Scroggs, you have compared the workload for all 14 ATPL exams with 3 or 4 GCSE's. I do not agree.
Firstly, any comparison of this nature is almost futile, even comparing degrees. Why? Well to explain we first need to look at the required standard to just PASS the exam.
The workload and effort a person has to put in to most qualifications is directly proportional to the result/grade they wish to achieve at the end. Nearly all courses, including GCSE's, A levels and Degrees have such wide pass tolerances, that it is possible for a student to strategically put in as little work as possible to achieve a pass. The pass mark for most Bsc degrees is somewhere in the region of 40% - very low indeed.
Such courses also provide the opportunity to use coursework to bolster this grade. I remember re-submitting my GCSE English coursework countless times in order to improve my grade, and hence my overall chances of passing the subject.
The ATPL has a very LOW pass tolerance. The 75% pass mark is much higher than any traditional course, and would equate to a grade A at GCSE and a First Class Honours Degree at Degree level. This pass mark demonstrates a MINIMUM amount of effort that must be put in to the ATPL, and this constitutes a lot of work and a lot of effort.
I would also like to counter the claim that the knowledge of the ATPL is shallow compared with that of a degree. This is wrong. Most graduates leave University with a wide general knowledge of their subject area, which is the intention of most degrees. This is almost identical to the philosophy of the ATPL. I speak having achieved a BSc and a Masters.
I often read posts referring to the ATPL’s as easy because the level of mathematics is not much higher than GCSE. This frustrates me somewhat as it implies that the difficulty of any subject relies on the complexity of the formulas that have to be used. This is clearly incorrect. There are many subjects out there with little or no mathematics that people find difficult. General Navigation is one of those subjects – very easy maths but it is often the concepts that people have trouble with.
It is often easy to forget how much work we, as individuals, have put in to achieving our qualifications. Think of the number of people on your ATPL course that found it easy - probably only a very small percentage. Lets not do ourselves an injustice by telling those wanting to start ATPL's that it was easy, but similarly lets not give the impression that it’s incredibly difficult.
Everything is achievable with hard work.
Bodie.