But it won't be! Sometimes I feel I'm banging my head against a brick wall....

Scroggs

Hi TolTol
Will see you in Octobre. I am sooooooooo looking forward to these exams:{ :ugh: :yuk: :* :\

Here's the exception that proves the rule.

Thomsonfly ask on their application form for your exam scores. They also ask for pass marks from secondary school.

Are they kidding? I can't remember what I had for breakfast let alone what I scored in Remedial Woodwork.

Too............much..........cosmic..............radiation.. .................uuuuunnnggghhhh!!

Listen To The Pro's!
 

I think that this comes down to precisely what Scroggs and 727man have already tried to explain. IMO You will always get those who have to work exceptionally hard to achieve the bare minimums, the same as you will get the others who's effort is minimal to achieve the higher grades (and combinations thereof). Can you distinguish who's who just by looking at a set of results? I think not. This is why airlines (amongst other reasons) have interviews to discover a persons true personality.

To my way of thinking those who here who see fit to argue with the comments of our two seasoned proffesionals above, may need to look at there own personality. After all, they have the jobs and it will be people just like them on the otherside of the desk when we are going to interview.

As for the hours: well just ask the thousands of university graduates out of work or in jobs not befitting of their qualifications. Experience speaks volumes.

My conclusion: Give ground studies your all and achieve the best you can, but 75 is the number that matters. If the airlines wanted more they would surely ask.

All research into interview techniques has shown that face to face interviews will give the least accurate reflection on a person, they also tend to be biased, wat if the guy giving the interview is having a bad day, or doesnt like ur face!

that said, its still the most popular technique, but some people are realiseing its limitations, ie the police, at no stage are you interviewed by a person its all group work etc.

I have no idea whether your information is correct or not, but I don't know of any airline (or selective training organisation) that doesn't use the face-to-face interview as its primary selection tool. It's usually combined with some aptitude testing, possibly some examinations, maybe a group exercise or two, and often a sim check, but the interview will be the deciding factor. The main point of the interview is not to test your knowledge, or assess how you work with others, it's really to see if you're the kind of guy we could sit next to in a flight deck for 12 hours. And you can't establish a candidate's motivation from a group exercise.

I doubt we'll see things changing on that front any time soon.

Scroggs

Importance of the ATPL Theory test results to me is simply the fact that without them you will never have an ATPL.

As long as you have passed them you should have the barest minimum of knowledge that you are going to need so an airline can train you to fly their aeroplanes the way they want you to. I can't see the relevance the actual score would have to any employer, unless the exam actually asked you every possible question on every possible scenario. Anyone feel like writing 14 exams with 14 billion questions each?:{

My advice is make sure you pass the 14, fly as well as you can, impress everyone you can at the interview with what a super addition to the team you'll make, kiss backside if you have to, network as much as you can, pray, pray some more, beg, beg some more and never stop believing that you'll get there.

Stick to it and you will.

Good luck.

My view in old age, is that, whatever you do, you should do it to the best of your ability. If at some future date someone gives you credit for your efforts that is a bonus, if they don't you at least know you did the best you could. Looking back at my youth I am ashamed at the number of times I did just enough to pass when I might have excelled.

Very well said Alex, hope everything is well at BGS. From an old student
FF

Do I smell that someone here doesn't want their pass rates to be lowered? :)

Oh dear, the world is too cynical. That's the best advice I can give you.

Alex is absolutely right, and Martin's cynicism is misplaced. As I have said repeatedly on this thread, you should aim for the best result you can get. Once you've got it (and the licence in your hand), don't worry too much about what airlines might think about individual exam results; you'll probably never have to reveal them.

Scroggs

To be honest i really don't think the exam marks between sittings are even comparable.

They are slung out of a computer and printed.

The difference between monthly sittings can be huge. When i did my instruments only 20% of the people where passing then 5 months later it was up to 70% (these numbers where given to me by my ground school).

So in one month you can be in the top 20% with a 75%.
And the next bottom 40% with the same mark.

And the chief pilots all know this as many of them had to sweat blood to get through the bloody things.

Which is why one or two companys might use them to get the number of applications down (but it will be HR not the ops side of things). But nobody really cares.

MJ

ATPL exam marks are NOT of great importance. That's just the way it is. And this is from someone who's passed them less than a year ago and is now looking for the first job in the aviation business.

My CV doesn't mention my marks and I had a 93% average. If these marks would help me find a job, trust me, they'd be on my CV!!!


BTW, every airline recruitment process will have exams that will test your knowledge on Performance, Air Law, etc, anyway.

I may or may not agree with you. Regardless, how does your current lack of success securing a job validate your credentials
:confused:

And I haven't come across an airline that tested my knowledge on any of those subjects either!

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that smiling smileys signified irony, not cynism. :hmm: