Completed the King Schools ground training tonight and need some advice/thoughts.

C

charleszink

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Charles
Will obviously talk to my instructor about this when I see him Wednesday but I was hoping a few people here might have some insight.

Completed the Cessna / King Schools ground training tonight and started in on a randomly-generated quiz. Four questions in and I realized I know absolutely nothing. It's not like I didn't put thought into all the training; becoming a pilot is one of the few things in life I've put 110% into.

I took notes the entire way, created flash cards and have studied excessively, bugged the **** out of my CFI with things I didn't grasp well. It just seems like I forget everything I study a week after I move onto the next topic and now it's coming back to bite me in the ass.

I get the basics. How to fly the airplane is easy, emergency procedures, basically anything that's memorized. What I haven't seemed to grasp is things like magnetic headings, density altitude calculations, W&B, etc. I have no idea how to move forward and learn those things in a way that will stick with me for, well, life.

Any insights or experience would be awesome. Thanks
 
I used the ASA practice tests for all my knowledge tests.
I kept going through the different parts until I got over 90% and then moved on to the next category.
The test went well for me and I have a poor memory.
When I was flying and using the information it stuck.
Now that I am instructing it sticks even better.
 
I think everybody gets frustrated like this at some point in training. For me I can study like crazy and not get a good grasp on it. However if someone reads it to me or presents it to me I can usually recite it back word for word and remember it. Watching it on a cd doesn't cut it for me somehow. Everybody is different.
 
Theboys said:
However if someone reads it to me or presents it to me I can usually recite it back word for word and remember it. Watching it on a cd doesn't cut it for me somehow. Everybody is different.
Click to expand...

...and I am the COMPLETE opposite. I am a visual learner and I have to see it...if I just read it nothing will stick.

Point being that there are a several different programs with different styles...all depends on how you learn best. I started with the Gleim system from my flight school which was just read and regurgitate and was useless for me...I ended up buying the King program...but that is what I needed to learn.
 
Shawn said:
...and I am the COMPLETE opposite. I am a visual learner and I have to see it...if I just read it nothing will stick.
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying but re-read that and realize that it's funny, unless you're typically reading in Braille. :)
 
I know your pain, I used sporty's app and re-watched most of the segments 3 or 4 times. I will say with w&b just work our real world problems from the pilot handbook. I read with the practical test book to so I could visualize what they were saying.

I have your issues right now in Ifr books

Good luck
 
Was King the videos? I wanted to get the vids, but opted the "cheap" way out with the Gleim prep book. Took notes and underlined stuff, then did the practice questions on paper. It sunk in for me in a way that a vid would not have, but that's just me. You might be the same?
 
The Sporty's app worked well for me. YMMW
 
Going through the cleared for hire commercial king course. Used them for ppl and instrument, it's still corny at times but they cover all the topics.

Review the hard copy once or twice, read it and you'll commit it to memory.
 
It sounds like your learning style doesn't work well with the video type presentation. Everybody is different. Perhaps get one of Rod Machado's or Bob Gardener's books and read through it and see if it helps. You may learn better by reading and looking at diagrams in print. I also think you could get a lot of help/advice here if you ask a specific question about a particular topic.

Good luck.
 
I think you just need to get used to the wording of the questions. Take a lot more practice tests.
 
I'm kind of the same way. Studying IFR atm and SIDS STARS enroute stuff seems easy to me then I do a practice test and half is a cakewalk the other is like witchcraft "with a slaved compass on an easterly heading with a altitude below 18000 but above 4000ft agl a left reading error is corrected by a counterclockwise turn unless your compass is electrical then its clockwise also ADF NDB and draw a diagram of a vacuum system with these colored paper and scissors points taken off if not to scale."
 
I had problems with airspace on charts/etc. Planning "real" pretend cross country trips makes you pull it all together.

Get out your chart, and plan your weekend getaway (for pretend).

figure all the airspaces you'll traverse, learn how to figure out which frequencies to use along the way, figure out what type of airspace you'll be in at each point.

Pull up the weather report and look at cielings, icing and winds aloft at various altitudes and figure out what that means to your planned trip and airspace. You'll start to see that even though you planned to travel at 6,500 ft, you can't, because cielings will be at 5,200. Can you still make the trip at 4,500? What height is the terrain? does that put you into some controlled airspace and do you have the right equipment and know how to talk to them (FAR/AIM)?

For me, i did all the academic stuff while practicing maneuvers, but the academic stuff started to gel for me when i began to plan imaginary trips.

This alos makes you solve W&B and fuel planning/etc. Don't get too far ahead, but I found this valuable.

BTW, I still can't do 100% of the above, but am getting pretty close. Making yourself try it will very clearly come out with the "list of things I had to look up to complete this plane" and "list of things that I need to talk to my instructor about, because I still have no idea how to actually DO it, after reading about it"
 
Repetitive practice tests should get you through the written.

Knowing enough for the oral is a different thing. The written shows you know the answer but the oral shows you understand why it is the answer.

The good news is you probably know more than you think you do. Stick with it, loads of practice tests, talk with your CFI. The frustration will go away and if you're like me they will be signing you off for the checkride when you're not sure you are ready... but you will be.
 
Like MIFlyer, I did some practice "get away" trip planning with my instructor to various places at least 250 nm away. Worked up the entire trip with weight/balance, route planning, determine way points, getting the winds aloft forecast, manually doing the nav log, and more.

It was very worthwhile practice and really helped lock in the concepts that go into making such trips.
 
Hate to say it, but it's Martha's fault.
 
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