Bristol Met / Gen Nav sessions.

[Charlie Croaker]

Hi,

First post on here so please be gentle if this has been dealt with previously!

I'm currently two thirds of the way through Mod 1 with BGS and really struggling with MET :ugh:. I'm aware that they offer a single day brush up in addition to the input received on the the two weeks at Cheddar.

My question is. Has anybody completed this single day input, is it worth the outlay, did it help, and did it provide anything additional to that gained on the brush up?

Thanks,

Charlie.

[119.35]

I can't comment on the additional day, but I would expect it all to fall into place for you during the 2 week brush up.

During the 2 weeks BGS concentrate on the big subjects (they leave you to self study Human Perf and the Comms subjects). They spend quite a lot of time going over Met and you really get hammered with mock papers.

Met is considered one of the tougher subjects and I certainly didn't find it easy. But if you can get some time on the question bank, combined with the 2 week brush up course, you will be surprised at how well it all comes together at the end.

The impression I got is that people generally did the additional days tuition that is offered outside of the course if they had failed a subject once or twice. It may not seem like it now, but it really does all come together for most people during the 2 week brush up.

Good luck!!

[XL319]

I found Met a breeze....passed first time, however I'm really struggling with Gen Nav!! Convergency/charts cd/ed etc etc has just about made me grey :ugh:

I would suggest going through some questions on the QB, it does help. if you get it wrong then click info for a detailed explanation of the question. It does help.

I think they charge about £200 for a single day brush up (1-2-1 tution), however I wouldn't go for that unless you were really finding it tough. Would you get anymore benefit than cramming some revision in?

[XX621]

Having completed Mod1 in May and scoring 91% average I would offer the following advice...

Your focus is being able to get decent scores on the question bank, not developing an in-depth understanding of the material.

Each subject breaks down into a number of concepts you do need to understand, e.g difference between surface and geostrophic wind, but only to the level of the questions.

You need to identify exactly which concepts you are struggling with and telephone Bristol and describe what you don't understand. There is nothing in Met which cannot be simply explained by an experienced ground instructor (such as Baz at BGS), and they will help you.

Finally, you can put a lot of faith in the brush-ups. They really do push you up to a new level. My marks jumped up 10% during the brush-ups.

Hope this helps. Don't worry, it will come together.

[Charlie Croaker]

Thanks for the reply's. I think I'll be sticking with the question bank and cross my fingers that it all comes together during the brush up!

Cheers.

[pitot_noob]

Or you could actually learn it & understand it and then not panic when you have to think about interview Qs&As later on in your career. Just a thought.. :E

[paco]

I was waiting for somebody to suggest that he does it properly.... :)

"Your focus is being able to get decent scores on the question bank, not developing an in-depth understanding of the material."

Your focus is actually learning to be a pilot. And you won't cover everything in the brush up. Try doing some work now, then the brush up will be a lot less trouble.


phil

[high flyer 13]

Buy yourself the "oxford atpl met cd rom", i found it a great help makes everything alot easier and enjoyable in a geeky way than reading it out of the bristol books... i found met v.easy only due to this cd ....it also comes in handy for later study for interviews and what not which is what im doing at moment..!!
i went for a revision day for my gen nav last year with baz it did help a bit i guess...dident go for the met revision day... i got 90 % in met and an 85% in the gen nav so i was happy with that...

all the best and good luck with the exams...:ok:

[XX621]

I was waiting for somebody to suggest that he does it properly.... :)

"Your focus is being able to get decent scores on the question bank, not developing an in-depth understanding of the material."

Your focus is actually learning to be a pilot. And you won't cover everything in the brush up. Try doing some work now, then the brush up will be a lot less trouble.


phil

I would love to agree with the above, but the reality is that you could have a Phd in all of the subjects and STILL fail the exams due to the often peverse wording and ambiguous answers in the JAA question bank. My point is that it is essential to hit the question bank and know it well in addition to understanding the study notes.

Time and time again at Bristol we heard "this is the wrong answer, but it's the answer the examiner is looking for".

I would also take a slight issue with the statement "Your focus is actually learning to be a pilot". If the sole objective of the JAA ATPL theory was to teach people what they need to know to be a professional pilot, then (based on my experience so far, and from what I've been told) half of the material could dissappear overnight. When was the last time you performed binary arithmetic, for example??

[humanperformer]

was at bristol 2 years ago, 98% average with my lowest score in hp 96%. I must have studied hard then? went with bristol never opened the notes 6 months on the QB for each stage passed first time...

k got my first line training flight today :ok:

[Charlie Croaker]

I would never argue that the material does not need to be learnt and absorbed, but surely using all of the tools available to us can not be a bad thing, and the question bank is just another tool.

At school and college a fair amount of time was spent in the run up to exams looking at past papers - not only as a revision aid but as a way of learning question styles and in some cases helping to recognize what the question is actually asking for.

Thanks again for all the advice - I will be hitting the question bank hard, but only for consolidation / revision and when all the bookwork is complete.

Cheers:ok:

[pitot_noob]

Oh yes, I am not saying don't hit the bank.. it would be foolish if you didn't, because everyone else does and you need to be competitive to give you the best shot of a job at the end (if g/s really matters for that anyway.... but it all helps with the 'big picture' of who you are and how hard you work'.)

I just disagreed with the person who said Your focus is being able to get decent scores on the question bank, not developing an in-depth understanding of the material.

I personally think you DO want an in-depth understanding before sitting the exams, but the last minute revision should be question bank style, whilst bearing in mind all the Qs&As on the bank won't be correct.

There are a lot of catch you outs in the exam so undoubtedly the QB does help, but there are equally some questions that if you don't understand the core principles, you wont have a clue! I sat my exams in the early part of this year and they were certainly not all from the QB!

Also, the main reason behind learning the subject matter is for a lot of the airline interviews, you're going to be quized on your technical knowledge. Some may only want basic but you never know what sort of level of understanding will be needed on the day, so it makes sense to be as prepared as you can be!

Anyway, all the best and good luck!

[paco]

"I would love to agree with the above, but the reality is that you could have a Phd in all of the subjects and STILL fail the exams due to the often peverse wording and ambiguous answers in the JAA question bank."

But that doesn't stop you being a professional, does it? You still need to know the material to make sense out of the awful questions, but it's equally true to say that you won't pass the exams without using the database.

"If the sole objective of the JAA ATPL theory was to teach people what they need to know to be a professional pilot, then (based on my experience so far, and from what I've been told) half of the material could dissappear overnight."

Actually, quite wrong. Based on my experience, I can assure you that you will be using 90-95% of that syllabus over your career. The stuff that you think you'll never use is actually useful background knowledge that will give you a better understanding of the stuff you do need to know.

"When was the last time you performed binary arithmetic, for example??"

Oddly enough, about ten days ago, but then I'm like that :)

Phil

[XX621]

We need to clarify the discussion here.

Are we saying

a. "you need an in-depth understanding of the material"

or

b. "you need to understand the study material provided by your provider"

or both?

Big difference!

[Whirlygig]

"When was the last time you performed binary arithmetic, for example??"

Oddly enough, about ten days ago, but then I'm like that

There are 10 types of people; those who understand binary and those who don't. :}

Cheers

Whirls

[XX621]

There are 10 types of people; those who understand binary and those who don't. :}

Cheers

Whirls

Very good. :ok:

Actually, there must be 11. Those that really do, those that don't, and those who know just enough to answer an ATPL question on it :)

[Whirlygig]

Just be grateful you don't have hexadecimal in the syllabus. :}

Cheers

Whirls

[XX621]

No problem.

I have a degree in computer science. :ok: