Originally Posted by
amateur
I am starting to study for the dreaded ATPL theory. Ive been using the Advanced Flight Theory (AFT) study books.
I don't know about others, but I actually found the ATPL theory quite interesting. It certainly wasn't something I dreaded studying for. For fear of sounding like a geeky knob head,
I actually quite enjoyed sitting the exams. I used to love pressing the "submit answers" button, and then sit through the long and painful wait for your score to appear on the screen! It was such a big buzz to see your score appear > 70 and knowing that you've successfully knocked one off. When I finished my last one, Flight Planning, there was a sad feeling as I left the ASL exam centre for the last time and never to see the testing officer ever again.
Sorry for the digression ... but the point I want to make is that the ATPL exams should not be dreaded. The content is interesting; the exams
are challenging (compared to the Mickey Mouse exams of other licensing authorities), and when you do finish all of them, you do feel a great sense of achievement.
As for the best way to prepare for them, AFT is definitely the go. I definitely didn't think the notes are waffle at all; infact, you'll find that the AFT notes do get straight to the point, sometimes a little too quickly in my opinion (whereby you then needed to email their support line to clarify a few things).
I also used notes from the other popular providers and have to admit that Rob Avery's notes are also very good (although he needs to update some of his questions for flight planning, where he uses waypoints on charts that have long disappeared on the ERCs). Infact, Rob's texts are probably much better for Aerodynamics and Systems than AFT's.
Do take some time to look at other resources as well, eg the Bureau of Met's Manual is an excellent resource, and quite underused for exam preparation IMHO.
Good luck with it all!
