Starting Ground school with Oxford, any advise?

[flying free.LEVC]

Good evening, I´ve been reading many positive things about this school in this forum but before making the first payment i would prefer to listen a few extra/updated opinions.

I´m going to start the theory of the ATPL (distance learning) in a couple of weeks, any tips will be appreciated.

I know there are cheaper places but mentioning that I studied (al least the theory) in Oxford might mean a difference in an interview.

Cheers

[ford cortina]

In what way will Oxford mean a difference?
When you go to interview, it is very unlikely you will be asked where you did your Groundschool.
£2700 as opposed to Bristol's £2140 and you will be advised to look at Bristol's feedback....:eek:

Did you do any research at all?

[mrmum]

I realise that this may sound a little harsh, but the it appears that the OP has been reading PPRuNe for over 4 years, but still thinks;
...mentioning that I studied (al least the theory) in Oxford might mean a difference...
Ford Cortina is correct, OAA have so much faith in their product, that their GS students are told (off the record) to go and buy Bristol's QB.

[flying free.LEVC]

I think you are quite right, it might not be asked but it´s something that may be dropped during the first job interview for instance and who knows, someone from a remote country could be impressed

Yes I´ve read many times that the Bristol banks are the best, but i want to Learn as well. Apparently Oxford books are very comprehensive.

[ford cortina]

Name dropping.......now that's funny.:D

[pudoc]

Nothing special about Oxford at all. Pay the money, get in, do ATPLs and leave. Even the thickest of pilots can get into OAA if they have the cash. Only a very dopey recruiter will be impressed by that.

BTW, you can only use Bristol question banks if you are training at BGS. You can not go onto a website anymore. They give you software for your computer and you run it from there.

Chose whatever place is best for you, but remember that Oxford will not give a good impression (maybe even the opposite), and I bet you every penny I have in my bank account that the fact you did GS with Oxford will not mean the difference between job and no job.

It's good to want to learn, but understand that you will also have to learn wrong answers to pass the CAAs stupidly written exams. My advice is:

Learn basics --> learn answers --> do exams --> go back to books and get learning the depth.

[Slipstream86]

£2700 does seem ridiculous at first. I paid £999 for my CATS course, but that was the most basic package (Online manuals, question bank etc....no books)

Do you get all of the books and CBT's as part of the Oxford DL package?

[ford cortina]

Well Slipstreem all you have to do is look.
Oxford give you the books and access to the online CBT.
Bristol give you the Books and the software CBT.

Also Bristols results are better:
Our Results Are Better | Bristol Ground School (http://www.bristol.gs/node/107)

How hard was that?:ok:

[Mr Boombastick]

As a recent OAA modular ground school student I would strongly advise Bristol. Especially if you are doing it distance learning.
Bristol's study material is simply far superior and geared towards you actually passing the exams and gaining knowledge in the required areas to pass exams, not focussing on areas that are irrelevant and haven't been asked in exams for years.

[Mr Boombastick]

Oh and OAA's CBT system is a complete joke, not only does it constantly crash, the questions in their bank are often wrong and certainly do not represent the actual exams, I think after 14 atpl exams I maybe saw one or two from oxcell, compare that to 90% of questions in exams being very similar or identical to Bristol's it's a no brainer.
Also some of the core subject material on the CBT system is wrong, even some of the instructors advised students to stay away from it as it is very confusing, radio nav and instruments were particularly poor. I would say that most of the subjects had errors.
If I were to do it all again I would definatley use Bristol, if a friend asked for advice on how to approach ground school, I would recommend Bristol.

[pipersam]

BTW, you can only use Bristol question banks if you are training at BGS. You can not go onto a website anymore. They give you software for your computer and you run it from there.

It appears that you can indeed still use the website and sign up no matter where you train...

ATPL Online - The ATPL Multiple Choice Question Database (http://www.atplonline.gs) or ATPL Online - The ATPL Multiple Choice Question Database (http://www.atplonline.co.uk)

[pudoc]

ATPL Online is not Bristol. Bristol are no longer affiliated with them. ATPL Online is now incredibly out of date with questions that are just wrong or haven't been used in exams for many years.

BGS have their own, very accurate, database now.

[Globally Challenged]

ATPL Online is not Bristol. Bristol are no longer affiliated with them

Odd, given that the link is still prominent on the BGS website

And here is the copyright statement at the bottom of that linked site:
© Copyright ATP Online Ltd, Bristol Groundschool and IDC Ltd. All Rights Reserved, 2009-2012.

[pudoc]

I can assure you, they aren't associated any more.

Edit: A quick look on their forum confirms they have separated from each other.

[Slipstream86]

How hard was that?http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

Not as hard as it was on your wallet.

I'll let my own results be the judge on the value of my investment.... not other peoples.

[ford cortina]

Depends on your point of view, yes I went to Bristol, got very good results, at the time it was lots less than now.

But back on topic, I was not asked by any potential employer which ground school I went to.:cool:
As I said it does not matter one bit

[Graham@IDC]

Its a funny little fact that "Pudoc", whomever he is, can always be relied on to pop up on any thread which mentions ground schools and start to subtly weigh in in favour of Bristol. Who are you Pudoc? You've been around so long now you can't possibly be a Bristol student.

As for this statement:

"ATPL Online is not Bristol. Bristol are no longer affiliated with them. ATPL Online is now incredibly out of date with questions that are just wrong or haven't been used in exams for many years.

BGS have their own, very accurate, database now."

This is absolute complete and utter tosh. The ATPOnline question bank is updated practically every day. It employs a person full time just to update questions. It isn't out of date it is, in fact, bang up to date.

If you wish to suggest otherwise Pudoc then provide the evidence. But before that why not tell us precisely what your affiliation with Bristol ground school really is.

[pudoc]

Yes I am extremely biased towards Bristol because I am an ex-student and they are fantastic. Or did I miss the forum rule where you can only make 1 post about 1 flight school?

I have no idea what my forum join date has anything to do with it.

If you would dig further into my post history you'll find that I've mentioned several times I'm still in training. Feel free to read through my posts to find this "evidence".

I'll just say that having sat 14 exams the questions were a lot more reflective of BGS's software than ATPOnline has been. Have you sat these new syllabus exams yourself then? You have first hand experience using both of these question banks then?

Edit: I'm going to say it because I know you're thinking it, no I am not, and never have been, an employee of BGS or the boss' best mate trying to flog business. People make threads asking about ATPL groundschools, I send them in the right direction based on my experience. By the way, if you dig back a couple of months in my posts, you'll also see that I recommended ProPilot and BCFT to somebody.

[taxistaxing]

Hi all,

I posted on this previously but it seems to have disappeared.

I've also heard from a few sources that atpl online is no longer accurate, and no longer affiliated with Bristol. I've had aviationexam.com recommended to me as being more up-to-date, and more reflective of 'EASA' questions. Can anyone shed any light?

Ta.

[JillC]

taxistaxing

ATP Online isn't Bristol and Bristol isn't ATP Online.

ATP Online went online in 2005 and since then content of the site has not been updated or managed by Bristol.

ATP Online continues to receive emails from very satisfied students and our subscription numbers continue to grow year on year. As a result I'm very confident that our continuous updating of the site is working very well. We initially updated for the EASA syllabus nearly 2 years ago and have "fine tuned" this over the past 6 months in the light of all our feedback.