Bristol Ground School: Windows or iPad? Which platform has the best user experience?
 

I'm looking to start my ATPL(A) studies through Bristol Ground School soon. I was planning on using my Windows desktop for the majority of my studies when at home, but was thinking of investing in a laptop or iPad to study when away from home and was deciding on which to go for.

Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions over which offers the best delivery? iPad or Windows? Or do they work exactly the same?

Does an iPad mini work well or is the extra screen real estate of the full fat version worthwhile?

I am with BGS and use the paper notes in binders + an iPad Mini for the progress tests, this works very well. I like paper binders as I spend a lot of my day looking at laptop for work.

Others use only the iPad and seem to get on fine.

I, too have had many issues with the BGS app.

In the end, I had to use my Windows 10 laptop, despite many reinstalls, updates etc. just to get the ‘dashboard’ to reflect my progress.

The biggest issue for me, was that most of their course material has not been updated to reflect the 2020 syllabus.

Worse still, their question bank is almost completely useless for the 2020 syllabus exams.

A lot of the content of their question bank is still pertinent, but the way the questions are worded now in the exams, makes them unusable.

Also, there are a lot of questions in the exams which are not even referred to in the BGS notes!

They claim they are working on this, but it really should have been updated by now, or at least split off into the different syllabi, old and new.

I have had to look elsewhere, to find up to date questions and have bought a subscription to ATPLQuestions (?), which appears to be bang up to date, in format and content.

CAPT Online also have some free question banks which are more up to date.

On the plus side, the BGS live and recorded webinars are useful, especially for those tips and mnemonics that you don’t always get from a book.

Ah, that's such a shame especially as they had such a solid reputation before. Is it bad enough that you'd suggest trying an alternate school?

Well, I haven’t experienced the alternatives to be honest.
The BGS course material is good, but then I prefer ‘books’ to electronic anyway.
I think their ‘renowned’ question bank lets them down now, mainly because of the switch to the 2020 syllabus.

CAPT have a good reputation and their online sample exams seem representative of the newer questions.

Certainly worth a look.

The ATPLquestion online system is excellent.

Hello Craphat, are you completing EASA or UK CAA exams?
On the bottom of the ATPL Online page it states copyright ATPL Online, Bristol Ground school and IDC Ltd.
Are these the same organistion (s)? Or do they work together pooling their questions?

Having been a BGS student who has finished all the exams this year. I found the experience on the iPad a bit better than PC as some images would not appear on the lessons. I would prefer to invest to invest in an iPad for on the go learning or reading than a laptop or PC.

craphat

I found this a little amusing and refreshing to hear it wasn't just me. BGS software bug frustration, including in the very first maths module where they couldn't multiply parenthesis correctly until I pointed out the incorrect answer was being listed as the correct one, was one of the reasons I stopped my ATPL(H) study 6 years ago and went FAA route (plus I got posted in the US again). Further frustration was when they booked me on an exam prep weekend at my cost, instead of Gen Nav starter weekend - although they did rearrange a second weekend for me free but I had the bills for everything else. I also found they "told" rather than "taught" so when I got something wrong I spent ages on the internet looking for answers to see if I was right or they was. I got even more disheartened when I posted on the BGS forum regarding the error at the time and someone suggested it was "all me"

Looking at doing it again now just to further my flying education - its one of those I want to do it but don't need to do it things with me as I have a career that pays more than i would prob earn heli wise in the UK in the short remaining time I have on single pilot ops - but it does give me options for a little side work I guess.

How long did you take to complete your exams?

I initially started in October 2019 but was studying for the exams up to March 2020 with some work on the side. However didn’t actually end up taking the exams until august because of the pandemic and quarantine imposed on everyone. Managed to then combine module 1 with module 2 in august and September. Then the final module completed this year in feb 2021. So in total I guess 7 months to only complete the exams but even longer if you combine the months of just studying with quarantine included.