What happens during ground school?
It is all too often that we hear how students are concerned at the thought of ground school and completing the 13 ATPL exams. However, there is no need to be put off, as the course is achievable, you just need to be prepared for 6 months of hard work and determination!
Our groundschool is split into two modules, with regular progress tests throughout your training, before completing the final qualifying ATPL(A) exams. A usual ground school day consists of classes from approximately 08:30-16:00 with regular breaks including an hour’s lunch. After a day in the classroom, you should plan on allocating at least a couple of hours for independent study to consolidate the days work.
As part of the LEAP integrated course, Leading Edge Aviation provide you with an iPad loaded with PadPilot eBooks so that you have digital materials that can be accessed wherever you go.
But what can you do in preparation before you start ground school? We’ve collaborated feedback from our past and present students that have been in the same position as you and came up with the following tips!
Prepare yourself!
Before you even begin your flight training journey, it is important to be in a position that you are ready to put all your effort into studying. Ground school will be hard work, but if you are mentally ready to put in the time towards your dream career, then you will be able to complete it!
Friends and family!
The Leading Edge Aviation Family are there to support you alongside your home support network. However, it is important to inform your friends and family of your journey ahead, ground school will be a time of extremely high workload, therefore making it clear to friends and family members to not expect you to have a lot of free time available will allow you to have one less stress to manage.
It is important during ground school to take time out of studying, but that being said you will be slightly removed from the social scene.
Find your way to study!
Whether you’re fresh out of A-Levels or have been out of the studying game for a while, it is important to find your studying groove! The top studying tips we have gained from students are –
1. Don’t rewrite your notes! – Take concise notes in class that you can re-read and refer to when revising at home.
2. Try different techniques – Posters, Post-it notes, revision cards, listening to videos, find what works best for you!
3. Ask Questions! – Here at Leading Edge Aviation we have a ‘No question is a silly question policy’ – we keep the classroom sizes small for encouraging interaction and engagement and the chances are someone else in the classroom is thinking exactly the same!
Take time out!
It is important to take time out for yourself, most often enough our students allocate Friday evenings at the end of a long week studying, to completely switch off for one night and have some time socializing with their coursemates. Do not feel guilty about taking a bit of time out, here is some examples of how our students often spend time out as a group:
Mini Golf, Cinema, cooking a group meal, walking, going to the gym, Go Karting, Football, Running, Squash, and of course you can’t forget a quiet trip to the pub, but don’t go mad! Make sure you assign some time to do something you enjoy!
Look after your wellbeing!
At Leading Edge you’ll join a positive, caring community, and receive exceptional support as you push yourself towards achieving your dreams. Our student pilots have access to comprehensive wellbeing services including workshops on Sleep, Diet, Stress, Studying, and Workload Management.
We aim to equip you with the tools of healthy habits and skills that’ll make managing the high workload and demanding rosters that come with an airline career.
Healthy Lifestyle!
We will provide you with the wellbeing services, however there are many daily habits to consider while in groundschool. A healthy and well-balanced diet is crucial in order to have the energy to maintain focus and to function through the long days! Many of our students will prepare their meals for the week at the weekends, to extra study time in the week! This also includes drinking lots of water and limiting caffeine intake (as hard as it will be to say no to a coffee!) The importance of nutrition and hydration will be reiterated in one of the first subjects in module 1 of groundschool; Human Performance & Limitations.
So what next?
If this sounds like something you are ready to do, or if you would like to find out more about ATPL ground school, or how Leading Edge Aviation can help you become an airline pilot then why not join us at one of our next open days! If you have any further questions regarding ground school or any part of training, then get in touch with one of our training advisors!
