[LFS]

Pretty much agree with everything G SXTY said, I spent about 8 months on Mod 1 (with BGS too) and then about 4 on Mod 2, I was working full time as well. Don't worry about forgetting things it will all be extremely well covered on the brush up course and you will be amazed how much of it comes back to you.

[Northern Highflyer]

I took 11 months in total to do the lot. Each module took 3 months to get through once, completing all the progress tests, followed by about 4 - 5 weeks for revision before going to Bristol for the hard slog. I also worked full time while I did them and had a few weeks off between modules.

[G-ANDY]

G SIXT - it's good to hear what you're saying. I'm going down to Bristol on Monday for the brush-up then straight in for the exams.

I starting studying about May time and was initally working full-time, then down to part-time, and for the last two weeks I finished my job to concentrate on studying.

However I seem to have forgotten everything, and I have been trawling through past papers and notes for the past week and now I feel quite happy(ish). I'm very apprehensive about the amount of work down at Bristol - but it needs to be done and it's good to hear you came out feeling confident.

"If you're standing on the South pole - which way are you facing?"

G-ANDY