GNAV - ATP exams

[Transsonic2000]

Hi there,

I was wondering if there is anybody on here who can tell me about the distribution of questions in the GNAV exams.

Are there a lot of questions on charts, or just a few, since this is quite a large topic in the QDB.

How about "basics of navigation" like solar system, time conversion, and of course Great Circle/Rhumb Line, Convergency & Departure?

Have heard repeatedly, that there are quite a few questions about "Dead Reckoning" = Wizzwheel (my little favorite). And "in flight nav" like ROD xing VOR, descent profile etc., can't remember them all.

Any advice appreciated and thanks for your replies!

[paco]

I believe there is a document on the CAA website with all that information - somewhere around here:Training and Exams | Personal Licences and Training (http://www.caa.co.uk/examinations)

[Transsonic2000]

Thanks for the link Paco!

I'd also like to hear from people who recently sat the exams, how was your experience and how was the distribution of questions?

Thanks!

[paco]

Make sure your flight computer skills are up to scratch - that's where the marks are, and it will be in your hands the whole exam. It is possible to pass without dealing with too much convergency, but you won't pass without the whizzwheel. And the flight computer questions won't be as simple as finding track and groundspeed - expect some conversions from magnetic to True and Compass to make things fun!

The principles of Navigation are also covered in Flight Planning and Radio Nav, and possibly Instruments with the INS. The General Navigation exam should be looked up on more as a maths exam with navigation as a backdrop.

[Transsonic2000]

Thanks for the advice! That's what I expected, that a good deal of the exam questions are dealing with DR problems and that you must know how to use the "Wizzwheel". I took a sample GNAV test yesterday and scored 81%, but I must admit that I was pretty lucky, since I took a guess at quite a few questions and simply happened to pick the right one! Still some studying required! I find GNAV the most time intensive and frustrating subject of all, besides PoF, I think I'll sit these two separately.

[paco]

Sometimes a little diagram can help you logic out the questions without even using the whizzie.

[RichardH]

And the golden rule about wind ALWAYS blows from heading to track - I am amazed the number of students who aren't aware of this key fact.

As Phil said make sure you know your way around variation and deviation and which way to apply it - this is another weak area.

81% you are heading the right direction, nice to be up to around 85+% and under exam conditions before you sit the real thing, this should allow for a bad day at the office.

[2close]

If you drop me a PM I'll bring you up to speed with the question distribution and what you can actually expect.

The problem with the exams (in general) is the filtration of questions down to an appropriate level.

The algorithms which select the questions only filter down to the second 'Topic' level of the four level (Subject - Topic - Paragraph - Sub-Paragraph) Learning Objective code, which can result in disproportionate allocation of questions into one of the many third 'Paragraph' levels within the second 'Topic' level. It is extremely rare that an exam will be badly biased towards one area but it has been reported in the past that a General Navigation exam had 7-8 out of the 12 questions on Basic Navigation (which has 5 'Paragraphs') being on Time, which only leaves 4-5 questions for the four other 'Paragraphs'.

As I said, this rarely happens and more often than note the spread of questions is quite even across most Paragraphs - my own examination creation software does this very well even though the parameters are the same as the official one - but nevertheless we do see occasional exams skewed towards one Paragraph.

What is does create though is a serious lack of consistency across examinations from one month to the next - this means that one group of students one month could face a far more difficult examination than the group of students the following month. In reality, you could have a class of super switched-on students failing the exam one month and a class of poor students passing the following month, with nothing whatsoever to differentiate between the complexity of the two exams. This demonstrates that the examinations are not fit for purpose and that it is simply a matter of the 'luck-of-the-draw'.

The problem is exacerbated by an appallingly poor question bank which, in most subjects, is populated with one-off questions dotted here and there. If you can create one question on plotting a position line on a Lamberts Chart from a radio bearing, why can't you produce twenty questions - it's only a simple case of spending a couple of hours changing the numbers. The management of the question banks has been at best shockingly poor and at worst non-existent.

The new UK electronic exams are purportedly going to address these problems by filtering questions down to a far greater level - this is not difficult to do and it surprises me that this was not done years ago............oops, sorry, that would require an element of organisation and logical thought, something seriously lacking in the JAA and non-existent in EASA!! Additionally, the CAA are (allegedly) introducing a far greater level of question quality control - I remain to be convinced!!!

Oh, joy! :)

[Halfwayback]

Transonnic 2K
Welcome

I hope you find that the Wannabee forum informative and helpful.
Judging by the responses from training professionals, I think you have had enough answers to guide you accordingly. I shall close the thread but if you want to discuss further please PM me.

HWB