PPL Ground School Help !!

[spitfire2002]

Hi Guy's

I have 11 weeks until I go off to the good old US of A to do my JAA PPL, what I need to know is, do you think it's possible for me to complete all seven ground exam's here before I go in the time that I have remaining and if so what do you suggest as the best technique ?

All replies are wholly welcome.

Thanks.
:eek:

[FlyingForFun]

Hmm, more information needed I think!

First of all, are you able to work on your exams full-time, or do you have any other commitments?

Also, how long are you going to be in the USA for? Most of the exams will make much more sense once you've done a bit of flying, and you can see how things work in practice. I'm always a little worried when I hear about people doing the exams before they start flying, because I wonder if they're actually learning anything or just reciting answers to questions parrot-fashion.

Of course if you're cramming all of your flying into a very short time-scale, as many people do when they go abroad to do their PPL, it may be that you have no choice because you won't have time to study once you get out to the USA.

My advice would be, if you're going to have lots of spare time in the US, don't worry about the exams for now. If you're not going to have any time, then push on with the exams - you should be able to pass them all in that time comfortably if you're working on them full-time. If you're not sure, then why not get some of the exams out of the way - Air Law, Meteorology and Human Factors seem like good starting points. Others, like Aeroplane Technical, Navigation, and R/T I would think will be much easier later on, as long as you've got the time.

Good luck!

FFF
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[spitfire2002]

Cheers for the info FFF.

I am working on these exams on a part time basis, working five days a week, my plan is to study apx 2 hrs in the evening's and apx 6-8 hrs over the course of the weekend. I have only just started today on the first one which is Air Law.

Going to be in the states for 4 weeks, but would like to get the exams out of the way so that I can enjoy the flying.

Do you think it is going to be a tall order to get them all done in 11 weeks?

Is there anywhere I could go to speed up the process?


All advice welcomed.

[Andy_R]

Spitfire

You could go the route that I went to get my exams, as I always seem to be tight on spare time.

I'm not sure if this will be regarded as blatant advertising, I can assure fellow ppruner's thats its not and my only connection to the company is that I took my exams there.
If you look in the back of Pilot or Flyer in the classifieds you will find a small blue and white advert under Groundschool courses for Derek Davidson. If you require his number message me, if you are unable to obtain a copy of either of the above. The exams are taken over a 5 day period in a very intense "learn and sit" fashion.

WORD OF WARNING THOUGH

This is a good way to get your theory exams sorted and out the way.... BUT ..... it is a very condensed crammer course and in order to know the subjects well you WILL need to go over all the subjects again after you have passed to be competent properly in all subjects.

But an ideal way of actually getting the subjects out the way quickly and at a very very reasonable cost. Dont know if he still doing this but as an incentive you may get a flight in controlled airspace on completion of all seven !!!!

Good luck

[Rusty Cessna]

Good comments already mentioned.

My advice would be similar to FFF's, and seeing as you are on a part time basis, I would do the Air Law first, conventionally, and then attack the exams that are most related to theoretical subjects, as oppsed to the ones more relevant to practical flying. After Air Law maybe try Human Factors, and then maybe met.

I can understand your eagerness to get them out of the way so you can enjoy the flying, however I echoe the comments about making sure you learn the topic and not just the answers. Personally I found the whiz wheel very hard to get to grips with on my own, but it was easy as pie when talked through. So on that note it may be worth waiting to do the more practical exams.

Ideally Nav, RT, Air Tech and Flight Planning & Performance are perhaps best left until at least some flying experience and instructor time has been had.

Very best of luck with the PPL!
Regards,
Rusty.

[Mr Wolfie]

Spitfire 2002-

I am currently undertaking my ppl in the UK (now post solo). As the weather is now on the iffy side, I'm in the process of getting all my ground exams out of the way. I work full time (plus family with 2 young kids) but am managing to rattle them off at the rate of one every 2 or 3 weeks.

Read the Thom books. Reread them and then do the self-tests in the back. Do the questions out of the PPL Confuser book. When you are getting 90% plus go sit the exam and then move onto the next one.

I agree with Rusty Cessna that Air Law, Met and Human Factors are the ones to get out of the way first. I am now revising for the Nav exam, and whilst my limited flying experience has helped understand some of the concepts a little better, I think you would manage to get through OK without this.

Getting 3 or 4 out of the way before you go to the States has got to take the pressure of you whilst you are out there.

Mr Wolfie

[Grafter]

I have recently returned from the States with a nice shiny new PPL and like the other guy's said It isn't best to rush into things.

I completed my air law (you need to have passed your air law to go solo), met and human performance here and the others out in the States. You will probably find that you will have plenty of time between lessons and evenings to study.

I found that when i started to fly all the other subjects kind of fell into place when i started to study for them instead of being double dutch.

The main thing is, is to enjoy yourself. Whatever you decide to do, don't put pressure on yourself trying to cram them all in........

[spitfire2002]

Thanks everyone for all your wise advice, this I have been taken onboard and I think I will do the Air Law, Met and Human Performance here then do the rest in the States.

"Grafter" did you get the chance to do some sightseeing while you where there as I am going to California and would like some time to go off to have a look about! Or was it all flying and ground school in the evenings and at weekends?

I would be very interested to know from yourself and any of you guys what your average weekly schedule (flying time, study time and social time) was like and also who went for three weeks and who went for four and also what you got to see when you where there Florida or California.

This would put my mind at ease that I am going to get sometime to visit a few places while I'm out there. Obviously I am there for the flying but it would be nice to have a look around LA.

Cheers.

[QDMQDMQDM]

I have 11 weeks until I go off to the good old US of A to do my JAA PPL, what I need to know is, do you think it's possible for me to complete all seven ground exam's here before I go in the time that I have remaining

These exams are not nuclear physics and they often seem to get imbued with an aura that is not warranted. Read the books, buy the PPL confuser and do all the questions and you will be fine. It is definitely possible to get them all in the 11 weeks with spare time self-study, even with a young family.

I also think it's important not to confuse learning a subject thoroughly with passing exams. The two only have a limited amount in common. Trying to combine them too assiduously leads to disappointment on both counts. If you want to pass the exams before you go, concentrate on passing the exams. Then, learn the stuff more thoroughly and relevantly when you're out there flying.

This experience stems from 6 years of medical school, followed by a series of postgraduate exams.

QDM

[Grafter]

Drop me an email and that way i can tell you how i got on and what i got up to.....

[cinman]

In my experience (albeit limited) there are generally two schools of thought re: such "cram" methods of learning:

a. learn quickly to pass an exam
b. learn slowly to know what you're talking about 6 months later

It has been shown that people who cram in exam-passing type revision do indeed pass exams, etc. but forget a high percentage of their knowledge very quickly (not the stuff you actually use in the air of course when flight training).

Be careful - that's all I would say - and make sure that you focus on KNOWING and not just PASSING - there's a big difference.

Good luck to you and enjoy your States trip.

[Julian]

If you are only there for 4 weeks then I would get the exams out of the way before you go over there. Its not impossible to pass them once over in the US but when I was over there students were locking themselves in their rooms at night and not actually enjoying being in CA. I took all my exams in the UK and then just did the R/T exam in the US as the guy I used was licenced to conduct it.

Yes you may find it a bit more confusing to start with 11 weeks you shouldnt really have a problem. Once you start flying you will build on your knowledge anyway and it will be etched into your memory, the important details anyway!

Get them done now and then all you will have to concentrate on once you get there is keeping the aircraft in the air and passing the flight test.

[hostie2]

Hi Spitfire 2002, I'm not long back from the states where I did my JAA PPL in 3 weeks. Like you I was panicking a bit before I went about the study, though I was not planning to take my exams before I went, but do them in the 3 weeks along with the flying in the states. My advice to you would be not to worry about the exams, you will pass them easily using the PPL Confuser - that this your Bible! You may need a little help with the Nav and maybe you could take ground school here before you sit the exam here or just wait till you're over there and take that one in the states, as you will get your training on Nav and the whiz wheel out there. If I were to do it again I would do it like you and sit all or certainly half of the exams before I go as when you are cramming it all into 3 weeks you certainly don't enjoy it.It doesn't matter whether you read all the books before or after, I read them before and still have forgotten most of it, so you will always have to read them again. Good Luck.

[spitfire2002]

Thanks everyone for all your feedback, it has helped me no end, but I have another question to ask of you.

Do any of you think it’s possible to complete all of the exams from just reading and memorising the PPL confuser? (no manuals what so ever?) Ooooooow I here you cry!

All comments so far about "learning" a subject for knowledge and "cramming" a subject for passing exams is fully taken on-board for two reasons, firstly I have every intention to recover all the material in the manuals when I return to the UK in order for me to be a more safer and competent pilot and secondly I work as a IT Engineer and have "Crammed" with the best of them in order to pass a exam to get more pay ect and never once after doing a exam like that did I think I could go off and do what the exam says I could now do. So I do understand the issues.

But bearing in mine the above do you think it's possible

[distaff_beancounter]

Whichever method you use just to pass the exams, I would suggest that you should buy & retain the full set of one of the well known series of ground school manuals.

I found that after I had got my PPL, I still went back to the books to check various bits that I had forgotten, or that I thought I needed to understand more thoroughly.

Even now, many years after getting my licence, I still go back to the books, often after reading something on Pprune, which makes me realise that I have forgotten/misunderstood something!

I never finish learning about flying.
I am still trying to improve. ;)

[QDMQDMQDM]

Do any of you think it’s possible to complete all of the exams from just reading and memorising the PPL confuser?

Probably, but it would be tricky from a standing start.

I'd advise use the PPL Confuser as your syllabus, working methodically through the questions and consulting the books frequently when you need to.

QDM

[ChocksAwayChick]

I'll tell you what my experience has been with doing the ground school, and give you some tips that I found useful, and maybe the combination will be of some use to you.

TIP ONE - buy the PPL Confuser and sleep with it under your pillow. It's the best £20 I ever spent, BUT don't think you can get through the exams just by memorising the answers, you can't. Sometimes they sneak similar but tricky ones it, and you wont know as much about flying as you should. Having said that, if you've read the books (Thom is good) and you can answer all the questions in the Confuser for each topic and get them right, AND have read all the answers as revision, then you'll "fly" (ahem) through the exams.

AIR LAW - Do this first. I nearly lost the will to live because it got so boring, but it's important to get out the way early - particularly as some schools wont let you solo until you've got it. Some bits are useful to remember, but most you can look up subsequently if necessary. This one you can cram for, and use the Confuser.

HUMAN PERFORMANCE - quite easy and largely common sense. You can cram for this, so do it early. This will take you half the time to read through and practice using the Confuser as Air Law, and is quite interesting. TIP : read through the Confuser questions BEFORE you read the Thom book. This will give you a clue as to what you should concentrate on, i.e. the Thom book has a load of (quite interesting) waffle about anatomy, but you don't need to know much of it to answer the exam questions. ANOTHER TIP : remember the difference beween the symptoms of Hypoxi and those of Monoxide poisoning.

WRITTEN RT - sadly this one is not represented in the Confuser. Use the CAP 413 book, not Thom. This has some useful examples in it. The exam is fairly short and the CAP 413 doesn't take too long to learn. I did this one early and before I'd used the radio much in actual flying, but you may find it easier to do later on once you'e used to using RT in practice. TIP : learn the order of the May-Day and Pan-Pan calls parrot-fashion. Also learn the order of position reports etc. ANOTHER TIP : know the content of a radio call in Special VFR flights (there's a page in the 413).

METEOROLOGY - this one was my favourite and is very interesting. You can't really cram for this as you need to understand the concepts and practice analysing the 214 and 215 weather reports, plus you need to learn the TAF/METAR abbreviations. Take your time over this one and use the Confuser religiously, especially practicing the 214/215 bits.

AIRCRAFT TECHNICAL - no doubt about it, this one's a PIG. Not so much because it's difficult, although some of the concepts take a while to get your head completely around, but also because there's a lot of detail that you do need to know. Again you can't cram this one because you need to understand the concepts/prinipcles and take the time to understand and remember the detail. Same ritual with reading, doing the questions in the back, doing the Confuser questions and reading through the answers. Try to get through ALL the Confuser questions say 3 times before you do the exam. It will pay big dividends - not least speeding up your response time in the exam, when time is of the essence.

AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE - even though this is a fairly small one, do this one AFTER Aircraft Technical, as you need to know/understand some of the concepts from the Technical section. You can cram this one to some extent, but you need to do it AFTER the Technical one, which you can't cram. Not horrendously difficult, but you'll need to memorise various things, such as the ratios for take-off distances etc. Confuser very helpful again!

NAVIGATION - quite fun actually, but do this one last. I had done several nav trips before I took this exam and had already been taught by my instructor to user the Flight Computer and various other techniques, so I found it quite easy. For this reason, it's good to do it last, because you will already be practiced at using the techniques which will save you time in the exam, and trust me, you'll need it. The Thom book is big and is a pain in the butt - we used a manual written by David Cockburn which was a lot smaller, had all the pertinent facts and some useful practice exercises (but does have some mistakes in the answers). The sections on course correction and 1/60 rule were very useful. Having said that, it was useful to still have the Thom book to look up the odd thing. The Fabulous Confuser was particularly useful for this exam.

I was working full time when I did these exams, so was only able to study at night and during the weekend. If you want to cram some exams before going to the US I would do Air Law, Human Performance and possibly Written RT. If you're brave, you could try the Met as well. The others I would take your time over. I took about a month each to read throug the Thom books, do the practice questions at the back, do all the Confuser questions and read through the answers 3 times, then do the exam.

I got 90% for the Air Law (because I hadn't twigged that I should read the Confuser First), 95% for the RT (because I hadn't remember the page about Special VFR) and 100% for each of the rest of them - so my method works!

That was a bit more of a long winded response that I was anticipating, but I hope you find it useful. Doing the exams is a pain in the butt, but if you do it right, you wont have to do them again!

Good luck, and have fun in the States. And don't Buzz any cows. :p

[FlyingForFun]

Chocks,

What an excellent post!

A couple of very minor points which you've reminded me about, though. Two relating to R/T:

The list of things which you need to learn exactly for R/T is spot on, but I just wanted to add, with regard to position reports, that yes you must learn them for the exams, but then forget about them afterwards, because no one makes position reports the way you're supposed to, or that you have to for the exam!

Also, you say there is no R/T exam in the Confuser: this is true of the latest version of the Confuser. But see if you can find someone who did the old CAA exams, and borrow their Confuser from them, because there is an R/T exam in the old version.

And finally, re. the Confuser, it is an excellent book for checking that you're up to speed before going into the exam. But there are a small number of questions which they've got wrong. If the Confuser disagrees with Thom or Pratt, then Thom and Pratt are right.

FFF
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