PPL Exam Materials

[conrad_p]

Hi guys, first time actual post on PPRuNe.. Though I've been reading it for god knows how long.

Was curious as to what materials you would recommend to self study for the PPL. From what I've gathered people are either strongly for the Aviation Theory Centre books or strongly for Bob Tait's books.
Wondered if I could get a comparison between the two if anyone has both and get some general feedback on which one is your preferred and why? Will hopefully be able to decide which one to buy after your input!

Also, if it's relevant, I'm continuing onto a CPL after completing PPL.

Thanks, Conrad.

[AYD]

If money isn't an issue buy both, Bob Taits PPL manual is fine if you're just doing the PPL as it keeps it simple and doesn't overload you with unnecessary info, but I purchased both ATC PPL/CPL and Bob Taits manuals.

It was good to refer to the ATC PPL/CPL manuals if you required more info, if your doing you're CPL down the track you will need the ATC PPL/CPL publication or Bob Tait puts out manuals for the CPL as well although I haven't seen these personally so I can't comment.

From what I've read and heard the Bob Tait CPL manuals are good.

If you decide to buy both it may be worth considering getting either all ATC or Bob Tait so you have a common presentation theme

Don't skimp on the study you will not regret it when doing your exams

Good Luck & Study Hard

[tmpffisch]

http://www.pprune.org/search.php is your friend. A keyword of 'self-study' could do the trick.

In short, you'd probably do better with Bob Tait for PPL and CPL. Bob Taits PPL is two books (BAK and PPL) compared to the 7 ATC have which while they also include the CPL subjects, some of those subjects aren't as well as Bob Tait.

[conrad_p]

Yeah I'd noticed the ATPL self-study thread, but I wasn't able to find one specific to those two books. Thank you though!

So Bob Tait it is then I guess :)

[Track5milefinal]

I used both the ATC books and had the bob taits for PPL, if your contemplating CPL i recommend the ATC books as it gives you a more in depth perspective but there is alot of crap in their books that you have to sieve through to get to the point and to a PPL Standard.

Bob tait on the other hand is straight down the line and straight to the point to the PPL standard, so you know exactly what's required!

Good Luck!
:ok:

[DH 200']

Take a look here: http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/323794-bob-tait-trevor-thom.html (http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/323794-bob-tait-trevor-thom.html)
I ended up grabbing both Bob Tait and the Aviation Theory Centre books for the PPL & CPL exams.
Bob's texts are excellent however you may want to look into purchasing ATC's theory books as well as these do indeed go into much more detail and will help expand your knowledge on each subject. Having said that, all you really need to do is pass the exams and Bob's your man for that! :ok:

[holdmetight]

use ATC books for your everyday learning and studying, then use BobTait books for knowledge reinforcement just before you take the exam, me thinks.

[SM227]

Use bob tait books for ppl/cpl/irex and AFTfor ATPL's to pass the exams, then use ATC books to actualy learn about it :}

[conrad_p]

Thanks everyone, general consensus; get Bob Tait to pass, get ATC if finding it a little hard or wanting some extra information on a particular topic. Thanks for linking to that other thread DH 200', but a question, is Trevor Thom the person that wrote the ATC set of books?

[DH 200']

That's correct. Trevor Thom is the author of the original texts, now known as the Aviation Theory Centre manuals.
Good luck with your exams.

[john_tullamarine]

Trevor Thom is the author of the original texts

Not quite, Trev was part of a group originating with Noel Lamont's training school but, subsequently, set up his quite successful organisation and went on to bigger and better things. The end result was/is the product of a number of folk. Probably doesn't matter at the end of the day - if you find the books useful then his and his group's efforts have been successful.

Nice bloke, Trevor.

Caveat - This is not an endorsement of any of the current sets of books in the marketplace as I haven't read any of them in many years. However, I do note from some other threads that reported content of some leave something to be desired. As always caveat emptor.

[Homesick-Angel]

ATC = Lots more info but lots more waffling
B.T = Not quite the bare minimum but more than enough to get you over the line..

I use BT, but have referenced ATC for certain things..I will self study all of it except performance where I will probably sit a class.Im half way through my CPL's and have used BT from BAK level no probs and all passes.

Good luck

[amateur]

I first started using ATC way too much waffle. Bobbo is definately the way to go- i used him all through CPL and IREX. He practically serves you the CASA exam answers on a plate. The questions in his books are identical to half the exam ones cuz he helps write them. And just a piece of advice -use your instructors, they will be able to convey alot of information in a more practical sense to you if you are unsure of any concepts.

Goodluck

[MuppetBoy]

Was just browsing through these threads and thought it might be worth giving a different point of view to the 'just get through the exams mentality' that some people have.

Imagine you had a life threatening illness and you had a choice of two doctors. One had studied hard, above and beyond the minimum required, and understood how the body worked. The other doctor had a bit of an understanding but had really only done the bare minimum to get past the medical exams. It's pretty obvious which one you'd like to help if you knew their backgrounds.

Now imagine you were the second doctor. The patient comes to see you with a life threatening illness and you stumble around trying to make a diagnosis because you really don’t have an understanding of what is going on because they didn’t ask about this disease in the exams. You’d be feeling pretty silly that you hadn’t worked harder during your study.

It's a similar story in aviation. Whether we like it or not, we have a responsibility to both ourselves and our passengers to be the best that we can be. We owe it to everyone not to be 'bare minimum' sort of guys. Aviation is a life long career and setting solid foundations early has huge benefits. There's no rule that says that our most complex emergencies will occur after we've gained a bunch of flying time. There's as much chance that our worst emergency will need to be faced on our first trip as our last one. Putting in the hard yards early, and then continually taking a philosophy of continuous improvement throughout our career, is our best defence for not ending up as a smoking hole in the ground and killing both ourselves and our passengers.

Be careful of taking the easy route!