CPL theoretical examinations

For the last two days we have been sitting and doing the CPL theoretical examinations at the Finnish CAA, called TraFi. I must say that it hasn't been easy at all.. When you combine the facts that there's a huge load of subjects to master, very little time and a fast pace and the fact that most of the exams and some questions are ridiculous and unfair, it's fairly apparent that this is no easy task. We have students with background from a university (like I do) and universities of applied sciences and everybody agrees that the studies are comparably challenging.

So we had two days to sit through the 13 exams and apparently we were the first course to do the tests with a computer, that randomly selects different questions to each examinee. Most schools don't do the CPL exams at all, since the usual way is to go straight to the ATPL phase after basic theory and flight training. I think doing the CPL first, although it doesn't save time or money, is nice since you get to know the books and subjects before diving to the ATPL exams. I'm no longer afraid of the ATPL since now I know what's ahead, and we are going to have a lot more time sitting through the ATPL theory lessons (about 500 hours compared to 200) and after all, there's really not that much new things in the course compared to CPL theories. I'd say the CPL includes about 75% to 85% of the ATPL subjects.

We'll have to wait a while for the results, but to be honest I am fairly sure that I did not manage to pass them all in one go. The computer generated nothing but complex mathematical questions for me in general navigation and I just didn't have enough time. At least now I know what to do differently in the ATPL. And ATPL is the one that counts. I'm aiming for a first-time pass with at least 90% average.

Flying will start next week with a litte rehearsal flight programme created to us by our flight instructors.