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As I mentioned in my previous ATPL question bank review, one of the problems I found when working through my ATPL exams was which ATPL question bank to use?
I was trying to complete my ATPL exams on a budget on a part-time basis around my engineering job.
I could only afford to purchase one other question bank to supplement the CATS Aviation question bank (provided as part of my course).
At the time, BGS question bank was the most popular. Whilst learning the ATPL exam material is essential, it is impossible to pass the ATPL exams without smashing through an ATPL question bank a lot of times.
In this post, I will review the atplGS question bank to help decide which to use!
One of the gaps I found during my ATPL exams was that nobody actually teaches you HOW to study – and I struggled initially as I had been out of education for a while.
Check out my How To Study Effectively class on Skillshare – Skillshare is running an offer at the moment for 2 weeks FREE.
In the class, I share my study techniques of how I completed my ATPL exams in just 8 months whilst juggling a full-time engineering job (and hour building at the weekends)!
atplGS question bank overall rating: 89/100
- Interface: 17/20
- Price: 17/20
- Explanations: 15/20
- Interactive/ live student-led exam feedback and comments: 20/20
- Support and customer service: 20/20
Pros: The ability for students to add questions and provide live and immediate feedback from their recent exam experience. That ATPL last 200 is an absolute lifesaver from students being able to flag questions that are similar to what they found during the exam!
atplGS are working hard to integrate the EASA 2020 syllabus and I’m sure this will be a great addition for those studying the EASA ECQB 2020 syllabus.
Cons: Nitpicking – the app is brilliant, but it would really send it to the next level if the app could be used offline.
Interface
The atplGS interface is clean and easy to use. The login screen lists each of the 14 EASA ATPL subjects to choose from.
After you select your given subject, you are taken to the specific subject area. I was using the free version – so not all the questions are shown – but as you can see, it is easy to use.
atplGS app: atplGS question bank does have an app with the layout and usability very similar and just as good as the desktop version. I did my ATPL exams via an ATPL online course through distance learning around my job.
When I was travelling to and from work on the train and wanted to make the most of the time, I appreciated being able to access ATPL exam questions offline, for example, as the CATS Aviation question bank allows.
In case you missed it check out my CATS ATPL review. If the atplGS app could be available to use offline, that would be the cherry on the top of the cake!
atplGS Interface: 17/20
atplGS Price
For the price comparison, to see how atplGS sits, I have chosen ATPL Online Question bank and Aviationexam. Prices correct as of 20/12/2020.
| Subscription | ATPL Online Question Bank | Aviationexam Question Bank | ATPLGS Question Bank |
| Free trial | Not available (7 days for £10) | Free trial not available but Free test available | Free test & 7 days free |
| 30 days/ 1 month | £21 | £22.70 | Not available |
| 90 days/ 3 months | £49 | £52.02 | £39 |
| 180 days/ 6months | £89 | £99.88 | £70 |
As you can see, atplGS are the lowest cost provider out of the other two ATPL question bank providers I looked at. Very helpful is that like Bristol Ground School question bank, atplGS offers a 7-day free ATPL questions and answers trial.
atplGS Online Price: 17/20
atplGS Question bank explanations
I started with Met and found near enough all the questions that I attempted to have explanations.
What I liked was that the explanations were brief and to the point. As a last-minute revision tool, this is exactly what you need i.e. you are working through the ATPL question bank during the last few days before your exam and just need a quick pointer on the odd occasion you get a question wrong.
For those seeking long detailed explanations, you will probably need to refer back to your course notes.
One of the improvements that would be extremely helpful for atplGS would be to introduce a feature to allow you to search for questions by learning objective.
At the moment, atplGS allows you to search via keyword, question number etc., if arranged by learning objective, this would be more closely aligned to how exam feedback received.
atplGS Question Explanations: 15/20
How interactive is atplGS question bank for exam feedback and explanations?
The interactive nature of updates is where atplGS really excels. The ATPL questions last 200 feature whereby you can practice the last 200 similar questions that have appeared in exams is incredible.
The live feedback philosophy of allowing students to flag similar questions that have appeared and comment directly on questions means that you are getting extremely up-to-date information with this question bank.
I do not want to breach copyright so I won’t share images of atplGS questions below, but within each question on atplGS, there is the option to:
- add and see existing comments
- mark the question as similar to a seen exam question
- flag the question for your own use and there are three different flags (red, yellow and green)
- you can comment on whether, or not an explanation was suitable and you also have the opportunity to add to the question explanation
How interactive is atplGS question bank for exam feedback and explanations? 20/20
atplGS Support and customer service
With the free trial, there was little interaction that I needed from atplGS customer service. With how interactive the site is, I have no doubts that you would get excellent customer support if you ever needed it.
atplGS support and customer service? 20/20
atplGS Overall?
I think this is one of the most capable, if not the best EASA ATPL question banks available particularly with the way exam feedback and live updates from current students is fed back into the question bank.
The last 200 feature is a genuine lifesaver! Appreciate the question explanations in places are brief and other question banks may have slightly more in-depth explanations. For what it is though – an excellent revision tool assuming you have covered all the material already, you cannot beat it!
What is the best ATPL question bank?
All question banks have their strong areas and weak areas. Unfortunately, no one question bank provider will give you the ‘silver bullet’ as good as providers like atplGS and Bristol are, for example.
Instead, to get the most out of the questions banks and pass your ATPL exams, it will take a combination of hard work to go through the course material and picking a primary question bank to work with for the bulk of your study.
As you get close to your ATPL exams, you can augment and fill the gaps with the question banks that have the best feedback and closest alignment to current ATPL questions coming up in exams (based on feedback from other students).
The questions banks with the closest alignment to exams will continue to evolve and change as more exam feedback is received and ATPL question bank providers catch up with the new syllabus and question.
atplGS is an excellent question bank for what it is! Just don’t be overly reliant on one question bank alone. You need to know your material.
How many ATPL exams are there?
14 Exams.
You will need to complete 14 ATPL theory exams to get your EASA ‘frozen’ ATPL.
If you have any comments or questions about the atplGS question bank, please leave them in the comments section below. I would love to hear from you!
Kudzi Chikohora is a B737 captain with over 3,000 hours of flying in Europe. He holds a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, is a chartered engineer, and is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Kudzi completed his pilot training via the self-funded modular pilot training route and created kcthepilot.com to share pilot training and aviation content.
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