Originally Posted by
AllTheNines
Having sat the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) exams I would say it’s more quantity than quality. Yes there are a few complex theories to get your head around but it’s mainly a memory test (each subject comes with a hefty textbook and there are 14 subjects to pass).
Totally agree. It is as much a memory test as anything else. I would say that if you are not good at taking written exams (they are mostly multiple choice BTW so not a lot of writing!) then you might struggle. Also I found the fact that they all had to be taken within a certain time-frame meant that study was a case of cramming at times. It is a long time to when I took my ATPL exams but IIRC they are grouped so if you fail one exam then you have to retake just that one but if you fail more than one in a group you have to retake the whole group. It makes it quite a challenge in itself. I found the trig pretty easy as I was a PPL instructor when I took my exams so was already pretty familiar with most nav subjects but I did struggle with the Perfomance "A" exam. Nothing very complicated but lots of maths done under the pressure of time.
Is Perf A still a requirement?