ATPL Theory Books

[Steve888]

I've recently finished my CIR and have a bit of time before starting my next job so thought I'd make a start on the ATPL theory tests.

I've been having a look through the various study notes available and have come up with the following:

ATC
Rob Avery
Nathan Higgins (AFT)From what I've read it seems the AFT ones are the best, bust very expensive. My thoughts then were to use the ATC books for the 'easier' exams like Meteorology, Human Factors and Air Law and then spring for the AFT notes for Performance and Loading, Flight Planning, Navigation and Aerodynamic and Systems.

What do other people who have studied these texts think, or can you provide any other suggestions?

Thanks

[amishtechie]

I found the AFT books to be excellent but have no experience with ATC or Rob Avery.

Good luck with the study.

AT

[Timocacy]

Your plan sounds fine to me...

I just sat Human factors, ensure the books you get have a detailed section on Threat and Error management. 10 out 40 questions were based on it. The other 30 questions were pretty straight forward.

[training wheels]

AFT aren't just books, but a complete course with questions at the end of each chapter, practice cyberexams and email or phone support (if you do it by distance learning). It's expensive but well worth it and I believe they have a very good 'first attempt' pass rate. Thoroughly recommend them! :ok:

[ozblackbox]

I completed my ATPL November last year. Found the ATPL a big challenge, I'm 36yo.

I was always advised that AFT were the best and that's the reason I went with them - no questions asked. Many friends and past colleagues had used AFT and highly recommended them.

I had completed Meteorology and Human Factors (self study) back in December 2006 using AFT notes and passed no problems.

Work situation changed, got an airline job without ATPL, and sort of lost the track of time. I had to complete all by December last year and only started studying again in late July 09. Wasn't getting anywhere self studying and decided to go to AFT in Maroochydore and complete Navigation, Systems, Flight Planing and Performance.

Best decision I had ever made. Course was brilliant as were the notes. Passed Systems, Flight Planning and Performance at the first attempt - was unliucky with Navigation...just mised out twice.

After the course, came back to Melbourne and self studied Air Law using AFT notes and passed. By now it was mid November and I had to pass Navigation by mid December. I was a bit under the pump as I was also working. Studied my butt of for a week, sat Navigation and passed.

Honestly, without AFT I wouldn't have completed the subjects in time. I can only say that Nathan is brilliant! His teaching style is fantastic and really caters for all age groups. The support structure is great, you can get help or assistance whenever you need it. The Cyberexams are fantastic and certainly help with passing the real thing as you are pretty much sitting the real thing when you do the Cyberexams. The questions are so similar....

Flight Planning was certainly the hardest exam due to the volume of information you have to remember. Practice, speed, practice, speed, practice, speed, practice, speed and more practice more speed is the only way to get through it. I flew the aircraft as an FO and still found Flight Planning challenging.

The biggest advice I can give is to not give up. Keep focussed, set yourself targets by certain dates which are realistically achievable and you will succeed. If you are self studying, I would highly recommend that you at least do Flight Planning and Performance up in Marroochy. I would say that the Flight Planning failure rate on course was around 60% - that's on course!

Keep at it, get started and each subject you complete is one down, one less to go. Also, don't give up.....

Good luck.

[help me jebus]

1111111111

[training wheels]

I would say that the Flight Planning failure rate on course was around 60% - that's on course!

Yep, that sounds about right for flight planning. It's the only exam I missed out on the first attempt. A lot of number crunching to do on the calculator and with little to no time to go back and recheck your calculations. I finished the exam with 30 seconds to spare and over exerted myself by 6%. :)

I also used the Rob Avery texts for this exam where his method for the flight planning calculations differ significantly from AFT's. I decided to use the AFT method in the actual exam and found it to be much easier and quicker, well for me, anyway.

[el_capitano]

Highly recommend AFT, the course notes are spot on. Self studied the whole course and got through everything first time. Good Luck with the exams :ok:

[Steve888]

Thanks all for the replies.

I think I'll go through with the plan of using ATC books for Air Law, Met and Human Factors and AFT for the others.

Does anyone know if AFT frowns upon sharing notes between a couple of people? It makes the cost a bit better if I can split it with a friend and copy the notes and divide the practice exams. But obviously, if there's copyright or other issues here, this wouldn't work.

[Pilotette]

Steve, I suspect that the course fees will remain unaffected by sharing notes with another student. The fees for the ground school are not only based on the course notes, but also on the lesson time and access to Nathan. If you are talking about sharing notes for the distance learning course, then I'm sure this has happened a lot before but don't expect that each of you will get access to Nathan. (I'm sure he wouldn't be happy with students copying his material and handing it around.) Something else worth mentioning for those unaware, the AFT Ground School course is a Centrelink approved course and therefore if you are not working, you may be entitled to some financial assistance. I'm sure there are other conditions to consider but I know of a few people who have successfully recouped some of the course costs. Hope this helps :)

[Steve888]

Thanks all for the replies. I've decided to go ahead with using ATC for Met, HUF and Law and the AFT distance learning courses for the others.

Cheers!