Took my Air Law exam on Sunday! ...Failed :( Any tips and advice very appreciated!

[RyanRs]

Ok, so I took my first ever PPL exam on sunday and i cannot say i did too well :( i took paper #3 of 'Air Law' and scored a miserable 67.5%.

I do admit, I mostly have myself to blame for this as I made the mistake of booking the exam on the weekend that i was actually moving house & having my car brake down the night before made things 10 times more of a panic! but I also only only had two weeks till the exam after recieving my OAA Air law cd-rom to which I had waited over two weeks for its delivery! So therefore I was not left with much time to study properly. On top of all this, to my own amazment, i actually managed to accidently tick the wrong box on one question to which i knew the answer to! I put this down to lack of concentration from being exahsuted from moving!

I have re-booked the test for the 1st of october and i intend to pass this time and with a Good score! My main problem i have tho is the studying! I don't read books often as they send me to sleep! even the most interesting of stories, i just struggle to get through 5 pages without slipping into a daydream and forgetting what i have read! I also found that the OAA CBT for airlaw was incredibly dull.. Informative yes! but the narrator talks very slow and Loww! (note to OAA, bubbly women make better narrators!)
But Anyhow, I have purchased the AFE Air-law book as i hear a lot of people swear by it and, also i have the OAA PPL practise CD-rom. I am considering signing up to something like PPLQuiz? But i dont know if that would be a good idea with this subject given how often the rules change? Would this be a good idea? or is there a major risk of learning the 'Wrong stuff' ?

If anybody could give me some tips and advice on how to get through this exam i would greatly appreciate it! I dont think ill have an issue with the other subjects as there more at home to me being a technically minded person but air Law its just Ewwww!!

Btw, i guess the PPL confuser is way out of date now too?

Thanks for the help and sorry for rambling on!! lol

[Nearly There]

Firstly dont beat yourself up over your first exam, you have identified the root causes in your post, not enough time and lack of concentration whilst studying.

Its air law, the dullest subject for most students wether ppl or atpl, like you I prefered the technical subjects as you can see or visualise the mechanics or reasoning behind the theory, air law you just have to read over and over till it sinks in, then get you hands on old question papers and/or feedback questions.

Break the study down into managable chunks, do you have an air law ppl book? these are usually broken down into managable sections with progress tests at the end of each section, I dont how the cd rom does it, but id imagine the book would be easier to refer to and study from.

Only book your test when your ready and achieving over 75% consistantly with practice papers.

my tuppence worth...
Best of luck

[JASPA]

Air Law how boring use to read it to go to sleep passed it on last attempt now a skipper on a jet look forward,study,pass and move on the very best of luck

:D

[RichardH]

If you think PPL air bore was sleeping material wait until you get to ATPL.

Most of the PPL air law is a test of what you should be doing during your PPL training anyway. What is your school/instructor doing to help you here?

You are unlikely to pass any exam by just reading books however many times you read it, you must WRITE IT DOWN. The human mind takes in far more information by writing things down and preferably actually doing things.

You obviously don't need to write everything, create yourself some Key Fact Q cards divided into different topics with the minimum information needed. Revise from these Key Facts.

You should also be aiming for a 100% pass this shall then allow you an error buffer zone for a bad day or some odd ball questions. Aiming for just 75% is likely to see you failing again.

[Boe787ing]

my honest advice would be for air law, to get this:

i failed first time then got this guide and just did these questions over and over and then got 90%.

they come for other modules too.

AVIATION LAW & OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES (120 Current Questions, Answers & Explanations)

(can buy from pilot warehouse)

ps. lots of questions were same as the actual exam when it came to it :)

[Bealzebub]

To be blunt. You got one third of a multiple choice paper wrong. This is indicative of the fact that you have a very weak understanding of what is a fundamental subject, and haven't put in the requisite effort.

I doubt that the answer is in finding ways to make the subject easier for you.

Go back to basics. Get the study material out and learn the subject.

You haven't "mostly" got yourself to blame for this. You only have yourself to blame for this.

It isn't the end of the world, so dust yourself down, and put aside the time, and make the effort to learn the core subject.

This is in the "wannabes" forum, suggesting that is your own ambition. These exams at CPL/ATPL level are not going to get any easier or more entertaining. Career professional pilots are also expected to digest an almost daily diet of often very dry regulatory, legislative and operational changes.

If this is your goal, you would be well advised to stop making excuses or finding reasons why you cannot learn. Start adapting to what is required, and put in the necessary effort. It is a very very competitive environment. Plenty of people will rise to the challenges, and if you intend being in that group, you need to address your attitude and motivation to what would be a very difficult, challenging, frustrating and expensive future.

[2 sheds]

Ryan
What he said! In the time you just spent creating this thread, you could have put in some useful study.:rolleyes:

[rufus.t.firefly]

I'm the worlds worst for revising , however the PPL Perfector CD did it for me and helped me pass . I also read the usual ppl books but in small chunks so that I didn't overload at once , otherwise it's confusing !!

I learn things quicker the old fashioned way - taught using powerpoint or blackboard , and seeing technical things up close and explained to me how they work.

Worst thing for me is trying to learn but having too many things going on in your life (particularly work/domestic) at the same time , it makes concentration difficult , and then trying to do the exam is a time waster ................ Do the exam when it feels right :ok:

[Spit161]

I did the Air Law by approaching it the same way I do A Levels - Sit down, read it, write it down, then repeatedly write down what you have just written. It'll sink it.

[stevelup]

I highly recommend airquiz.com - but make sure you use it properly and take heed of the advice it gives if it thinks you're using it wrong.

[The500man]

note to OAA, bubbly women make better narrators!


Yes! A video version featuring an attractive female pilot would probably make learning every subject soo much easier than just reading dry text.

Two weeks is not enough time to read and understand air law so you just haven't given yourself enough time! If I were you I would read the book, make whatever notes you feel you need to, then do practice exams from a question bank or from the confuser. I don't see any reason to book the exam in advance as this will only put you under pressure. There are no time limits for learning the individual PPL subjects, so only book the exams when you feel ready.

Good luck :ok:

[fattony]

I passed mine last week by reading the Pooleys book once from start to finish, going back over it and writing down the info and then using the PPL Confuser to remember the stuff in the exam. There was just too much info in the book for me to remember it all so I found the Confuser helpful to concentrate on the stuff that would be in the exam. The writing definitely helped too.

Good luck.

[Spit161]

There are no time limits for learning the individual PPL subjects

Unless it is holding you back from going solo...
It could get annoying then!

[Spit161]

Sadly (in my opinion), it is not a CAA requirement to have completed exams in a prescribed order and by training phase.

I agree, but some aeroclubs (like mine) won't let you go solo unless you have done Air Law. It's just 'what they prefer'.

[IO540]

Air Law is, for most people, the most utterly boring subject of all the aviation exams.

I don't remember much about my PPL one (year 2000) but I know I used the PPL Confuser heavily. When I did the much bigger JAA IR version recently, I used an online question bank entirely because the subject matter is so totally dry - and sadly mostly irrelevant to any kind of flight.

[jimmellish]

At school I was taught the following method for doing exams:

1) Read through all the questions and write down any notes you think may be helpfull on a spare sheet of paper.
This helps clear your mind of all the things you know you will need and helps you to recall other information deeper in your memory.

2) Answer the questions. If you get stuck on any one then skip it and, if you have time, come back to it later.
There may be questions later on which you find easy and you don't want to miss those for the sake of one you find difficult.

3) Spend any time after completing all the questions and before the end of the exam going through the exam again from the start checking your answers.

With reference to point 3, when I did my IMCR exam I found two questions for which I knew the answer but had marked the wrong choice on the answer sheet. I don't know why but I am glad I spent the last 20 mins checking my answers.

Good luck.

[IO540]

There are variations of this, depending on what grabs you. I used an online question bank and did a screenshot of each question which I found "intractable", and then I went through all those.

Ultimately, however, you don't need to get 100%. You need to get 75% IIRC and this means that the worst ones can be "let go".

[RyanRs]

Thanks for all the replies! I have taken note of all the comments and different studying techniques and i will certainly put much more effort into it this time! I Don't know if i can agree with the comments referring to my attitude tho, I certainly have the determination and my goal is to eventually fly for a career however i do also have quite a 'time demanding' job, being a fuel tanker lorry driver, i have to work long hours and shifts. I have no choice but to work as i need to pay my bills! unllike a lot of people i have known who have a very good financial status and can afford to prioritise there flying training! I do get some waiting time whislt at delivery points, which i will use to study the air law book. I would have done this before but i was under the impression that the OAA cd-rom would be all i need to get a good pass on the subject, so i did not bother with purchasing a Book to study along side it! I have since purchased the AFE 10th edition Air law/Coms book now and ill try two x 1 hour sessions of study a day.

I do have a dillema now tho!!

As someone mentioned above, There is no rush to do the PPLs -unless its holding you back for the solo. Well,turns out thats exactly my situation! My past two hours of lessons have just been nothing more than practise and the club will not allow me to continue until i have the exam done! Now here is the main problem i have; I am booked up for 6 more flying hours between the 25 ~ 3rd, these were booked well in advance and them dates chosen as its the only time work would allow me my remaining holiday (before loosing it!) I was hoping that in them 7 hours i would do my 4 hours of solo circuits and start my Nav! But i only have two date choices to retake my Air law.. the 22nd (which is a bit close) or the 1st ! which means i would have to cancel 5 of the 7 hours as they would be more 'practise' -which is good but unnesecarry given the costs!!

Do i, take the air law on the 22nd and study like hell at work and at home? Or cancel all those lessons and take the exam on the 1st ?! I wonder if i could use this as fire power against the school to let me take the Solo before the Air-law?! its nearly a grand in a week they could miss out on!

[stevelup]

It's not a big deal, just go and do some dual cross country navigation exercises instead.

It doesn't matter when you go solo - it's not a race. There are many other practical things you can do, and there is no need to do the syllabus in some kind of arbitrary order.

Having said that, you really should be able to get air law nailed by the 22nd.

[Intercepted]

To me it sounds strange that the school you are using have set dates for tests and you have to book in advance. Is this common practise at flight schools?

I was probably spoilt by beeing able to decide on the day if I wanted to do a test or not. If it was raining and I felt ready I did a test and if not and the sun was shining I flew.

[Genghis the Engineer]

i do also have quite a 'time demanding' job, being a fuel tanker lorry drive

Not wishing to degrade your road safety, but presumably you listen to music / radio whilst driving.

The solution may be to record your own revision notes on cassette / CD / MP3, and play them in the background whilst driving.

Of course you'll regularly miss bits of your notes whilst driving, but played enough, it'll all sink in well.

I've used this strategy at various points in my life where I've needed to memorise a lot of material for exams. It works, particularly if you spend a lot of time on the road.

G

[Aerials]

RyanRs, a lot of information has possibly 'sunk in' from the previous study session so having another study session will at times, be a quick revision of what you learnt before. On that basis, in your shoes, I would keep the appointment on the 22nd.

An open question for everyone now; can he book an exam at another school for a date more convenient to him? Would there be acceptance of a certificate from that school by his own?

[stevelup]

To me it sounds strange that the school you are using have set dates for tests and you have to book in advance. Is this common practise at flight schools?.

Certainly wasn't the case for me - I didn't pre-plan any of my exams.

[140KIAS]

I used the Trevor Thom book. After each section I did the associated questions at the back of the book. For the ones I got wrong I went back over them to understand why I got it wrong/the reason for the correct answer.

[HighFlyer75]

I'm with all those people who say to write it down. I struggle to retain Air Law type information when only reading it from a book or watching a video.

My personal way of studying is a bit crazy but I have used it forever and have never failed an exam (and usuallly get pretty good results). Basically I write my own summarised notes but I use big bold colours rather than a pen. I will use A4 sheets of paper and some white board markers and I will just randomly alternate the colours as I am writing it. When a page is full I place it somewhere in my study room but make sure each page has its own place (i.e. don't put pages on top of each other). Then I wander around the room reading them all over and over again. Because I used whitboard markers I don't have to pick it up to read it because the writing is pretty big. I find using this technique that when I get a question in an exam that I am unsure of, the first thing I do is visualise where in the room that piece of paper was and what colour the text of the answer was. Once I have done this my brain just seems to find it easier to recall the contents of that page and I have my answer.

As I said above, a bit crazy and you need to be willing to sacrifice a room in your house for a few days, but it works (for me anyway).

[flyingman-of-kent]

I did all my ground school with a specific ground school instructor, as I felt this left my flying instruction time better used for learning the practical flying skills. We worked through the subjects one at a time, and did the exams when we thought I was ready. Of course I was still studying at home, and picking up the tips and pointers from my flying instructor. Whilst this very skilled teacher has now retired, I used to see adverts for ground school instructors in pilot magazines so maybe this is worth looking at?

You may find that one on one teaching is better for you to absorb the information than just reading it from a book - I know I did!

Don't forget that the multiple choice exams are set to trip you up - so make sure that you have read and inderstood exactly what the question is asking, not what you think it is asking from a quick skim!! There is plenty of time in all exams (apart from maybe the nav exam) so check all your answers at least twice.

I think that you could probably make the 22nd to retake air law, but you should be studying every moment you have. Bear in mind that each exam does overlap a bit and cover other subjects so you will need to know air law when you take your other exams!

Good luck,

[The500man]

My personal way of studying is a bit crazy... when I get a question in an exam that I am unsure of, the first thing I do is visualise where in the room that piece of paper was and what colour the text of the answer was. Once I have done this my brain just seems to find it easier to recall the contents of that page and I have my answer.


I do something similar! Not on such a grand scale though. I write notes as I read the text and then when I move on to the question banks, I keep a note of all the things I get wrong and make a summary notes page of just those things. It's usually A4 front and back and I write as small as possible and put a box around everything I write on it. In the exam I can just visualise my A4 paper and read off what I need.

For some reason there are some things that it doesn't matter how many times I look them up I can't remember them a few hours later. A good example of one such thing for me at the moment is an ATPL question about what a down-spring is! I've looked that thing up so many times and I still can't remember it. It will definitely be going on my summary sheet when I get around to writing it!

[Genghis the Engineer]

Highflyer and 500man's methods are pretty much also how I got through my university finals, and for that matter CPL air law. The difference for me is that I used A6 filing cards and multicoloured biros.

These systems - multicoloured pens, blu-tacking keynotes to the wall, listening to reminder notes on the car stereo in your own voice, coming up with daft rhymes to remember key facts. They may seem silly, but they really do work. Lots of very bright people fail exams because they refuse to adopt these sorts of strategies.

G

[Kolossi]

Well good luck with the resit RyanRs. A couple of responses from me:


another vote for writing it down and using coloured pens - e.g. For Rules of the air, I do a little picture of the rule with me as green and other aircraft as red. When you move onto Met, temperature-related stuff in red, pressure in green etc. Find your own scheme that works for you though
As I've oft-posted I highly recommend both Airquiz.com (£3 to practice a subject as many times as you like), but it's not as accurate a prep for the exam as the PPL Perfector Book. Just make sure you get at least the 2nd edition. The author (Keith Williams) does frequent these forums if you want to ask follow-up questions on the answer explanations.
Re the comments above about booking exams, you don't say where you are doing the exams but as you say your location is Medway, I'm guessing it's Rochester. I'm studying at Headcorn (with Air Law, Met, Nav passed), and I can give almost no notice. I practiced Airplane General last night and it seems good to go so I'm going in on Sat, but I could have done it today if I had time. Perhaps give Headcorn a call and ask if you can sit the exam there when it suits, then study like mad and just go for the exam when the practice is going well enough?
FWIW my study approach is:

read book and make (coloured) notes
do airquiz, follow subject recommendations for wrong answers. Repeat.
when ready, do PPL Perfector
ring Headcorn then sit exam!



Please also feel free to PM me if it helps. :ok:

[archbishop]

I passed Air Law about a month ago - I found a combination of reading/reading again/taking notes/learning notes then using the AFE Question & Answer Simplifier worked for me - the questions and format in this book were VERY similar to many of those in the actual exam. I didn't book myself in for the exam in advance - just decided to do it after a lesson - that way I didn't give myself time to get myself worked up about doing it.

What I found helped me to remember it all (once I'd done the reading) was to test myself again and again using the practice questions in the text book, the q&a book and I also used pplquiz.co.uk. Also speak to your instructor - mine gave me a couple of mock papers to practice with aswell.

Good luck!

[FirstOfficer]

RyanRs,

You could have reschedule the exam, did you know that I also took Air Law recently but before I took the exam I rescheduled it twice because I was not prepared, there was always a combination of professional and personal factors affecting my study so I decided to change it for another date, and the school were more than happy to help the student. Afterall you are spending big money with them.

I passed my Air Law with a combination of studying the book Air Pilots Manual (Use to be the old Trevor Thom books), PPL Perfector and AirQuiz. I also used a good friend of mine retired pilot who flies for leisure now to fire some questions my way. I also like the CBT's available I have a couple and I think they aid the study.

[beatnik]

Hi Ryan

Maybe a previous poster wasn't blunt enough....

Stop making excuses (we all have difficult jobs, work funny hours, have other commitments, don't have money growing on trees - but we all made the time, found the money etc)

Put in the work, and you'll be fine. I cannot believe you didn't study from the AFE or Trevor Thom books. Or any book for that matter. If your instructor knew you hadn't got any of the PPL books, and yet let you write the exam, then you need a new instructor and/or flying club. The Oxford CDs are nice to haves, but are pretty sonorous, and certainly do not cover anywhere near enough of the syllabus for you to expect to pass. Buy the books, a Confuser and register on AirQuiz.com. You should be getting 95% - 100% in all the exams.

To be a pilot you need to be able to make decisions. Very quickly. And on your own. You can't expect this forum to give you advice on what to cancel and when to write an exam.

But your flying school will not let you fly solo without Air Law. Usually for club Insurance reasons. So you have no "firepower" in that regard. Yes - technically you can fly solo without Air Law, but it just won't happen. But if you had studied Air Law properly you would probably know that. Do you have your medical yet?

Now give the forums a rest and start grafting. You will receive very little sympathy from the other forumites.

[FI-Mark]

I’m a flying instructor at a busy FTO in the Northeast of England. We get many people that struggle with Air Law, this is due to a number of factors, we get many retired people come through our door that want to get a PPL (it’s always been on their to do list) that may not of studied for the past 30 years, we get tradesman wanting to do their PPL that may have nipped away from work to squeeze a lesson in, and then we get the professionals (doctors/solicitors) that just don’t have the time to sit and go through air law etc.

I always try and make use of our great British weather, so on the poor weather days I get the students in to go through as much ground school as I think they require, I also recommend this website for practice exams- PPL Training & PPL Exam Practice from PPL Cruiser (http://www.pplcruiser.co.uk)
Once they start getting good marks on this site (I think it is advertised as a banner on Pprune) and they feel ready I will put them in for the exam.

Regards,
Mark:ok::ok:

[FI-Mark]

Hi Ryan,

Did you ever manage to re-sit the Air Law?

Regards

[RyanRs]

Lol, yes i agree with what you say! Tbh I put all my eggs in one basket with that OAT Cd-rom, books send me to sleep and i just convinced myself that the CBT method was the method for me! However i was wrong!. Well after failing, i purchased the AFE Airlaw and coms book and OMG! I wish i had done this before! that book pretty much covered most of my 'failed' test within the first 1/4 of it! My instructor did recommend purchasing this from the start but tbh -i thought i knew best :/ Teached me a lesson there!

Anyhow, I re-took the exam yesterday -after studying the AFE Airlaw and Simplifier and im pleased to say... I PASSED!! and what made me most pleased is that i scored 97.5% only one question wrong! Tbh, after reading that AFE book, air law was really not all that difficult. I would have got 100% but on the one wrong question i got, i could not decide between C or D and i eventually selected the wrong answer :(

But anyway, Must say a big thanks everyone for there advice and also to a couple of members on here who PM'd me some study ideas which really helped on the day!

Next lesson... Solo! :O

[niceday2700classic]

Wow, you have to book exams?

Is it not just a case of finding an instructor and saying "do you have 5 minutes to set me an exam please?"

Then when done you hand it back to any other instructor for a quick marking, or give it to Ops if all the instructors are in the sky.

[Ds3]

Congrats! I was in a similar situation in not having studied enough, although I just managed to scrape through with 77.5% :eek: It may have been better if I had failed and had to revise again to get a better understanding of the subject, but I still intend to revisit Air Law to improve my knowledge, despite having passed.

I did have the Pooleys book and worked through it, completing all the exercises, and was consistently achieving 95-100% on the online quizzes so thought I was ready. However, I found the phrasing of the questions in the exam and the topics they focused on very different and designed intentionally to catch you out, such as giving you two answers that were genuinely correct, just one slightly more so. Lesson learnt, must study harder for the next ones!

Just need to get my first solo done now which will hopefully be tomorrow - slightly frustrated as I'm about 16 hours in now and have been ready for about 3/4 lessons but due to various factors it's not happened, but as others have said its not a race.

[Daretobegreat]

I passed my all 7 papers in 5 days ...i went to Bournemouth and done them with Derek Davidson...he is probably the most experienced pilot in the south....You can go and get this out of the way...and continue studying and learning and flying as that is the part of the game....You never stop learning...

Hope it helps.. :O:ok: