Ground School Options

Bman.

Bman.

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jul 20, 2014
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Bman.
Evening all-

While I wait for the planets to align between weather, kids soccer games and CFI schedule, I am going to kick off my ground school. It has been one thing after another getting the ice broken for flight #1. I am optimistic that the schedules will iron out and we will get off the ground. We were grounded on the first flight. We walked the plane, discussed a lot of stuff and during the pre-flight we found the stall horn was not functioning. Since then the wind has just been too much. We are now scheduled for Wednesday.

While I wait, I am going to kick off my ground school. I have read a lot of reviews and threads about choosing a ground school course and usually the response is "it depends on how you like to learn (book / video)." I am somewhere in the middle but it would seem video with supplement text will fit nicely. So, there are a lot of options on the board but I am curious to know what some recent written exam test takers studied with and felt they prepared you well for the knowledge test and beyond.

The options as I see them -

[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]MZeroA - $102 a month
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Gold Seal - $129
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]King Schools = $279 / $398
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Gleim = $100
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]ASA = $179
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Sporty’s = $379
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Jeppesen = $239

I like MZeroA cross platform, technology speaking, side of things but it's pricey compared to the rest. Gleim appears to be bare bones and to the point. King schools has the goofy humor (I can't deal with that).

So which course has the best coverage and decent format? What did you like about the course or dislike?

Benjamin
 
I did Gleim for my PPL but struggled because it was just read and memorize. Would not have passed if it wasn't for a lot more supplemental info I scrounged around for.

I did King for my IFR and did a lot better as it gave me more context in video format and pretty pictures. It is way outdated and cheesy, but still a good program.

But I am a visual learner. Show me how to do something and it burns a picture in my brain. If I have to just read it to learn...won't stick.
 
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Free
exams4pilots.org

Printed off three tests that I scored over 80, plus little ground time with CFI....signed off for written.

Passed
 
charris911 said:
Free
exams4pilots.org

Printed off three tests that I scored over 80, plus little ground time with CFI....signed off for written.

Passed
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If you don't mind me asking, what was the date of the test and what was your score? (PM if you want.)

I think exams4pilots.org is getting out of date, trying to figure out how predictive it is of one's actual score.

BTW, there's also the Sporty's study buddy.
 
dmspilot said:
trying to figure out how predictive it is of one's actual score.
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I was testing the same consistently on both King practice tests and exams4pilots.org for my IFR.


exams4pilots.org is great as a test prep, but I didn't find it too useful as a learning tool.
 
There is no one best. Lots of folks have much good to say about each of the choices listed. And just as many naysayers exist for each of the same choices.

Before spending money, check into the free options on FAA.gov.

And then check I with your instructor in which system follows the closest to what he is teaching during his ground sessions and while flying. But before purchasing, beg and borrow a copy to see of that is what fits your style of learning.

By the way, another good text book you didn't mention is our own Bob Gardner's "the Complete Pilot" series. Available for purchase at www.asa2fly.com
 
I used King for the private and instrument. I used the Jeppensen book for the commercial. I scored the highest on the private(but not by enough that I would recommend one way over the other).
I am more of a visual learner so the king stuff did it for me. Plus the stupid humor gave me a smirk at how lame it was in the perfect intervals(right when I was about to fall asleep). Plus lets be real... Who wouldn't want to stare at this hottie all day?!

King.jpg
 
I used Gleim for the knowledge test and Jepperson - Private Pilot Manual ($20 from ebay). The Gleim knowledge test book which I used was an old one from 2008 and I took my exam this year. I had to refer to the FAR-AIM for new regulations but for the most part - 95% of an 2008 edition was great. I did probably 4-5 revisions on the knowledge test and for topics which I couldn't follow I used the Jepperson book to clear doubts. To take the test I used exams4pilot.org and repeatedly took tests till I was comfortable.
 
I did a more formal ground school at the local communuty college. I can't remember what it cost, but it wasn't out of line with the more expensive self-study courses and got me one-on-one, at no extra charge, with a live CFI for any questions I had.
 
I would checkout local flight schools. A lot of them are starting their ground schools right now. Usually they do them in the fall and spring. It is a much better option cause you can ask questions to stuff you don't understand as well.
 
Scheduling wise I prefer the self study style. Learning wise I prefer the classroom but this is somewhat my point. Folks go from free online skim the surface all the way to dedicated classroom time. I can't say the the results are the same but it appears to be a passing score regardless of path chosen.

Sounds like I can pick one and go.
 
King, there is a reason they are the gold standard.

I've had all my students use them (PPL-CPL) and never had one fail anything knowledge related.

I've personally used them for my ATP and some 135 stuff.

King FTW.
 
Gold Seal is the only one in the group that allows you to take a full third of the program for free. There's no better way to evaluate than trying it out. Also, Gold Seal has the strongest guarantee of any listed.

exams4pilots.org and it's contemporaries are NOT ground schools. They are quiz generators and nothing more. If quizzing is all you want, once again, try Gold Seal. You can have full access to the quizzing engine for free and its questions are all up to date. You can even print out PDFs showing just the questions you missed for review.
 
write-stuff said:
Gold Seal is the only one in the group that allows you to take a full third of the program for free. There's no better way to evaluate than trying it out. Also, Gold Seal has the strongest guarantee of any listed.

exams4pilots.org and it's contemporaries are NOT ground schools. They are quiz generators and nothing more. If quizzing is all you want, once again, try Gold Seal. You can have full access to the quizzing engine for free and its questions are all up to date. You can even print out PDFs showing just the questions you missed for review.
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You can find almost all the king videos on YouTube, just search "king school stalls"
 
James331 said:
You can find almost all the king videos on YouTube, just search "king school stalls"
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All they are are short clips. King does not give you any real preview of their actual course.

If you are a CFI, you can enroll at Gold Seal for free. This gives you full access to the entire program without charge. Plus, if you have students in the program you can monitor all their lesson progress and quiz attempts. Roughly 300 CFIs are already signed up and new ones join every day.
 
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No votes for Sportys?

Early next year when I start to study for my instrument rating, I plan to purchase the Sportys training.

Did the king stuff for my private, but I have grown a little weary of it's outdated feel and low-tech graphics.

I will miss Martha and John, but it is time to move on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
RalphInCA said:
No votes for Sportys?

Early next year when I start to study for my instrument rating, I plan to purchase the Sportys training.

Did the king stuff for my private, but I have grown a little weary of it's outdated feel and low-tech graphics.

I will miss Martha and John, but it is time to move on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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For my PPL, I did local flight school for Ground , think it was $150 and it kept me on task and the personal interaction once a week was worth multiple times the cost. (highly recommended) And yes I also did sporty s APP for the practice exam only (well worth the $10) and studied using the Gliem book (this is what the ground school used)

Regarding the Sportys actual training YES I did for my IFR . So I spent the big bucks, used the practice exams and watched the video on my ipad. When combining this with Rod Machados audio files whenever I was in my car it worked well for me, think I got (2) wrong, But its what worked for me and may not work for others.
 
James331 said:
You can find almost all the king videos on YouTube, just search "king school stalls"
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They have cracked down quite a bit on removing their content that has been posted by other people. During my PPL there was quite a bit of their videos posted but recently you will only find snipits and examples of the content, not the entire segment for any section.
 
Shawn said:
They have cracked down quite a bit on removing their content that has been posted by other people. During my PPL there was quite a bit of their videos posted but recently you will only find snipits and examples of the content, not the entire segment for any section.
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I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that all their stuff is available in its entirety is on the pirate bay.

That said, I paid for Gleim.
 
Bman. said:
Scheduling wise I prefer the self study style. Learning wise I prefer the classroom but this is somewhat my point.
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I did all of my ground school at a community college and took my written before my first flight. People learn in different ways. I'm just making a point that you don't have to do them at the same time. You just have to pass your check ride within two years of passing your written exam.
 
I did American Flyers. $79 Scored a 97 on my PPL.

Using them now for my IR. I swear by them at this point.
 
I am a new private pilot who passed my checkride a couple of weeks ago and passed my written a couple of months prior. I went through the Gold Seal Online school and liked it very much. Some of the comments above mention that you can try a portion of the school free which I highly recommend. It is not just the first few lessons either, the free lessons are scattered throughout the curriculum so you can sample different portions of the school.

Another comment regarding the cost does not reflect the fact that with Gold Seal I was able to download, for free, all of the materials associated with the class including the Pilots handbook, study materials, airplane flying handbook, FAA materials, oral exam prep, written exam prep, and the list goes on (60+ downloads). Taking this into consideration lowers the actual school fee since you do not have to go out and purchase the books.

When I did encounter an issue/problem/question I emailed Russ and he responded quickly to answer my questions. It was like having a master CFI at your disposal. I did not feel like I was on my own with this class and probably talked to Russ a dozen times through email.

I purchased a Piper as I neared completion of my training which has a Garmin 430. I went through the Gold Seal Garmin 430 (actually its for all 400 series Garmins) school which was very helpful. It explained the Garmin very well and provided downloadable summaries to keep in the cockpit that do not come with the Garmin handbook.

I had a positive experience with Gold Seal and strongly recommend it to anyone (old and new pilots).

Mike
Piper Archer II
 
Bman- Glad to see you're getting started. You'll have a blast!
 
Gold Seal is ok but you have to do quite a bit on your own by downloading the supplemental materials. There are entire sections that go unexplained. I did the whole course and I also did the super old version from 1998 of the king "Cessna cleared for takeoff" course that I still had from when I initially started training in 2000. I found the old cd Roms and watched them all. I found them to be better than gold seal, even though they were very outdated. 98% of the info has not changed. I scored a 100% on my PPL written and prepped for the exam with sportys study buddy app and exams4pilots.
 
"There are entire sections that go unexplained."

Ha - that's not good..
I don't know - I will think about this today and pick one tonight.
 
...As a side note, I have access to a set of old King School DVDs (missing the 1st disc apparently. Err, I wonder what is on Disc 1. With that being said, perhaps I will go Gold Seal as a base and run through the King School DVDs to covers some bases.

Benjamin
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Gold Seal is ok but you have to do quite a bit on your own by downloading the supplemental materials. There are entire sections that go unexplained.
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I can assure you that there are NO sections unexplained. An entire new version of the Gold Seal Ground School went online in January. This was a huge revision over a year in development and there are absolutely no sections skipped or referred off to supplementary materials. The full money back guarantee does not expire either - you could take the entire course, get your endorsement, pass your checkride, and then ask for your money back if you wanted. NO other online training source has a guarantee like that.
 
Gucci Pilot said:
I used King for the private and instrument. I used the Jeppensen book for the commercial. I scored the highest on the private(but not by enough that I would recommend one way over the other).
I am more of a visual learner so the king stuff did it for me. Plus the stupid humor gave me a smirk at how lame it was in the perfect intervals(right when I was about to fall asleep). Plus lets be real... Who wouldn't want to stare at this hottie all day?!

King.jpg
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Time for John & Martha to retire and hire some new talent. May I suggest Amelia... Pilot, lots of TV experience, extremely high self esteem, etc. :D

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"Application Error" on Gold Seal.
I can't register, I can't login.

I've tried two different computers, two different browsers and the site bombs out. Not exactly how I wanted to start out but at least it matches the weather on my scheduled training days :)

Benjamin
 
Although I know King is a little quirky, I really find watching their explanations and to the point graphics were really useful for retaining information. The jokes are silly but I must confess, they really make you remember the material.

I used King and then reviewed each major unit alongside the Gleim PPL prep book. The King presented the information and then taking the Gleim practice questions followed by reviewing what I missed helped more than you can imagine. By the time you finish the process, you've basically taken the exam 15 times. I even got a question right on the exam that made no sense, but because I had seen it on Gleim and noted the FAA's rational, I nailed it on the exam.

I studied for one week straight doing the King/Gleim combo and walked away with a 93 a couple of weeks ago. I think it would work just as well for anyone!
 
petrolero said:
Time for John & Martha to retire and hire some new talent. May I suggest Amelia... Pilot, lots of TV experience, extremely high self esteem, etc. :D
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Be honest. If Amelia took over would you remember anything she said? or would your focus be elsewhere? ;)
 
RalphInCA said:
Be honest. If Amelia took over would you remember anything she said? or would your focus be elsewhere? ;)
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Flying with realistic distractions is an important pilot skill. Although... I'm not sure those are... ehem... realistic. :D
 
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