PPL confuser, is it as good as I think it is?

[hedges81]

Just a quick one,

am currently studying for the PPL theory, using the confuser as one of my books.
Am I right in thinking that the confuser contains every possible question that can be asked in the exams? i.e. if I learn all the questions I will literally have everything covered when I sit the exams in a couple of weeks?

Are the questions in the confuser exactly the same as in the exams? or are there slight variations? seems a bit too good to be true to me.

ta

[FlyingForFun]

Are the questions in the confuser exactly the same as in the exams? or are there slight variations? seems a bit too good to be true to meYes, it is too good to be true.

The main problem is that the Confuser does not give you an understanding of the exams. The reason you have to study for these exams is because the material - or at least most of it - is important to know.

The next problem with the Confuser is that some of the answers given are wrong. If you learn these answers and take them into the exam, you will get them wrong in the exam. If you learn your subject, then you will be able to spot the mistakes in the Confuser, check with your instructor (or even check on these forums) that you are not mistaken, and then learn the correct answer.

As for whether all the questions on the written exam are in the Confuser, I don't know, but I doubt it. Especially since some of the exams were updated fairly recently - more recently than the Confuser, to the best of my knowledge.

The correct way of using the Confuser is to learn the subjects from one of the recognised text books - either Trevor Thom or Jeremy Pratt. Once you think you have a good understanding of the subject, try the Confuser exam. If you get 90% or more, sit the real exam, otherwise go back to your text books again.

Since you've posted this in the Wannabes forum, rather than the Private Flying forums (where it probably belongs), I assume you're thinking of going on to be a commercial pilot? Everything I've said applies at least 10 times as much for most of the commercial exams (although I will admit that there are a couple of the commercial exams which can only be passed by learning the questions, by their very nature). For the commercial exams, changing one work can completely change the answer, and the question writers are quite happy to use this trick to try to catch out people who have simply learnt the answers.

FFF
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[bolty_1000]

I agree with FFF.

Although you can pass (and get very good marks), with the confuser if you are planning on taking things further then you will have a struggle with the ATPL's.

Best of knowing your stuff then you will never get tripped up in the exams!!!!

Best of luck though......

[IO540]

The Confuser is brilliant, a must, for getting through all the cr*p which makes up the CAA exams.

[BEagle]

Do remember that the PPL(A) exams were all revised quite recently....

The PPL Confuser will help as a revision aid, but it will not substitute for proper study.

And don't listen to the utter nonsense spouted by IO540 - he is totally wrong. The JAA sets the minimum requirements to which the CAA adheres.

[IO540]

Like the date of the Chicago Convention :O

[MyData]

1944 - and if you didn't know that you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the controls. Tsk. ;)

Oh, and yes, IMHO the Confuser is invaluable, but only as a means to assist in exam prep and revision. It won't get you there on its own.

[stue]

FFF summed it up mate.
Be aware of the wrong answers, and question them if you dont understand it.

Yes, but do you all know ALL the articles of the Chicago Convention, with out cheating??:p

[FlyingForFun]

Let's not confuse PPL exams with ATPL exams here. For both of them, you need to know your subjects, but for different reasons.

For the PPL exams, it's because the material, on the whole, is important to know.

For the ATPL exams, as IO540 says, most of the material is cr@p, but the questions are written in such a way that it is very difficult to pass most of the exams purely from learning the answers without understanding the subjects.

Hedges81 initially asked about the PPL Confuser, hence I interpret it to mean PPL exams. I only mention the ATPL exams because he posted originally in Wannabes (before it got moved here), so I suspect he might be going on to ATPL exams sooner or later.

FFF
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[edymonster]

The PPL confuser does not help with the radio exams. You also cant learn the ansers for nav as the routes given in the PPL exams are different to stuff in the confuser. Same with some questions for met as well, you wont be given the same tafs and metars.

[WingDown]

The PPL Confuser is a useful guide to the questions you'll get on the exams. However, as people have said it's too easy to learn the answers without fully understanding the subject. Its really up to you to use the book as an aid rather than using it as a script for the exams. Also worth mentioning is that most confusers still have 3 answers for each question where as the exams now have 4. They may have now updated the book however.

WD

[Alvin Steele]

I have one of the really early versions from 95 and it was invaluable when I took my exams on my PPL course in the States.......so much so, that other students were getting me to order more copies fro England!

[CVT Pilot]

Hi,

The PPL Confuser is useful as a resource to aid in training for the PPL, although as has already been said is by no means a substitute for reading the manuals (Trevor Thom etc.). Again it is best to read the material and practice with the questions in the PPL Confuser and if you're getting 85% and over then you stand a good chance of passing the CAA exams (as told to me by my FTO when I did my PPL).

Also worth remembering is that the PPL Confuser is frequently updated and many copies you will buy brand new will not be a totally accurate representation of the actual CAA exams - so be careful! As a PPL and ATPL groundschool student I speak on behalf of many others when I tell you that they can be a very sneaky bunch so know your stuff and practice lots! (Chicago Convention 1944 very important to remember!).

Good Luck in the exams,

CVT Pilot.

[IO540]

Of course a real pilot, with hair in his chest (sorry girlz) will know all the differences to ICAO which every country (through whose airspace he might fly) has filed, since 1944 :O

These differences can be fun to read (well for some, anyway) and they very nearly make a mockery of the whole thing.

[Say again s l o w l y]

I had a student who passed his air law today and I was very glad when he mentioned that most of the questions he'd never seen before.

The confuser is a good study aid, but that's all it is. There is no subsitute to actually learning the subject properly.

As an aside, I had another student who decided to sit a paper a couple of months ago and I asked him how he'd been studying. "I've been reading the confuser." He thought it would get him through the exam. I told him this might not be such a good idea, but he elected to do it any way. Needless to say, he didn't pass. Especially when I made sure he received one of the updated papers. A bit harsh maybe, but it got the point across!

Moral of the story, use the other books and just check your knowledge with the confuser. As BEagle and FFF have mentioned, the exams have been updated recently seemingly specifically to catch out those relying on the confuser. The people who set the papers do go through the confuser themselves you know!!

[TheKentishFledgling]

Of course a real pilot, with hair in his chest (sorry girlz) will know all the differences to ICAO which every country (through whose airspace he might fly) has filed, since 1944 :O
These differences can be fun to read (well for some, anyway) and they very nearly make a mockery of the whole thing.

Yes, but love it or hate it, you need to know it to pass the exam.

What's the point in complaining, when for this chap that's asked the question, he needs to know it, whether it's crap or not.

tKF