Passed my MET exam today with 92% and self-study using BT's book and a free Bureau of Meteorology online course (see bmtc.moodle.com.au/course/view.php?id=136). The paper was certainly tougher than I expected and took me one hour to complete, including review. Before submitting responses my thoughts were 50:50 to pass, so it was surprising, delightful even, when the score appeared

Some specific feedback and suggestions on the paper:

* 30 questions, most questions worth one mark with around a quarter worth 2 marks

* The 2 mark questions generally related to the interpretation of ARFORs or METARs with SPECI/TTF endorsements - it's vital to be 100% comfortable interpreting these. If you read a forecast or report and are in any doubt about any aspect of it, you are not ready for the exam. There are plenty of examples in BT's book, in the AIP and on NAIPS, so knock yourself out reading these until you're super comfortable decoding the weather

* I can recall a couple of questions that asked for, say, the lowest cloud or visibility, or for the expected cloud and vis for an arrival at a given time (say, 0400). One technique that worked for me for such questions was to identify the information the question was asking for (in my example, only cloud and vis), then transcribe this (and only this) information onto the scratch paper for each variation in the forecast. For example:
TAF 2202/2214 9999 BKN1500 (relevant to Q)
FM 221000 5000 SHRA (not relevant to Q)
INTER 2204/2208 7000 SCT2500 (relevant to Q)
Then identify the relevant parts of the forecast (in my example, the TAF and the INTER given an 0400 arrival) to determine the answer. For a question asking for the lowest cloud or vis to be expected, the answer would be "BKN1500 and 7,000". Alternatively, if question sought the expected cloud and vis on arrival, the answer would be "Visibility 10k or more with cloud BKN 1500, from 0400 and for periods not exceeding 30 mins vis 7,000 with cloud SCT 2500"

* I encountered one surprising question about thunderstorms and what to expect behind the forward flank, as opposed to behind the rear flank (or something to that effect). Now I've always understood "flank" as referring to the sides, so I was quite confused by this Q. Maybe I badly misread the question, but I read it about 9 times so am tending to think it was poorly worded

* To do well you must be familiar with the AIP - highlight key information and relevant headings, and tag accordingly to make sure you can find key information quickly. To this end, during your study be sure to look up every single AIP reference you come across in the BT book. This will mean you know what's in the AIP and how to find it in a rush. I recommend being familiar with: (i) GEN 2.2 para 2 Abbreviations; (ii) GEN 3.5 Met services; (iii) ENR 1.1 para 8.8 Alternates; (iv) ENR 1.10 para 1 Flight plan prep. If you know this resource well, you will be able to look up answers to maybe one quarter of the questions. For example, I encountered a question relating to a very specific instance for when a SIGMET would be issued. I did not know the answer but it was right there in the AIP, GEN 3.5, para 5.1x

* Prior to the exam, get familiar with the Sydney WAC and the corresponding part of the PCA. If you already know the topography of NSW from the WAC and the location of airports in th PCA you'll be faster at interpreting ARFORs in the exam. Pay particular attention to the Great Dividing Range and understand how it contributes to weather

Thanks to BT for another book that got me over the line. Hope this helps and happy flying!

Congratulations on passing HPOUND.

Im taking my exam in 2 weeks and feel very confident on everything but the WAC.

Do you have any tips or tricks on how to utilize this chart to get better at it?

Im still very confused as to when to use the chart.

I'm sure others will chip in with suggestions, but please allow me to share my thoughts.

In the exam, there will be questions on the sort of weather to expect on a flight. You'll be given the route, time of the flight, and the ARFOR. You'll then need to interpret the forecast(s) to determine the expected weather. To interpret the forecast, you'll need to use the PCA and the WAC. The WAC is necessary to determine weather references that relate to topology. These questions will tend to be worth two marks, so it's important to get the right.

Consider the Area 20 ARFOR I just accessed through NAIPS (extract):And for weather that relates to YMDG, PUTY etc, you can easily identify where the weather will occur by looking at your PCA (I've underlined this weather). But for the bold/italicised weather, referring to "RANGES/SLOPES", you'll need to look at the WAC. You can't tell where the "RANGES/SLOPES" are by looking at the PCA.

Hope this helps. Now go smash the exam!

Dear HPOUND,
I just completed my CMET last week and got 89%. I took all your tips to the T and all I can say is that was some excellent advice.

I completed the exam with 6mins to spare and I took longer then expected. The paper felt really tough and before submission I thought it was 50/50 as well.

If you get the bobtait practice exams. Be sure to tag and highlight every reference that come out in those 4 papers. And really take take your time in those 2 mark questions cos I reckon those are easy points to get.

3 more papers left.

That's awesome!!! Congrats on a super-strong pass! Thanks for your feedback and I'm very pleased my comments were helpful. You're now on the hook to provide feedback/advice for the students who follow you

Cheers, H

Congrats HPound!

Reading through your posts and many other potential pilots on here, I can't help but be impressed with the level of retention you guys have after an exam and being able to assist others with their efforts. After sitting meteorology and human factors thankfully passing them both my head was frazzled. I may be an age thing!!
As I said, Well done Hpound, you averaging some great marks.

Congrats, Dobbo! A pass is a pass and you're two for two! Keep it up!