Looking to start ATPL theory
Hello,
I passed my PPL skills test last week, and am looking ahead to what I may want to do with my flying.
My intention at this time is to continue towards commercial training, and as a result I'm making arrangements to start hour building (1-3 hours a week) soon and more importantly begin studying for the ATPL theory.
The most convenient time for me to do this is between now and this September, when I expect to have less free time to devote to this (I am currently balancing this with University work, but am on temporary leave so have more free time than usual). As a result, I'd be looking to hopefully pass all the exams within 6 months. I'm confident I can spend at least a few hours a day studying for this, perhaps more. It would definitely be by distance learning, as opposed to an 'in-house' course.
My two options are CATS and Bristol. It would seem at first that CATS is the better choice, due to more flexible pricing options and also being given permanent access to the online training system, which would be great for future reference after passing the exams. Bristol on the other hand do not give you access to the software updates after finishing the course, so any material you have would become more and more outdated with time. Another concern also is BGS do not allow you to start until receiving your license, which will most likely take a while due to delays in sorting out the paperwork for my application.
Another thing I need to consider is how the material is presented - I am coming from a scientific background (I study Physics). When I did my PPL, I used both the AFE and Pooleys series of books. I found the AFE books slightly worse from my perspective, as the way the technical/science related material was presented seemed to assume less background scientific understanding. I therefore ended up wasting a little time working through over-simplified explanations of certain concepts (to the point of sometimes being technically incorrect), which ended up making it more difficult to understand. The Pooleys books were a bit better in this respect. Are there any such differences between the way the CATS and BGS theory is presented? Is one more 'geared' towards students who are more scientifically minded than the other?
Another issue I came across while looking into this is that of compulsory study time. I knew already that there was a significant amount of compulsory classroom time (I think about 50 hours?) which is covered by the revision courses ('brush-up' at CATS). However, I spoke to somebody at CATS who informed me there was also a mandated minimum of time to spend studying the actual material prior to this, and that it could be assessed by looking at the length of time I spend logged into the online system (I think it was about 600 hours). What if I manage to attain a good standard in all the subjects in less than this time, or if I spend some of this time learning from the books instead?
I'd greatly appreciate any feedback on these questions, the pros/cons of CATS/BGS, or indeed anything related to the theory course.
Last edited by Odai; 25th Jan 2013 at 21:59.