ATPL Prep
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:18 am
Greetings All,
I am making this post in hopes of helping those who are approaching the SAMRA/SARON. I’ve just finished writing both in one day. A little about me: ex-military pilot, haven’t flown in Canada since December 2010 (rusty on regs, etc), spent the last 10 months flying in Australia (which rules for what country?), 1400TT.
First out of the gate, if INRAT, SAMRA, SARON are in your vocabulary, you need to be thinking AeroCourse, period dot. Be aware that if there are not enough ppl registered for an AeroCourse wknd, the AeroCourse administrators will cancel the course without warning when you are only a few days out. With that, I recommend traveling to a busy centre such as Toronto. I travelled from YYT to YYZ just for the wknd course. Sure it’ll cost you approximately $2000 but it’s money well spent IMHO.
Next, I was rusty, so I gave myself lots of time. I would estimate I spent 4 solid hours per day studying for approximately 6 weeks. It was a solid effort. I bought the AIM, Weather Manual, CAP, Workbook and Groundschool Manual. I’d much rather have something I don’t need, than need something I don’t have. I used the Weather Manual and AIM as cross references only, I didn’t read them cover to cover (some ppl do). I started by reading the Groundschool Manual from cover-to-cover, all 400 and something pages. As I read the Manual, I made notes on my laptop of the things that I thought were important. When I was done, I had 80 type written pages. Overkill? Maybe. Once I’d read the entire Manual, I then tackled the 676 questions in the Workbook. If I didn’t know an answer, I went to Google to correct the deficiency. I averaged maybe 50 questions per day. If I got a question wrong, I made a note of it. Once I had all 676 questions done, I did them again. Once I’d done them the second time, I repeated the process, but did only the questions that I’d gotten wrong. I did all this in the lead up to the actual AeroCourse in YYT. Once at the AeroCourse, it was confirmation of what I’d already learned, and solidification of a few weak areas. Also, the AeroCourse folks will give additional top tips once in the wknd seminar. Once I returned from the AeroCourse, I took a few days and did all 676 questions again. By this time, the questions were going by quickly, maybe 100-150 per day. I booked both exams for the same day, did the SARON in the morning and SAMRA in the afternoon. Easily passed both exams.
Hopefully this helps those who require it. I feel I gave myself the right amount of time. Last tip, if you’re coming up on the exams, book them now. Without a looming deadline, you’ll most likely keep putting off the dreaded study time. Also, if you’re looking at getting on with an airline, write the exams first. Last thing you want to do is be learning a new aircraft, new procedures, new etc, and having to study for the daunting ATPL exams.
Overall, for me, the exams weren’t as scary in real life as I expected them to be.
Best of luck and hopefully this helps you a little.
RatMan
I am making this post in hopes of helping those who are approaching the SAMRA/SARON. I’ve just finished writing both in one day. A little about me: ex-military pilot, haven’t flown in Canada since December 2010 (rusty on regs, etc), spent the last 10 months flying in Australia (which rules for what country?), 1400TT.
First out of the gate, if INRAT, SAMRA, SARON are in your vocabulary, you need to be thinking AeroCourse, period dot. Be aware that if there are not enough ppl registered for an AeroCourse wknd, the AeroCourse administrators will cancel the course without warning when you are only a few days out. With that, I recommend traveling to a busy centre such as Toronto. I travelled from YYT to YYZ just for the wknd course. Sure it’ll cost you approximately $2000 but it’s money well spent IMHO.
Next, I was rusty, so I gave myself lots of time. I would estimate I spent 4 solid hours per day studying for approximately 6 weeks. It was a solid effort. I bought the AIM, Weather Manual, CAP, Workbook and Groundschool Manual. I’d much rather have something I don’t need, than need something I don’t have. I used the Weather Manual and AIM as cross references only, I didn’t read them cover to cover (some ppl do). I started by reading the Groundschool Manual from cover-to-cover, all 400 and something pages. As I read the Manual, I made notes on my laptop of the things that I thought were important. When I was done, I had 80 type written pages. Overkill? Maybe. Once I’d read the entire Manual, I then tackled the 676 questions in the Workbook. If I didn’t know an answer, I went to Google to correct the deficiency. I averaged maybe 50 questions per day. If I got a question wrong, I made a note of it. Once I had all 676 questions done, I did them again. Once I’d done them the second time, I repeated the process, but did only the questions that I’d gotten wrong. I did all this in the lead up to the actual AeroCourse in YYT. Once at the AeroCourse, it was confirmation of what I’d already learned, and solidification of a few weak areas. Also, the AeroCourse folks will give additional top tips once in the wknd seminar. Once I returned from the AeroCourse, I took a few days and did all 676 questions again. By this time, the questions were going by quickly, maybe 100-150 per day. I booked both exams for the same day, did the SARON in the morning and SAMRA in the afternoon. Easily passed both exams.
Hopefully this helps those who require it. I feel I gave myself the right amount of time. Last tip, if you’re coming up on the exams, book them now. Without a looming deadline, you’ll most likely keep putting off the dreaded study time. Also, if you’re looking at getting on with an airline, write the exams first. Last thing you want to do is be learning a new aircraft, new procedures, new etc, and having to study for the daunting ATPL exams.
Overall, for me, the exams weren’t as scary in real life as I expected them to be.
Best of luck and hopefully this helps you a little.
RatMan