Consolidation complete

Five exams done, five exams thankfully passed.

Consolidation exams took place over the past week in the Babcock facility here in Melbourne. All fourteen were conducted over four days.

Four long nights since the end of ground school interrupted by Thanks Giving and Black Friday proved fruitful as the results came out all above the 80% mark needed to be allowed to sit the real IAA exams which will begin next Monday (12th) running for three days.

All of the consolidation exams are designed to give each student not only a good idea of how each test will be set but also an understanding of their current knowledge level in that particular field.

Since completing consolidation I have had a few days off spare a couple of hours of Radio Navigation whilst watching the Manchester United game on Saturday morning. It is hard to describe going from constant hours of revising to almost 'slobbing' within a matter of hours.

Tomorrow is where the work starts again as I slowly get through the material again and again before the all important tests in seven days time. Having said that, having the ten days between mock and real examinations is more of a time to buffer and fine tweak the knowledge already gained over the previous five to six weeks. If it is possible to score highly with only four days of intense study before consolidation then the extra ten days are a great way to tune the already embedded material. Having said that, I am hoping to get a number of hours in daily.

I'm also hoping to get back into the air this coming week with the mock check ride. I have been waiting a number of weeks to finally get towards the FAA PPL and although it maybe touch and go (no pun intended) I am hoping to have this under my belt before departing the country for the Christmas period.

Talking about the festive season, it is great to be able to start organising to meet up with friends and family when I'm home for three weeks. Having started in May it has been almost seven months here in Melbourne and although we are living in a fantastic climate, doing something that thousands (if not more!) would love to do it; I know it will be nice just to return to a sense of normality for a short time and what better way to do that than over Christmas.