A PPL is a valuable achievement as is UAS flying and gliding in particular provides confidence on an integrated course although can sometimes be detrimental as techniques and procedures vary (think point and power final approach vs power for descent and attitude for speed for example) and be careful - overconfidence can quickly be the undoing of the cadet with some previous experience. Ultimately it's down to your ability and willingness to adapt.
The first solo is really the deciding point in training where you can see, before the student has progressed too far, whether they have the required skill and coordination to continue - weak visual attitude control will usually lead to poor basic instrument scanning later on and often basic coordination problems will become apparent early on, after all, the approach and landing is the most demanding of the coordination tasks you will face, even with a 10kt HWC. For integrated training, it is normally used as a natural selection point - for many, although they have passed selection and the theoretical knowledge exams, they have not flown and it is not uncommon to discover that not everyone is suitable. Indeed, one integrated school I'm aware of introduced a pre-solo progress check in an attempt to mitigate the number of accidents that students were suffering on their first and early solo sorties. It's not only technical issues , and extreme air sickness and spatial awareness problems can also present a barrier to progress. In a couple of cases, I've seen a lack of motivation linked to confidence problems.
Progress Tests can also occasionally identify a problem(s) and can technically result in a recommendation to stop training although this is unusual. The CPL Skill Test though can be an obstacle for some and there are cases where the candidate is unable to perform satisfactorily on the day on multiple attempts. I've seen perhaps two or three unsuccessful CPL's following two previous attempts (meaning either an outright fail on first attempt then an unsuccessful retake or partial and unsuccessful partial retake). This is not a good endorsement of the school however which is why is fairly unusual to recommend a candidate who is not ready or unsuitable.
I didn't know bears could ride bicycles - every day's a school day!
Last edited by Reverserbucket; 24th Jan 2017 at 11:22.