Distance Learning: Oxford vs Bristol

[mdv]

G'day,

I have frozen Australian ATPL and still live in Oz. I intend to start a ATPL JAR Distance Learning course in the next few months. It will be either through Bristol GS or Oxford - there seems little price difference between the two. I would be very interested in hearing from people who are currently doing this course or very recently have completed one and what there experiences are/were from a DL aspect.

TTFN


MDV

[High Wing Drifter]

I am doing Bristol and seems to be well thought out and put together. The notes are so good the most you need to do is annotate them and the online test system is excelent and very convienient.

I would imagine anybody stands the same chance of passing using wither school. Probably nothing in it at the end of the day, when the cows come home.

[buzzc152]

I've just done (and passed) mod 1 with BGS. I've had a quick spy through some of the Oxford feedback notes and they don't look half as good a BGS...... seemed a bit un-necessarily complicated to me.

[orangesky]

Not wanting to throw a spanner in the works or confuse things, but I am currently doing my DL with London Metropolitan, who I have found to be v helpful on the phone, and also have a web based progress test system.

The thing which was the deciding factor for me was that they only require 2 weeks in total for the residential bit, whereas all the others required 4 weeks. With working full time, and not wanting to take all my holiday to go to college this was more important for me rather than the price.

I have heard people bad mouthing the place, but I would have to disagree with a lot of the things said, I believe if you put the effort and time in to study you can do well. I have just found out this morning that I have passed all 8 :D of the exams I sat earlier this month, their notes are comprehensive (although they dont have many coloured pictures which I heard someone complaining about at the exams !!!). They dont just teach you to pass the exam so the notes are quite comprehensive, and they are always prompt with any email or voice mail queries.

Good luck

B

[airshowpilot]

I was really struggling with the groundschool (went somewhere else which wasn't so good to be frank) and so I started my studies again with Bristol. They are very professional and work very hard on both honing your skills for the exams and getting you the very latest feedback/question banks...to which I contributed.

I also did the odd day course at Oxford - the Met day there was also excellent! Needed all of the help I could get...

I would bear in mind that Bristol Ground school is not involved with a flying school and is focused purely on getting you through the ground school and passing those wretched exams. That's what their expertise is and I would highly recommend them. You still have to work hard though! Good luck!!:O

[Hufty]

I would suggest Oxford - worked very well for me and the instructors are all (with one exception) absolutely first rate.

There have been many a debate about BGS and Oxford on these forums and everybody has their favourites, but I can't imagine you'll go wrong with either if you work at it.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Rest assured that both organisations are at the top of their game and you will not suffer from choosing one over the other. I personally would choose one every time but the differences are small and its far more important how hard you work.

Good luck,

WWW

[stator vane]

i just finished with bristol this past Jan. back when i started calling last year, oxford could not even begin to believe that someone didn't need the full monty course! i tried explaining it to them and they simply would not cooperate at all.

bristol's alex understands what the real world of aviation is all about and will actually listen to the customer!!!

at least in my book, that makes a world of difference.

but i must say that i needed some of oxford's books to help fill in some of the missing links in bristol's. but that may have changed with the continual revisions.

bristol's feedback was just as flexible as well. due to my experience i could take all the exams in any order i wished and they were more than willing to help.

[avrodamo]

Bristol every day ......no question.......and twice on Sunday!

[Chuffer Chadley]

Chuffer Chadley's Tip from the Top:

Try GTS- they're doing extremely nicely for me (avg well over 90 for mod 1, and currently on good consol course for mod 2). Save yourself a bunch of money.

Check out their results on www.gtserv.co.uk

And no, I don't work for them. The teaching and notes are both excellent, and you will do just fine. As long as you are tough enough to have diagrams in black and white!

Ciao.
CC

[Facts Not Fiction Pls]

All schools these days are regulated. There are advantages to some and disadvantages to the same. I would recommend that you get a sample of the course notes and see for yourself. You are aways going to get some people who rave about a school and then the cinics.....then again the cinics could be people who couldn't get through the course and blame the school for their failure or have true course with their complaints.

Whichever way you look at it, the majority of the success rate is from the individual student and their application to the study, which has to be very self tough to get through any DL course. Some things to look at:

1. Quality of notes
2. General consensus of past students (not just two or three!)
3. Manner in which you are dealt with
4. Speak to students who were on the course in the last year
5. Money matters
6. Do you have to purchase the whole course or a module at a time.

Good luck

Facts

[bruce88]

If someone as dumb as me can pass, they must be doing something write..
See, I can't even spell..
:p
Mick

[Boomerang]

In the same boat as mdv. I have pretty much settled on Bristol. Similarly I already have an Australian ATPL. Justwondering how long it has taken for people to do the course/modules, and whether you held any previous ATPL theory qualifications?

[MVE]

Hi,

I can highly recommend BGS, I did the tech subjects with them for the FE's license and have just completed Mod1 Atpl with them. Passed all 8 first time and scored 100% in one! Believe me it was due to their 2 week brush up course and excellent instruction and feedback rather than brains on my part.

I figure you'll do fine with Oxford as well but regardless of which you choose, pay close attention in the brush up courses and study the feedback hard!

Hope that helps,
Regards Rodders.