Just noticed this thread.

Have been following Stjepan's (Bosi72's) progress since he started out on the journey (both here and over on the PPRuNe site). Well done, good sir. Very pleasing to see your progressive climb up the piloting ladder.

I note he put the following suggestion in an earlier post -

Advice: don't spend too much time on any particular question.

This is an absolute must do examination technique discipline thing. I just had one of my ATPL students pass his Nav exam after coming to grief in a previous attempt by forgetting this most important aspect of technique discipline. His preparation for the first attempt was very sound - the discipline lapse is what let him down. (Some directed frowning over a cup or two of coffee saw him back on the straight and narrow pathway without too much delay).

While it is not terribly critical at, say, RPL/PPL level, as you move on up to CPL/ATPL, that changes dramatically. CASA sets a high pass mark (70/80%) allied with a (sometimes) tight time limit (especially for those exams requiring you to run some sums along the way).

You must

(a) check the total number of marks available for the paper

(b) check the total number of minutes available for you to complete the paper

(c) exam minutes/exam marks x question marks = the time on the clock from starting the question when you MUST (did I say MUST ?) leave that question and move on to the next.

Almost invariably, there will be some questions which you zoom through and you can anticipate a bit of spare time at the end of the paper to allow your revisiting any questions which you didn't finish.

If you don't do this, in the extreme, you might answer, say, 5 questions and get 100% for those 5. Unfortunately, if those 5 only represent, say, 30% of the paper, you have no chance of getting the 70/80% required to pass and so you fail.

Yes, it would be nice for the ego to score 100%. Pragmatically, though, you are after a score which gives you that pass ! Nothing else really matters for the CASA exams.

CASA is not fussed - you get more than the required marks, you pass, if not, you fail.

More critically, if you manage to endure multiple fails in the same subject, CASA then imposes some nasty restrictions along the way which you are better served to avoid.

Go out of your way to overstudy and get the pass at the first attempt for each subject. If you are unfortunate enough on the day to miss out (no shame there, it happens even to the most extremely well-prepared candidate), then overstudy like your life depends on it before sitting the next attempt. The efforts you put in do pay dividends.

Near invariably, in post exam debriefing sessions, it is relatively easy for us (as instructors) to identify the candidate's problems on the day. One thing stands out like the proverbial outback out house - he/she who doesn't put in the hard yards and doesn't know the subject inside out is sitting right out there on the end of the pirate sailing ship's plank (for the walking of). There is NO reason why you can't get 100% for any of these exams - folks do it regularly - but, should you not be up to speed on the work, then don't be at all surprised if you have to come back another time (more unnecessary costs) to re-sit the paper.

You need to go into the exam with a very high level of confidence that you will score in the high 80s or better. Anything less (in the way of preparation) and you are playing Russian Roulette with your result.

Best wishes to all of you wading through the theory side of the flying world.

At times, it does get a bit tiresome, to the point of being tedious. Rest assured, though, the pot of gold (in satisfaction) at the end of that initial journey is worth the mental aches and pains. For those who go on to commercial flying, it is a great way to make a dollar. Often, I close my eyes and think back to numerous early morning 727/737 sectors northbound up the coast - often we (2 or 3) would opine, around the cockpit - "... and they actually pay us to do this .... unbelievable !"

Postscript: Lest anyone reading should think that I am of the group who thinks that the subject is immaterial while the pass is all important, nothing could be further from reality. The instructor's principal aim must always be to teach the subject so that the student goes off knowing a whole lot more than he/she did at the start. The exam pass is a sideline consideration and, in all reality, shouldn't present all that much difficulty for the well read candidate.