EASA PPL Exam APP

[Treadstone1]

I had a student take the Air law exam today.....


When he came out after 2 and a half minutes, I thought that he had given up and was going home to do more studying.....Wrong he got 100%


Fu*k me I said that's unbelievable....


Its the APP he said...everyone is using it.. What APP I said...


I Fu*ing give up...


Any other Instructor/Examiner come across this?

[Whopity]

Yes, its available for the iPad (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/easa-ppl-exams/id689299701?mt=8) and Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.easapplexams) for £9 and may well contain all the current CAA questions.

[Mickey Kaye]

Which begs the question wh6 oh why didn't we just adopt the faa system with say 120 questions.selectef at random from an online database of say 5000.

[Whopity]

That is what EASA probably thought they had done!

[Treadstone1]

MK, I agree, random selected exam papers.. but how do we do it?

[Mickey Kaye]

TS1

The same way the FAA do it.

My worry is with all this "plagiarism" that they will bring all the PPL exams in house and conduct them at a few locations at vest expense a couple of times a year. Now that would be a real disaster.

The FAA have a fair workable system. Why reinvent the wheel?

Lets do what they do.

[sapperkenno]

Why not do it all the same as the FAA... being able to sit exams at multiple locations, whenever you want, and not having had to go through compulsory groundschool and brush-up classroom work?! Rather than this stupid system of paying for a course of groundschool, having to learn a load of nonsense by rote and then traipse halfway across the country to sit an exam?

[Treadstone1]

Yes, I fully agree, I will mention it to my LSI when I next speak to him..

[2close]

Surely the issue is appalling standards of security within the aviation industry vis-a-vis examination questions.

It only took a matter of months for the original JAA CQB to go 'public' after its release and now every man and his dog is running an on-line question bank which is the staple (only in some cases) diet of many ATPL students, learning answers by rote with no grasp of the subject material.

It now seems that the same has happened with the PPL question bank.

What is needed is a contractor, independent of any national aviation authority and training organisation, who can develop and manage a secure database of questions, amended on a regular basis.......oh, wait a minute - of course, EASA tried that with L Plus then realised they'd wasted all of their funds on nonsensical, unnecessary projects and pulled the plug! :ugh:

Saying that, I have heard some students claim they have a legal right to be informed of the examination questions prior to taking the examinations under the terms of Freedom of Information legislation. :rolleyes:

Really?? In that case, I'd best ask for the exam papers for the Advanced Neurosurgery exams next week - that'll give us confidence in our surgeons!! :ok:

[Whopity]

I will mention it to my LSI when I next speak to himHave they got one this week? I thought they had all left!

[mad_jock]

You always could get the PPL exam for all papers even back in 2000 you could get a CD of them in the Barras in Glasgow. The JAR ones were available before they were even issued to the flying school I was working at.

The CD even came with a handy grid and grid sheet made up for marking them.

[Mickey Kaye]

But even when there is perfect security as with the ATPL papers over time an online question and answer database comes out into the open.

So why not draw up such a huge database of say 5000 questions and publish it.

On the grounds that it would be easier to learn the theory behind it rather then memories all the questions. This is what I believe the FAA do.

[dobbin1]

The FAA PPL database is less than 1000 questions- 600 I think when I did it back in 1996. That is plenty, since it remains better to learn the subjects rather than trying to memorise 600 answers. The questions were all relevant to getting a US PPL and even then it was done by computer, so much harder to cheat.

The FAA system is much better than this EASA mess.

[Whopity]

I think the fundamental problem with theoretical knowledge exams is the way they have evolved over the years. Prior to 1974 the commercial writtens were derived from 2 sources, the Technical group from the Air Registration Board and the Navigation group from the RAF College of Air Warfare. In 1974 the CAA pulled them together and the PPL exams became a spin off from that process using ground examiners (GE) whose background was predominantly military with a few commercial. Few, if any, had ever taught or examined at PPL level.

With the advent of JARs the CAAs GEs were disestablished until the CAA recognised the low quality and unsuitability of the JAA CQB, which had largely come about by default rather than design. Of the remaining and now downgraded GEs, none were established to produce PPL exams, probably as well as none had any experience of PPL instruction, consequently the practice of anual paper revision ceased.

Around 2 years ago the CAA had no GEs at all, so the process has lost any continuity and has had to start afresh. The various PPL text books grew up around the existing PPL exams and then became the source of subsequent PPL exam questiions. The latest tranch of amendments has diverged from that process and has looked at the EASA syllabus, which has its origin in the old AOPA syllabus formerly the RAF CFS syllabus from the 1950s. In the absence of any Training Analysis, this remains largely unquantified and unqualified, so virtually any question is technically within the syllabus whether relevant to a PPL holder or not.

The number of questions has been reduced as a gesture towards EASA compliance, but stiil fails to comply. The concept of 9 individual exams (not an EASA requirement) is quite ridiculous and displays the CAA's lack of comprehension in this area. There are currently moves afoot to find a solution to this problem but, based on comments from some involved, it is still attempting to find the solution to a problem generated out of inexperience by using people lacking the necessary knowledge or expertise. A fundamental symptom of modern management.

Whilst all this has bee evolving, the BMAA showed leadership right from the start, produced their own examination papers, printed by the CAA, and have questions relevant to the qualification and privileges of the Microlight Licence. Maybe, there is a lesson to be learned here! The rule maker and regulator are clearly incapable!

[sapperkenno]

The questions were all relevant to getting a US PPL and even then it was done by computer, so much harder to cheat.

Same goes for all the other writtens too. All questions relevant to the certificate/rating involved and very practical. In my case you had to sit in a booth and were being watched/listened to on CCTV (in case you tried cheating - to which there are very serious consequences) while you took the test. Results given to you on completion, and all around a better system IMHO. If a test is failed, remedial training on the failed subject areas is required from an instructor before a candidate can retake the test. 70% is the pass mark, and it's multiple choice out of of 3 possible answers.

As previously mentioned, all questions used in the exams are available in the public domain due to some freedom of information law, and an exam is comprised of random questions from each subject area. So for example, the instrument written may have a selection of questions on icing, instrumentation, rules/regs, meteorology, approach charts etc, with a few questions taken from each area to make up the paper. If the test is failed, it will state which category the failed questions were in. So you can then go away and brush up on that area until an instructor has determined you are suitable for resit. Instructors also endorse people for written tests, so in theory, candidates have already passed mock exams and are deemed ready to be tested to avoid them turning up unprepared.

Knowledge is further tested during the "oral" portion of a practical test, which is by far a better test of somebody's understanding and makes up for the perceived "easiness" of FAA written tests alone. Just wanted to get that in their before the usual "but EASA is better and we're cleverer cuz we do 14 exams" guff. :\

[keith williams]

A Couple of factors to consider:

1. Comments on some US study guide websites (Dauntless and Sheppard Air for example) indicate that the FAA has stopped publishing their QB and has started introducing new questions without warning.

2. The current JAR/EASA ATPL QB contains something in the regions of 11000 questions. But many candidates continue to pass the exams by memorizing these questions and the answers to them. So having a PPL CQB of 1000 or 5000 questions would not prevent candidates from passing simply by memorizing questions and answers.

Over the past decade or so this has resulted in a new term entering into general use in the English language ( "Bristolling it" Meaning : To pass examinations by memorizing questions and answers instead of trying to learn and understand the subject material.) This comment is not intended to be an attack on BGS. The simple fact is that their on-line QB is the most widely used, so their name was given to the method.

The only real solution is to ensure that each question is used only once and then discarded. This may appear to be an impossibly labour-intensive task, but it is quite possible using suitably designed computer programs.

[PPRuNeUser0173]

Awaiting a response from Alex W with interest!!!

[Duchess_Driver]

The only real solution is to ensure that each question is used only once and then discarded. This may appear to be an impossibly labour-intensive task, but it is quite possible using suitably designed computer programs.

Surely the much better way to check understanding of the subject matter being delivered is by the Examiner during the oral questions in the actual flight test. It's shocking at times when I ask even the simplest of questions what has been missed by the instructors.

As instructors, we not only have an obligation to teach but to check understanding of that teach. As examiners, we have a responsibility to ensure that training, flight and ground has been delivered to a sufficient standard and that it has been understood by the student.

[ohinever]

And this is fundamentally different from the ppl confuser/simplifier in what way exactly?

This app does what those books did, no more, no less. Some flying schools sold the books to students!

Was there as much gnashing of teeth about these publications? Or were they o.k. because they were in book form, from a "proper" publisher?

Fact is, even if you are using a question bank, you are reading and learning the study material.

And probably (hopefully in fact if the exam is set well) concentrating on the parts of the syllabus relevant to real word aviation.

[Whopity]

hopefully in fact if the exam is set wellBut of course they are not; they fit within a wooly, ill-definded syllabus, but provide very little measure of the essential/desireable knowledge of a potential PPL holder.