Questions about PPL ground training program

[Plasmech]

I am working on my PPL ground kit, a Cessna Flight Center (King Schools) cloud based setup, basically a thousand or so PowerPoint presentations.

Nothing in this kit is all that incredibly difficult by itself, in fact most of it is sheer memorization, for example, the types of airspace. Everything I've come across so far in the course really seems like it is need-to-know stuff.

My question is, does one have to remember absolutely *every* last little detail down to say regulation numbers/codes or does this course actually go a bit beyond what the FAA written and oral test will cover?

Also, is this a good course? Should I study actual FAA published material as well and maybe even do a second course such as Sporty's so I don't have all my eggs in one basket?

My memory is not horrible but there are just a LOT of memory devices and mnemonics to remember, and a lot of phenomena too, for example the ways in which a magnetic compass acts funny when turning from a north or south course and from an east or west course, and acceleration/deceleration effects.

How many hours does one typically spend getting ready for the written and oral portion of the exam?

I am only 3 weeks into my training but I really want to get ahead on the ground schooling and not ever let it slip behind and have to cram at the end.

Like I said, no one thing so far has been "hard", but the sum of it all is a bit much it seems, at this point.

Thanks for any replies as always.

[BackPacker]

The fact that you don't find it hard to understand is probably an indication of the quality of the material. I'm a professional courseware developer (though not for aviation) and I know it's pretty hard to explain complex technical subjects like N/S compass errors accurately, properly and understandably.

If they are able to do so in a way that you understand the underlying fundamental problems, how these problems were solved and what the resulting effects of the final solutions are, to the point where you only need to learn a simple mnemonic, I'd say they've done a pretty good job.

And it means you've got a choice. You can either remember the underlying fundamental principles/solutions and use those to arrive at the proper solution in the written exam, or you can remember the mnemonic. If the FAA written exam is any good, it shouldn't matter which approach you choose. Although I might say that in a lot of cases, if you remember the mnemonic you'll be able to find the correct answer a lot quicker.

But at the end of the day you've got to remember that a compass has errors when turning and accelerating, and how these errors they affect your compass reading.

[Plasmech]

I don't find any one particular topic difficult...after all, airline pilots, for example, are blue collar workers, however I have to admit that the sum total of everything is a bit overwhelming at this moment in time...