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ATPL Theory Exam Switzerland OFAC/FOCA

For session planning I use number of questions in database X time in exam for answering one question to spread load evenly. This is my way of estimating the difficulty of each subject. Here is a table.

I am not as smart as some who do the whole thing in two days. My head would be too heavy ;-) I spread over 5 sessions with 6th as backup. I also try to evenly mix calculation and memory subjects in each session. An example of memory is Air Law, example of calculation is Gen Nav.

I am after first session with results of 89, 91, 93 and 95. In 2015 I took IR with an average of 92.5.

I can confirm that ATPLQ has more up to date questions while AE is better for initial learning as they have better explanations. Using both.

Last Edited by loco at 09 May 07:56
LPFR, Poland

Hello all,

Already with 2 exam sessions and 6 subjects done I can confirm that only with AE it will not be enough. I went to August session and did both AE and ATPL questions in paralell and I felt much better prepared. First time only used AE and failed Performance (73%).

However there are few new questions being introduced slowly. They are already on AE so make sure to do them and understand them.

Going to my third session in October for another 4 subjects.

Good luck to everyone

Portugal

I’ve now passed all the ATPL exams in Switzerland. This was my experience:

I tried to do all 14 exams in a single sitting, which sounds worse than it is – actually I’m convinced this approach saved me a lot of time. I’ve passed 13 of them but failed Performance with 73%, same as Miguel.

Second session I passed Performance as well. I’ve prepared with Aviation Exam only (besides reading the Oxford books and watching lots of Youtube videos), so it is definitely doable, but if I’d have to do it another time, I’d use a second question database for Performance only. All the other subjects I felt very well prepared with AE. I’ve seen around 11k of the 15k available questions in AE, by the way.

A few hints for Performance – applicable for Switzerland…

  1. You can’t use the CAPS for the exam. This is a major bummer as you need to learn all the factors by heart.
  2. If the question includes the words “commercial” or “required” you need to use the factors.
  3. Always double-check if you’ve read all the small print in the charts – they usually contain some correction factor without which you will get the wrong answer.
  4. If you need to go “backwards” in a chart, i.e. the result is given and you need to figure out some initial factor (for example the T/O distance is given and you need to figure out the T/O mass), than all the correction factors of the chart need to be inverted => addition becomes subtraction, multiplication becomes division etc.
  5. And the most important: be super precise when you draw the lines, interpolate correctly and double-check all your results!

Hope this helps some poor fellow who needs to do the Performance exam in the future. In my opinion it was by far the most difficult exam of all 14.

Good luck to all of you!

Last Edited by nickflyer at 18 Sep 13:42

nickflyer wrote:

I’ve now passed all the ATPL exams in Switzerland.

Congratulations!!

I took performance today with 92% on first attempt, but my approach is to take it slowly. Max two exams per day. You’re done and I’ll be busy till end of the year :-)
I have both Aviation Exam and ATPLQuestions subscription. I used exclusively ATPLQ for last few exams with good results (90-100%). I use AE only for their detailed explanations.

Last Edited by loco at 18 Sep 14:50
LPFR, Poland

nickflyer wrote:

I’ve now passed all the ATPL exams in Switzerland. This was my experience:

Congrats Nick!!! Can I maybe ask you in which day in August you were in Bern? Maybe we sited on the same day

And agree in everything what you said about performance. I passed 2nd time with 78% but I found it by faar the most complicate/tricky subject of all the 6 that I did until now.

And btw with which school are you enrolled?

Good luck to everyone!

Portugal

Just completed ATPL exams. I guess everything has been said about them, but anyway, some observations.
I am 40 and it took me 7 months (Apr-Nov) from first until last exam. I didn’t study in Jul and Aug, so net time was 5 months.
Min score 88, max score 100, most exams around 93.

I took the exams in Sweden because:
- due to low exam price, the Polish CAA is flooded with students from all over Europe. It’s difficult to book an exam. Sweden is 5x the price, but you take the exam when and where you like in complete privacy and peace. Only the invigilator is there. Well, to be honest, sometimes I heard invigilator’s wife cooking dinner
- session time is 14 days instead of 10
- extra 10 minutes for every exam (matters only on flight planning and performance exams)
Downside is no printing.

My learning method was to go through all the questions once and then again through the ones answered incorrectly. After that take a few simulated exams. If score is consistently over 90, this is what you’ll get in the exam. Current best question bank is atplquestions.com They have almost no explanations, but the QB seems to be a copy of what the Swedish CAA uses. I’d say 90% questions are same word for word.

It is not difficult. It just takes a lot of time.

Good luck everyone!

LPFR, Poland

Congratulations Loco!

So you are going to set up an airline operating TBM930s

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Thanks Peter. Would be fun to get the TBM under AOC and do single pilot taxi ops, but it’s not the plan. Starting MEP and MCC courses this weekend. Next SEIR to MEIR and CPL. Very excited. Even if it doesn’t end with a job, I hope to improve as a pilot. Just a little afraid of the Tecnam MEP trainer

LPFR, Poland

@loco
Would you share your motivation in sitting all those exams and extra licence / qualification ?

Always liked flying and would love to try a big jet. Can’t afford one, so planning to have fun in someone else’s jet and get paid for it. If that doesn’t work out, there’s nothing wrong with improved qualifications. Maybe instructor some day.

LPFR, Poland
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