Ground school question

[ACARS]

I can't attend any night school classes at a local airfield as I am travelling every week with work. I need to teach myself.

Anyone go the effort of making a training plan in excel for teaching ground school? (checklist on key topics or something similar?

Do people sit all the exams at once or space them apart over several weeks?

Just figuring out the best way to structure my self taught. Maybe one module at a time? Any advise?

My goal is to have them complete by April 2010.

Cheers

[Ryan5252]

From my own views; I can't see the need for Excel unless you are teaching other people, if you intend on using it for yourself your thinking of things way too much! Just get a confuser and book for the exam you are studying, read it cover to cover two or three times and do the test in confuser. Revise areas which need attention and repeat as desired. You should get all exams out of the way in the winter i.e. before Feb. Good Luck! :ok:

[joelgarabedian]

Hi ACARS,

Do you mean PPL ground exams? I didn't use ground school either - I bought the Trevor Thom books and a subscription to AirQuiz, and that saw me through :)

I found it easier to concentrate on one subject at a time, although towards the end I started working through The Aircraft General whilst simultaneously studying for Flight Performance and Planning.

The AirQuiz site is pretty good - although the questions have a different feel than the actual exams, I found them quite good at indicating when I was ready for each test.

Hope this helps,

Joel.

[batninth]

Hi ACARS

I echo what Joel has said. In my case I too used the Trevor Thom books (it doesn't matter, the others are as good), I did a module at a time, and because I was doing the NPPL(M) exams I used the test questions from Wriggley's which were superb.

What I don't mean above is that you follow the NPPL route, but that the method of using a set of questions to drive your revision & show you when you're ready can work very well. The questions really do guide your revision and make reading the books much better.

I'd also suggest that a couple of general flying books, search on these forums for recommendations, make a useful break from revising whilst keeping you in the mood. Alex Kimbell's "Think like a Bird" is really good, but addictive. Beg or borrow a copy but put it well out of reach when you're revising

[poss]

Trevor Tom and the PPL confuser will see you through... subjects like Met are best done by been taught, if you actually want to know the subject but besides that the book and the confuser should do. GL :ok:

[lurker06]

Hi ACARS,


You did not say whether you are going for the PPL or the NPPL, but the exams are the same. You may find the NPPL syllabus a useful checklist of topics to be studied. Go to:-

http://tinyurl.com/y9n4mdk

and click on ‘Simple Single Engine Aeroplane’ to get the document.

I guess most people deal with exams one at a time. I did not attend ground school, but read the textbooks and discussed any problems with my Instructor. It is often easier to follow the points when one is learning to fly at the same time as studying the topics. The PPL Confuser is an invaluable aid, but it seems to be out-of-print at the present time. Try and borrow a copy if you can.

The Trevor Thom series of books is not the only one. I used ‘The Private Pilots Licence Course’ by Jeremy M. Pratt, which some find much more readable. The set consists of:-

PPL 1: Flying Training
PPL 2: Air Law, Operational Procedures and Communications
PPL 3: Navigation and Meteorology.
PPL 4: Principles of Flight, Aircraft General Knowledge, Flight Performance and Planning
PPL 5: Human Factors and Flight Safety

You can find more details at the bottom of the page at:

http://tinyurl.com/y9nhem6

If you click on each of the titles you will see a synopsis of the contents.

You can buy the full set from AFE with a 20% discount, but you may find them at less cost on the Amazon website. It is possible to do without Book 5 if you have the PPL Confuser.

Good luck with the studying.

Lurker06