Complete ATPL Study Guide By AtplGS (Never Again Suffer!)

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Revision strategy

This is my strategy, everyone has their own method, do what works best for you.

Weeks 1-7 : Based on 3 hours studying a night

So you have subjects,A,B,C,D : read through A fully, B fully, etc etc, and make notes – lots of them, but be sensible. I have seen the most ridiculous extended notes where the user has gone as close to rewriting the whole book. If this is what works for you, then it is your call.

Maybe watch the YouTube videos mentioned earlier too. They can range from 5-20 hours per subject. They are something you can watch one day in bed at least. Each subject will have a different length of time required to get through.

AGK is huge, for example. VFR is the size of a takeaway menu. Some maybe take 1 week, some take 4 weeks. At this point, though take your time as there is no massive rush to absorb everything (that comes later).

Week 7

Spend some time on the question banks. You will probably get upset because you are getting 50-60% in the various ATPL questions apps. Don’t panic. This is common at this stage of the game.

Week 7-9

Read through books A,B,C,D again at a faster pace

Make notes again. A much more condensed version… Maybe at this point, begin to aim to write a 10-12 page revision notebook per subject on the areas you are struggling with most. This will form a convenient summary of what to read the day before the exam.

This is the point where you are now in a race with your own brain to maintain everything in its memory. You are likely to be more susceptible to forgetting things if have a break for a few days at this stage.

Week 9-10

Question banks/ ATPL questions app again, hopefully, scores are increasing now.

Keep reading your notes and skimming the books. It is important to keep things in memory.

week 11-12

At this point, I would then start to read through A, B, C, D again but not spending more than 2-3 days per subject. at this point, you are probably also starting to realise how fast you are forgetting stuff you only learnt.

Week 12-13

More ATPL question banks and revision – sit on the question bank. If you can’t answer a question, find the answer in the books.

Week 13-14

2 weeks before the exams

Read and skim through your notes and books.. Hopefully, your exams are now approaching. Start to aim to spend 1 day per book, reading revisions notes, and using the question banks. You are wanting to try to get into the habit of reading the summary books you created as close to each other as possible, and question banking. Find your missing gaps! Hopefully, you are scoring 80% by now and we are fine-tuning the gaps.

1 week to the exam – are you ready? Consider cancelling if not.

Days before the exam: you are probably panicking now! At this point, I would aim to spend the majority of my time on the question banks and reading through the condensed note pack you made the day before the exam. Focus solely on the subject you have tomorrow. Stay the night before in local accommodation. Get there early in the day to give you a full day of study. Use the question bank, and revision notes.

Now, if you have booked 1 exam a day, this gives you a nice gap between each exam to revise.

Once the exams are all finished, relax.. and wait for those results on Friday! Nothing will make your heart sink more than when you get the email “exam results updated“.

Once you have finished your first exam sitting, you are officially an experienced ATPL theory student. Just the wait for those exam results to come in! At this point you are more aware of the commitment and amount of work needed, so you can go into MOD2 knowing more about the pattern that works for you.

Do you have any ATPL study tips or experiences you would like to share? Please leave a comment in the section below and I will reply as soon as possible!