Toughest Written Exam???

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Spinwmts
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Toughest Written Exam???

Post by Spinwmts »

Just passed my CPL written and it was ball breaker (at least for me)... So just wondering from the folks who have ran the gauntlet of Transport Canada written exams or those who have just taken even a couple, which one was the toughest??? Why?

I thought I was good to go for the CPL written and it was going great until I hit the navigation portion; I slept on something as simple as reading coordinates (probably thanks to my over use of foreflight ) as a result of this blind spot I spent 5+ of my 30 remaining minutes just trying to find the departure airport!!! :oops: The remaining time was a frantic mad scramble and I ended up with a 64. My partial retake I got 85.
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CdnPilotsalary
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by CdnPilotsalary »

Spinwmts wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:09 pm Just passed my CPL written and it was ball breaker (at least for me)... So just wondering from the folks who have ran the gauntlet of Transport Canada written exams or those who have just taken even a couple, which one was the toughest??? Why?

I thought I was good to go for the CPL written and it was going great until I hit the navigation portion; I slept on something as simple as reading coordinates (probably thanks to my over use of foreflight ) as a result of this blind spot I spent 5+ of my 30 remaining minutes just trying to find the departure airport!!! :oops: The remaining time was a frantic mad scramble and I ended up with a 64. My partial retake I got 85.
Did you find the CPAER much harder than the PPAER? I found them to be about the same back when I took them (but obviously the commercial one had more content).
Congratulations on passing it on the retake. I'm sure you'll do fine on the rest ... just keep on studying and get it over with, it's a bit of a grind.
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youhavecontrol
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by youhavecontrol »

I found the CPAER harder than the PPAER. In fact, I found the CPAER to be the hardest exam I've written so far.. including the AIRAF, AIRAT and INRAT. Mostly because of the large variety of air law questions they throw at you. It's the only exam I've failed.. and it was a partial because of the Air Law section. I suck at that stuff.
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C-GKNT
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by C-GKNT »

I scored 10-15% lower on the CPL exam than on the PPL, instrument, Helicopter conversion and ATPL exams (all passed on the first attempt).

My opinion is that the CPL is the "least fair" of all of the TC exams that I have taken. I don't think it is because of the material, rather the test itself reflects an "ulterior motive" unrelated to testing aviation knowledge.

Glenn
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Spinwmts
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by Spinwmts »

Did you find the CPAER much harder than the PPAER?
Thanks for the congrats! I converted my license from the FAA PPL so I just had to take the PSTAR (I was a little foggy on the ADIZ requirements though but still passed : )

My opinion is that the CPL is the "least fair" of all of the TC exams
Agreed! And Good to hear! Was the Instrument exam a ball breaker btw???
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jg24
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by jg24 »

If you study well, the INRAT is very straight forward.

I had the same problem as you when I wrote my CPL years back, finding the airports on the maps. Took me a good while to find the departure and arrival airports. And wasn't a tablet user at the time.
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lownslow
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by lownslow »

The CPAER and INRAT both represent the greatest steps into the unknown. Most of what's on them exists only as theory to the candidates taking the exam. Every other exam gets a fair bit of practical experience before you write.
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NotDirty!
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by NotDirty! »

If you can relate difficulty to performance, then the hardest exam I wrote was the AIRAF (Flight Instructor).
I put the most effort into studying for the CPAER.
ExamResults.jpg
ExamResults.jpg (37.5 KiB) Viewed 8823 times
But I may not be typical...
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Spinwmts
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by Spinwmts »

NotDirty! wrote: Tue Feb 13, 2018 2:03 pm If you can relate difficulty to performance, then the hardest exam I wrote was the AIRAF (Flight Instructor).
I put the most effort into studying for the CPAER.
ExamResults.jpg
But I may not be typical...
Very Stellar Scores! And Great...next exam for me is the AIRAF :( better start studying now!
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C.W.E.
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by C.W.E. »

Written exams in Canada are a poor measure of your knowledge of the subjects they are testing you on, they are a measure of your ability to try and figure out what TC wants you to answer.

So any mark over 60% which as I recall is a passing mark is all you need because no one will ever know or care what your written exam marks were.
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by AWC »

Unfortunately I need 80% on my CPAER. Why you ask? Because my university has a partnership with one major Canadian airline, and if I get 80% or over on it, I am guaranteed an interview with them (regardless of how many flight hours I have, which is around 110 right now). I got 83% on my PPL exam back in September (after a very stressful 3.5 months of PPL flight training), so I'm worried about how I'll do on the CPAER. Are online practice exams good to test and practice one's knowledge? I booked my exam for April 9th, and my next practice is on the 23rd, where I need 75% to get my recommendation letter.
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CanadianPilotQc
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by CanadianPilotQc »

CPL is by far the hardest exam you'll ever pass, IMO. Not that the ATPL AiRAF are a walk in the parc, just because it will by your first '' Big One''.
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Spinwmts
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Re: Toughest Written Exam???

Post by Spinwmts »

CanadianPilotQc wrote: Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:20 pm CPL is by far the hardest exam you'll ever pass, IMO. Not that the ATPL AiRAF are a walk in the parc, just because it will by your first '' Big One''.
Glad to hear :)
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