I used The Great Circle to finish my exams at the end of last year. I thought I could pass with self-study and with Air Law and Aircraft General I did just that at my flying club (Leicester). I was reading the AFE (Pratt) books and the Q&A Simplifier for mock exams. I passed the first 2 quite easily. Then the new rules came into effect (the extra exams) along with the new papers. I was ready to tackle Navigation and went in brimming with confidence. I failed so miserably my CFI didn't even tell me the result, but I knew I struggled with it. I had read about some of the things in the exam in Flight Planning but I hadn't really studied to exam level on that subject… Content had been moved around!
With that I was stumped. The new exams moved some of the material between Navigation and Performance & Planning as well as other topics, and I was at a bit of a loss as to how I was going to go forward using the old books.
I reluctantly went to Harrogate and coughed up my considerable amount of cash as I felt it the best way to tackle the new and clearly different exam structure, with a bit of guidance.
It was the best thing I could have done. Adam, the owner and main tutor was extremely knowledgeable and professional. I didn't just learn to pass the exams, I learned a great deal about safety from his own experience, as well as loads of tips of how to impress your Examiner during your skills test (he is one).
Stephanie organised the week and couldn't have been more accommodating and helpful the whole time, from booking to collating the paperwork at course end.
Not to mention the midweek night out that ended up... well… let’s say it started out at a fantastic restaurant and went on until way too late for the exams next day! (Stephanie bought us all breakfast to kick start our day).
I would strongly recommend The Great Circle. It’s not cheap, but the classroom setting, the wisdom you learn, the friendliness of the team and of course the exam results that you will leave with are well worth the investment.
Just to say though... before I went I had already read the entire AFE PPL books as part of my self-study. Having an underpinning knowledge in each subject before I entered the classroom helped me achieve all scores above 90% and even 100%. I’d thoroughly recommend doing that, as there are still things in those books that are worth knowing that might not have come up in Harrogate.
By the way.. Yes they do it in 5 days, but these arent 9 to 5 days. Try 0830 until sometimes 8 or 9 in the evening! It's a lot of work, but I enjoyed it all.