Gulf,
I suggest that you use the old PPL perfector to get an idea of the questions (some may still be in use). Keith Williams, the author of the PPL perfector is working on a question bank for the EASA exams. Give him an email if you like, i'll PM you if i can remember how!)

Yep, the Whizz Wheel is mandatory and has been for the three years I have been learning to fly;)

I study along the lines of Riverrock, read through the textbook making notes (I now use Pooleys as I find them easier to understand than Pratt). Then go over my note making further notes and key fact cards, then using airquiz and perfector to test myself.

May I suggest you join the Student Forum on Flyer? I am a frequent poster on there, and the qualified pilots are superb and very generous in their help. There are student fly outs too, and its very well worth it :)

Good luck!
GQ

Ouch. Who taught you your study skills? Active learning is rather lacking there.

G

Hi G,

What methods would you recommend for studying,

Thanks,
'57

What I've always found very effective is creating my own notes on the subject, then usually further notes from those but briefer to get to the point that I can basically write notes down on anything that matters without going back to the book. Doesn't have to be written - recorded so you can play it back in the car works very well for some people, various computer based methods for others.

Another good approach can be to work with a study partner and take it in turns to research material then teach it to each other. Of course that requires a study partner, which not everybody has.

The critical factor is learning by doing, rather than just reading or listening.

I used the first method for most of my qualifications - especially PPL and CPL and tried to avoid practice questions until I had a good understanding of the topics.

G

I am self taught at the moment, I've only had a trial lesson. I want to get the exams out the way before I start training.

I think everyone has been lucky historically as the questions have made themselves online (both PPL and ATPL). Some flight schools don't treat the papers with great security...

I would rather know the subjects inside out and pass the papers rather than learn the answers which is described earlier..

Very laudable, although in my opinion - skip navigation for now. Until you've actually spent a bit of time flying, it just doesn't make much sense as you don't really have the mental framework in which to fit it.

Also be aware of the time limit on exams - unless you are confident of the timescale for your flying course, don't take the exams too early, otherwise you may have to re-take them.

G

Genghis do you know how many hours are needed of ground school for the ppl?

Thanks for your advice on studying taking notes has worked for me in the past.

'57

Gulfstream57,

I believe with the new PPL rules there will be a need of 100 hours ground school to be provided by the training provider, the rest is selft taught.

:ok:

Although if any authorities are actually checking that is happening, I'd be surprised. I'm sure that some checking is going on, but ultimately it's going to be "is there some grounschool", and "is the school checking that students are doing a sensible amount of study before the exams".

G

Does Derek teach at a higher level than PPL ?

No, there is a requirement for 100 hours of theoretical knowledge instruction, a proportion of which must be formal classroom instruction and the remainder may be by other means including 'directed' self study. The proportion of formal classroom instruction may be as low as 10%

The UK CAA, for one, is very hot on this and it would be dangerous to assume that they will not require evidence that the full 100 hours is being completed.

I have just completed my PPL, but throughout the whole process I felt that there was a definite lack of seriousness when it came to ground school.

Currently, the emphasis seems to be on learning to pass the exams, and this can be done with a number of products that are freely available on the net, instead of properly educating student pilots to an acceptable level of theoretical knowledge.

I for one, welcome the idea of some formal, classroom based learning (even though I no longer require it), but am unable to see how the FBO will offer it without a large increase of the course cost.

Unfortunately, I feel that the FBO's will probably get around the need to provide proper ground school, but rely on "FOFO" learning instead, that will ultimately lead to the same situation that we have at the moment, which is learning to pass the exams!

>>the emphasis seems to be on learning to pass the exams, and this can be done with a number of products that are freely available on the net, instead of properly educating student pilots to an acceptable level of theoretical knowledge.

I thought that was the idea behind the exams, and the amount of questions that basically make it impossible to memorize all the correct answers - basically the CAA mandate that by passing the exams you have shown the correct amount of theoretical knowledge at that time to pass that exam? I'm not sure how you'd memorize the correct answers for the NAV exam..

You will find that the online offerings have quite an up-to-date collection of CAA questions.