Written Exams???

I have been reading alot about students and instuctors recommending to future ariben students that, it is a good idea to complete written exams before showing up in florida for training. I am already Private rated and plan on completing the VA Pro course and start later this year. What is the best way to study for these writtens without having to go to my local FBO and get Instruction?? Besides getting the FAA books and maybe Jeppessen Instrument/Commercial i have looked into ASA and Gleim DVD and CDRom Test Guides. Does anybody recommend these or are they a waist of money. Should I complete all Exams or would it just help if i knocked out Commercial and Instrument and wait to do the CFI's later? Is there anybody out there that recommends me to just wait till i get to ariben to do the writtens?

Any help would be great. I dont have a start date, but it is in stone that i am going to this school. Can't turn down that muli time and VA approved.

Thanks,
Justin

also i have not flown in about a year. i have been travelling a lot and just have not had time. I have about 100 hrs, does anybody recommend any specific flight training before going to ariben? i will most likely go to my local FBO and get atleast 10 hrs Current with some dual received. thank you again.

I wouldn't waste the $$$ getting any dual before going to flight school. At least not 10 hours worth. If you're going to Aviator, the first thing you're gonna do is fly the Duchess towards your PMEL anyway.

If you have the time, definitely get the writtens out of the way. I used the Gleim CD and thought they were wonderful. The only downside is you start to get into the mindset of 'memorizing the answers' without truly understanding the question.

yeah i was worried about memorizing the answers, but i guess i will re-learn everything for the oral and check ride. thank you for the info. I noticed that the Gleim is a little less money too.

thanks again, Justin

Does Ari Ben refund you for taking the test beforehand?

Written tests are one of the many things not included in Ari-Bens course 'Price'.

Dont forget: The Va will reimburse you for the costs of your written tests. This is done through Licensing and Certification (seperate from your flight training benefits). They will pay 100% for your exams (up to a certain point) instead of the 60% for your flight training past private.

Could you elaborate more on this? What do you think is the real price to finish up the career pilot program? Still cheaper than ATP?

It's hard to break it down, because the quoted price doesn't break down to anything. You are charged a certain rate per hour in the plane, but the total of all that just doesn't add up to the quoted price. It's like they've guessed what it might be, roughly, and made it into a $xx,995 number.

Add in $1500 fuel surcharge, 'admin fee', books, written tests, checkride fees, rental of the airplanes for the checkrides, extra rent and so on, and you're getting close to ATP's former price, at least (I'd expect the Ari-Ben price increase to hit any day now).

If you consider the schools as a package, then getting through ATP six months faster is worth a hell of a lot. Getting paid more than a pittance as an instructor at ATP has to be worth something too. I've known a couple of instructors who couldn't pay their rent at Ari-Ben.

There are a lot of other schools out there than just these two. I don't know anything about them, but White Air looks to have a good program and their website appears to be honest and upfront. Skymates also has a comparable program.

Thank you Nick

Does anybody else have any more advice about the written exams??

The Gleim (Books) worked great for me. I also had the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK), the Airplane Flying Handbook (AFH), and a great JEP Instrument/Commercial Text book that did good job of explaining the concepts. Best of luck.

You forgot Career Pilot School.

#1 - Set a date to take the exam. Having that self-imposed pressure will make you study.

#2 - Choose a method with which to learn the material. (Ground, Gleim, Sporty's, CPC, etc.)

#3 - Study. Take practice tests.

#4- When you consistently score above 90% on the practice tests, take the written. This should occur before the date set in #1.

Let me set the record straight..

Professional pilot course 35,995.00
Written Exams @ 90.00 630.00 (7)
FAA Examiner Fee's 2,200.00 (7) (Fee's not regulated by ABA)
Books/Ins/Adm Fee 850.00 (Approximately)
GRAND TOTAL 39,675.00

You will receive 200 hours of Multi Engine flight time in the Professional Pilot Program and receive your Private Multi /Instrument(Multi), Single
and Multi Commercial, MEI, CFI, CFII. Also, three (3) months of
housing is included in the tuition.

There is no additional fuel surcharge. At one time there was due to
the rising prices of fuel, however, the current price of the program
is what is listed above.

If a candidate's gpa is 85% or above, he/she will hired on as a Flight
Instructor. Since the 1st of this year, ABA has had 27 students and
Instructor's hired by the Regional Airlines.

I hope this will dispell any misconceptions offered by individuals who
are either disgruntled or have been dismissed by ABA.

PS, I was not paid to write this....just tired of people giving bad information.

CommPilot Thanks a lot for that info, I will add $5K for the PPL.

thank you all for the info, I'll start studying.

That looks like a reasonable breakdown for some of the costs. I was unaware that you no longer have the fuel surcharge, which you previously claimed didn't exist. I was also charged $680 for written exams (I have my contract here), which isn't even divisable by 7. (You, in fact, used this price in your previous breakdown Here. where does that number come from?)


Add $3600 for extra rent, at $600 a month (average completion time for the pro course is about 9 months), and $2000 or so for airplane rental for the checkrides, and, unsurprisingly, we arrive at about ATP's former price.

As for myself? I wasn't dismissed. I left the school part way through the program entirely by choice. Am I disgruntled at the lying management, poor training, and horrific treatment of their customers? Absolutely.

So Josh, as the schools representative, why doesn't the stated price reflect the more accurate one you admit to here?

Indeed I did. From the look of their website, this school looks pretty good. Are you VA approved?

My Contract says $630.00 for the writtens? All the books that I needed were included in the cost of the program, did something change? I got exactly what I paid for and the training was great. I didn't pay anything more then what my contract stated, the checkride flight time was included. I found that there was plenty of flight time included. I was well aware of the fact that I had to pay for the examiner fees outside the contract price, I think thats how it works at all flight schools. For the few that are unhappy with their training, there are at least another 100 who are, you can't please everyone.

I guess they changed the contract, which is why Josh has changed his 'straight record'.

The books still aren't included, but they are taken from the same account. Had you followed the program hours exactly you would have come up short, but the fact that you didn't, and that you think the checkride time is included, suggests that you didn't. It's not surprising, since there is so little management of student's progress. Few people seem to know, for example, that you have to have 75 hours of dual (ie, not including checkride time). I was unaware of this rule, which got me shouted at after starting timebuilding with only 75 hours total in the duchess. Once again, it's a case of mismanagement, and rules applying to some people and not others.

Some flight schools (like Career Pilot School ) list prices which include examiners fees, some don't. But not including things like books and 'admin fees' is a bit dishonest, if nothing else.

Rationalising that every school has some unhappy students isn't helpful. I'm sure they do, but ATP, and the other school's forums, aren't filled with them. This one is.

My advice to any student is not to take my word for it, or anyone elses. Visit as many schools as you can yourself and make up your own mind. I'll happily give my unashamedly negative opinion of the school, and I'm available to answer questions via pm or I've talked to many potential students on the phone, but mine is only one opinion. At at the end of the day it's a heck of a lot of money, regardless of what is included and what isn't, and you have to make the choice.