Assuming ilkley is ilkley in Yorkshire, you're presumably studying for the UK ATPL exams.
You are required to sign up to an approved course and complete a certain amount of classroom training.
That said, there's nothing to stop you signing up for the cheapest provider (currently CATS) and then buying notes from one of the other providers from EBAY. Strictly speaking this is probably a breach of copyright by the seller, but this is what I've done. The CATS notes are on-line only and aren't brilliant so I've invested in some BGS notes to supplement them. The BGS notes really are excellent and can help your understanding to have alternative explanations of the topics. When I'm finished I'll be £1000 or so better off than if I'd signed up for the BGS course.
CATS also offer the benefit of three one-week brush up sessions, whereas Bristol force you to attend 2 * 2 week sessions which is a lot of holiday used up.
Last edited by taxistaxing; 6th August 2012 at 09:46.