What are we paying for?
The "ATPL exams", I was told, were the most demanding part of the journey towards the dream job we are all chasing!
Are they hard.....YES.....But not in the sense that they should be.
Before starting the atpl ground school, I was under the impression that the exams would be demanding in the sense that there was a wealth of knowledge that I would have to learn in a relatively short period of time.
This part is certainly true, but it seems that although the knowledge is there to be learnt, one is far more likely to pass the exams if one has access to the exams before hand and has spent a day or so learning their a,b,c sequence.
Is it only me that is a bit worried that there are people passing the atpl exams based on there short term memory?
Also, I know we are all using feedback questions......but surely there is something wrong when pupils have seen the exam paper questions the day before?
That kind of takes the wind out of your sails. You have spent hours learning the rules, concepts etc, then on the day of the exam you learn from others that they didn’t bother with the hard graft, instead they learnt their, a, b, c's for the expected paper....which strangely enough appeared!
If I was going to give future atpl course seekers some advice it would be the following:
1- Buy decent manuals.......some schools will insist you fork out money on their manuals....yet during your time there you won't open three quarters of them.
2- Seriously consider distance learning. The way the exams are set up, distance learning would give you the required ability...not necessarily the knowledge though...to pass the exams. You will also be saving on living expenses etc.
3- Make friends with the people who have got pals at Oxford and Bristol......they seem to have the inside track as to what you can expect for the exams. (There are numerous rumours that somewhere along the line certain schools have had their wrists slapped for underhand dealings concerning the ATPL exams, which is something you don't want associated with......but should consider benefiting from)
Perhaps this is the result of commerce. To schools, each new intake of students is and intake of more money. So in the interest of a healthy cash flow they are structuring their courses on too short a time scale. And why not....under the current set up they can get away with it. Perhaps increasing the required teaching hours would bring knowledge back to the forefront of this professional qualification instead of short term memory.
Its unlikely A,B,C's are going to save you and your unlucky passengers in an emergency. Only a thought.