Proud to say that after being buried in my office face down in DAPS, maps and regs every night after work for the last 6 weeks I passed with a satisfying mark of 88%. I'll go through what I can remember and offer any advice I can to those preparing:
Recency requirements should be easy marks as you have the info in front of you. Have a good read of all the equipment requirements for IFR flight as well, as that is something I had not paid much attention to, but was given a question about lighting requirements.
Practice ADF/VOR questions until you can answer them methodically with your eyes closed. Do all the questions in the ADF VOR section of the book more than once. I was confronted with some tricky ones but answered them confidently as I knew the process inside and out. CASA try all their favourite tricks to throw you off the scent of the actual question, like trying to get you to allow for drift on a VOR question; doesn't matter what way you are orientated, it is the bearing and the TO or FROM flag that are the important parts of the question.
Get acquanted with the FPR section of the ERSA. Don't expect CASA to serve up a simple question in regards to a flight plan route from Sydney to Coffs, for example. It will more likely be one you have to decipher yourself, and knowing where to find the information for departure and arrival procedures into the busier airports will help.
Revise met info, particularly on Icing and pilot observation on turbulence. I had a question that asked me what the highest altitude I could plan for a flight from Hobart to Flinders Island in with freezing level at 9500. When you look at the ERC, this route looks as though it is flying East, but do not be fooled. That is to do with the way the map is orientated, and if you check the track you are actually flying west on that route, so cruising level would be evens. Theses are the things that CASA do to try and trip you up.
Know the track tolerances for when planning a flight that doesn't have a published route. 15 degrees, 10.3 degrees etc. And how to work out what the rated coverage of a navaid would have to be in order to get a positive fix in time. These are easy marks, it's just the way CASA words the questions that make them seem harder than what they are.
Know everything that is required when planning for alternates i.e. VHF and HF requirements and associated holding fuel requirements, lighting etc. When deciphering the TAF's, read the whole TAF from start to finish and pay close attention to the amount of cloud, wind strength, and visibility before all the inters and tempo's an FM's when doing so. CASA is excellent at drawing your focus in to unimportant information to deflect your concentration from what is actually important. The alternate and fuel calculation questions can be long winded and filled with lots of information.
I did not get any questions on PBN, RNP and only basic ones concerning GNSS requirements. That is not to say there aren't any.
Do not rope learn. Can't stress that enough. Almost impossible to pass simply by knowing the answers to all the practice questions you have done. You need to have a pretty thorough understanding of the concepts, as it is a very rare occasion that you will get a question that is straight forward and does not require some lateral thinking.
Having said all of that, if I can pass, anybody can.
The BT online practice exams were helpful in showing me where I needed to study up more and worth the money. Quite similar to the ones in the exam, just that they are more complex and take longer. And also the questions straight off the CASA website are worth checking out. At least 3 of the questions on the website were in my exam.
Thanks to you Bob, on to the practical side of IFR
