Hey Rudestuff, how did you do it?

[button push ignored]

Rudestuff.
I greatly appreciate the sound advice and judgement you give to this forum.
I agree with everything you have said.

But one thing you have said many times, I find rather perplexing.
I can not for the life of me, figure out how in the world you completed all 14 exams for the ATPL in only three months.
Can you please explained in as much detail as possible exactly how this can be done.

A day by day account would be appreciated, including day number and location of each written test.
Also who signed you off for these.
Looking at Bristol’s and others study week-ends I can’t see how you did it.
I don't see how they correlate with the testing centers dates.

It got me thinking, that maybe you shouldn't pay the £85 per test to the UK CAA after all.
Maybe there is a better way.
Maybe you should study from home, then fly or drive to Poland and take the £5 tests.
Then do your CPL/IR/ME there as well, since your in the neighborhood.

[custardpsc]

A very long time ago, I took all the commercial exams in one sitting. It was the last sitting of the UK national papers. I studied for a month and passed ( well) all but two. No question banks in those days. Two groups ( nav and tech), sat simultaneously over a few days. Finding myself now looking at the EASA stuff, I am sure this wouldn't be a wise strategy, but theoretically possible. If one has the equivalent grade of licence then no signoff required. If one really does know the stuff because of prior experience and can pass the coursework/ convince the training organisation to provide the sign-offs and take individual brushup, the exams are approximately every fortnight. Probably the minimum path now would be three sittings a fortnight apart.

Has anyone on here with a UK issued licence used the polish/hungarian/latvian exam route? Would love to know more details !

[Chris the Robot]

Would it not be possible to study using the books/question banks for a few years and then complete all of the exams within a few months towards the end of the hour building phase of the modular route?

My thinking is that most airline cadet programmes (including the fully funded/loan guaranteed by airline ones) specify no previous ATPL sittings before applying. If you are going modular, it may be an idea to keep the cadet route option open for as long as possible by sitting the exams as late in the process as possible, so that if an airline decides to open a really good cadet programme, you can still apply.

[paco]

Yes, the rules say that you can study while you are flying training but you cannot take the skill test until you have passed the written exams.

[rudestuff]

I used the same method Frank Abignale used to pass the bar in Louisiana.

I was distance learning, did the classroom stuff early to get the box ticked, but couldn't find the time or motivation to study. I thought if I don't do something drastic, I'll never get them done. So I took 4 weeks off work and booked the first 4 exams - so that there was no going back. Then I smashed every QB I could find, making sure to youtube/Google every question I didn't understand, and work out every question that needed working out (so as to learn technique, not the answers). Eat, sleep, learn, repeat. I averaged one subject per week, maybe 60 hours each. In test week, I took two exams on Monday (the most recent two) and the remaining two exams on Thursday, (giving me 2½ days extra revision). It seems I thrive under pressure, and I averaged one subject per week. It probably wouldn't work for everyone.

[redsnail]

Checkboard did the 14 JAR exams in 2 months. He used the Bristol Ground School material in Australia (books had gathered a lot of dust while he was in the casino). Came over and did the brush up course in August, did 7 exams, did another lot of brush ups and exams in September 2002.

[KT1988]

I must start with that I have only done the PPL theory (9 mini-exams in like 2 hours in January) and have just trained for some weeks with the AE question base. But I have the feeling it will not be soooo hard with the ATPL if its true that you get more than 75 % already known questions unless you have some extreme bad luck. So if its just about passing the exams (since the knowledge both from the books and from your instructors that you need in practice is much more than you get asked about during the exams + some of what you get asked about is probably not really useful in the cockpit) then it will probably work to remember all the AE questions and answers since people say they get from 80 to 90 % already known questions on the exams (I guess its the same question base in all EU nations since all give the same license).

So if you just train some hours everyday (just skip slacking and telling yourself its still some months until the exams, just do the questions everyday no matter. In the end you will dream about them at night and then its probably doable to get all done in a 2 week session. Oh and do not forget reading the books and calculating stuff since there will be unknown questions on the exam + later on probably no one wants to screw up after getting invited to the airline interview cause of not knowing the answers to their questions.

Ofc. if you got a job, a family etc. then its not so simple to have all the necessary time to quickly learn everything and really understand it. I am talking about the situation when you can concentrate 100 % on your flight training.