PPL complete, on to ATPL Theory. Which one?

[bhsap]

Hi,

Just completed my PPL (A).

Next stop, ATPL Theory. Unsure whether to do fulltime or distance learning and with which school.
I am 42 years old, live in London.

My research so far:

Distance Learning:
L3 = Under £3,500 (includes ebooks, 3 revision weeks, exams)
BGS = Under £3,500 (includes CBTs, ebooks, 3 revision weeks, exams)
CAE = £? (Called them several times, not heard back anything)

Fulltime without Accomodation (under 7 months):
L3 = Under £6,000
BGS = Not offered
CAE = £?(Called them several times, not heard back anything)

Fulltime with Accomodation (under 7 months):
L3 = Under £10,000 (Single room in shared house with shared bathroom)
BGS = Not offered
CAE = £? (Called them several times, not heard back anything)

My thoughts:
1) I can save a lot of money studying distance. I don't mind going fulltime for under 7 months to get the exams. I'm not sure how disciplined I will be studying from home.

2) L3 say that if you do all the modules with them, you go into a special database for recruiters. But if you do any of the modules elsewhere, you don't get that special database access. Do recruiters care about this?

3) Surprised CAE OAA (Oxford) have not bothered to contact me after several calls and messages over the past week. They have a reputation for professionalism.

4) Are L3's padpilot materials any good for distance learning? BGS say there stuff is not comparable.

How would you all choose?

[rudestuff]

I went with CATS back when it was £999 - I think it's £1499 now. You need to be on an 'approved' course and that was the cheapest. Most people end up using BGSonline anyway, and whatever other question banks you can find.

[RichardH]

Welcome to the forum bhsap.

Some thought provoking questions here. Everybody has different goals, ability, budget & motivation and what might be best for you might be very different than another.

If you PM me (you need to enable this) then I can give you some straight talking advice based on my 20 years ATPL instruction experience.

[floating_rock]

I used BGS, whilst working full time, just doing a work on weekends and evenings.

I could have had it all done in about 8/9 months if I hadn't had a few trips away over exam times that conflicted. If I were doing it again, I'd definitely do this, rather than a long term residential course.

Their question bank was spot on, as were the revision weeks, targeted at exactly what I needed.