New PPL exam syllabus We hope that this will help you to understand the new EASA theoretical knowledge requirements for your licence issue. New question papers will come into force on 1 September 2013 although the ‘old’ papers will still be used up to and including 31 August 2013. There are seven subjects covered by the old papers and nine in the new set; the additional papers are: Operational Procedures, and Principles of Flight. Although these are not new subjects for study purposes, they have been separated-out to become extended knowledge areas for testing. OK, we know your first question will be: “What will happen with the subjects I’ve already passed?” They will still count, subject to their existing validity period. Although it will not be permitted to run the old and new papers together for examination purposes, passes in a mix of old and new papers will be acceptable for licence issue – again, subject to their validity periods. However, passes in both Flight Performance & Planning and Navigation must have been achieved using either the old papers, up to 31 August 2013, or the new papers from 1 September onwards. If, by 1 September, you have a pass in only one of these subjects, you will have to sit them both again using the new papers. It would make sense, for those of you who are about halfway through your exams to try to get these two completed before then to avoid having to do a compulsory resit. Any resit to the new syllabus in these subjects only will be considered to be a first attempt. The whole written exam regime will become much more formalised. Currently, when you’ve felt ready -- or following a gentle nudge from your instructor! -- you have arranged to come in to take an exam. As from 1 September you will need to have a recommendation from the flying school (generally your instructor) confirming that you have completed the requisite amount of ground training prior to taking each exam. Additionally, and this is where it gets a bit complicated, as from 1 September 2013 the principle of a ‘sitting’ will be introduced. A sitting constitutes a consecutive ten-day period, starting from when you take an exam. One or more exams may be taken during each sitting although only one attempt at any paper may be made during a sitting. A retake of a failed exam during the period of the same sitting will mean that a new sitting has commenced. If you fail to complete all the exams within either six sittings or 18 months, you will have to completely retake all of the exams. Under the old system, a student was able to pace the progress of exams throughout the flying training. This should still be possible, but a more judicious plan may be necessary to avoid running out of sittings. I hope this helps.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:07:18 +0000