Page 19 - Dear aviator...

25 miles from the airport or being restricted to only one passenger). So my
recommendation is to go the extra mile, put in the effort and get your PPL,
regardless of what your school says - they cannot stop you from sitting the exam or
the flight test. An additional note: this shows both to yourself and others the level
of commitment and drive that is motivating you.
Finally, I started studying and preparing for the CPL exams as soon as I had the
Private Pilot’s Licence in my hand, before even starting the CPL phase of training at
the school. Again, the reason behind this was that there would have been a three
month gap between my earning the PPL and the start of the CPL training phase. I
was still fresh with my PPL studying and wanted to put it to good use. I set myself
the rule of booking each exam 4-6 weeks from the date I started to study. That gave
me plenty of time to prepare, accounting for my more-than-full time day job. I need
a deadline to keep me focused and as far as I was concerned that deadline was set
in stone and immovable. I would sit that exam even if I wasn’t completely ready for
it as it would have added to my CASA exam experience, regardless of the outcome.
The result of keeping to this schedule was that I was constantly ahead of the theory
classes. Now… this doesn’t mean that you should be ahead of your theory classes;
if I had used those classes to my benefit I might have scrounged a couple of extra
points. However, my reasoning was to avoid getting sidetracked by too much time
between exams. As soon as I finished one, I would book the next; my fear was that I
would break the rhythm I had developed and get stuck. It truly was a matter of
keeping the momentum going - also keeping in mind that each exam has a “use by”
date set at two years from completion: if you haven’t finished all seven CPL exams
within two years from the completion of the first exam, that exam lapses and you
have to resit it. I vowed I was not going to let that happen.

In terms of study, I used all the resources I could: the prescribed text the school
used, another series of more in-depth texts, YouTube videos, online forums and for
two specific exams (the PPL exam and the CPL Performance exam) I purchased an
online practice exam package which I would say improved my final results by about
10%.
The main takeaway for me was that you should give the exams at least the same
importance as practical flying. Don’t procrastinate and just get them done. I saw
several of my classmates keep pushing them back to the point that they couldn’t
continue the course unless they sat at least one CPL exam… to have a written
exam be the breakwater between finishing an aviation course and quitting is a real
pity. You then develop resentment towards aviation for something that was
completely under your control. Aviation has many things which are out of your
control: the weather, maintenance, instructor availability; but the theory and CASA
exams… those are 100% in your hands and failing to sit those exams is completely
on you!
I also benefited greatly from occasionally studying with a small group of
classmates. You'd be amazed at how much information you retain if you actually
try to explain something to somebody else. Just be careful not to make group
studying a regular thing as it can all too easily become an opportunity to lose focus
and slow down assimilation. My suggestion is to study up on a few topics on your
own and then meet up with friends to discuss, practice and clarify.

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