Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

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shawnthesheep
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Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by shawnthesheep »

As the title states, will a bad PPL written exam affect my career negatively?

I'm attending Mount Royals aviation program in the fall.

I got a high 60 on my PPL written (first attempt) partially because of the lack of ground school + other commitments I had.

Ended up getting a 111/124 for my PPL flight test.
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GoinVertical
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by GoinVertical »

No.

There are no marks / scores on your license.
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digits_
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by digits_ »

The bad mark in itself won't, but it could be an indication of a deeper problem.

Respectfully, the PPL written is not that hard... If you are planning to make a career out of aviation, you'd have to figure out why you had a bad mark.
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by rookiepilot »

Nothing a degree can't fix. :roll:
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shawnthesheep
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by shawnthesheep »

digits_ wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:52 pm The bad mark in itself won't, but it could be an indication of a deeper problem.

Respectfully, the PPL written is not that hard... If you are planning to make a career out of aviation, you'd have to figure out why you had a bad mark.
Could you expand on what you mean by indication of a deeper problem? Just for some context at the time, I was working 20 hours a week plus going to high school full time and flying. I did end up cramming studying into a week + never had formal ground school. I was using the TC study guide and FTGU. It does worry me a little bit that a prospective employer would be turned away by such a thing.
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digits_
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by digits_ »

shawnthesheep wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:01 pm
digits_ wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:52 pm The bad mark in itself won't, but it could be an indication of a deeper problem.

Respectfully, the PPL written is not that hard... If you are planning to make a career out of aviation, you'd have to figure out why you had a bad mark.
Could you expand on what you mean by indication of a deeper problem? Just for some context at the time, I was working 20 hours a week plus going to high school full time and flying. I did end up cramming studying into a week + never had formal ground school. I was using the TC study guide and FTGU. It does worry me a little bit that a prospective employer would be turned away by such a thing.
If you have trouble studying the PPL material, then you'll have more trouble studying for the INRAT and the CPL written.
So if your bad mark is due to lack of studying or effort, then that can easily be fixed by studying harder next time.
If you had a bad mark because you have trouble understanding the materials, then it won't be getting easier. More instructing/tutoring or groundschool could help, but is not a miracle thing.

Once you get hired at an operator, or eventually an airline, you'll be expected to study a lot of information in a relatively short time. You don't need to be superhuman to pass, but you don't need to superhuman to pass your PPL written either.

Hope that helps. It would be a shame to spend all the money on flying only to find out you can't get past the written requirements.

Only you can answer the question as to what went wrong.
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shawnthesheep
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by shawnthesheep »

digits_ wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:06 pm
shawnthesheep wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:01 pm
digits_ wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:52 pm The bad mark in itself won't, but it could be an indication of a deeper problem.

Respectfully, the PPL written is not that hard... If you are planning to make a career out of aviation, you'd have to figure out why you had a bad mark.
Could you expand on what you mean by indication of a deeper problem? Just for some context at the time, I was working 20 hours a week plus going to high school full time and flying. I did end up cramming studying into a week + never had formal ground school. I was using the TC study guide and FTGU. It does worry me a little bit that a prospective employer would be turned away by such a thing.
If you have trouble studying the PPL material, then you'll have more trouble studying for the INRAT and the CPL written.
So if your bad mark is due to lack of studying or effort, then that can easily be fixed by studying harder next time.
If you had a bad mark because you have trouble understanding the materials, then it won't be getting easier. More instructing/tutoring or groundschool could help, but is not a miracle thing.

Once you get hired at an operator, or eventually an airline, you'll be expected to study a lot of information in a relatively short time. You don't need to be superhuman to pass, but you don't need to superhuman to pass your PPL written either.

Hope that helps. It would be a shame to spend all the money on flying only to find out you can't get past the written requirements.

Only you can answer the question as to what went wrong.
Thank you.
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nightbird
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by nightbird »

Don’t sweat it and just move along, you passed.
Have the shit in those exams are useless anyways...
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7ECA
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by 7ECA »

It's not something that will ever come up - unless you bring it up.

Most likely you will only be asked, do you qualify for this job? As in, do you hold a CPL and applicable ratings - yes/no?
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Bede »

I failed my PSTAR. I seem to have recovered.

We're not lawyers- no one cares about your marks.

Having said that, if you're someone who consistently has difficulty passing exams, you're going to have a difficult time on type rating courses.
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Kaykay
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Kaykay »

Only company I have ever heard of asking for a record of that sort of thing is AC. And even then they were more interested in the flight test marks, not the written tests.
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Hangry
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Hangry »

AC definitely does not ask for flight test marks. Unless that was decades ago.
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Kaykay »

Hangry wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 6:48 am AC definitely does not ask for flight test marks. Unless that was decades ago.
Everyone I talk to right now going through the process with AC has been asked for a printout from TC’s General Aviation Online Services page which includes all your flight test and written test history. Not sure if that’s different for OTS people vs those from Express, etc.
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Hangry
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Hangry »

Kaykay wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:42 pm
Hangry wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 6:48 am AC definitely does not ask for flight test marks. Unless that was decades ago.
Everyone I talk to right now going through the process with AC has been asked for a printout from TC’s General Aviation Online Services page which includes all your flight test and written test history. Not sure if that’s different for OTS people vs those from Express, etc.
Well then. I stand corrected.
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Tuza
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Tuza »

shawnthesheep wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:48 pm As the title states, will a bad PPL written exam affect my career negatively?

I'm attending Mount Royals aviation program in the fall.

I got a high 60 on my PPL written (first attempt) partially because of the lack of ground school + other commitments I had.

Ended up getting a 111/124 for my PPL flight test.
No. I got a partial on my ppl written and aced the second half then had no problem with cpl/inrat/and iatra. Prepping for AIRAF now. And have already been offered king air jobs and others. Point is - it’s in your flying and attitude, and not every pilot exams well. Learn from it, study what you missed and carry on! You passed! Of course... this comes from someone who never lets her mistakes in exams go ... for eons. Much to the dismay of EVERYONE around her. Hahahaha.

Good luck!
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kevind
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by kevind »

What do you a medical student that finishes last in their class....Dr.
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Kejidog
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Kejidog »

I am not in the industry just a GA ppl. But I don’t think any employer will be asking you for marks. And what do you call a guy who made 51% in med school? Doctor.


Apparently i was too late for the doctor joke too
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seven-oh-nooo
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by seven-oh-nooo »

shawnthesheep wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:48 pm As the title states, will a bad PPL written exam affect my career negatively?
Only if you let it. Only out know why you got the mark you did, and I promise it was a factor that you have control over, so use that to plot a course correction for your future studies.

As for whether an employer will ever know about this, only if you tell them. I have specifically sought out exam results on past pilots of mine (long story - nothing evil) and couldn’t get access to them. You may find yourself in a job where you need to provide proof of passing an exam for various reasons but that’s not until IATRA or ATPL time, if ever.
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by CaptainKirk »

Never give up. Failure is natural if you want to succeed.
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Warden
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Re: Will a bad written exam mark affect my career?

Post by Warden »

No. Not at all. Airlines and companies don't care about written exams, they care if you need a lot of extra flight training and fail rides.
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