I’m now officially a student of the ATP Airline Career Program with my current start date being September 9th, a month and a half away at the Austin, TX location. I’m well on track to finish the King Ground School Private Pilot course and will take the PAR knowledge test when I visit my school’s location to sign a lease to an apartment. I’m comprehending the information very well and have little worries about my performance on the knowledge test.
However, after sifting through this forum I’ve gathered that it’s highly recommended to take the IRA, CAX and even the FOI, FIA and FII knowledge tests before my start date in order to reduce my workload during the program. This is something I’m interested in doing, but given my current situation I’m unsure if I have the time to study and complete those exams before my class start date. I currently live in Alaska and I’m working 60+ hours a week until I make my 4,100 mile drive to Texas 2 weeks before my class start date. I’m now contemplating moving my class start date back a month in order to have time to study and take the rest of the knowledge tests.
I was hoping to get some input from the good folks here about how much time I should budget to study these additional knowledge tests, if a month and a half is enough time on top of a 60+ work week and dealing with moving, and if delaying my class start date by a month is a good idea.
While it’s always nice to get the writtens done it is by no means a requirement. I would definitely not delay your training a month just to get the writtens done. You will still be able to get them done in the program, it is just a time saver if you can before. Delaying your training a month however is more of a hindrance than if you just did them as part of the program. Just my two cents.
I would not delay your start date to take additional written exams. We recommend having the exams done first, but it is in no way a requirement and the program is actually designed for the tests to be taken while you are in it. Just do as many as you can, but don’t stress too much about it.
Definitely would not delay your start. As Caleb said we recommend taking the writtens but it’s definitely not a requirement and many people have been successful without. That said I see absolutely no reason why you couldn’t at the least bang out a few more in the 6 weeks you still have. The IRA and the FII are essentially the same exam and use the same bank of questions. Same goes for the CAX and the FIA. So in essence you really only need to study for 2 exams to bang out the 4 and you can def do that in 6 weeks leaving only the FOI.
Awesome, Thank you for the quick replies everyone. I figured the benefit of delaying my start date didn’t outweigh the cost but I wanted some insider input. I really look forward to my start date and to kick it into high gear.
I wish I had read this post a few days ago while securing my deposit and start date. I was given an option between Gig Harbor 9/16 start date or Paine Field 10/7 start date. Chose to go with Paine field being my preferable choice and due to the later start date have some extra time on those written exams.
Don’t push your start date back unless you really want to. I took all my writtens and it helped tremendously. I took a month off from my job between my start date. It was nice to take a breather and get focused. It’s all personal preference. Studying for checkrides and Eval flights will help you pass 100% instead of struggling to pass a knowledge test that you could have done months ago. Your call. You want to be an airline pilot; there are many ways to get there.