The ground school course I took involved distance learning followed by a couple of weeks consolidation in the class room before sitting the exams. Personally I just studied the books before the classroom section and didn't get involved with any of the course work. Now the question banks are available on line and with some groundschools running online help forums imo there is even less need for course work. This method worked for me, I got some good pass marks and I didn't even take any A levels, just a City and Guilds in hydraulics and pneumatics.
