Thanks for that Ben. I'm sure all students will find that information both interesting and helpful. I'll make sure I include it in the coming CPL theory course.

Thanks Ben, that is a great link. So good in fact that we have laid on a new forum, Helpful Tips and Resources in the Questions-and-Answers section. I have put a quoted version of your post in there as a sticky.

Cheers!

HI GUYS
When it comes to exams and CASA, I think a lot of you are far to hard on yourselves. In my experience with CASA exams, I have noted that the authors seem more interested in trying to trap you with irrelevancies (for the most part)rather than actually fine out what you know. They are far more interested in trying to 'trick' the candidate with really badly worded questions that are open to ambiguity and rely on really abstract and unrealistic situations designed to 'impress' the candidate with just how clever they must be. The content of some questions seldom bears any relevance to day-to-day flying challenges. I'm not sure if its a 'Public Service' mentality or a belief that by making questions as difficult and confusing as possible they are some how doing a better job. I don't have any particular axe to grind with CASA, as I have easily passed my few tests on the first attempt - but I have seen the trail of debris they have left with very poor questioning techniques submitted by nitwits who think they are being clever by setting 'semantic word traps' in their questions; and CASA readily excepts these questions because, either they don't have the skill to evaluate the quality of them OR worse still, they don't care! Because its the public service mentality at work - nothing will change I'm afraid because they have a job to do in setting the exams but the people making the decisions are neither qualified or interested other than simply meeting their required work agenda. I say all of this with 3 Education Degrees and a background of 40 years as a Teacher, State Curriculum Writer, examiner of trainee teachers and researcher into teaching pedgogy. I have always been impressed with Bob Tait's attention to detail and practical reality in his teaching; and over twenty years I 'know' he has taught a lot of students things that have actually saved their lives. I'm one of them! So ultimately, the point I'm trying to make is this. Don't listen too closely to CASA-just jump throught their short sited, bureaucratic and unthought-through hoops to pass the exam - you may only get 70% but that's enough to get a licence....but far more importantly keep listening and learning for the rest of your life (especially to people like Bob) BECAUSE one day that might just save your life! CASA doesn't make you a better pilot - YOU DO! so why listen to a group of unqualified Public Servants who think they understand teaching and learning because they flew an aeorplane once!

Well that certainly made me feel better =) Thanks mate!

Hey Guys,

I thought after reading your posts, I would register and provide my view on the problems raised. I have bought all of Bob Taits BAK, PPL and CPL Books. I have solely used Bob's books for my CPL studies, nothing else. Everything has been self studied at home.

Let me begin by saying, I think Bob's books are absolutely brilliant. They are so simple and easy to understand, which is the beauty of them. Most concepts are accompanied by pictures, diagrams, drawings etc. which help create a mental picture of what's being said in text. Another positive is that none of the texts are based on assumed knowledge, which means anyone can open the book without any prior knowledge of the subject learn the syllabus.

I have done all of the 7 exams thus far, my results were as follows:

PPL: 92%

Aerodynamics: 88%
AGK: 83%
Performance: 96%
Meteorology: 88%
Navigation: 93%
Air Law: 100%
Human Factors: 90%

I was never academically brilliant at school, but tried to do my best to work hard. Anyone can achieve over 90% if they study hard enough. All my exams so far have taken an average of 2-3 weeks to study and probably closer to 4 for performance, due to some personal circumstances.

Below i will try to give some help and advice which i believe helped me along the way and answer some of the concerns shledon.haigh, zulu.gurl and captainellzy had.

*Buy yourselves a CASA Day VFR Syllabus. REMEMBER CASA can only ask you questions based on the syllabus. Bob's books are there to cover the Syllabus points. They do so spot on. After you have finished studying a topic, go back to the syllabus and check that you have an understanding of every point and cross reference it with where it located in the text (ESPECIALLY AIR LAW). UNDERSTAND every point in the syllabus and you will have no problem in the exam.

*It is very IMPORTANT that you UNDERSTAND every concept to the best of your ability thats covered in all the texts. It took me 2,3 or sometimes 4 times of reading over and over the same stuff before it finally got to me. Remember, the brain will not always pick thing up the first time you read something, it may do so on 2nd,3rd or 4th time. Try to draw yourself a mental picture of what is being said. Most oncepts have a drawing or diagram attached to it, as mentioned previously. If your still have trouble ask your instructor.

*It seems that some of you are trying to learn the questions being asked rather than understanding what they are asking, and the reasoning for the answer. Once again, Bob's texts explain the reasoning for the correct answer. Make sure you understand this. VERY IMPORTANT. The questions are there to NOT for you to expect them to be in the CASA exam, but to give you an idea of the types of questions asked.

*Learning the syllabus is only 60% of exam preperation. You HAVE TO DO as many questions as possible. I also bought all of Bobs practice exams, except Aerody. Yes CASA can ask some simple questions, which are worded in a complex form. However if you have a clear understanding, you will have no problem. For example, the performance book almost NAILS the questions that were asked in the exam. Practice as many questions as possible. This is especially true for subjects like Performance and Navigation, where there is a lot of maths involved. The questions in Bob's books were very similar to that of the actual CASA exam.

*Another important point when doing exams is, to ALWAYS DRAW what the question is saying. For example, Aerodynamics has a lot of Diagrams, Drag Curves, Power, Thrust etc. ALWAYS draw what the question is asking, because a lot of the questions refer to you being able to recite these diagrams. Don't try to visualise always DRAW DRAW DRAW. This helped me a lot.

*You must always use up as much of your exams time as possible!! I finished my nav exam in appx 50mins. However, It took me the whole exam to go back and check everything. Almost every time i checked back, i picked up one or two mistakes!!

Hope this helps.

Andrew

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:

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.