Anyone from the July Aero course

[happy.paul]

Afternoon all, i asked this in the interview thread but i guess it got washed up with all the stage 1 and 2 anxious posts so i thought i'd try a new one.

If i could trouble any of the people on the July Aero course for a few dumb questions!

Hows the course?! Is it as hard going as people say?

Does anyone cycle to the college?! If so how long does it take( from westby road area) and whats the best route?

Whats the gym like at the college? Is there lots of equipment, how busy does it get and what are the opening hours?

Cheers guys and good luck with the coursehttp://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

[JonathanB]

Paul, it might be worth posting on the NATS Departure Lounge forums or on the course facebook group page (see link from departure lounge forums) :)

[Gingerbread Man]

From Westby Road I would estimate 30 minutes cycle to the college. Lockers are fairly limited though and I never fancied the logistical side of it enough to try it. The gym is a room with an old multigym, a treadmill, a couple of ancient cycle machines and a concept II rower. It's worth the 30p per month charge just to use the rower, and you can also borrow bikes with the same membership.

The gym was never very busy in my experience. Opening hours i'm not sure about, but it was open after college finished.

As for the course, i'm not there anymore, but it was fairly intense and seemed like a lot longer than four months. It seemed fairly typical that people could feel the pressure as the course drew out. This is mainly just the relatively steep learning curve and the loom of assessments. Don't worry though, you'll be taught well and have others to go through it with you. Or you might just breeze it and wonder what I was talking about!

Cheers

Ginger ;)

[3miles]

4 months lol

the joys of being there for nearly 2 years in the "Good Old Days"

Westby Road to college....hmmm dont think I'd fancy cycling it at that time of the morning everyone tries to kill you in a car let alone a bike.

Fairly easy route in sense of distance and Hills just the flyover to get across, but like I say just a bit of a manic road to be on. Think there are some cycle routes though around there, and probably slightly longer way to go but more bike friendly.

If you are Car free....then often you will find the masses all live westby road, so always some good car sharing to be had.

Top tip for College.....Play hard as much as you work hard. Those that sat reading their books all the time, and wouldnt come and have a beer generally failed when I was there. But then it twas a lot harder not all this mamby pamby sumatives stuff, and recourses they have now.

[LEGAL TENDER]

But then it twas a lot harder not all this mamby pamby sumatives stuff, and recourses they have now.

yep, it must have been really tough on 25k plus weekly allowances compared to now !!

[Gingerbread Man]

What was in place before summatives then? Found them a bit of a clencher if i'm honest, but maybe i'm namby pamby by past standards.

Cheers,

Ginger ;)

[3miles]

yep, it must have been really tough on 25k plus weekly allowances compared to now !!

Wasnt quite that much back then, and you actually needed to survive at the college long enough to pick that up. No automatic recourses, if fact someone getting a recourse was only generally if it was on medical or personal grounds.

And before summatives, was the great system of where you do your 6 summatives, to average out a pass or fail, for each phase of assesments, you got one 30 minute assesment, fail that....and it was off to the job centre. there was more of them per course, oh and at one point they even invented something called periodic reporting, where they wrote a report at the end of each week, and graded that. if you got a C in that and then also a C the following week, you were then made to sit an extra assesment that everyone else didnt do. No multiple choice Written papers, it was all from memory. And the best of all was diverse evidence that was generally applied in a negative way not positive, so we actually had guys pass a practical assesment, only to then have it down graded to a fail based on diverse evidence!

Now dont get me wrong, I think the college has far better improved its methods i some ways, I saw a lot of controllers, be zapped that would and in fact did make very good controllers outside of NATS afterwards. There was a very bad attitude to of we are here to fail you, rather than here to help you pass. That from my experience now is very much improved. But at the same time, I've seen some right monkies come out of the college in recent times, only to find out they were recoursed 3 times, failed loads of things at the college, and with the streamlined courses actually had very little knowledge or skill, subsequently failing at the unit. One Aerdrome only guy, got to a unit, sat in the tower looking at the ATM, and asked why when they get airbourne does that ring flash around them!

But back to the original poster.....You'll have a great time there, will make some of the best buddies, Bournemouth is a great place to live, the course although still challenging, is very rewarding. Just keep it real, do the work, but enjoy it. and hopefully we will see you valid somewhere soon!