Sooo…. Mosied on over to 4900 Yonge St this morning to write my PPL exam.
Thanks to an inner ear infection, I have had to take a few months off flying, but I wanted to get the written out of the way before heading out to PEI for the summer.
Thanks to an inner ear infection, I have had to take a few months off flying, but I wanted to get the written out of the way before heading out to PEI for the summer.
Wow, was it ever an interesting experience! I have not written 3-hour, multiple-choice exam since first year psychology in my undergrad years at U of T. And the PPAER actually reminded me a little of the psych exam, too, as I went to both very prepared in a few areas, and rather under-prepared in several others. A few differences became obvious immediately though, for example, here I had to fork over $105. (My first year psych exam was “free”, part of the enormous tuition I had already paid the good people at U of T!) Also, my exam this morning was administered via computer in a small room with about 6 others coming and going throughout the morning, whereas first year psych so long ago was a paper and pencil fill in the bubbles affair, written in a large exam hall where everyone began at the same time.
In addition to the exam room, there were several smaller rooms on the floor where I was writing the test, almost like interrogation rooms, rather odd, actually. The funniest thing, though, was the “quiet room” I discovered down the hall on my way to the washroom.
One wonders what Transport Canada needs such rooms for?!
In any case, I spent most of my time in the exam room, obviously, and was intrigued with the variety of the small group writing there.
Not surprisingly, I found myself significantly under-prepared for the task at hand: Unlike the PSTAR (the test for the student pilot permit, a pre-solo requirement), this exam represented a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of knowledge and information. And whereas I had spent several weeks preparing in various formats for the PSTAR, I only just began studying in earnest this past Sunday for the PPAER. Just for the record, folks, that’s not enough time to prepare properly for an exam of this magnitude!
Something really neat that happened was that the charts and flight planning info they gave me for the Navigation portion of my exam were on PEI and Atlantic Canada (how convenient)! Once again I am reminded of the importance of schema – in addition to the limited cramming I had done under the direction of my flight instructor the preceding week, I relied heavily on my schema from last summer’s flying adventures in PEI, and what do you know? I did considerably better on that part of the exam than I had anticipated!!!
Although I still have a long road ahead until I finally get my pilot license, a significant hurdle is out of the way, and -- long and involved as it was -- the ordeal wasn’t quite as strenuous as I had anticipated!
In addition to the exam room, there were several smaller rooms on the floor where I was writing the test, almost like interrogation rooms, rather odd, actually. The funniest thing, though, was the “quiet room” I discovered down the hall on my way to the washroom.
One wonders what Transport Canada needs such rooms for?!
In any case, I spent most of my time in the exam room, obviously, and was intrigued with the variety of the small group writing there.
Not surprisingly, I found myself significantly under-prepared for the task at hand: Unlike the PSTAR (the test for the student pilot permit, a pre-solo requirement), this exam represented a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of knowledge and information. And whereas I had spent several weeks preparing in various formats for the PSTAR, I only just began studying in earnest this past Sunday for the PPAER. Just for the record, folks, that’s not enough time to prepare properly for an exam of this magnitude!
Something really neat that happened was that the charts and flight planning info they gave me for the Navigation portion of my exam were on PEI and Atlantic Canada (how convenient)! Once again I am reminded of the importance of schema – in addition to the limited cramming I had done under the direction of my flight instructor the preceding week, I relied heavily on my schema from last summer’s flying adventures in PEI, and what do you know? I did considerably better on that part of the exam than I had anticipated!!!
Although I still have a long road ahead until I finally get my pilot license, a significant hurdle is out of the way, and -- long and involved as it was -- the ordeal wasn’t quite as strenuous as I had anticipated!
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