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Old 1st March 2002 | 14:47
  #14 (permalink)  
Luke SkyToddler
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Joined: Mar 1999
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From: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti
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Well done to the chaps/chappesses that passed, and well done to Pilot Assist for what it's worth, not that I know much about Pilot Assist.

I have to say though, that I've noticed a big tendency on here recently when it comes to ground exam discussion - all these people are talking like they expect it's all got to do with the groundschool they choose, as though somewhere in someone's study notes is some sort of magic bullet that will give you all the answers and guaranteed passes.

Back in the day (a couple of years ago), when myself and the two other pilots I was studying with were doing the ATPLs (all self studying), none of us could afford a residential course, so we collectively pooled our resources and ended up using a collection of Bristol and incomplete PPSC notes for our navs, a combination of second-hand Cabair and PPSC notes for the techs, a New Zealand HPL book and some OATS, Bristol and Coventry practice papers. Just about all the above lot had gone through the hands of about 20 other aussies and kiwis, been written on and generally ripped to shreds, before any of us got our hands on them.

In my experience, I found all the notes from all the schools contained near identical material - certainly very similar, and in any case any of them were more than sufficient to get the job done if you actually sat down and read the things. In fact I'd say the only real differences between any of them were minor ones to do with presentation and the order of the material that each chapter or module covered.

It does cause me to raise my eyebrows a bit now, when I see the number of recent threads on here with people comparing the relative 'first time exam pass rates' of all these different groundschools. Exam pass rates are not like football leagues, and it's kind of pointless to try and treat them as ammunition to score imaginary points against other schools as some people appear to be set on doing.

The truth is that each school has its own set of circumstances (like the large number of OATS students for whom English is not a first language, for example), they've all got a certain number of very good and probably one or two not-so-good instructors, who will successfully get through to some people and not to others.

It's a bit unfashionable to say these days, but my opinion is that it's got sod all to do with the school and how many other students have got their 'first time pass', and it's got plenty to do with the desire of the individual student to pull their finger out and do some studying.
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