The new exams
 

Anyone else done one of the new exams yet?

I did my Aircraft one last weekend (it was a resit as on the first time I was three questions short of the pass mark). The multiple choice now gives you four possible answers to choose from.
Bit of a mixup as they gave me one of the old answer sheets that only has three ticky boxes. So I had to go back out and ask for the right one.

Really annoyingly, they don't have the answer sheets yet, so I have no idea how I did.
AAARGH!!!

I'm hoping I passed, which will just leave two to try and polish off asap, then I'll be up for the final test.

ME NEXT ?
 

Hiya Pink

You may still take the old ones, but not for much longer, it is dependant on whether your school has received the new ones yet!
Took all 7 last week on the "old style" just in case the new ones were more difficult!!! :O

Pinkster,

Don't quote me on this, because I may be wrong... but I think that the beginning of March is the date after which you have to do the new exams, and the old ones stop being valid unless you took them before that date, but there's nothing to stop a school from giving you the new exams earlier than that.

FFF
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FlyingForFun said:
I went to my FTO (West London Aero Club) last week to do my Met exam and was told they were waiting for the new papers to arrive. I rang again yesterday and they were still waiting.

We have the new papers, but as soon as we received them we were required to return the old ones to the CAA, so if your school gets the new ones you will not be able to take the old ones even before March.

Recommend you do the old ones ASAP if possible (if you still can), as it is likely that your instructors will have "tailorred" your teaching toward the the knowledge base required for the exams with which they are familiar.

Pinkster,
It didn't seem much harder. That could just be because I'd done more revising for it this time! It only really makes a difference if you're not sure about an answer, where you have more possible choices.

I suppose the reason they changed it is so you have less of a chance of guessing the right answer if you have no idea.
A bit like I had no idea on the one about compression ratios!

The new papers are only supplied to Examiners after they have returned the old papers, so nobody will have both sets!

The syllabus has not changed, so it should make no difference to the student, unless they are being coached to pass specific questions!

The purpose of the exams is to ensure potential pilots know sufficient to operate safely, not to be ticks in a box.

The 4th question is to fully align the papers with JAA examination requirements.

Does this mean that the Confuser is obsolete too?

COMPRESSION RATIO'S
 

I finally sat the 'new format' Meteorology exam yesterday and was told today that I passed. I am very pleased with the result because I worked extremely hard and studied - in depth - from various sources.

As well as having to choose from 4 possible answers, there are trick questions and a lot of them are rephrased. You will definately be caught out if you do not understand the subject.

IMC Rating Exam
 

I sat the old format IMC Rating exam on Thursday - the club told me it was about to be changed (no-one so far on PPRuNe has mentioned this in the exams being changed).

Passed comfortably after some hurried self-checking using the IMC Confuser. Was a bit worried as I only seemed to be getting around 75 - 80% on the Confuser questions, but got told 'you sit the exam now or have to wait for a month' (as I wasn't at my 'home' school and won't be going back for a month), so decided to sit it. Extremely surprised to be told that I got 96% - the one I got wrong was a stupid one that if I'd have read all 4 answers properly, rather than just the first one that 'sounded right'.

Now just need to finish the flying - only managed 2 hrs in 5 days!

You are also describing the philosophy of the JAA ATPLs.

I found the IMC confuser a lot harder than the real exam - lots of trick questions in the confuser, none in my exam.