College Pass Rate
 

Thought I'd let everyone know that 47 of us completed the 213 Basic Course at the NATS College in Bournemouth last week, and there was an 85% pass rate - 40 out of 47 - which is a record apparently! :)

Many congratulations. It will be interesting to see how many subsequently validate. It certainly won't be 85% so work hard...

wow...and i thought the end of the financial year was a few months off

Just when did those records start out of interest?

Are the figures we've been given seasonally adjusted? :}

Stoney shuffles off muttering (it's an age thing)"Standards...pah...slipping...like A level results...never in my day...coalface will sort 'em out...humbug" :E

ps., Hearty congrats ! :D

Congrats to all who passed. To those who failed, keep grafting, most people get through after the extra couple of weeks.

The pass rate certainly sounds much higher than previous versions of the basic course. Has the course been restructured (again) in the last year, has the bar been lowered or are you all just brilliant?!

Regards ADIS

PS: I think you'll find the hard work starts about now!!

213 basic wasn't in the new format - that starts from 214.
ADIS5000 you are totally correct. For those who go on to foundation (can't speak for App or Aero) the hard work is about to begin. Most notable is the change of examination style from multi-guess (normally with 2 obviously wrong answers) to verbatim regurgitation from the MATS1 and 2.
Then take into account that you need to have a working knowledge or everything you've been told from day 1 plus a detailed knowledge of the most relevant info (standing agreements, weather etc) for oral boards and you can easily see how much work is involved (unless your name is James T!!)
There is also the transition from single to multi-strip displays - mind you, within a couple of days it starts to feel natural.
Congratualtions and good luck to all who passed.

smelly

TATC99: I'm not quite familiar with the training in the UK, but I guess this college is similar like ours in Luxembourg, so you're about to start OJT now...
As it was said above, it doesn't mean a thing that you all passed the basic training...
When we started in Luxembourg we were 16... 16 of us passed the first(theoretical) phase, 12 the full training there. There's only 7 of us validated and still we were a pretty good group...

Anyway, congratulations and good luck for the rest! :)

Just as a matter of interest, can anyone put a figure to your ab-initio success rates (i.e. percentage of those commencing ATC training who make it through to licensing)?

Pig

Don't have the info to licensing I'm afraid but out of 44 people who started on 211 Basic course(not including the recoursers), there are 9 left who have not failed anything yet(7 on area, 2 on Aero & App), I think 23 on, or waiting for recourses and 10 who have been chopped.

Bet you're the life and soul of the party tonight...

College Pass Rate
 

Just out of interest. Is there much difference between the college pass rates? If there are fewer on a course at the smaller colleges, due the students benefit?

At the NATS college, all Simulation training is one to one so the course size shouldn't affect any course really. I suppose you could argue that a smaller course leads to instructors getting to know your problem areas more in depth and may be they could spend more time (ie more runs) with you specifically.
On the flip side, instructors will have differning opinions/styles on certain scenarios and it's good to hear and see different approaches to controlling and how they compare and contrast.
So the answer is no, the course size shouldn't affect pass rate :ok:

Why?
 

Reading about pass rates at the college, could anyone enlighten me on why they think certain people fail things or are chopped? Is it because of lack of hard work (I would think this is least unlikely seeing as to be there pretty much shows you want to learn), very hard courses, abnormally high amount to learn..... the list could be endless.

I'm not afraid of hard work and I like learning new things all the time. I don't have a "gifted memory" so I know I actually have to work to remember stuff.

I was also wondering, are those who tend to fail, graduates or non-graduates or, "young" or "old". I would expect that those who had been to university may find studying easier, but then I always hear graduates can be complacent and when it comes to learning something new after university, they fail miserably...

Just your thoughts please.

ATC is a peculiar job - it matters not one bit if you are a graduate with several degrees, or someone who has just scraped in. Usually young people stand a better chance at busy units, but plenty of "oldies" can also validate. Some people can do the job; others cannot. Unfortunately not all the "cannot" people can be weeded out during initial training. I've seen plenty of trainees who have come through the college with flying colours and got no furtehr than the simulator at their unit.

I can't offer advice on college work - that's the job of your instructors. But, once you get a posting read all you can about the place in the AIP and get some maps out so you are familiar with lcal geography, etc. That may well help..

Watch the Birdie,

There is no discernable pattern to those that fail regarding age/educational background.
Very few fail the theory, some fail the verbal and some fail the practical. I would say that an extremely small percentage is down to lack of effort/study.

Hi folks,

I'm not quite in yet but was wondering how many chances you get at college, if you fail assessments etc? I'm currently in a secure and well paid job, and want to take the risk, but it is looking like a big risk. I've read on here that less than 40% or so make it to validation??
Thats a scary statistic!!

Hmm its hard not to be put off by that figure! Question is whether its worth risking a career for dreams of glory?
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" springs to mind but its still a tough call. Anyone one else on here had similar experience of this risk?

Also, how is the course assessed? mostly theory exams or practical. And which area are most failures from?

Thanks

And even at 20% those figures would be highly massaged!

I'd say 40% was a reasonable figure for getting through the college - may be a little on the ambitious side actually.
You hear rumours about validation rates ranging from 25-90% once you're at a unit but how true these are I have no idea!!