Modular-how to rank costs??

[Robbo0885]

Hi all. Looking for some opinions here. Im going down modular route, and thinking about my ground school. (In truth, have been for months!) I cant make up my mind between Bristol and Cranfield. There's a difference of £1100 between the two, so my question is this:

Is it better to spend more money on ground school, or on flying time for hour building? If I go with cranfield I will only have online material, but will afford an extra 11hrs flying.

With Bristol, I will get books and a CD, but will loose the 11hrs flying due to the increased cost of the course.

Im doing distance learning, so figure its down to me to work hard and get myself through. Therefore, is there likely to be a difference in how well i do between the two? Better to get the extra 11hrs flying, or better to spend more on ground school?

Always, opinions are appreciated, particularly anyone who has gone down the same route and is a ahead of me.

[portsharbourflyer]

You are about to spend in the region of 40-50,000 in the next two years and you are worried about losing 11 hours of flying incase you spend an extra X amount of notes for ground school. In the long run of things the amount you are talking about is trivial.

[Robbo0885]

This may seem trivial to you, but I dont believe it is.Seeing as I am going to spend 40-50,000 in the next 5 years, and i am aware of every pound I spend, I try to decide what I NEED to spend money on, and what I dont. Why? because every pound I spend is a pound i need to earn through work. 11 hours flying is 10% of my hour building, and will take me apporximately 3 months to save. Therefore, I am trying to rank what is important to spend that little more on. If i take the cheaper GS, I get 11 hours flying as well. I am not financially secure enough, nor in a well enough paying job to consider 11 hours flying trivial I'm afraid.

For example, I will do hour building in Uk. It will cost more, but I believe the experience is better. Therefore, worth extra cost. Night rating is cheaper at a different scholl to my current one. So, I will do it at the cheaper one, as it is only 5 hours and so therefore ok to save a bit of money on. I bought my PPL books on ebay, last years editions. got me an extra hour flying.

These things may seem trivial, but in the long run may be the difference of thousands of pounds. Are you really telling me that to save £1100 on getting the same thing does not concern you? I am simply raising the question of what sort of things you should prioritise the cash to, and what sort of things you can afford to do a little more cheaply.

[Mercenary Pilot]

Visit both schools and see which one suits YOU best. Wherever possible, don't let cost alone decide your training provider, go for reputation (that doesn't mean fancy brochures), quality and the one where you feel comfortable.

Bristol and CATS (that's who you mean right?) both have stellar reputations for getting their students through the exams, providing industry leading study material and teaching the subjects properly. All it comes down to is personal choice.

[AlphaMale]

I'm not totally up to date with the pass rates of Cranfield and BGS, but people who have done their exams via BGS swear by them and many have passed with 90%+ pass rates first time. But I've not heared bad reports from CATS either.

If you go with a cheaper school it may be false economy? i.e. You'll have to pay for the re-sits and take time off work/drive to the test center etc.

You may end up spending the same money but with 2nd time passes :confused:.

And as portsharbourflyer said, when you're looking at spending £40k / £50k on training the £1k is neither here no there.

Have you looked into the cost of a Multi-IR Test? it's a hard test and some need to re-sit it :hmm:. I think it's wiser to invest in a good school none the less - "Buy cheap buy twice" (this isn't aimed at the ground schools above - more at training schools and pretty much anything in life)

Like FTO's / Modular v Integrated / BGS v CATS ... go with what suits you.

[portsharbourflyer]

The only reason CATs is cheaper is they offer on-line notes only, CATS do give you the option of buying the hard copy notes, if you opt to do this then the price difference between CATS and Bristol narrows.
CATS are a very good school, I passed every single subject with them first time, although that was a few years back.

If your are hour building in the UK you really need to find a better hour building rate than £100 an hour.

[Nozwaldo]

I didn't use either school so can't comment on them. You are right that it is down to you as a distance learner to put the work in to pass the exams. All schools will offer you support though so you aren't right out on a limb. If money is the biggest factor, then save some for the flying. The amount of work & effort you put in to pass the exams first time is down to you alone. If you put the effort in, you will pass first time irrespective of who you study with. Quality of study materials will be a factor also. I received a CD with the books in PDF format and also hard copies but found the hard copies suited me better. Bristols online question bank is very useful and anyone can subscribe for £50/3 months, I used it for my final few exams & it really helped.