How do you study between lessons?

[Sammich]

First post, so please excuse if this isn't in the right forum.

Just started my PPL in a PA-38, and I've only had one hour so far! I'm trying to study what I've learnt every day til my next lesson - two lessons a month due to travel issues getting to the airfield.

I have both the Jeremy Pratt AFE manual, and also the Thom manual which I find between them quite good - but I feel like I'm not doing enough to study, and I'm finding it difficult to grasp everything it's telling me. I work nights, and I take my books every day to study in spare time and break, and I study as soon as I get up for 2-3 hours. But I still feel like it's not enough.

So I was wondering, how do you guys study between lessons and putting the theory into practice, what other study-methods do you adopt or any other mediums of study to recommend? I just don't feel confident that reading and re-reading what I've read until its burnt into my retinas is going to get me very far. Anyone had experience with this?

Thanks, guys!

[Conventional Gear]

If it's any help it's a bit of a war of attrition, just keep at it and when you think you have peaked on a subject go sit the exam. You'll probably get plenty of cancelled flying lessons which you can use for study too.

Some people seem to be able to cram each exam into a week or less, I'm a bit older but quite use to sitting exams, it took me a couple of weeks for each of the larger subjects.

I would read through a topic without worrying too much about understanding. Then go through and make brief notes making sure you do understand it.

Then use either the PPL Confuser or PPL Perfector to go through the topic to get an idea of how the exam questions will be asked. It's an old technique but writing out the question in full as well as your answer really aids memory and correct response in an exam. If you come across one that appears to contradict what you have learnt, revisit the book and check the explanation given in the Confuser/Perfector, more often than not it's simply the way the question is asked which makes it seem contradictory when in fact it isn't. You'll know when you are ready to sit the exam if it is simply a mistake in the Confuser or what have you, there are a few but not many. The fact is this is very representative of the way the actual CAA exam questions are written.

Once you have that done, condense it all. I would say try to get all the important information and facts from a Chapter or topic on a single sheet of A4 paper. Use this as your 'memory' source. If you have to, copy it several times each day until you can remember everything on the piece of paper without checking your original sheet. You might expect to have say around 14 pieces of paper for Met, 20 or more for Air Law which is nothing more really than a memory test.

I passed most of the PPL exams first time with 100%

I'm not saying it's easy, I did work hard but I've given you a study technique that for me at least lessens the pain of it all. Essentially you'll find you are making notes just on the bits you can't easily remember or grasp and that is what you need to concentrate on to get a first time pass. Most people seem to target going over and over the bits they do get before an exam, it's not efficient. My technique assumes the bits you do get will look after themselves (and trust me they do).

The OatMedia CD ROMS are not too bad if you get really tired of book work. They will at least get you to sleep the night before an exam. :zzz: Or go sit ground school, I use to go along even though I knew I would walk the exams, quite enjoyed it really and if there is something you are stuck on it's way better to discuss it with a ground school instructor than fry your brain with the books.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Just sit in the airfield bar and listen to the old farts' big stories. Try to discern myth from truth in them (no shame to get help in this). Then learn from the better stories. Much better than a thousand books, and the beer's better too.
Studying books is ok when the time for exams comes, as it certainly will.

[Genghis the Engineer]

There are some quite good computer based learning packages you can buy - you'll almost certainly find this much more enjoyable and less hard work than learning from books alone.

G

[davidjb23]

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IMC equipped Piper Tomahawk which is available
for £112 per hour solo or £130 per hour dual.

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[thing]

Hi Sam, I'm doing my PPL and have found that the best way to do the exams is to absolutely hammer the books for a week in conjunction with whatever other aid you have (I use one of the PC based confusers) and then do the exam. Then forget about that one and do the next. Don't try to build cumulative knowledge, just get the tick in the box and get on with the next one. The important stuff you'll learn as you learn to fly anyway, I can't say I'll ever need to know about the organisation of the ICAO again.