Hi all,
just wanted to provide some information about my AGK exam today.
I am Dirk and study at home with Bob's text books. This was my first CPL exam and I passed with 83%.
This is what worked for me:
I read the text book once front to end and did the practice exams after each section. Then focussed on topics I got wrong or simply didn't understand. Then did the 3 practice exams at the end of the book. At this stage it is important to really understand the details, like what happens when or why happens what. I researched the topics I still had issues with and read this forum (which was a big help, thanks Bob and Richard). Then I relaxed and let it all sink in. With a reasonable confidence I booked the exam at a convenient date and time. Then 3 days before the exam I started again reading the text book front to end and did the practice exams again. This time much more concentrated and compact. The point was, I wanted to refresh everything and have it fresh in my short term memory for the exam. That went pretty well. This morning at the exam, I felt very confident and the questions appeared to be easy. Out of the 40 questions, I marked only 3 where I was not sure and reviewed them again before submitting (basically guessing the answers). I was confident that all other questions were correctly answered.
So far the theory. As I submitted, I had still 40 minutes time left, but I couldn't think of any "better" answers as I already had. The result was presented immediately after submitting and I have to admit that I was shocked to "only" got to 83%. That was a big disappointment as I expected to have not more than 3 questions wrong. But I got 7 questions wrong, bummer. Although that is a pass, I got way too many KDRs. With the 4 unexpected failures in addition to the 3 expected ones, I have no idea what I got wrong or what questions they were.
Topics I got wrong included (from memory, not literally):
What is the reason for the need to regularly adjust the heading card in a DG?
a) Apparent precession
b) Earth transport wander precession
c) Real precession
d) Something else, can’t remember
I chose a) because I remembered the word “apparent” from the text book. But it would have been “apparent drift” in the text book, not “apparent precession”. Initially I had b), but changed it to a). I assume that b) was correct, but, also I knew that the earth would turn away underneath the DG card, I could not make sense of the term “Earth transport wander precession” (or similar).
Explain typical fire protection detectors in the engine compartment
a) Something temperature related
b) Something else temperature related
c) Smoke detectors placed around the engine compartment
d) Something else temperature related with thermocouple sensors
I chose c) but realised quickly that it would be a temperature sensing device in the engine compartment. I can’t remember enough to determine the correct answer.
What would be the indication of using MOGAS rather than AVGAS with an aircraft engine?
Can’t remember the answers, but detonation was not mentioned in any of the answers.
When oil pressure is lost in a CSU unit with no counterweights fitted, what is the effect on the propeller pitch?
a) The propeller pitch moves towards the fine pitch stop
b) The propeller pitch moves towards the coarse pitch stop
c) Something else
d) Something else
I chose b), which obviously was wrong. I mixed up ATM and CTM (see below)…
The aerodynamic twisting moment (ATM) attempts to rotate the blade towards the coarse pitch stop. The centrifugal twisting moment (CTM) attempts to rotate the blade towards the fine pitch stop. CTM is more powerful than ATM and the blade will rotate towards fine pitch. This is default in a single-engine aircraft, while in multi-engine aircraft the blade should rotate towards the coarse pitch stop to feather the prop in case of an engine failure. This opposite movement is achieved with counterweights.
I can't remember or think of any other questions or answers.
In general i can say, it is absolutely sufficient to read and understand Bob's text books (I had the same strategy with my PPL exam). They are just great and complete, nothing else required. The CASA exams try to confuse people by using very similar answers where it is hard to pick the right one. Understanding the text book helps a lot here. There were some terms in the exam text that I haven't heard before and I couldn't make much sense out of them, but in this case it mostly helps to apply the exclusion strategy - exclude everything that seems wrong and that should leave the right answer.
I will now start studying for aerodynamics and got already Bob's text book. Everybody else, good luck with your upcoming exams and maybe one day we meet somewhere in the skies.
Cheers,
Dirk
