When to start the Question Banks? Immediately? But I won't know anything?
 

I'm currently on Module 1 (Bristol Ground School), about 20 lessons in and I want to start going back over some of the things I have already learnt, just keeping my memory fresh. What did you do / What would you recommend when to start hitting the QB, or did you just stick to redoing the end of lesson questions at the end of each lesson?
I've tried to go on the QB and do some questions but even when I do just the topic I've learnt, I end up skipping a load of Qs that I know I haven't learnt yet! I don't get how people start learning a subject by attempting Questions with little knowledge!

Kind Regards,
JB

Two things you could try:
1. If you use AvExam, filter the questions by the topics you've covered so far. I'm not sure if BGS allow you to do this.
2. Sit down and think through the possible answers, sometimes they can be solved with an educated guess and dose of common sense. Look over the answer explanation to see the reasons behind the answers and you'll learn something that way too.

Thanks for your response!

BGS do allow to sort by topic which I've tried to do but still, some questions are definitely 10 lessons into the future.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is should I be learning or revising from the QB?
If learning, do I just note down all these random explanations (that explain why the answer is correct, no problem, but I have no understanding of the wider picture).
If revising should I burn through the whole module to have some background knowledge, THEN attempt the QB?

sorry for the long reply

An option is to try to understand the subject you're studying by going through its material and once you went through it (understanding means grasping the main concepts, not memorizing lots of details), you will be able to hit the QB. By doing that I usually manage to get around 70% the first time. I then focus on the things I didn't do well and only then I re-do the questions I didn't answer correctly the first time.

After all that you should be able to simulate the exams and get >80% results. This is how I study for the ATPL theory.

That sounds promising!

On the Bristol Ground School lessons, you have to get 100% for the end of lesson quiz before proceeding. I may just have a flick though the rest of the module today and tomorrow to just get a feel of what's going on. Hopefully, when I then get into the QBs, all those questions I inevitably get wrong will be a case of 'oh yeah I saw that once' instead of 'I don't know if this regards dentistry or English literature' then work from there. Or should I focus on burning through the syllabus to finish 2-3 weeks before test day and do 14 days of Question Banking? Seems like thats what DutchPilotGirl inadvertently ended up doing.

I would also agree with this approach. Whenever you have completed a larger chapter, hit the QB and don't worry if you're not getting over 75%. Read the explanation and you will learn a lot. Flag the questions you did wrong and redo them once you've finished a particular block of questions.

Aviation Exam lets you work on specific sub-chapters within each topic whereas BGS only divides each subject into larger topics. That's why I mostly rely on Avex, if I have spare time I work on BGS to practice for the school exam.

Point Taken!
Would I be correct in assuming both of you reccommend Aviation Exam then? May just have to invest!

I've got some good notes taken down in my first 20 lessons. I think my plan now will be to do a mock AV progress test before my BGS topic progress tests accordingly and go from there. Maybe put an extra sheet in each plastic pocket of every lesson I've done and insert any extra notes from my right / wrong answers.

I can highly recommend Aviation Exam! The explanations are more detailed and better than the ones on BGS in my opinion. Aviation Exam has worked really well so far for me when it comes to the CAA exams here in Lithuania. Best of luck.

+1 for Aviation Exam. When you start into the question banks, make sure you attempt the questions 'open book'. If you are not 100% sure of the answer, look up the correct answer rather than guessing at the wrong answer. In this way you eliminate the risk of habit-associating the wrong answer with the question, which is a trap that many (including me) have fallen into. Once you feel you can answer almost all the questions without having to refer to the books, you are ready to start taking the 'closed book' exam tests on AE.

I think now you've settled my mind as to how to dig in! Thanks!

All great advice, use the manuals,have a good read and some videos if you really struggle with a concept (you will, totally normal). I then tend to use the subtopics in BGS to go through the topics logically. Then you start to get an idea what the questions are going for.

The exam questions are world's apart in style and method compared to the materials.

Everyone has their own way of learning the course material and passing the exams and at the end of the day its what works for you. I am currently on Mod 3 at BGS and after the past two modules I have found what works for me is to get through the material as quick as possible the first time then hit the bank and learn the way the questions are asked for a particular subject then go back to the material. This then focuses my knowledge and I understand the things I need to know and filter out the rubbish. I then usually construct a feedback document from everything I can find a few days before the exam and go over the relevant information.
For example I spent weeks stressing over Air Law and learning everything there was to learn about it and managed to get to a point where I was getting a good average score every time on the bank. I then went through the feedback a few days before which helped me out massively and I took the risk of only focusing on a few key topic that kept cropping up. When I took the exam I was lucky enough that all of these came up and I passed it.
On the other side my AGK exam was a bit banky but mostly new stuff and because I understood the subject matter I aced it. So really like most people have been saying you need to do both. If you understand the subject matter then new questions won't phase you.
The ATPLS are basically a game and are not designed to be fair so you need to play the game

That was initially my plan until I found people saying forget it just do the QB. How quickly did you get through the course? How many weeks were left before Revision week? I've set on the software to finish a week before, but as I'm doing 4 lessons a day I'm probably going to finish 2-3 weeks before. I could crank it up and do 6 or so lessons a week to get it through faster, with decent notes on each lesson.

Thanks for your response

Just finished the ATPLs! I started the QB early and hit it hard, but definitely read through the material too. In the actual exams some of the questions were variations of QB questions, so it was useful to understand the context and not just a memorised answer. There were also a good proportion of new questions for every exam too, although very little that was a completely new topic.