Help with motivation to study

[shifty]

Hey Guys ,

I'm around 20 Hours flight time into my CPL and i am struggling big time to find the motivation to study.

Ideally i would love to just get it all out of the way and just enjoy the flying.

Does anyone have some tips or techniques to share get me in the right direction and making study easier ?

Thanks ,
Shifty

[Balibelly]

Well becoming a commercial helicopter pilot should be your biggest motivation.

Because once you’re a pilot, you should be reading and learning all the time.

Some people find motivation in various ways, you’ll just have to find yours.

[Biggles]

If you are finding it hard to study I'd suggest you stop putting $$ into the flying and get the majority of the subjects knocked over otherwise you may have an empty bank account and no theory passes. That's even more stress.

You wouldn't be the first......

Good luck. it's a good feeling to get all those exams out of the way.

B

[jimiemick]

Been there done that.
Do your self a big favor, stop flying and study.
If self study isn’t your thing then book in to do a full time course.

It is no fun I can attest to that. I spent years getting distracted and stopped studying for many reasons.
But I was just making excuses to why I wasn’t putting focus in to study. I even had to resit several subjects as they expired before I had all of them passed.


You need to dig deep and really think
“Do I want to become a commercial pilot”
It can only be one of two answers.

If it’s no. Pretty simple, stop admit to your self you don’t want to do it. And save the $$

If it’s yes. Put it first. Put your dreams first.
Do not let anyone else stop you.
The exams will not be easy, you will always miss an answer here or there. But I have never heard of anyone 100% all 7 exams.

I seriously believe enrolling in full time study for the harder subjects is a great idea.
Specially air law/met/performance and planning

The rest I did just fine with the AFT notes.

I have only just finished my last exam. Feel free to inbox me and I will happily send you messages to get off your arse and study. And maybe I’ll be nice and offer encouragement.

Good luck.

[Evil Twin]

Sorry to be brutal but if you can’t motivate yourself to study to get the theory done, you ain’t going to make it. There are times I’ve felt like chucking it in at various times in this career. If you can’t motivate your way through this bit you’ll never get yourself through the bits when you can’t find work or the only work you can find they don’t want to pay you or you just need another 50 hrs of ***

[arrrj]

May I bring a slightly more positive response to this conversation ?

Let's face it, no one likes studying (ok, a few do) and the main reason you (and others) do this in this case is so that we can fly helicopters, which is without doubt, a great joy.

In my case, I was keen to study, but wanted to push on (shorten the time), so I hired a tutor. There are many in our community that are really bright and can help you. Perhaps that is the way forward ? It might take longer, but you will learn more for sure, and get a better pass mark.

That's my view anyway.

Cheers,
Arrrj

[komodo]

Have to agree, don’t fly until all your theory is done. Less distraction.

[helmet spider]

I feel your pain we have all gone through it. Everyone finds motivation in different forms and the love of flying should be enough but still requires a little extra from time to time.
For the last 3 of my subjects a deadline in the form of a booked exam worked a treat. I gave myself 4 to 6 weeks depending on the subject booked the exam job done. Worked for me
Good luck

[Mallard]

OK here you go:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12 ... 058536.jpg

On a more serious note do all your exams before flying, then find the school which gives you the best chance of getting a job.

[FerrariFlyer]

OK here you go:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12 ... 058536.jpg

I think that Gold Coast operator is just about to get inundated with applications

Agree with everything everyone else has said. Get the exams all done and dusted and then concentrate on the flying. Once you’ve got your CPL-H out of the way get the IREX and ATPL exams finished too.

Motivation for study....this career path entails constant study, particularly if you want to fly twins in IFR operations. You’ll be forever ‘head in the books’. It’s a necessary evil you just need to get on top of.

Good luck.

[havick]

I self studied all my CPL and ATPL subjects both helicopter and fixed wing and IREX.

I always found it hard to get the motivation also.

My way around it was to pick one or two easy subjects and start with those first, book the exam for say 2-3 weeks away for both exams which then forced me to study.

I found that once I got 2 of them knocked out of the way you feel like you're on a roll and you get into the rhythm of self study.

I used AFT for all the subjects and Bob Tait for IREX.

I also set aside basically 2 months without flying to smash out all my subjects. I pretty much knocked them over 1/week.

Hope this helps

[stick_monkey]

Hi Shifty,

I failed to find motivation at times too. What I did was find a picture of the helicopter I most wanted to fly, framed it and placed it on the desk in front of me. Every time I’d want to stop, I’d look at the picture again. It helped me

[VBlade]

Some really good points here posted to make you think about things a bit deeper. Make sure its what you want to do as expect to continue to study after you get you’re CPL and keep forking out the $$$.

I also found booking exams once starting study in a new subject makes you work to a deadline otherwise there is less discipline, after all discipline is a huge part of being a pilot.

Self study can be a hard lonely slog but keep the big picture in sight and let the passion of flying be what drives you to put the hard yards in.

I have self studied everything to date but used online videos, forums etc to my advantage. If you think you could do with some help though just get some if thats what you need to get you over the line. Plenty of good guys around that can get you to understand some of the more complex topics better, and once it all starts coming together it gives you that boost of motivation and confidence.

I made a rule for my self when doing my cpl.. No more than 10hrs flying per subject, 1 subject per month so by the time you are at 70hrs, you can smash out the last 35hrs full time.

If you fall behind, just chill on the flying and catch up. Afterall everyones lifestyle is different and different methods suit different people.

Feel free to pm me if you need any help with anything.

All the best and good luck with it!

[lowlevelhell]

Stuff that got me through my study:

1) I've had a passion for helicopters since childhood, so a lot of what I was "studying" wasn't even study to me, I was soaking up KNOWLEDGE like a sponge, I motivated myself by continually telling myself I'm working incrementally towards the goal I'd had most of my life and NOTHING or no-one was gonna talk me out of it. You must believe in YOURSELF and believe in what you're doing. There will always be nay-sayers out there, don't let their negativity rob you of YOUR productivity.

2) set yourself short, medium and long term goals. Without achieving benchmarks you've set for yourself along the way, you'll quickly feel lost, overwhelmed and indifferent about what you're doing.

3) See youself in the position ALREADY. Think it, dream it, become it!

4) When I became an instructor, the best advice I gave my students was MOMENTUM! once you've got the ball rolling, KEEP GOING! don't fly or study intermittantly, you'll allow stagnation to creep in. Build a head a steam and continue with it, you'll quickly find you'll make the greatest progress in the shortest amount of time when you're relentlessly smashing out one exam after another.

5) Everyone learns differently, find which method works for you and persue that. For me I like classroom study where I can participate in question/answer/discussion and listening to other people's opinions, coupled with home study to gel it all together.

6) Hang around like minded people, or the person you see yourself becoming, wanna be a helicopter pilot? then hang around other helicopter pilots! gaining knowledge isn't all about study, learn the habits of succesful pilots and let that motivate you!

Hope this helps, good luck in your endeavors!

[rex bivouac]

Is there anyone available who you can pay to take the tests for you?

[zzodr]

Is there anyone available who you can pay to take the tests for you?

[Skid Marks]

@Lowlevelhell has pretty much summed up how I feel about the motivation thing, especially the fact that if it's your passion then it should less of a chore.

I once had an instructor describe the difference between those who just want to fly and those who want to immerse themselves fully in the process as the difference between pilots and professional aviators. Probably a bit pretentious, but his comments stuck with me and helped with the 'chore' of the books.

One thing I'd add that might work for you (it certainly does for me) is to book an exam or three. I tended to drift a bit with the study until I had firm dates/deadlines to work towards.

[Heliduck]

Like others here I found the study easy as I was very interested in it, I would actually go “down the rabbit hole” on the theory & research info which wasn’t relevant to the subject as I became immersed in it.
For your motivation - there’s always someone who wants it more than you, if you don’t give it 110% you’ll be left sweeping the hangar while others are flying. If you’re not SELF- motivated to learn the theory then you probably should try something else which you are self motivated to learn.

[RePLCPLH]

Hate to say it buddy, but when asked any question by your mates, partner, parents, etc during this process; the only correct answer should be: BECAUSE HELICOPTER. Otherwise it's all going to be a struggle.