The Great Circle - Training Centre
 

Hi everyone,

They offer a fast track PPL ground school which can be done in 5 days only.!!!
:eek: (All 9 subjects) :confused:

Looking to see if anyone has a first hand experience or some information about The Great Circle Training Centre.

They are based in Harrogate North Yorkshire.

check this link out:
The Great Circle - About Us - The Great Circle

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Why bother?

You will learn a lot more, and more importantly UNDERSTAND better if you study and do the exams during your training.

Save your money - do the exams with the school you're learning with, in a structured order alongside your flying training.

Hi Chilli Monster,

Thanks for ur reply.

They claim that they go in depth with each subject and would make students understand the stuff.


thnx again

From my experience there is a vast difference between learning and understanding.

Bearing in mind that I did my exams 10 years ago, I always felt that the content of the exams was not always related to flying practice (with the exception of R/T and Nav.). There was also an attitude among some of the more mature pilots that 'well, we had to do them so why shouldn't you?'

For this reason I have always suggested the use of the example books in order to 'get through' the tests.

Therefore a 'crammer' course might help get these tests out of the way and give you time to learn to fly and to understand matters applicable to your flying practice.

The Great Circle - Training Centre
 

I took the course with The Great Circle. My day job made it difficult to study as I work long hours and shifts.

I would highly recommend these guys, not only did I pass all the exams, I felt I actually learnt the important stuff. Very good staff who are really enthusiastic and easy to learn from. Facilities are very modern and it was nice to spend a week in Harrogate.

Their focus is on safety, there is a lot of emphasis on understanding the theory, not just learning to pass the tests. They relate the theory to the practical flying, and everything is clearly explained, so you learn both what happens and the reasons why.

They give good notes and as you are paying a fair amount of money, the course is run how you want to run it, so if you want a break, you can take one no problem.

For me it worked, I thought it was great, felt it was worthwhile and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone in need of a more structured approach to learning the subjects and ultimately passing the exams.

funfly & hazell

thank you guys for participating and sharing a valuable information.

i'll try to get a slot for next month to do my ground school with them, and i'll share my experience with everyone on pprune.

Thanks again.

I used The Great Circle to finish my exams at the end of last year. I thought I could pass with self-study and with Air Law and Aircraft General I did just that at my flying club (Leicester). I was reading the AFE (Pratt) books and the Q&A Simplifier for mock exams. I passed the first 2 quite easily. Then the new rules came into effect (the extra exams) along with the new papers. I was ready to tackle Navigation and went in brimming with confidence. I failed so miserably my CFI didn't even tell me the result, but I knew I struggled with it. I had read about some of the things in the exam in Flight Planning but I hadn't really studied to exam level on that subject… Content had been moved around!

With that I was stumped. The new exams moved some of the material between Navigation and Performance & Planning as well as other topics, and I was at a bit of a loss as to how I was going to go forward using the old books.

I reluctantly went to Harrogate and coughed up my considerable amount of cash as I felt it the best way to tackle the new and clearly different exam structure, with a bit of guidance.

It was the best thing I could have done. Adam, the owner and main tutor was extremely knowledgeable and professional. I didn't just learn to pass the exams, I learned a great deal about safety from his own experience, as well as loads of tips of how to impress your Examiner during your skills test (he is one).

Stephanie organised the week and couldn't have been more accommodating and helpful the whole time, from booking to collating the paperwork at course end.

Not to mention the midweek night out that ended up... well… let’s say it started out at a fantastic restaurant and went on until way too late for the exams next day! (Stephanie bought us all breakfast to kick start our day).
I would strongly recommend The Great Circle. It’s not cheap, but the classroom setting, the wisdom you learn, the friendliness of the team and of course the exam results that you will leave with are well worth the investment.

Just to say though... before I went I had already read the entire AFE PPL books as part of my self-study. Having an underpinning knowledge in each subject before I entered the classroom helped me achieve all scores above 90% and even 100%. I’d thoroughly recommend doing that, as there are still things in those books that are worth knowing that might not have come up in Harrogate.

By the way.. Yes they do it in 5 days, but these arent 9 to 5 days. Try 0830 until sometimes 8 or 9 in the evening! It's a lot of work, but I enjoyed it all.

Hey ToeJam,

thanks for sharing your experience I really appreciate it. :ok:

AJ-Ali,

Keep us updated, sounds interesting.