ATPL Exams in review.
This will be my first PPRUNE post, and I’m mostly writing it as a thanks to all the content I read which helped my get through ATPL exams, also as an updated reference for all those sitting post 2025.
Firstly, these exams - like many parts of aviation - are expensive, time consuming and not much fun. The only way to get past them is to enjoy the struggle, close your eyes to your bank account, and accept that if flying was easy - everyone would be doing it. In a way, I see these exams as more of a test of your character than anything else.
There aren’t too many sources of ATPL theory, the two main providers at the moment seem to be Brady Phillips of Aviation Theory Services (ATS) and Nathan Higgins of Advanced Flight Theory (AFT).
I used the ATS courses, and for the most part found them really good. You get access to an online website with probably 20-50, 5-10 min videos of Brady explaining topics. Then he also sends you a textbook in the mail with express shipping which for me rocked up remarkably quickly. You also get access to 4 or 5 pdf document practice exams which are extremely valuable. I highly recommend ATS - Brady's content became by prime theory source.
I can’t speak for AFT theory, I used their Cyber exams for some subjects. They cost like $300 per subject and you only get access to 4 exams that you can’t even resit - but at least they’re online and are pretty similar to the real thing.
Also to note. As a CPL student my method for studying, was pretty much read the Aviation Theory Centre textbook, smash as many Pilot Practice Exams I could - till I got 100% in everything then hope for the best. This won’t work for the ATPL exams. You should still purchase PPE I think, mainly just because its practically “free” in the scheme of things, but keep in mind the questions are significantly less helpful, and often flat out wrong, in comparison to their CPL counterpart.
Human Factors - First attempt 15/4/2024, Passed 30/7/2024
Human Factors was my first ATPL exam, I thought HUF would be easy, as I found CPL HUF not too bad, but it actually ended up being the only exam I failed it twice. Passing it the third time at 93%. I entirely self studied for this exam - mostly through the CASA Human Factors Workbooks, but I also used Pilot Practice Exams. It is one of the more similar exams to its CPL counterpart, but you need to be able to walk into the exam being extremely confident in your knowledge of every MOS point. Before my third attempt I was able to recite to a camera, word for word, the entirety of resource book 8.
Aerodynamics and Systems - First attempt 16/8/2024, Passed 2/10/2024
Aero was a challenging but really interesting topic, I failed it once and after that decided it was time to quit my job and focus full time on these exams.
My advice with the systems side of it is to do as many different practice questions as humanly possible. I used all ATS exams till I could get 100% and bought the AFT Cyber exams as well. Even some PPE questions were ok. And the aviation theory centre book was pretty good for this subject also. Pretty much you just gotta spend some dollars unfortunately. Then for the aero side - you can’t beat just having a really good understanding of all the core concepts. - know exactly how an increase or decrease in temp, weight, speed - or anything else effects everything.
NAV, - First attempt 29/10/24, passed 2/11/24
Nav I think is a good one to get you prepped for the “calculation” based exams. It wasn’t tooo challenging. And contained a nice mix of both theory and calculation. I enjoyed my month of study I spent on Nav.
For this exam I entirely used ATS’s course and it was really good.
Flight Planning - First attempt 17/12/24, passed 4/02/25
Everything you’ve heard about Flight Planning is true, it is the essence of what the ATPL exams stand for, and is so comically horrendous it’s almost enjoyable. I attended Brady’s in-person course at Jandakot - and it was well worth it. One of the many things that make flight planning confusing is that everyone seems to do things differently. Each theory provider, and even CASA, use different methods of working things out - In my opinion Brady’s method makes the most sense but I may be biased. Pretty much, just good luck with this exam, you’ll routinely hear of people on their fifth attempt. Though I did manage to pass on my second. If ever there was an exam not to just sit and see how you go it's this one. I wouldn’t even begin to think about sitting it until you would feel confident giving a lecture on the topic to a room of students. You need to be able to do the working out of the question pretty much on autopilot, so you then have spare brain capacity to see if the question is trying to trick you in any way, and to catch your own mistakes. It’s definitely a time critical exam, I ran out of time on my first attempt by 2 or 3 questions. And thought how am I possibly ment to do it any quicker, but after another two months, and extra thousands of practice questions, it is possible. As I finished with 10 mins to spare attempt number two.
Performance - Passed 04/03/2025
After doing flight planning, performance feels like free marks. It was the first exam I managed to pass first go. It still is a challenging exam, with more time pressure than you might expect, but if you can get all the ‘flight planning’, law, and theory questions right, which are mostly pretty straightforward. Then you should be able to cop the greater gamble that are some of those performance chart & w&b questions. I got 90% with two KDR’s being a take off chart and a trim sheet.
And again I used the ATS course which was good.
Meteorology - Passed 17/3/2025
Met’s good, after getting this far I was on the home stretch. I just had to touch up on all my CPL Met knowledge, but luckily there's plenty of content out there for this subject. The ATS course was really good, but if you're looking at saving some dollars you could probably go without. I’d recommend being able to draw a picture of the globe with all the different wind systems and high and low pressure systems.
Also random tip, a pneumonic I came up with for when CAT in a jet stream will be most severe is:
Leg (Over Land)
Before (Below)
Wicket (in Winter)
Proper (Polar side)
Cricket (Curves)
Air Law - Passed 25/3/25
I sat and passed Law one week after passing Met, study consisted of ATS practice questions. Find the answer, highlight and repeat. Really by this point I was pretty familiar with aviation law. So if you’ve been in the industry for a while - hopefully the exam wont be to big of a surprise. Just go in and do your best.
In review these exams took me a year to complete ( 6 months of full time study) and probably north of $6000, going to theory providers, ASPEQ and charts.
The money hurts in comparison to CPL, but then again I spent that much in one hit on my MCC course and despite very well worth doing, I would’ve got less “value” out of that.
So best of luck everyone. You’ll get there!