Mikehotel152

And a big thank you to Taildragger for his ringing endorsement of my life(see above)...

Your £50 is in the post...

Try Hard 4.0

I am currently a graduating student. Actually am an IT student, but when my father offered me to study in Philippine Airlines for training, I took all my summer classes just to finish my bachelor's degree. But it's worth 2M PHP. It's really expensive.
Will it be worth it??
will I earn enough to pay back my father??
I hope you can post a reply

EZYramper

Josh

I don't know if you will still be even reading this because you posted about a month ago.

However...

You MUST do your A-levels if your career goal is to become a pilot, no ifs buts or maybes.

Pick 4, or if you think you can handle it, 5 subjects that you think you will enjoy, but ones that also have some real world credibility. I would say Physics and Maths are a must. I did Physics but not maths, and spent many extra sessions with my tutor outside of class learning things like logarithms! You can't fault physics and maths whatever career you go into.

As long as you have those 2 subjects I would say the others really don't matter, just find something you enjoy, something that will challenge and something that isn't film studies/media studies because they will be a complete waste of time and effort unless you want to be a film critic.

There is also a more important reason to do A-levels other then just qualification box ticking. The jump from GCSE to A-level is rather sizeable. I learn many things from my A-level that weren't part of the syllabus. With GCSE you are given the information and expected to digest it and regurgitate it in the exam.

With A-level you are actually expected to go out and get the information yourself *gasp*!

GCSE's were easily blagged with minimal revision. With A-levels the amount of work you put it is proportional to how well you do. No more of that leaving it to the last minute affair.

If the ATPL's are as difficult as I have been lead to believe, you will be a fish out of water coming from GCSE education level.

I don't want to sound harsh, but I think that if you want to be a pilot that bad then you need to just bite the bullet and get them out of the way. Believe me 2 years is nothing!

And if you need even more convincing, I made a lot of friends at Sixth Form and met some interesting characters. Doing things such as student council and the like as well look great on a CV for any job and also provide you some interview material.

To summarise, if you don't do your A-levels, you are shooting your career ambition in the kneecaps.

snoopy1107

Josh,

I’m not sure if this suggestion is really going to rub well with you as you have already expressed that you’re not mad on doing A-Levels never mind Uni, but here is something to think about.

Do as the fella's above have suggested and do A-Levels.
Go to Uni and get away, mature, gain life experience, friends, memories. Join the University Air Squadron... why? FREE FLYING loads and loads of Adventurous Training, all are ticks in boxes. At selection for Airlines if that what you decide to do you are against so many guys who all want it as badly as you do.

Put it this way, who do you think Airline XYZ would prefer to employ if you got through training:

19-22 year old, trained pilot, some GCSC's, no real life experience, previous job experience: hotel waiter to save for PPL

OR

25 year old, trained pilot, University graduate, life experience, maturity, well travelled various job experiences.

This is only my opinion and you are welcome to discard it but it is something you should perhaps think about, at least.

Good Luck

world

Can somebody explain me what's the differenece beatween IGCSE, GCSE, IB and A-level since i am not from UK.

Here in Serbia, we have high-schools which specialise in something. I took aviation, and except normal subjects (such as maths, physics, language, history etc.) we have air law, aviation english, aerodynamics, airports, aircrafts and meteorology.

Cheers

captain_rossco

I'm from the UK and wouldn't have a clue! I have 2 out of the 4 and have not heard of the others??????????

Maybe some international version, gaaaaaaawd knows.

Kind Regards

CR

Mikehotel152

I don't know what an IGCSE is, but GCSEs are usually taken at the age of 16, which is the minimum age at which you can leave school in the UK.

A-Levels are taken at the age of 17 or 18 and represent the standard level of educational achievement in the UK these days.

The IB or International Baccalaureate is the Europe-wide standard, which is supposed to be similar to the A-Level.

However the Labour government in Britain has lowered the difficulty of the A-Level in recent years in order to improve the number of higher grades. They do this because it's easier to make the exams easier than to improve teaching or fund schools adequately.

[Political rant over]

Taildragger67

World,

Here's an outline from the British Council.

justjoshing

Thanks for youre advice, i will do A levels but i dont want to really go to uni(wasted pilot funds).Just how hard is the maths and physics part of ground school,i will not have them at A level only GCSE level,will i survive?.

justjoshing

If i dont get A levels i am stuffed as far as becoming a pilot is concerned.

AlphaMale

I am reading over my ATPL books now (so I know what to expect) and I wouldn't say the maths part is as hard as 'A' level standard, but with a good grade in 'A' level Maths and Physics I don't think ATPL maths would be worth stressing over.

I have not yet finished my ATPL books or even sat an exam yet, so I could be totaly wrong in saying that the ATPL exams would probably use complex maths that would rate somewhere betwen a higher GCSE paper and an 'A' level paper?

Andy
ex - GCSE and 'A' level Maths student

Taildragger67

Mate uni would be the best time of your life. Booze, girls, the lot. Definitely not a waste of money. If you don't do it (tertiary study) straight away, definitely keep it in mind - it might be a hard slog for a few years, but getting some qualification by part-time or distance study is well worth having - you might be bullet-proof now, but trust me, the shields start to crumble a bit as you get older and with flying, you're only one duff medical away from a new career; better to have given that some thought early on, rather than when you've got lots of other commitments.

Here is an aviation management & ops foundation degree which includes ATPL ground school (you're also expected to undertake flight training); LondonMet regularly advertise on PPRuNe. I've done some postgrad law courses there and while it's not Oxford, it's not a bad place either.

Here is an aviation-management undergraduate course.

Here are City Uni's aviation courses (undergrad and postgrad).

There are others, eg. Cranfield.

This is all very serious-sounding stuff, but that's because you're making some decisions now which will affect your life for a long time.

Even something like accounting done over a few years by part-time or distance is good - no load to carry, will help you in other areas of life, may be useful in a future job.

Mate you need your A-levels. It is not an option to go without them. Just put up with it, put your head down and study. Just think of it as a hurdle you have to cross. We've all done it (or similar). Unless you invent a new mousetrap or inherit squillions, chances are any job you will ever want - with or without wings attached - will require you to have A-levels at a very bare minimum. That debate just stops now. Don't even think of not doing them. If you bottle out of them, then empolyers will ask what else you're likely to not have the bottle for and it's a question you should ask of yourself as well.

justjoshing

I will hopefully get A levels but not maths or physics.My plan is to get A levels then start work on a job I know i can earn about 15 k a year,because my mum is the manager of that department.Then do my ppl when I have the funds so hopefully I would have a Frozen ATPL when I am about 22.If i have to wait 1-2 years to get a job it does not matter, I will get employed one day.

I dont care if i just fly cargo on some old small Turboprop, at least I will be a pilot.

Regards

AlphaMale

Your learning. ... and when you get to that point and start working you'll struggle to find a job that'll pay more than £16k per year (£12,700 take home).

Take into account your living expenses, travelling to work, getting a car, running the car, fixing the car, food, possibly lodge to your parents, I really don't think you'll be left with very much to put toward that £30k+ (to put it lightly) modular flying bill.

At this point I estimate you'd be 22/23 years old with a fATPL and back up job that could earn you £20k per year.

If you go to Uni you'll have some great life experience and meet some great friends, you'll be 21 when you graduate and 'should' land a £20k pa job straight away.

Applying for you first FO job you'll be 25 years old, trained pilot, University graduate, life experience, maturity, well travelled various job experiences.

Choice is yours (plenty of threads on 'Do I need a degree to be a pilot' and 'what degree is best to become a pilot')

justjoshing

AlphaMale

Remember, If you gear all your qualifications towards being a pilot and it doesn't work out you don't have that much to fall back onto.

I have a BSc in Multimedia and IT Studies and am a qualified web designer/developer. Not my dream job but it's ok (I hate 9-5 and being stuck in an office) but I could handle this for the next 5 years and the money is good (Contractors get paid up to £600 a day and average .net developers get paid £45k pa).

Not doing an 'A' level in Maths / Physics due to the fact you aren't good at them is telling me your ATPL 's are going to be a stuggle.

Doing 3 'A' levels in Media Studies, PE and Art isn't not going to do you many favours on your CV when trying to get a job with BA, Maths and Physics will do a whole lot more.

Blinkz

And what the hell is that question about pilots taking Ipods with them??? What do you think pilots do when flying?? Just sit back and enjoy the view???

captain_rossco

Josh,

A few chaps i know just grab a bid old JVC boombox, a couple of hosties from the back and have a right old knees up. Autopilot takes care of the rest right? Just so long as your alcohol consuption is less than 2 units, your laughing.
Enjoy it mate, once you have the job its a piece of piss, there's no ongoing training or anything, once you have your lisence, it all done on trust, if you tell them you can fly it, you can fly it, IPOD or otherwise.
Thats why the pay is usually reasonable, because the job requires little or no effort, doesn't it?

Regards and Goooooooooooooooooooooood Luck, not that you'll need it.

CR

AlphaMale

OK this thread is making me wonder if an old timer is winding us up?

Your grammer is bad which suggest your a numbers guy, you then tell us your not very good and maths and physics. So what are you good at?

Saving up to the £30k for your licence earning £15k pa is going to take some doing, and £30k will be the cheapest schools you can find and passing everything first time and doing your ATPL via distance leaning (teaching yourself). So you might want to budget for £45k+ ... If your wanting to train at OAT as you mentioned then budget more again.

And when you do get the job your wondering if you can stick your iPod on and listen to 'Rolling rolling' by Limp Bizkit?

... Nice to see what my competition will be like come interview time.

justjoshing

I thought you would rether become a sheep farmer in the hills of wales, living in a shed.


Nice to see what MY competion will be like