Andrew,

Congratulations mate, those marks are something to be rightly proud of. You might be interested to know that I'm yet to see anyone get 100% for Air law in a full-time class, so you've done very well indeed to score it by home study!!

I agree with your comments. I try to make a point of telling classes not to fall for the trap of 'learning questions'. Read the book carefully, make your own notes and summaries, by all means attempt the questions but remember they are only there to give you a feel for the type of thing you can expect in the CASA exam.

A good idea is to cover up the four choices and read just the stem of the question and then put your own answer to it with justification for your reasoning. Some students find that helps. Also if possible, it often is a big help to have a 'buddy' to share your thoughts with. If nobody loves you, the forum would by a good alternative.

Once again Andrew, well done. Please keep us posted on your flying adventures!

Bob

Sound advice Andrew, just thought I’d add that the Day VFR Syllabus can be viewed online at the link shown below:

http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_90013

My experience with the CASA exams, that being CPL (HPL AGK MET ADY LAW) and not to mention PPL is that the questions have the same feel about them as in Bobs books, but the style of the choices of answers is where you can come unstuck. I found myself reading the question over a few times until I have a complete understanding of what is being asked - then reading the available possibilities.
Racing through any exam is a recipe for disaster, know matter how much you understand a subject.
I've done quite a few air crew exams and now a lot of ground crew exams in my new vocation.
Take your time and utilise it - use the remaining time to go over your work - you never know what you might find by revising the exam, its a good feeling to read it again and fix a mistake !

OK I sat FPA yesterday. And failed dismally. This was the first exam I've done where I was as nervous clicking 'Start Exam' as I had been in the others clicking 'Submit'. Was very strange. Most of the questions I felt OK with, especially and obviously the first 5 or 6 easy ones. I don't have an excuse, I just didn't know my stuff.

But failing by a fair bit I believe is better (HUGE downside of course that you have to fork out another fee) than scraping in for a pass, as now I know what I'm up for next time round. I am 100% aware of the parts of the exam that I had no idea about.

There was one question that gave you a bunch of loading data referring to the Echo, then the question actually asked, "How much weight can you fit in the rear compartment of AN Echo?" One of the choices was 155kg. Having read the ACTUAL question that was being asked, that was the answer I chose. I just found the question itself very ambiguous, when it shouldn't be. I guess I thought too hard about them trying to trick me or something.. That was my interpretation though. Nonetheless it wouldn't have helped me with the mark I got!

It's very disappointing though, because you go into an exam hoping to pass, and get a good mark to boot. Just thought I'd share my disappointment with you all 😀 Here's to next time!

At the end of the day, I realised I need to know more about calculating ETP and PNR (times to and distances), floor intensity loading (I just COULD NOT remember the formula!). I'm fine with fuel calculations and, well I thought, ballast calcs and shifting/adding weight, and I guess the rest of it couldn't hurt to brush up on. Good luck to everyone with upcoming exams 🙂

What a bummer!!! I must say I'm impressed with the way you have reacted to this mate. You have accepted the result as something you can't change and have decided to just 'get on with it'. You have decided that you were not fully prepared and you are not looking for someone to blame. That's a great attitude. As for nerves, we all suffer to some extent by what is known as 'test anxiety'- it's only human. Get stuck into the sections you have identified as you problem areas. There are drill exercises in the book on ETP and PNR go over them carefully and check the explained answers. Please don't be shy about sending me an e-mail if you have a specific problem with a particular question.

All the best mate. I know you'll make it and look back on this for what it is - a minor stumble on the way to your goal.

Hi,
With regard to CASA exams there is one thing I have learnt.
Read the question carefully, at least 3 or more times. When finished the exam go back over.
But remember gut feeling answers should not be changed.
Your first answer is usually the correct one. Unless its an obvious error, leave the answer as it is.

The wording of questions is sometimes the reason for incorrect answers due to the difference with the prep or test exams.
My experience was one where I had been planning and flying IFR for a couple of years, I knew the subject well from experience.
But in the exam I got 55%.
Very queer considering I didn't know how to improve on the subject matter and knowledge of IFR.
So I improved on how to interpret CASE exams. They love to jumble the data around and produce as many variations of the same question.
When going through the information on some topic I try to anticipate how CASA will create a question from the subject matter. I know it adds to the work load, but it also cements the information as well.
This seems to work, at least for the last 6 exams I have completed.
My average exam result with CASA is now 95% with a few 100% in the mix.

Anyway I hopes this helps.

Marty..

Another technique is very useful in multichoice style exams, especially where the examiner makes distractors an art form. That is to work from what is wrong, rather than what is correct in the alternative answers.

Once you have sussed out what the question is driving at (and this is very important as both Bob and Rich have emphasised)

(a) review [color=blue][i][b]EACH and EVERY[/b][/i][/color] alternative answer.

(b) identify what in each answer might make it a wrong alternative. Remember that most of the alternatives are the wrong answer ...

(c) if you are comfortable that an answer is wrong, then discard that alternative as a possible solution

(d) if you end up with ONLY one answer which can be correct, then select it with confidence

(e) if you end up with multiple answers for which you can find no clear error, then redo the review for those alternatives.

(f) if you can't narrow the alternative answers down to only the one which can be correct, select from the final shortlist whichever appears to be the "more" or "most" correct.

Reading through the CASA hyperlink cited earlier, I notice that many candidates finish early and well within the time limit. Don't do this; use EVERY minute permitted .. check and recheck until the time is up.

Some great tips here on CASA exams!
I am an Avionics LAME, and completed all the CASA exams for this trade years ago, and well before you went to a training college and did them through a course.
All of mine were done through home study, and out of 20+ exams, I failed a few before I realised that in a lot of instances I was failing to do what John above has said:
RTFQ thoroughly.
Discount that which is obviously incorrect, then make a case for the remainder as to why they may be right.
RTFQ thoroughly

Practice exams should be viewed as a guide to the style of questions and to the subject matter that may be examined, NOT the specific answers to questions.

Here's a tip also: If you print out and use the Day VFR Syllabus with the practise exams and exercises, make sure you haven't printed it "fit to page". Otherwise you will be confused as to why you are getting all the navigation calculation ones wrong. The Sydney, Bourke and Townsville WAC's will be the wrong scale 🙂

Cheers!

Hi

I've just passed the PEXO RPL exam and would like to thank the guy whose message included the suggestions about Density Altitude, Synoptic Charts and Aileron Drag. I would also recommend the CASA website notes of where candidates had difficulty. The other helpful advice someone gave was to go back and re read the questions. I had about 45 mins to spare and found it worthwhile.
I initially thought that I would only need Vol 1 of the study guide but discovered that Vol 2 was also required, luckily in time for the exam.