Bristol QB v ATPL online

[taxistaxing]

Hi all,

Does any one have any feedback on the new Bristol QB, now that it's been up and running for a while?

I would be particularly interested to hear thoughts on how well the QB is reflected in the recent sittings of ATPL exams.

I'm currently using Aviation Exam and ATPL online but wondering whether to drop ATPL Online in favour of Bristol for my next set of exams. I wouldn't ideally want to be using three QBs as it seems a bit excessive!

Thanks in advance.

[packo1848]

I used it for my exams in Nov, there were q's in the exam that weren't represented in the QB, however I didn't complete the entire bank.

For me the winner was being able to see which areas of each subject I was losing marks in and being able to put together exams purely consisting of q's on these. Also the ability to flag Q's I struggled with or didn't understand and come back to them later on.

I've never used any of the other QB's so not sure how it compares but I was certainly satisfied and it got me through my 1st set of exams.

[Metlik]

I tried aviationexam and Bristol QB. IMHO first one was excellent comparing to others! Explanations, comments from other users (sometimes even useful more, than explanations), flexible statistics and tests management etc - that's really helps to organize your training.. Actually I'm trying to know what kind of questions I'll be asked during exams, not to remember all the questions. But anyway, during exams I saw maybe 1% or less of unknown questions (Lithuanian CAA). I would recommend aviationexam for sure.
Cheers!

[RTN11]

I'm currently using Aviation Exam and ATPL online but wondering whether to drop ATPL Online in favour of Bristol for my next set of exams. I wouldn't ideally want to be using three QBs as it seems a bit excessive!

Here's a radical idea, rather than try to memorise the contents of three question banks, why not put your effort into a text book? It will give you a far better depth of knowledge, which will come in handy at any interviews that come your way. When you're flying, you don't always get four options, two of which are clear nonsense anyway.

[taxistaxing]

Packo/Metlik, thanks for the responses. I'll give the Bristol one a look.

RTN, to answer your patronising post:

- I have a demanding full time job which is paying for my training, rather than relying on loans from the bank of mum and dad (radical idea, hey :ok:), so have to be efficient with my time when studying;

- The drafting of the exam questions is so appalling that the only realistic way of answering many questions correctly is having seen them before. I wish the exam format was different, to encourage real learning. I don't remember multi-choice questions in my degree, for instance! I have to take the system as I find it, unfortunately.

I do take the point about interviews.

[packo1848]

RTN, as was proved several times during my brush up at Bristol the examiners answer to Qs sometimes does not match up with what the text book material would have you believe. The only way you're ever going to get marks for questions like this is by having seen the Q before in a QB or pure dumb luck, I know which I'd rather rely on.

I agree that knowing the material is more important than knowing the answers in the QB, however taking practice exams from the QB is great exposure to what you can expect in the actual thing. It was often the case for me where I took a practice exam on something I was confident I knew and the Qs revealed gaps in my knowledge, which I could then take the time to look up and re-learn.

If the tools are there people will use them and so they should in my humble opinion.

[slawek_s]

I used aviationexam.com for studying but I have seen other on-line systems as well. AE contains over 14000 questions whereas others (f.i. e-ATPL) have only half of it. As Metlik wrote - I found AE very helpful and there was rarely a question I did not understand the explanation of. User comments in AE are really helpful. I wrote few myself :) AE also has a nice statistic module - you can easily see what parts of subjects you have to repeat or find questions with least correct answers.

I approached it this way - take 1 subject at a time, solve all questions there are for this subject (anywhere from 400 to 1600 if I remember correctly) with sequential testing, switch to study mode for some time and if you get over 90% in it - switch to exam mode and see how you do. Take 10-20 exam tests. If you get all the time over 90% - go take your real exam. This way I passed them all, each one at first take.

As far as exams are concerned - during my exams (Polish CAA) I found only few questions I haven't seen @ AE, mostly during both navigation subjects.

[Metlik]

packo1848 agree with you for a 100%. Sample questions gives you guidance what you have to remember from the text books, the key-moments. BTW there is a lot of "lottery questions" - you have to choose between two identical answers for not clear formulated question. Even if you know the subject for sure, you still have chances 50/50 for a correct answer.

[RTN11]

Each to their own, but it doesn't take much for them to add a few extra questions to one bank, and you've shot yourself in the foot. In my class of 15, only 2 of us passed PoF, since everyone else had learnt the answers to questions which just didn't come up.

[GuilhasXXI]

I about to have my first sitting in lesa than 3 months I reckon I'll subscribe ATPL online, some of my friends who have passed the theory say that It is the closest to what comes up on the actual exam

[constanceheading]

I think the Bristol QB is excellent. It got me through this!