Gillespie
From what I can tell different people have different methods. I always treated the progress tests as a closed book exam because I wanted to see what I had remembered. Having taken the test and usually scored badly I checked all incorrect answers and then took the whole test again. I found this good because you often come across questions that you guessed and got correct and it helps to see it a second time. (It's a real bugger when you get it wrong the second time!) I usually scored high 90's or 100's the second time through the test. Worked for me.
I don't think it matters how long it takes at this stage. When you go on the brush up all of the exams that you get set will have realistic time limits for you to work to. Things like Gen Nav and Flight planning will always take a long time due to the amount of calculation and whizz wheel work required, HP &L will be quick coz you either know it or you don't.
The best place to find out what other students do is on the Jals forum. There is a lot of discussion there about these sorts of things.
Benhur is correct that you do need to be proficient on the whizz wheel. I use the wind up technique for wind calcs however that is the easy part, it's the other side you need to be good at. practice, practice, practice. If there's anything you don't get, which doesn’t get sorted on the forum, fear not it will be sorted on the brush up.
I don’t think that Benhur’s technique is correct (or it’s just different to what BGS teach). The part at the very bottom is used for calculating runway headwind/tailwind/x-wind components. If it’s runway calcs that you are doing then you set the slider so that the top of that area is on the center dot of the wheel. If you are trying to do GS/Drift calcs then you put your TAS in the center, set the wind up, draw the wind on the chart, and simply rotate the wheel leaving the slider where it is. It’s all explained in the CRP5 and BGS notes.
Good Luck
SW
Last edited by Sky Wave; 21st December 2004 at 07:12.