EASA ATPL Exams 2022 - New Syllabus
 

Hi everyone,

I am currently converting my South African ICAO CPL license to the EASA CPL in Switzerland. I have just finished the theoretical course and my first set of exams is supposed to start in February. I know the whole syllabus has changed for the ATPL exams and there are (supposedly) thousands of new questions which will be added to the ECQB.

I have mainly been advised to rather wait and not be one of the first students to write the 'new' exams. However, I wanted to find out if anyone is going ahead with the exams and if so, which subjects will you be writing and how will you prepare?

I believe Air Law, Human Performance, Communications and Meteorology have not changed drastically compared to subjects like Radio Navigation and Instrumentation. If I do write, I think I will go for them first.

I just wanted to ask for some advice and opinions on the matter, personally I'd like to go ahead with them, however I do believe it can be a bit of a risk as no one really knows what to expect.

Thank you in advance!

We all know what to expect, the Learning Objectives are published and fairly clear. Okay, on occasion the questions are a bit "weird" and we challenge those, but I do know, from experience with students of mine, that if you work hard, learn your stuff, and use the banks for practice, you'll be fine. If you're just trying to remember the bank, well, good luck with that, and your job interviews.

The new syllabus is the 2020 syllabus, not 2022, and it uses ECQB 2020 which has many thousands of new questions. The exams have been running for quite some time now so you certainly won't be the first to sit, however, I think the advice you have been given is based on these exams being less 'banky'.
When the old syllabus ends is really up to each CAA. It was supposed to be this month (January 2022) at the latest, but some CAAs have put in place extensions. I am not sure any CAA will let you start sitting on the old syllabus now though.

I am not sure any subject has changed that dramatically. Of course, communications is now one exam instead of two, things from WW2 like polar stereographic charts are gone, the question style is a bit different, and there is this new KSA module so there are some noticeable differences for candidates.

Dear PFD, I appreciate you're input. I have finished my theory course, spent time going through each textbook making summaries and notes, going through external sources etc. so I haven't just been trying to 'remember the bank'. However I previously wrote my CPL exams in South Africa and this will be my first sitting for the EASA exams, obviously I want to do the best I can and this is why I came here for some advice.

Dear RedDragonFlyer, I will be writing in Switzerland - I think from what you've mentioned they are only putting the new syllabus in place as of January 2022. I have heard some students who have already started the ATPL exams were given extensions to finish them, which is understandable. Thank you for your input and insight, much appreciated!

JRS - the SA questions are just as daft as the EASA ones - in fact I believe they bought the JAA database at some stage, so you will have some familiarity :). Expect the questions to be scenario based and there are only around 10000 now in total anyway - at least that was true a year ago.

I just did my Radio navigation and Operational Principles. 80% of questions are new or reworded. Unluckily in a way that answers become more ambiguous and confusing. Although I passed, I did by a small margin.
I studied subjects thoroughly with books and my own research, however I don’t know what to expect in my next exams. An updated question bank really helps to deal with these ambiguous question which do not test your knowledge but serve just as a filter for candidates.

Anyone else facing the new EASA exams?
I wonder how long it will take to have a well updated question bank and go to the exams with more confidence.

Hello,
I am currently studying my ATPL exams in Switzerland. I am finsihed with the books.
For questions bank, I use atplquestions.com 2021question bank.
Selecting real questions in Switzerland leads to a very limited selection of questions with the same questions coming back all the time.
From your experience, how did you manage to explore more questions and were they relevant compared to the ones you were actually tested on during real CAA exam?