Self Study
 

G'day everyone!

I am a first time poster on this forum, and just wanted to ask your advice and opinion's on a few things. Firstly, I am a student pilot in Tasmania, Australia and I am very close to completing my GFPT/RAA license. Next year I plan to work, save, and complete my PPL and make a start on my CPL. I will be home studying for both of those licenses as there isn't really much in the way of formal classroom teaching. Which text books and resources would you recommend? I currently have been studying from both ATC and Bob Tait's selection of text books. What can I do to maximise my chance of passing well in my CPL exams? Any other advice, or personal stories would be welcome!

Either will do just fine. Don't forget that Bob Tait has a forum where you can ask the man himself for help if you get stuck on anything.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

Cheers,

In-cog

Did the home study route myself. It's hard. You will be trying to teach yourself totally new concepts.
Not like school where you can sort of know stuff and get through the exam. If you don't really understand the material you will come unstuck.

I underestimated the amount of study required, and only just passed my first CPL exam. Bob Tait practice exams helped a lot, especially for the harder exams like performance. If you can pass them you can pass the CASA exam.

When it came to IREX I admitted defeat and did a week long theory course. Best decision I could have made. There is no way I could have taught myself that syllabus.

Golden rule is, if you think you have studied enough, study some more.
Good luck:)

In the interest of balance to provide a different POV to 50 50, I completely self studied BAK-PPL-CPL-IREX-ATPL and passed all exams first time.

I used mostly ATC books and then the off the shelf Avery books for most ATPL subjects.

If you put the work in there's no reason you can't do it yourself.

Everyone has a different ability level and style
Some breeze through on self study while others need to do a course
You are best placed to know your level

One student asked about his PPL exams one Saturday morning. We gave him the study pack and he completed the lot plus exams after lunch
Then completed the Pvt Nav components the following weekend
And then the CPL theory exams with the same speed and ease
Got bored and gave it away soon after

It's how you handle the aircraft and use your knowledge that counts

Self studied PPL using ATC with average results, did a course for CPL with excellent results, self studied IREX with a perfect score, self studied ATPL (using the recommended readings from the syllabus, not a course), again with average results. Of course that was all many years ago! ;)

Either way is fine so long as you are learning the required knowledge, if there's something you are stuck on I'm sure your instructor/CFI will help out.

Not sure if it would work today but in the 1960's I found an Instructor looking for a bit of extra cash. We worked out a program where he came around once or twice a week and gave me some tuition at home and got me over the more difficult aspects that I had trouble understanding. It was well worth while as I am sure my results would not have been as good if I had tried to do it all myself.

There's plenty of useful/helpful stuff out on the web. Background and general knowledge are always helpful; and the further you advance, the more understanding is expected instead of rote answers.

Anything concerning law or procedures will be different in other countries, but aerodynamics, engineering, etc is the same all over. (Careful with southern/northern hemisphere differences - you'll find them in met and nav occasionally.)

For most subjects (e.g. nav) there are no required/correct ways of doing things - you can use whatever method you like, if it gives appropriately accurate answers. So look around for methods and techniques that suit you.

The FAA handbooks are very useful, look through the "library" section of their web site - and lots of our stuff (e.g. engineering) is based on that. The NZ CAA has some good material on the web.

Another thing I'll add is if you want to do it yourself it may be useful if you've been in any situation where you had to learn how self study before (i.e. uni).

I did BAK/PPL when i was 15-16 and I found it pretty difficult to learn just by reading the book because I had always been taught by a teacher up until that point. It wasn't until about my 4th CPL subject that I actually got the hang of it. I did the ATPLs after I'd done a few years of uni and it was much easier than PPL level stuff for me.

So if you've done that sort of thing before it may be easier to get it done solo, if you're straight out of high school a course may be the way to go.

The thing I found most useful was practice exams. Generally the more I did, the better I went in the subject. They really help you focus on the bits you are a bit weak on.