Farrell is kind of correct suggesting you enjoy your time off, but not entirely correct as everyone has their own way of learning. For myself, having been out of education for some years before I started ATPL studies and not being the world's best at either physics or maths then I would have benefitted from completing one of the pre-Maths and Physics packages available. I didn't and it took quite a while to get 'into the groove'. Having learnt that lesson, I am preparing to go the US for CPL/IR training by doing the FAA exams here and swotting up on RANT etc. Prior preparation prevents p!$$ poor performance in my book, and poor performance = cost. Does this make me a "goody two shoes"?. Frankly I don't care what other students think about my approach to learning - what matters to me is having more chance of passing the courses because I had the foresight to build in some 'spare capacity'.