Yo, Keith ...
Actually, I was confused by the quite different way the Brits appear to approach things.. to me the process in the CAP is exceedingly convoluted ... although the aim is much the same as the much simpler approach with which we are familiar in this neck of the woods. The related words in the first couple of posts didn't make much sense without the rest of the story's details to fill in the holes in my knowledge of how you guys go about business ..
Once I got my head around the process, the initial confusion associated with the early posts in this thread resolved itself fairly easily ...
Guess I have learned a bit from this thread as to how some things are done elsewhere .. main thing is that folks like you and me continue to toss things around so that the students amongst the readership get to see a broader picture than just the frenetic rush to get the tick-in-the-box pass.
Years ago, when I was actively involved in theory training, many of my students probably hated me intensely for pushing the learning bit at the start .. but, invariably, that made the exam bit a lot easier .. mind you, if the average evening class was scheduled for two hours .. it generally ended up going for three to four ... I just don't learn ... did the same thing with sim training .. if we could scrounge a bit more time from the techs we put it to good use ... recall one keen upgrade crew several years ago .. it was about 0200 and 5-6 hours into the (extended) session .. the fatigue signs cut in and I just had to pull the plug .. they were still as keen as mustard .. but isn't that what makes it all worthwhile for guys like you and me ? ... the real keen student .. doesn't matter whether he/she is a fast learner or not ..