Hi everyone,
I had my PPL exam a few days ago and I thought I would let everyone know what it was like so you can maybe pick up a few tips. To study for the exam I solely used Bob’s BAK and PPL books and I didn’t really get any questions which I had no idea what to do. I ended up getting 85% for the exam (which coincidentally is what I got when I did the sample questions in the PPL book!) and although I was happy with the pass, I was a little disappointed because of the questions I got wrong; a couple were really simple stupid mistakes such as stalling and lift.
Here are some tips for the exam:
1. Remember to revise all the BAK stuff and don’t lightly skip over it because you think it was fine in the BAK exam, it might catch you out like a couple did for me.
2. If you plan on buying the AIP to bring in the exam, make sure you buy it early while you are studying so you can study with it and learn where all the information is that you need.
3. Utilize the permissible tags in the AIP (10) and ERSA (5). Although the exam should allow you to have plenty of time, it just makes flicking though the index page less stressful and it can save a lot of time for double and even triple checking answers.
4. I know everyone says it, but read the questions, word for word. Read it 3 times if needed and work out what they are actually asking. One example from my exam was this: “An object en route over an unpopulated area has a height of 1500ft. At what altitude may you overfly the object?†At first I put an answer of 500ft, but when I was rechecking answers, I realized it said altitude, not height so I changed to 2000ft. That one word “altitude†completely changed the answer, so make sure you understand the question before you attempt to answer it.
5. Touch up on TEM and HF because there were 3 questions relating to threats and hypoxia symptoms etc.
6. This is a simple tip, but seemed to help me a lot in the exam. While you are studying, download for free the Day VFR Workbook from the CASA website and study with it. This is the workbook you will get in the exam and I found that being familiar with what will be supplied to you in the exam gave me a bit more of a relaxed feeling as I wasn’t being given this foreign booklet and I knew how it was all set out. Be aware not all of it applies to PPL as it is for CPL exams as well.
7. This might just be an issue with my flying school, but the WAC extracts that were given in the work booklet; although very readable they were a bit blurry. It wasn't a big issue but it just took me a tiny bit longer to find the places they were telling me. I’m not sure if you are allowed to bring in your own WAC charts but if you have them it might be a good idea to find out if they are allowed in.
8. Another common one, recheck your answers and take up the whole 3.5 hours until you are satisfied with what you have done. I changed about 4 answers on the second read through and going by my KDR’s, they were all changed to correct answers.
9. When doing calculations with your whiz wheel make sure you are as precise as you can be, I almost got caught out with a TAS calculation when using that tiny window, I put the temperature as - instead of + against the pressure height until I picked it up when I redid the question on my second run through.
10. This might sound silly, but if you know you have a weak topic, make sure you do extra study on it! I knew my weakness was meteorology and guess what? Thunderstorms and fog appeared on my KDR’s!
All in all, I wouldn’t say the exam was easy, but it was not as hard as I thought it would be, but that might just be the hours on hours of studying with Bob’s books talking! I thought the charts would be a bit trickier, like having an up or down slope, but all of mine were just level. But that could just be my luck. If you put the hours in, there is no reason why you can’t get upwards of 90%. Just don’t let silly errors bring you down. I want to say thanks to Bob and all the other people who posted on here, because I also picked up a few tips while reading this forum. If anyone wants to know anymore about the exam let me know. Good luck!
