In a fortunate position to have passed all of my ground school exams, I shall share some ground school advise and tips/tricks in this blog that worked for me personally during the theoretical ground school phase of my pilot training. The tips mentioned in this blog post should help both ATPL(A) and PPL(A) students and some of the tips mentioned below are from other flight students at my flying school which also worked for them.
With a pass mark of 75%, the ground school exams are a set of multiple choice questions you have to do and there’s a lot of content you have to learn. It can seem a bit overwhelming at times but the tips/tricks mentioned below should help:
1. Use the question banks and do lots and lots and lots of questions from them.
The questions in the question banks are likely to appear in the real thing. The closer I was to the exam sitting, I would do more and more questions from the bank so I would get a feel for the exam questions and how they’re phrased. Therefore, I had a better idea for what exactly they might be getting at or even tricking me into. Use the question banks to work out what topics you need to learn/not knowledgeable enough on and then reference your textbook, notes or iPad and read-up on the topic or ask your instructor. (For private pilots, there are some manuals* with lots and lots of question papers in them. Do all of the papers before the exam and then again the night before - do one after the other and if you get 100% on each one, you are ready to sit the exam!)
* = AFE and the Air Pilot’s Manual are good ones
For ATPL ground school, ATPL GS and ATPL Questions are well worth the purchase a little while before the exams.
2. Speak to your flight instructors and ask questions!
They’re there to help and support you throughout your training. So, anything you don’t understand or intend to know more information on – speak to your flight instructor and ask lots and lots of questions. That’s what I did and it really helped me as I managed to grasp a good understanding on certain, challenging topics. Never be afraid to ask for help! Sometimes, if something is worded differently or just repeated, that makes all the difference as to whether or not you’ve understood something. (Special thanks to Mark, another flight student, for mentioning this)
3. Don’t just rely on the question banks, you need to really understand the topics and subjects in detail to ensure you do well in the EASAs
Highlight the book! In addition, I found that making flashcards, mind-maps and diagrams of certain things (e.g. Different Classes of Airspace during Air Law) as well as highlighting important notes so they stood out really helped make use of the instructor’s knowledge. Highlighters will become your best friend during ground school. One revision technique that flight student Mark found useful during ground school was summarizing notes and information from Pad pilot onto A4 mind maps for each topic along with sticky notes with important formulae. This helped him memorise what he needed to. Although he did find himself working more than everyone else purely because this method was time-consuming, he knew the topics inside out and that’s what matters! This revision/learning technique is great for students who learn visually. So, find what revision style works for you and stick with it!
4. During your ground school lessons/classes as well as in the evenings, make good notes!
Make summary notes on flashcards from lessons that day highlighting anything you didn’t quite get. You must make use of the instructor’s knowledge so if there is anything important being discussed in a ground school lesson, make a note of it! Whether that is in a book or as a flashcard – write it down! Your future self will thank you as writing things down can help cement things in your mind. That way, you’ll also be keeping up with the class so you don’t fall behind.
5. Do the questions/quizzes at the end of each chapter as revision
Complete the quizzes and questions at the end of each chapter in the book to ensure you’ve understood what you’ve revised. Anything you got wrong, look back at your notes and make a note of the important points you’ve missed/forgotten on a sticky note and stick it somewhere where it is easily visible. Don’t forget to read up on the topic in detail.
6. Have a good work/life balance
I know this may be something you hear all the time but you need a good work-life balance as you don’t want to be over-working yourself and spending too much time trying to learn everything at once doing every single question in the bank. Try to have a balance and spread or split work into smaller do-able “chunks”. To wind down from all the work, I would occasionally go for runs, workout or go on my flight simulator and simulate a full flight. Sometimes I may even play a video game with a few of my fellow pilot friends. Down time is important.
7. Utilize the weekends and revise!
The weekends are not just for relaxing. I would use them, as well as the evenings, to revise what I’ve learnt from the lessons during the week as it is difficult revising everything from the day in one, single evening. Nearer to the exams, start to use the question banks and do lots of questions or exam papers in the evenings.
8. Go to the revision sessions
Some evenings, my ATO would have revision sessions (online due to the Coronavirus pandemic) where topics and subjects would be consolidated. This is a perfect opportunity to ask questions to your flight instructor and work on content that you may not fully understand. I discovered that this really helped me and other students who participated gain a much better understanding on challenging topics putting them in a good position before the real exams. In these revision sessions, Q&A sessions would be done throughout to check knowledge and fill in any gaps in learning which was remarkably useful.
9. Stay organized
Get a diary and use it to keep track of when and what lessons you have as well as upcoming exams. Also, something that I did which really helped was to note results in the diary of any mock papers or tests in the question bank. This helped me track my progress and showed how many questions I had completed. Use the diary to note any homework you’ve been set also! Whenever my flight instructor issued any homework at the end of each ground school lesson that needed to be done, I would immediately note it in my red diary!
Another organization tip from my good friend Mark is to plan your week/month in advance – know what you need to study and try to balance each subject as required. Don’t forget to allocate time to yourself away from studying because if you are constantly studying, the quality of the revision itself when you’re working is reduced and not as useful in the long term.
Some common sense things also. Place your notes, worksheets and books in a safe place so you don’t loose them otherwise that would be a disaster! Create folders on your laptop and put documents of each topic in each separate file. Don’t just put all your work in one folder as it would be time-consuming to find certain pieces of work. Last but not least, have a revision timetable for the evening. Mine included going for a walk/run, completing any homework, revising and doing some summary notes (looking on this particular day, Flight Planning and Aeroplane Performance were the subjects being taught), complete the end of topic questions as well as question bank questions. Finally, my timetable ended with a workout because fitness is crucial!
10. Have a revision buddy to test and explain some things to you
I was always happy to help test another flight student and to help them understand some things that I had managed to grasp a decent understanding of. By explaining things to each other, it helps better both your understanding. That way, a question to a fellow pilot becomes a win-win situation for the both of you. I would like to personally thank my good friend Shiv who is also a trainee pilot like myself for explaining things to me and testing me in the evenings throughout ground school. A great revision buddy indeed!
11. Get some good rest and ensure you’ve eaten well before the EASA exam sittings
Try your best to get a good night’s sleep if you can before the exams. It’s much better to be well-rested on exam day than to be extremely tired after an entire night of cramming information. You are much more likely to perform better and concentrate when you’re not tired and have eaten well prior sitting the exam. Have a decent breakfast as well as some fruit would be my recommendation!
12. Don’t lose sight of the end goal!
I was lucky that despite the Coronavirus situation worsening at times, hindering progress slightly, I still managed to build some hours in the Cessna 152 Aerobat during my training alongside ground school. As I am on the Modular Flight Program, I have to have a total of 170 hours PIC before even getting a CPL so I would occasionally fly aiming towards that goal. Flying alongside really helped keep me motivated and I also enjoyed watching other aircraft take-off and land at the UK airfield I train at. Ground school can be certainly challenging at times and the motivation may not 100% be there when you’re trying to learn so much of the subjects/topics all at once as well as having a lot of sleepless nights. Occasionally, some subjects would feel impossible to pass. Therefore, do not forget why we’re doing this and what it’s all about – and that is the enjoyment of flying and to reach our goals to soar through the skies. That’s where we want to be and in order to achieve that dream, we need to pass the ground school exams – they’re just one of those hurdles but they are do-able. Remind yourself why you’re doing this every now and then because your mental health is important to your success.
In summary, if there are any important tips I want you to take from this blog regarding ground school success, they would be to make use of the Instructor’s knowledge, ask lots and lots of questions and do lots and lots of questions from the question bank. Anything you don’t get, don’t just learn the answer – read-up on the topic thoroughly and make your notes (whether that’s highlighted flashcards or mindmaps) and don’t lose sight of the end goal. Finally, don’t forget to have that good work-life balance. The tips mentioned in this blog 100% helped me to pass as well as other flight students who have just completed ground school. I’m sure these tips/tricks will help you too. I would like to end on this cheesy, but inspirational quote and that is: “A good pilot is always learning 😉”
Wishing you a fantastic day and all the best with your ground school exams, your Pilot Shalin.
I would like to thank Leading Edge cadets and my good friends, Mark and Shiv for some of the tips mentioned above. Some of the tips worked for them personally and this blog would not have been possible without them. Thank you!
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