Just thought I would share the latest re. AGK.

Not one single question from any of the test exams I have done, which include all the BT and others. Very convoluted questioning, seemingly more so than usual from CASA.

I feel there is a need to make the study material test exams much more difficult and equally cryptic as does CASA. I found the length of some of the questions surprising, often providing misleading information forcing me to eliminate unnecessary information.

The answers were much closer in possibilities than expected and many questions with 5 options.

As an engineer myself it was a challenge, not just because of the broad knowledge required but because of the need to decipher the question.

Aerodynamics next.

G'day tech1.

Thanks for the feedback on the exam. You are not the first engineer I have heard from who complained bitterly about the CASA AGK exam. Funnily enough, it seems to be a case of engineers knowing too much rather than too little. Because of this wealth of background and in-depth knowledge, they see possible situations where the "incorrect" answer options could theoretically be correct and the "correct" answer option may not always apply.

Congratulations on getting through it though and good luck with aerodynamics. If you have any more specific information on the question focus we would appreciate hearing about it. Please, don't give us actual questions but rather just feedback on areas where you felt the material could have helped more.

Cheers,

Rich

Thanks Rich,

Difficult to remember specifics.

Conditions for impact ice, all four options were within a few degrees, and three types of moisture, ie humid, moisture present, light rain. 0 degrees, -4, +4 and +3. Although it should be an easy -4 answer the moisture throws you slightly, I have not seen any practice questions which seemed so close in answer - to me anyway. Water can freeze at +3 degrees under certain circumstances but as you point out, that's my engineering tripping me up.

Magneto testing!
The question tested both left and right magneto, but not 'switching' to left or right but 'turning off the left magneto' resulted in a drop in RPM. And switching off the R magneto resulted in no change in RPM. On a Robinson heli (it was AGK H after all) when you place the switch in the L position you are earthing the right magneto and vice versa. Unfortunately the question does not inform you whether it is talking about the physical magneto or the switch, ie. switch the switch to L and therefore you are switching off the Right magneto and vice versa. Sorry, sounds confusing I know but an important concept.
I discussed this with an experienced instructor and a few other pilots and they all agreed that there is not enough information in the question, ie. what position is the switch in.
The answer options were just as frustrating. L is in good condition, R is in good condition, L is off, R is off!! what kind of options are those??

I also found two simple English grammar mistakes.

I had a question related to hydraulic feedback feel and how it is achieved. I have no idea and neither did my heli school.

BTW I was consistently scoring high 90's in all my test papers.

Cheers

Sounds like that magneto question might have been referring to an aircraft like a Decathlon, Citibria, Super Cub or most twins where you don't have a key type ignition switch but simply have on/off switches for each magneto [see page 4.18 of the book, bottom right diagram]. That makes it more obvious what's going on. Turn off the left magneto and you're running on the right.

Bob

Thanks Bob,

Learning study and exam technique every time I do one of these. Let's hope I stay ahead of the curve!
I do enjoy your books and imagine it's an almost impossible task to 'align' the practice questions with what may be asked in the actual exam.

Cheers

Just failed that AGK-H exam!
I did 95% on almost every practice exams from Bob's and aft, and I did 56% from the Casa one, which is pretty frustrating indeed.
If I'm posting here it's because of that question about Impact Ice that tech1 summarised quite well.
I remember that I answered , " - 4°C and high humidity condition", which Casa do not consider as the good answer.
The 3 others possibilities were:
- below 0°C with no humidity.
- between 0°C to 3°C with visible moisture.
- below 4°C with high humidity.
Which one may you consider as the "good" answer? And why -4°C is the wrong one?

That's a bummer!!

You do need visible liquid water droplets to get impact ice. High humidity can produce ice within the carburettor due to fuel evaporation and the pressure drop across a partly closed throttle. I suspect that the correct answer would have been 'between zero and three degrees with visible moisture present. However you would have to assume that the surface of the aircraft was freezing or below -

Unlucky, go through your KDR's thoroughly and get it resat asap, I left it too long since my first failure so had to do a huge amount of study.
I think I answered 0 to 3 degrees with visible moisture but can't really remember now. I do know as Bob points out that the surface needs to be at or below freezing so the moisture freezes on IMPACT.

Good luck for your resit.

Thanks a lot for your quick answers, I truly appreciate it !

It is indeed a bit tricky as the question was definitely not referring to any freezing condition from the aircraft surface. You would have to assume and consider it by yourself, which is I guess why it a bit confused me.

It was of course not the only question that I had some difficulties with, and I think I'm gonna create some new topics about some of them that as not be discussed yet, as they could be useful for other students.

No problem.

One thing I thought about after my failure was how I approached the learning, I switched from reading the text and practicing the exams in the books to writing descriptions of the systems and conditions, it made me realize that I did not know all the subjects in detail. I also forced myself to speak out loud to myself basic info about systems, it helped alot.

Break down each part of the system and focus on it, try not to jump around the book.

As you have discovered the practice exams are only really a guide, in fact they are only useful the first few times you try them, after that you start to learn by remembering which is very bad, you need to understand the concept.

All the best.