EASA PPL Exams App

[KidInk]

Hi all,

Recently bought this app to help me with ground exams, I've done the same exam three times now and the questions don't seem to change at all??

If anyone else has used this app was this normal? For the £9 I paid I could of had a ground school lesson which would of been more help haha.

[Mach Jump]

The way the APP seems to work, is that the questions stay the same until you are getting most of them right consistently, then it starts to add new ones. Just keep doing it over again, and the more questions you get right, the more you will see new questions comming up.

At some point, even though you are getting all the questions right, no more new ones will come up. Then yoiu have covered all the questions on that subject.


MJ:ok:

[KidInk]

I just did 2 exams this morning, human performance and flight planning. I noticed that the questions on the papers were word for word? I felt like I was cheating I got 100% on both and finished both papers within 5 mins.

[airwave45]

Not cheating, using your initiative . . .

[BEagle]

Don't be too surprised when the exams are re-issued and the iToy application becomes useless!

[Mach Jump]

Just get as many of the exams done as you can before the system changes, as it surely will soon!

MJ:ok:

[Frontal]

Make hay whilst the sun shines.......

Just set the exams back to back and get them out of the way.

[andrew_donaldson1]

Is the app available on android?

[Mach Jump]

Is the app available on android?

Yes. Look for EASA PPL Exams by Robert McPhee


MJ:ok:

[Frontal]

Not an app, but I found PPLCruiser very helpful.

[Muz165]

Good afternoon,

I recently downloaded the "PPL Tutor" app for my iPhone, by "Core 10 Gaming".

I'm currently using the Air Law section which is free, it's an additional £9 to open the rest of the app up for all 9 tests or £10.99 for the tests and revision contents. It was created in March 14, and updated in June 14 so I 'assume' it is up to date.

I have a few questions:

1. Does anyone know if the exams in this app are up to date and as good as the "EASA PPL Exams" app?

2. I assume, so can anyone confirm, that the "EASA PPL Exams" app is the exams only and not the revision contents as well?

3. Have anyone used this app and/or both and how do you rate them?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Gertrude the Wombat]

An alternative to memorising the questions and answers would be to use the text books and ground school and actually learn the stuff.

Could be safer, too - things that happen to you when you're on your own in the air won't always match the exact wording in the exam questions.

[Muz165]

Gertrude - I agree totally, that's why I have read Pooley's Aviation Law (Book 2). I would ALSO like to ensure I pass the test and from what I hear these apps seem to be the best way. As yet i'm having no trouble and it appears to be up to date and correct but I'm curious to know what other people think.

Can you answer any of my questions?

You'll also note in point 2 I asked about revision material as the App I currently use links to the revision material and explains the details when you answer a question incorrectly.

[xrayalpha]

Gertrude:

"An alternative to memorising the questions and answers would be to use the text books and ground school and actually learn the stuff."

I would agree, but having spent the £9 purely out of interest to see what was being asked in the EASA exams...... much of it is just "stuff" to be learned to pass the exam. Not really much stuff that is useful, in my opinion.

Now this could be sour grapes because myself and two other full-time microlight instructors with three or four thousand hours each after 8-10 years full time training couldn't pass the exams!

Yet, we can get an NPPL SSEA with just a few hours flying, and then swap that for a LAPL!

Are we really poorly educated and lacking in essential knowledge?

[dirkdj]

My daughter has her last (hopefully) exam tomorrow morning. She studied hard but it still took the question bank to get familiar with the way the questions are phrased.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

much of it is just "stuff" to be learned to pass the exam
Sure - why TF should anyone have to learn what colour paper some 1936 treaty was printed on?

And we can manage without the trick questions (nobody can fly to one degree accuracy, so why insist on measuring lines on the map to one degree accuracy?), and we can manage without the technical questions that are so dumbed down that if you actually understand the subject matter you haven't a clue which answer to pick as they're all wrong.

I just think that each time this debate comes up someone should put in a gentle reminder that there is some point to learning some of this stuff properly. Even in Air Law: there's one rule, "if someone's coming at you head on do you turn right or left," that could one day be quite useful. Having memorised that on paper 3 the answer to question 17 is C, and having forgotten it again the day after the exam, isn't of quite the same value.

[Muz165]

Gertrude,

I think you might have an unfounded dim view of these apps. Why not try looking at PPL Tutor, just so you can see it first hand. It's free on the iPhone. If people use it right it WILL teach you what you need to know and if/when you get stuff wrong it will link to the revision material where you can learn in greater detail.

Maybe stuff like this will open up flying a bit more to younger generations!?

I do however still agree with your point that we shouldn't just be learning the answers we should 'know' the answers and understand why but I think, if you use the app right, you can do that,

[BEagle]

New PPL exams will be introduced in October, according to the CAA's GA Unit Update for Aug 2014.....

[FirstOfficer]

Any more developments/guidance on that front?

120 questions I assume 6 papers now?

As I was considering re-taking some of the exams as I did them under the old, old system and have now expired.

But with, yet again more changes to the exam paper and syllabus and not a lot of clarification I am not sure how to proceed.

Wait, see the new syllabus and then more study (will books also be again revised in terms of content?), start some of the exams and then see what happens when the new ones take effect. :ugh::confused:

Regards

[B200Driver]

Many of my students seem to use a website called PPLCruiser, it seems to work for them:ok:

[glum]

I used the PPL tutor app and found it very good - always with me for a quick exam practice should I have 5 minutes. I also liked the way it presented some of the more confusing info - VMC minima, airspace classes etc.

I also used the Pooley's book of questions, and some example questions from my school and having been through them all three or four times, plus dozens of times on the app I passed with 90%. Did the Op procedures the following week and scored 96%.

My only bugbear is I have no idea which ones I got wrong, and therefore what topics I'm not so sharp on. My school said the CAA don't allow you to know, which sounds odd?

[Muz165]

Good Evening all,

So what is the BEST PPL Exam app?

I'm currently following PPL Tutor but it's hard to know how good it is as i'm yet to undertake and pass the test but the content and the way it works is great.

Does anyone have any experience of this app? What do you all recommend?

[Straighten Up]

Ppl cruiser was good for me. About £2 a subject I think.

[BEagle]

See: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/InformationNotice2014147.pdf

It refers to the new PPL exams which come into force on 15 Oct 2014.

[BillieBob]

Don't you just love the opening line - "In keeping with our commitment to remove unnecessary gold plating of European regulation....". This, of course, should read, "In order to comply (belatedly) with EU law....".

[keith williams]

Unless I have misread the notice, the only change is a reduction in the number of questions.

The six-sittings rule still applies and there is nothing to suggest that any new questions have been introduced, nor that any of the questions have changed. Indeed if I recall correctly, a previous post by BEagle indicated that the questions will be changed at some time in the future. Presumably when the CAA have lots of spare capacity.

This hardly justifies previous posts such as the one quoted below.

Don't be too surprised when the exams are re-issued and the iToy application becomes useless!

Is this really the best that the new CAA GA department and AOPA can achieve over a period of a year?

[BEagle]

The industry/CAA WG sent its proposals to the CAA in Jun 2014, hardly 'a period of a year'. The proposals included a reduction in the number of exams from 9 to 6.

AMC1 FCL.215; FCL.235 are purely recommendations; strictly speaking they are not 'EU law'.

I have asked why the number of exams has not been reduced in line with the WG's recommendations; personally I consider retaining 9 to be 'gold-plating', although perhaps only 9 karat.

EASA does not require any specific number of exams; it merely states the subject topics.

[Mickey Kaye]

Are you allowed to state what the industry/CAA WG proposals were?

9 papers 6 sittings 10 days is still a dogs breakfast

And is anyone able to confirm that the new questions are actually relevant to flight training?

I hope this isn't yet another wasted opportunity by the CAA.

[keith williams]

Well the current exam system was introduced in September 2013 and agitation for change commenced immediately. The CAA then set up their new GA Department in October 2013.

September 2013 to mid-October 2014 is pretty close to one year in my book. But if you and the rest of the GA Working Group wish to tell yourself that the rate of progress has been good, then that's fine by me. But that kind of approach makes it virtually certain that real progress will never be achieved.

As a very vocal member of the GA Working Group perhaps you could explain:

1. Why the arbitrary figure of 6 exams in any more relevant than the old arbitrary figure of 7 exams or the current arbitrary figure of 9.

2. In what way have the "itoys" as you call them now "become useless" as you predicted in an earlier post in this thread. Or where you just trying to put people off buying the APP?

[BEagle]

The first national attempt to change the system was in July 2013, before the CAA went through its perestroika session. Agreement to go ahead with the LAPL/PPL WG didn't follow until much later.

Why 6 exams? Well, if you take out RT theory and that 'headshrinker horse$hit' of 'Human Performance', you're more or less back to the way things were before even JAR-FCL came upon the scene.

Also, the 6 exam format agreed closely with the days of CAP53, when a more structured theoretical knowledge requirement was in place.

As for 'sittings', the long term objective is to get rid of them as they serve no useful purpose. But that cannot be achieved at national level alone.

Are you the vendor of the iToy exam 'app', or what?

[keith williams]

Are you the vendor of the iToy exam 'app', or what?

Not at all, in fact I have never seen any of the PPL exam iphone APPS, and I don't even own an iphone! I certainly wouldn't know how to create an iphone APP of any kind.

I can understand why you don't like them, and personally I have never liked any product that does not include meaningful explanations. Whether or not the "iToys" have such explanations I do not know. As I said I have never seen any of them.

But your apocalyptic posts concerning impending changes to the PPL exam system would be much more credible if you made them more realistic.

[Mach Jump]

BEagle

I have to say that I'm desperately disappointed with this result. Is taking out a few questions really all that could be done with this abomination of a system?:ugh:


MJ:ok:

[BEagle]

About 43% fewer questions, Mach Jump.

What other changes would you like to see?

[Mach Jump]

What other changes would you like to see?

The Americans have been showing us how to do this for decades.:ugh:

A single exam covering all the subjects, with a large, published bank of sensible, relevant questions. Each exam individually created from the published question bank by a random selection of questions from each subject area.

The Exams would be administered online by any Flight Examiner who would have to be present to invigilate the Exam, and identify him/herself to the online system with a PIN. The results would be automatically recorded at the CAA. (The system now used by AMEs to administer and record the results of Medical Examinations could easily be adapted for this purpose.)

Candidates could be recommended for the Exam by their Instructor, also with an online PIN, and 6 attempts (They could be called 'Sittings') would be allowed.


MJ:ok:

Ps. Flight Examiners could also use the system to administer and record Flight Tests.

[BEagle]

I understand that the US is moving away from the 'published question bank' system....

Incidentally, the proposal is indeed to introduce sensible, relevant questions based on the forthcoming PPL/LAPL AltMoC.

Phasing exams so that they are relevant to the student's level of training is surely more logical than the 'guess/forget' method of 120 multi-choice questions on a computer.

[keith williams]

Phasing exams so that they are relevant to the student's level of training is surely more logical

That statement sound rather ominous.

Are the working group actually pushing for this to become mandatory? It all sounds very logical, but even the ATPL integrated courses have moved away from this idea.

To maximize the number of people taking up PPL training the whole thing needs to be made as flexible as possible. Introducing unnecessary restrictions will simply hasten the decline of GA.

It sounds to me like we have created a committee and the committee is now doing what committees invariably do....designing a camel.

The road to hell and all that........

[Mach Jump]

I understand that the US is moving away from the 'published question bank' system....

.....and towards what? A secret question bank?

All that does, is promote the creation of commercially available re-creations of the 'secret' question bank, which then become available as Apps, and then the only real question will be ' Which App is best?'

Oh, I think that's where this thread started! :rolleyes:


MJ:ok:

[BEagle]

keith williams wrote:
Are the working group actually pushing for this to become mandatory?

No. The better flying schools do this anyway and having multiple exams ensures that such flexibility will be retained.

[keith williams]

The better flying schools do this anyway and having multiple exams ensures that such flexibility will be retained.

The flying schools can only have the three sets of exams that are issued by the CAA.

Even if they had more than three sets of exams this would not provide the kind of flexibility that is required.

Many potential PPL candidates have real lives with real businesses to run and real families to support.

For some the option of taking a short intensive ground school course followed by all of the exams, before starting the flying training is the option that best fits their "real life" needs.

Some schools include the PPL ground school as part of a degree course. This usually involves a structured program of classroom training within the first semester, with the flying being done at some later date. In many cases this is not just a case of "memorize then forget" but involves study that is of a far more detailed level than the minimum required by EASA.

Some people wish to get all of the ground school and exams done before going off to do an intensive flying course.

Your idea of staging the ground school and exams to match progress in the flying phase would prevent all of the above options. But it would tie candidates to doing the ground training and exams with the ATO at which they are doing their flying training. This would be a good money spinner for the larger ATOs but the smaller ones would be unable to provide such a service.

Your answer above just illustrates the fact that you you do not understand what is actually needed. The people that we are talking about are not 1950's RAF Cadets. They are paying customers.

[BEagle]

As I wrote, the better schools can integrate relevant theoretical knowledge with the stage of flying training being undertaken at the time - if they so wish.

But if people wish to do the groundschool and exams first, before they have any real idea about what the topics really mean, that's up to them. That became increasingly popular amongst those who wanted to do some intensive PPL course in the US after having first passing their exams in the UK and I'm not convinced that this was a satisfactory way of learning to fly.

Quite why anyone would pay £999 for an intensive 5 day course to take their PPL exams, when they could take them at their leisure during structured PPL training, with a far better understanding of the content, is a bit of a mystery to me.

[keith williams]

Well that's fine BEagle, as long as it's just your opinion and is not a mandatory improvement that the camel corps are going to introduce to improve PPL training.

[BEagle]

A correction to my earlier posts, due to having been given incorrect information.

The October 2014 LAPL/PPL exam revision is in accordance with the WG's recommendations for a 43% reduction (and cr@p clearance) of the current exam questions, but there was no recommendation at this point in time for a reduction in the total number of exams. Which is understandable, due to the need to deliver a quick first achievement for the GAU and the avoidance of difficulty in administering a more complex revision.

However, the next revision will include new questions, more relevant to the average LAPL/PPL pilot and designed to test fairly, not to trap. The Authority has confirmed that its target is for 120 questions in 6 exams - and an end to 'sittings' restrictions.

[keith williams]

the need to deliver a quick first achievement for the GAU

Hmmmm. Sounds like the need to get some good publicity is driving things.

Isn't that what we all criticize politicians for doing?


Getting things right first time would be preferable to getting something done quickly.. and sorting the errors out later.


(and cr@p clearance)

Does that mean there will no longer be questions like "If the time is XXXX in the UK what time is it in New Delhi?"

OK, I know, you cannot tell me that or you will have to shoot me.

[sharpend]

Hi Beagle, know of any LAPL CBT that can be used on a Mac?

[glum]

Beagle posted:

"Quite why anyone would pay £999 for an intensive 5 day course to take their PPL exams, when they could take them at their leisure during structured PPL training, with a far better understanding of the content, is a bit of a mystery to me."

My answer is that I am lucky enough to have a 10 month old daughter, a challenging job and horses. These three all compete for my attention every day, and leave me with little spare energy or brain capacity to plough through the books (especially dry subjects like Air Law).

Having the option to take a week out from 'normal' life and study the information / blitz the exams is useful. Had I been able to secure time away from work I would have taken that option a couple of months ago.

I hope this helps unravel the mystery for you...?

[BEagle]

sharpend, no - sorry, mate I know nothing of the dark side.

glum, understood. But for £1000 all bar a penny?

[glum]

Not sure where the £1000 came from?

These guys advertise a 5 day course for £595:

pplgroundschool.com (http://www.pplgroundschool.com/page2.html)

[Greg2041]

An interesting thread. What qualifications are required to be appointed to the exam board working group?

[keith williams]

A strong mix of optimism and myopia.

For many years the main qualification for a job in the ATPL theory department appeared to be having had a few thousand hours on V Bombers or knowing a man who did.

[Mickey Kaye]

I understand that the US is moving away from the 'published question bank' system....

Maybe thats the case.

But do you really think they would be adopting a system of 9 exams, 6 sittings which last 10 days and a content which is widely regarded by everyone in the industry (apart from the the industry experts that they consulted) as utter ****e?

[LowNSlow]

My daughter recently downloaded the ppl tutor app for her air law found it very helpful and so bought all the revision content and exams, and now the app isn't working- we have tried deleting the app which caused it to start up again but then when we clicked to restore previous purchases it went back to not working (all that's coming up is the title and the clouds moving), we have also tried emailing them but they haven't replied as of yet- and ideas how to fix it/anyone else had this problem?