London Metropolitan University
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London Metropolitan University
Hi,
I would immensely appreciate if people who have studied or are sutdying the ATPL course at London Metropolitan (previously known as Guildhall) university, would share their experience/opinions of the place here.
How did you find the course? how are the the teacher/staff like? resources? do they give you sufficient study material? etc. etc. and anything that you would say about the place to a prospective student or you would like me to be aware of.
Thanks very much in advance
and looking forward to hearing from you.
P16
I would immensely appreciate if people who have studied or are sutdying the ATPL course at London Metropolitan (previously known as Guildhall) university, would share their experience/opinions of the place here.
How did you find the course? how are the the teacher/staff like? resources? do they give you sufficient study material? etc. etc. and anything that you would say about the place to a prospective student or you would like me to be aware of.
Thanks very much in advance
and looking forward to hearing from you.
P16
Dancing with the devil, going with the flow... it's all a game to me.
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Apparently they are good but I called them three times regarding the use of their PC based question bank (£50 for a days access) and three times they promised to get back to me but never did. I still have not heard from them.
I guess I will just have to try again!
VFE.
I guess I will just have to try again!
VFE.
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I studied there last year, and the notes were all photocopies and poorly written with a lot of mistakes. Apparently they have a new re-edited version/set out now with some colour etc??
As for the content, there is plenty, very comprehensive. Goes into great depth, somtimes a little too much. Feedback is very good and as for instructors.......well it goes for all schools.....there are some very good instructors and some not so good.
As for the content, there is plenty, very comprehensive. Goes into great depth, somtimes a little too much. Feedback is very good and as for instructors.......well it goes for all schools.....there are some very good instructors and some not so good.
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LMU
Ive just finished first phase at LMU's and so far the verdict is could do better.
The new notes are quite comprehensive and overall cover the syllabus well. A point to note however is how some of the instructors cover the contents. In general the teaching methods of some of the teachers are excellent i found for someone who likes things in noddy language, but the approhaces of a few leave a lot to be desired.
the feedback was good and teachers are genuinely interested in students performances which is a good motivation sometimes.
The folks at guildhall do emphasise that they teach beyond what is necessary. Something some might find a put off, but personally i've found that ive been able to retain alot of knowledge imparted through the lectures that i feel very good about knowing.
having the course spread out in three phases helps a lot ive found. Its an experiment that theyve recently introduced and last i heard nearly all the folks who sat the second phase last month passed all their subjects.
To pass the exams there are more expensive places you can go where you'd no doubt get a better quality product but if your purse strings are a little tight then id definately recommend LMU as you get so much more than what you pay for.
best of luck
The new notes are quite comprehensive and overall cover the syllabus well. A point to note however is how some of the instructors cover the contents. In general the teaching methods of some of the teachers are excellent i found for someone who likes things in noddy language, but the approhaces of a few leave a lot to be desired.
the feedback was good and teachers are genuinely interested in students performances which is a good motivation sometimes.
The folks at guildhall do emphasise that they teach beyond what is necessary. Something some might find a put off, but personally i've found that ive been able to retain alot of knowledge imparted through the lectures that i feel very good about knowing.
having the course spread out in three phases helps a lot ive found. Its an experiment that theyve recently introduced and last i heard nearly all the folks who sat the second phase last month passed all their subjects.
To pass the exams there are more expensive places you can go where you'd no doubt get a better quality product but if your purse strings are a little tight then id definately recommend LMU as you get so much more than what you pay for.
best of luck
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Thanks very much guys! Very helpful.
More replies would be appreciated though.
well I live quite close to the university (it's the Tower Hill branch I believe) and Im also taking that into consideration.
P16
More replies would be appreciated though.
well I live quite close to the university (it's the Tower Hill branch I believe) and Im also taking that into consideration.
P16
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I too, studied at LGU last year. I was on the last of the two stage courses. The notes are very comprehensive, and yes, there are some short falls in some of the notes but not all. Most of the notes are in black and white, and some of the diagrams are poor quality and difficult to read. That is a situation that they are aware of and currently in the process of addressing. I ended up buying the Oxford notes for instruments in order to shed some light on INS's and compasses.
The course was hard work, but I guess that's true with all ATPL courses. The instructors on the whole were very good. Some more so than others, and that, also I guess is true with all schools.
All said, I managed to pass all bar two exams at the first attempt. Like anything, you get out of it, what you put in...
The course was hard work, but I guess that's true with all ATPL courses. The instructors on the whole were very good. Some more so than others, and that, also I guess is true with all schools.
All said, I managed to pass all bar two exams at the first attempt. Like anything, you get out of it, what you put in...
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Pilot 16
I too was a student of LGU last year and I would agree with all that my contemporaries have said above. Remember, however, that at LGU there are class sizes that may be anything up to 25 people. Thus, less personal attention than you might get in a private school. Private study becomes much more important. See my comments below.
I would add, however, that the biggest problem with LGU is nothing to do with the course but rather its location. The building is right opposite the Tower of London.
LGU does have halls of residence, but you are not allowed to occupy them because all available places are reserved for three year degree students.
The university accomodation office (so called) is a total waste of space: all they do is to give you a list of rooms for rent which they can't even claim to be up to date. That apart, they are no help at all.
There are hostels locally run by private organisations, if you can get into one of these all well and good. However there is intense competition for places in these establishments. If you are over 30 years of age then forget it: they won't admit you even if they have places.
Remember, you are competing for the limited local accommodation with students of
1. other faculties of LGU,
2. students at Queen Mary Westfield College (London Univ.) and 3. students at the City University.
In practice, you are better looking for accommodation in 'LOOT'. Be prepared for it to be an hour or more's commute away. Commuting, apart from being most unpleasant and exhausting, is very expensive in London. Be warned, the ATPL course is VERY HEAVY. You need to be able to do at least three hours of work at home in the evening - every evening. It doesn't help if you arrive home after an hour's strap hanging and feeling utterly b*gg***d.
Quite alot of the accommodation advertised in the local press is in Hackney. Nothing wrong with Hackney exept that it is a tubeless zone; buses only except for some limited main line into Liverpool Street. Not good in the London morning rush hour.
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. We had seven nationalities in our class. Everyone on the course was there to work. Everyone got on well with everyone else. We were, and continue to be, all friends.
If you can just get your accommodation sorted then go for it.
Good luck Kid.
Best regards,
BroomstickPilot
I too was a student of LGU last year and I would agree with all that my contemporaries have said above. Remember, however, that at LGU there are class sizes that may be anything up to 25 people. Thus, less personal attention than you might get in a private school. Private study becomes much more important. See my comments below.
I would add, however, that the biggest problem with LGU is nothing to do with the course but rather its location. The building is right opposite the Tower of London.
LGU does have halls of residence, but you are not allowed to occupy them because all available places are reserved for three year degree students.
The university accomodation office (so called) is a total waste of space: all they do is to give you a list of rooms for rent which they can't even claim to be up to date. That apart, they are no help at all.
There are hostels locally run by private organisations, if you can get into one of these all well and good. However there is intense competition for places in these establishments. If you are over 30 years of age then forget it: they won't admit you even if they have places.
Remember, you are competing for the limited local accommodation with students of
1. other faculties of LGU,
2. students at Queen Mary Westfield College (London Univ.) and 3. students at the City University.
In practice, you are better looking for accommodation in 'LOOT'. Be prepared for it to be an hour or more's commute away. Commuting, apart from being most unpleasant and exhausting, is very expensive in London. Be warned, the ATPL course is VERY HEAVY. You need to be able to do at least three hours of work at home in the evening - every evening. It doesn't help if you arrive home after an hour's strap hanging and feeling utterly b*gg***d.
Quite alot of the accommodation advertised in the local press is in Hackney. Nothing wrong with Hackney exept that it is a tubeless zone; buses only except for some limited main line into Liverpool Street. Not good in the London morning rush hour.
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. We had seven nationalities in our class. Everyone on the course was there to work. Everyone got on well with everyone else. We were, and continue to be, all friends.
If you can just get your accommodation sorted then go for it.
Good luck Kid.
Best regards,
BroomstickPilot
Why do it if it's not fun?
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I live quite close to the university
FFF
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Broomstick Pilot,
Regarding your comments about accomodation I had no problem getting somewhere to live, I was advised to make plans well in advance regarding somewhere to live, which I did, and one trip to London got me a place 25 mins cycle from the college at a reasonable price.
Alot of the people I have come across have left finding somewhere to live right to the last minute, and as well as having a ridiculous amount of work to do from the course, they find themself shrouded with the pressure of finding somewhere permanent to live and moving from B&B to B&B.
My advice to anyone considering LMU, with respect to finding a place to live would be to plan well in advance.
I agree with the comments about not wanting to spend hours on end on trains and buses, because as everyone knows who has either done the course or is doing the course, it requires you to study for at least 3 - 4 hours a night, every night.
Regarding your comments about accomodation I had no problem getting somewhere to live, I was advised to make plans well in advance regarding somewhere to live, which I did, and one trip to London got me a place 25 mins cycle from the college at a reasonable price.
Alot of the people I have come across have left finding somewhere to live right to the last minute, and as well as having a ridiculous amount of work to do from the course, they find themself shrouded with the pressure of finding somewhere permanent to live and moving from B&B to B&B.
My advice to anyone considering LMU, with respect to finding a place to live would be to plan well in advance.
I agree with the comments about not wanting to spend hours on end on trains and buses, because as everyone knows who has either done the course or is doing the course, it requires you to study for at least 3 - 4 hours a night, every night.
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Cat IIIc Autoland
Out of curiosity, how did you go about finding your accommodation, (Loot, local press, Evening Standard or what)?
Hope your career plans are going well!
Best wishes,
Broomstick.
Out of curiosity, how did you go about finding your accommodation, (Loot, local press, Evening Standard or what)?
Hope your career plans are going well!
Best wishes,
Broomstick.
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Thank very much fr the replies.
Yeah i live around 10-15 minutes bus ride away o LMU seems ideal. I will deffinately give them a visit before I make my move
Flyingforfun, Im sure any ATPL school uses photocopies as part of there teaching? Im not sure why people here are specificaly pointing towards the photocopies LMU makes.
Is there some reason to this? like perheps LMU uses too much photocpied material? in that case what would a more posh ATPL school use e.g. Oxford/Cabair?
P16
Yeah i live around 10-15 minutes bus ride away o LMU seems ideal. I will deffinately give them a visit before I make my move
Flyingforfun, Im sure any ATPL school uses photocopies as part of there teaching? Im not sure why people here are specificaly pointing towards the photocopies LMU makes.
Is there some reason to this? like perheps LMU uses too much photocpied material? in that case what would a more posh ATPL school use e.g. Oxford/Cabair?
P16
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Pilot 16,
About the photocopies at LGU. This is one subject about which I believe my colleagues may have been a little over critical.
Yes, there was some usage of photocopied material, (notably some pages reproduced from a manual on EFIS included in the 'Instruments' notes) but not that much; certainly nothing to get concerned about.
If you live so close to LGU then they would be a good choice.
Best wishes,
Broomstick
About the photocopies at LGU. This is one subject about which I believe my colleagues may have been a little over critical.
Yes, there was some usage of photocopied material, (notably some pages reproduced from a manual on EFIS included in the 'Instruments' notes) but not that much; certainly nothing to get concerned about.
If you live so close to LGU then they would be a good choice.
Best wishes,
Broomstick
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Photocopies
The JAA examinations are sat on a monthly basis. From these exams schools receive feedback from the CAA and also their students.
If schools are working from old manuals then when new information comes from the exams such as new questions or slightly different wording or phrases they should be issuing ammendments to their students. Where many schools fall down is they do not own the copy right to their manuals and therefore can only issue ammendments as insert pages.
If manuals are being reproduced time after time using a photocopier the print quality is bound to degrade. And I have heard that in some cases the manuals are actually thinner than the pile of ammendments and barely legible.
I work for a school that has the copy right to our own manuals. This means that alterations can be made relatively painlessly and new manuals can be printed rather than photocopied. This means a much better standard is reached in the print quality, legibility and content of our manuals.
There is of course some degree of photocopying involved for some work sheets and practice papers.
If schools are working from old manuals then when new information comes from the exams such as new questions or slightly different wording or phrases they should be issuing ammendments to their students. Where many schools fall down is they do not own the copy right to their manuals and therefore can only issue ammendments as insert pages.
If manuals are being reproduced time after time using a photocopier the print quality is bound to degrade. And I have heard that in some cases the manuals are actually thinner than the pile of ammendments and barely legible.
I work for a school that has the copy right to our own manuals. This means that alterations can be made relatively painlessly and new manuals can be printed rather than photocopied. This means a much better standard is reached in the print quality, legibility and content of our manuals.
There is of course some degree of photocopying involved for some work sheets and practice papers.
Why do it if it's not fun?
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Pilot16,
No, I'm not sure why people are pointing towards photocopies as a negative point either. That's why I said, in an earlier post, that this may not put you off.
However, to answer your question, no not all schools use photocopies. Bristol, for example, print all of their notes on very high quality paper. Their feedback is, however, photocopied, and there is a very noticeable difference between the two.
As I've said many times before, everyone looks for different things in a school. There is no real reason why the high quality paper which Bristol use should improve the quality of their training. If you happen to think it's important, then you should take it into account when making your choice. If you don't think it's important, then don't take it into account. Personally, I think it's nice to see a school taking enough pride of their notes to put them onto decent paper using a decent printer, but I doubt it make much difference to the level of training you'll receive.
(Hope my mentioning Bristol on this thread isn't mis-leading. Since they only do distance learning, you won't even be considering them as an alternative to LGU. I only mention them because they are the only school I have first-hand experience of.)
FFF
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No, I'm not sure why people are pointing towards photocopies as a negative point either. That's why I said, in an earlier post, that this may not put you off.
However, to answer your question, no not all schools use photocopies. Bristol, for example, print all of their notes on very high quality paper. Their feedback is, however, photocopied, and there is a very noticeable difference between the two.
As I've said many times before, everyone looks for different things in a school. There is no real reason why the high quality paper which Bristol use should improve the quality of their training. If you happen to think it's important, then you should take it into account when making your choice. If you don't think it's important, then don't take it into account. Personally, I think it's nice to see a school taking enough pride of their notes to put them onto decent paper using a decent printer, but I doubt it make much difference to the level of training you'll receive.
(Hope my mentioning Bristol on this thread isn't mis-leading. Since they only do distance learning, you won't even be considering them as an alternative to LGU. I only mention them because they are the only school I have first-hand experience of.)
FFF
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Firstly guys sorry about the late responses, but I have been sweating over these last few days waiting for my exam results . Anyway, sweat over, got them today, and managed to do ok 
Anyway, Broomstick Pilot, I actually used the university list that was sent to me with my starter pack. I looked at a number of places, then made a selection. All turned great for me, I have a shared flat fairly close by, at a reasonble price.
Cyclic Fondler, we work at college from 09:00 to 16:15, with an optional 45 minute tutorial to sort any problems out you may have at the end of the day. Total teaching time is 6 hours. With regard to the time quoted, 3 - 4 hours a night, obviously it depends on the individual. However, I think most people will agree that, due to the volume of work that is involved, this is a fairly typical figure. It takes me a long time to digest certain things, therefore, this is what I try and aim for. I tend to work Saturday and Sunday afternoons aswell, where I have Friday nights off, always nice to relax in the Wetherspoons in tower hill with the guys/gals from college.
Anyway, I hope this helps you, any questions please feel free to ask.
. Anyway, sweat over, got them today, and managed to do ok Anyway, Broomstick Pilot, I actually used the university list that was sent to me with my starter pack. I looked at a number of places, then made a selection. All turned great for me, I have a shared flat fairly close by, at a reasonble price.
Cyclic Fondler, we work at college from 09:00 to 16:15, with an optional 45 minute tutorial to sort any problems out you may have at the end of the day. Total teaching time is 6 hours. With regard to the time quoted, 3 - 4 hours a night, obviously it depends on the individual. However, I think most people will agree that, due to the volume of work that is involved, this is a fairly typical figure. It takes me a long time to digest certain things, therefore, this is what I try and aim for. I tend to work Saturday and Sunday afternoons aswell, where I have Friday nights off, always nice to relax in the Wetherspoons in tower hill with the guys/gals from college
.Anyway, I hope this helps you, any questions please feel free to ask.
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I have just finished at LMU and have found the whole setup perfectly adequate. There may be other groundschool centres that offer more gloss and glamour, but it's not rocket science - if you do the work you pass the exams.
Some of the notes might be a bit 'duff', but they are working on them and you can always ask if you have issues anyway. For the price compared to OAT it is no contest, and worth putting up with the rough edges. Bristol seem to get good reviews as well though.
Some of the notes might be a bit 'duff', but they are working on them and you can always ask if you have issues anyway. For the price compared to OAT it is no contest, and worth putting up with the rough edges. Bristol seem to get good reviews as well though.
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London met accommodation
Well I'm all prepared for the dreaded experience that is Groundschool. All except for one minor thing.... Somewhere to live! 
Having had my fabulous flatshare fall through, is there anyone looking to share? I'll be at studying at London Met from June. Drop me an email and we can talk.
Cheers
CC
Having had my fabulous flatshare fall through, is there anyone looking to share? I'll be at studying at London Met from June. Drop me an email and we can talk.
Cheers
CC