JAA ATPL Ground Exams

[GodisMyCopilot]

Hi All

I am considering my ground school with Bristol, after the 2 week revision courses how many days do the exams take? how many do you sit per day and where do you sit them, with the school??

cheers

[EGAC_Ramper]

Exams are Monday-Thursday and as for how many you sit depends what ones,some days aybe one other 2.


Regards

[Charlie Zulu]

The exam schedule is usually as below:

Monday

0930 Principles of Flight 1:00
1045 Aircraft General Knowledge 2:00
1400 Mass and Balance 1:00
1515 Aircraft Performance 1:00

Tuesday

0900 Instruments 1:30
1100 Ops Procedures 1:20
1300 Flight Planning 3:00

Wednesday

0900 General Navigation 2:00
1115 Radio Navigation 1:30
1345 Meteorology 2:30

Thursday

0900 Air Law and ATC Procedures 1:40
1100 Human Performance and Limitations 1:00
1300 VFR Comms 0:30
1345 IFR Comms 0:30

So if I have the module 1 for Bristol correct, you'll be in the exam room everyday.

[tu154]

When I did mod 2 in may (bristol) the mod 2 subjects were:

POF, AGK, Perf
Ops
Rad Nav
Air Law

So Mod 1 was:
Mass and Bal
Insts, Flight PLanning
Gen Nav, Met
HPL, VFR Comms, IFR comms.

You will be in the exam hall every day either way.

[crap pilot]

Does anybody have an exam timetable that could give me some details? I just found out that i will need to book holidays from work by tommorow and can not find the copy that i had.
I will be taking AGK, Radio Nav, IFR Comms and VFR Comms.
Could anybody let me know what days(and possibly times) these are held on?

Thanks

[BigGrecian]

Perhaps a search of the CAA website before posting?
This Year
Next Year

[Superpilot]

Could somebody give me an idea of how the exams and exam dates are structured? (genereally, not specific to Bristol) I’m looking to start my distance learning course (not with Bristol). I aim to study for each module, one at a time and then do an exam for that module only….with a view to then go back and study for the next module and then take the exam for that, and so on......

Or is one required to do more than one exam per day? Can certain exams only be done on certain days? Is there a minimum number of exams one needs to do per exam-day?

A bit confused here.
Thanks

[Charlie Zulu]

Hi Superpilot,

The exams start on the first Monday of every month, unless that Monday happens to be a bank holiday, in which case they will start on the following Monday.

The timetable is fixed. Usually the same as the one I posted above.

No matter how many exams you take within the same exam week, this will be counted as 1 exam room sitting. So if you take 1, 2 or even 8 exams in the same week then you will have used up 1 sitting at the exam hall.

Why does this matter? Well you are only allowed up to 6 sittings at the exam room in total. So this obviously means you will need to sit more than one exam at a time. Ideally you will be wanting to do 5 or so each time to leave you enough sittings left if you have to resit any.

Talking about resits, these have to be taken within the total of the 6 sittings BUT you are only allowed 4 attempts at each subject.

If you use up all 6 sittings and haven't passed them all, or if you fail one or more of the subjects 4 times then its back to school as you'll have to start the ATPL exams all over again, from scratch. Although I believe the CGI at the school can wave the requirement of the study time required in this case.

Most schools have organised their courses into two or three modules. Bristol has two modules, the first one with 8 subjects/exams and the second module containing 6 exams. If you pass the exams first time and take them all in the same relevant sitting for the module then you'll take two sittings in total. This would leave you 4 sittings left in case you did fail any.

The school I am with (NAC) have 7 subjects/exams in each module, so giving me two modules.

Cabair, Cranfield Aviation etc have three modules, with I believe 5 subjects/exams in the first two modules and 4 in the last module (although I might be wrong). Leaving one with 3 sittings left for any resits.

Hope this answers your question.

Charlie Zulu.

[Superpilot]

It does, thanks!

[helicopter-redeye]

I’m looking to start my distance learning course (not with Bristol). I aim to study for each module, one at a time and then do an exam for that module only….with a view to then go back and study for the next module and then take the exam for that, and so on

Madness. Impossible probably as you will time out on the 18 month rule but most likely run out of sittings (6 max).

Either

(a). do a block of 7 then 7 exams then rinse and repeat for the next set; or

(b). study all 14 then sit 14, then mop up non-passes in next 1 or 2 sittings (but with no pressure on timing out on the 18 month rule).

Hope this is helpful,

h-r

[Superpilot]

OK, so I misunderstood the whole process, glad I know now!

Having done about 15 IT related exams in the last 3 years, I can see the approach to the ATPL exams isn't going to be any different. I.e. Read some really vague material and then practise loads of questions....do exam....if fail....repeat to fade.

Do you guys get the feeling sometimes that you are cramming in everything for the sake of passing exams/and so sod the deep understanding/learning? All the professional exams I've sat have forced this attitude on to me. Come on be honest

Also, interested to know roughly how many questions per each of the exams.

Thanks

[Charlie Zulu]

Hi SuperPilot,

The number of questions in each exam, as a general rule of thumb:

75 - Aviation Law
76 - Aircraft General Knowledge
56 - Instrumentation
22 - Mass and Balance
34 - Performance
56 - Flight Planning
47 - Human Performance
90 - Meteorology
54 - General Navigation
59 - Radio Navigation
50 - Operational Procedures
44 - Principles of Flight
23 - VFR Communications
23 - IFR Communications

However this doesn't mean the number of questions will equal the number of allocated marks. The more difficult questions are weighted with 2 marks or as in the case in the August Meteorology exam 3 marks (one of the last few questions).

Each exam has to be passed with at least 75% of the allocated marks.

Learning the subjects by use of feedback and past papers will not guarantee you a pass. You have to learn and understand the theory behind each subject as well as going through the past questions. The real question bank is updated all the time with new questions replacing older questions.

Although these are multiple choice questions, they are not easy. The questions are designed to enable the exam to ensure one has studied the required material and not just gone through feedback questions.

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu

[helicopter-redeye]

Do you guys get the feeling sometimes that you are cramming in everything for the sake of passing exams/and so sod the deep understanding/learning? All the professional exams I've sat have forced this attitude on to me. Come on be honest

No.

There is some cramming (as with all exams)

But you also learn a load.

Amazing how many dinner conversations you can pack details of the Organised Track System or Met conditions into (especially 'anticyclonic gloom') ....

[Alex Whittingham]

ATPL/CPL Exam fees going up

...to £60 a paper.

New CAA Charges

Far too much, I'm afraid.

[Linda Mollison]

And CPL and IR skill test fees going up to £691 from £637, partial test fee to £462 from £428.

Also far too much

Linda

[aztec25]

Uk inflation down to 2.1%

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4523948.stm

CAA charges rise by about 9%

Don't just sit there...

Dear, <My MP>
c/o House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

[What's a Girdler]

Bring in Lembit Opik, the flying man in the House of Commons, if he reads this website, please can you throw this open to the house.

This is completely unfair, I had to recently spend £16 of my money so that the FAA could look at my details, who's conning who!!

[helicopter-redeye]

It would be interesting and enlightening to hear the CAA's version of why the costs are going up.

No. Cancel that. There will be a fee associated with 'responding to reasonable questions'

[High Wing Drifter]

AOPA say they have lost the battle to prevent the CAA hiking up GA's costs. That included the help of three MPs including Rt Hon Opik. I believe, the CAA is going to be audited soon though.

[Send Clowns]

What on Earth does a student get for £60? A place in a room for an hour or 2, 2 invigilators between 20-60 people, a shoddily-written exam and a 2-week wait for results. I thought services were not supposed to be cross-subsidised now. Disgraceful.