How to pass your PPL (Private Pilot Licence) theory exams

Now that I have passed all my exams I am writing this to teach you how to pass your PPL (Private Pilot Licence) theory exams.
First things first you will need some study material. There are three sets of books that you can use.
The first are the AFE or Pooleys books that are sold in most starter kits and by flying schools. I however went another way, I found a PDF called EASA Private Pilot Studies by a guy called Phil Croucher who runs his own school and also writes questions for EASA. It is a fraction of the price at just £20.05. You can buy that here.
Next of all you will need some practice questions, the two I came across were PPL Cruiser and Airquiz. I can only tell you about PPL Cruiser as this is the one I used and for 7 our of 9 exams it was pretty good.
The two exams I didn’t find it to great for were Flight Planning and Navigation, which in my opinion (and my instructors) are by far the most difficult exams.
For these two exams I got tuition from an instructor which was so much better than what I learned from the book / practice questions.
You will see some people who say they just went through the practice questions and / or an app and passed their exams. In fact, I met someone who passed 2-3 years ago who told me this is what he did.
While this approach may have been successful then it wouldn’t be fully effective now. On top of that you are doing yourself a disservice as you will have massive knowledge gaps.
New question papers have been added since then and they can pop up at ANY time. They are not going to notify you that the questions you know have now changed which is why it is essential in my opinion to learn the theory behind it.
While it is possible to still pass some exams by doing that, I wouldn’t recommend it.
I hear that the exams will be going online system soon which to be fair is long overdue.

Sittings
For some reason you have to pass all exams in 6 sittings, each of which lasts 10 days. In this time you cannot sit the same exam again.
I honestly don’t really see the point in this and in all my time of doing exams (last professional exams done just 2 years ago) I have never come across such a rule.
The only reason I can think of is to make it more difficult, however I like many others work better focusing on one exam at a time, which is not possible with the PPL exams.
If you want to make an exam harder than that’s what they should do rather than this sittings idea.

The exams are split into two different types of exams.

Theory / Fact Learning Exams

1. Air Law
2. Operational Performance
3. Human Performance and Limitations
4. Aircraft General Knowledge
5. Principles of Flight
6. Communications

Practical / Fact Learning Exams

1. Meteorology
2. Navigation
3. Flight Performance & Planning

In the last 3 exams you will need to know how to read maps / charts / CRP / Calculator (and know the formula) read weather (Metar’s and Taf’s), measure and know how DME, VOR’s etc work.
You will also need to know about airfield plates and flight plans.

Equipment
For the Navigation and Flight Performance and Planning exams make sure you have a CRP-1 (PPL) or CRP-5 (ATPL) Scale Ruler, Calculator & Protractor.

Sitting order
Now every school has their prefered sitting order, I didn’t use my schools order, instead I made my own and sat the exams in this order.
Air law should be sat early on as you need it to go solo.
Flight planning and Navigation I say leave to the end as it’s one of the last things you do.
Each link will also take you to notes I made at the time of taking the exam.

1. Air Law, Human Performance and Operational Procedures.
2. Principles of Flight and Aircraft General Knowledge.
3. Communications and Meteorology
4. Flight Planning and Performance and Navigation.

All I can say is best of luck, I am sure with hard work and preparation you will all pass!

Thinking of training via the modular route? Or started and still have questions? Then read The Essential Modular Flight Training Guide.