ITA Relevance

[Dyngwal]

Hi everybody,

I've completed the ITA for the upcoming YWG VFR course in May, and I was just wondering from people who have already completed it and gone on the course, how much is the test like the quizzes and review questions on the ITA? Is it a comprehension style test, or is it rote memorization and regurgitation?

Also, they sent out a copy of From the Ground Up", along with a work book. Is this just for general info or is the test based on the info contained in the book?

Finally, no luck last time, but if there is anybody on the YWG VFR course slated to start 5 May, PM me if you like, we can exchange contact info and exchange notes on the pre-course stuff.

[rookieatc]

I can tell you, that without question, the ITA will be the hardest test you'll write on your path to becoming atc. Don't make the mistake I did and just browse through the cd and think you've got it. Keep studying it, make sure you know what it's trying to teach you. There is a lot of weight on the CD in regards to meteorology, and you can expect the same on the exam. There are pages along the way that don't look very important, they may tell you to memorize a list of abbreviations or airport codes, memorize them. It's a lot of info to take in, especially if you're new to aviation as I was. I failed the first ITA but was lucky enough to pass my re write, it's not a good feeling to have to do a re write, so don't make the same mistakes I did and study your ass off. The from the ground up book you can ignore, well at least I did and it didn't affect me any.

[Dyngwal]

Thanks for the response, more questions if you don't mind, PM sent.

[Fstjhnny]

Thanks for the heads up rookie. I have been studying pretty diligently for the ITA, I didn't think it would be the hardest test, but I didn't expect an easy one either.

I'll extend the same invite as Dyngwal - I'm in the YWG IFR course this spring and if anyone out there is as well, PM me and maybe we can get together.

Dyngwal - when are you in the city?

[TA/RA]

I would definitely spend the time the really understand the ITA. You will get a couple days of review when you show up for training. I wouldn't say it is the hardest test that you will face but it is definitely the longest test of the program. As pervious posters have stated take the time to understand the meteorology section. If you have previous flying background the meteorology section should be pretty straight forward. I found the met part of the ITA cd to be very informative there were certain things that I thought I knew from my 15 yrs+ of flying but the ITA definitely gave me a better understanding.

The ITA is a combination of long answer, true false, multiple choice and match up a term with a definition i.e. Types of icing with their given description and types of turbulence with their given description. The exams that you will write after the ITA will not be multiple choice or match up the definition. You will be expected to truly know and be able to regurgitate the information for exams after the ITA.

Having gone to University and completed many type ratings prior to Nav Canada training I can honestly say that nothing really prepares you for the amount of studying and memorization required to do well on the Nav Canada exams. My advice is to really put in the time to not only learn the material but truly understand it. The training staff at Nav Canada really do want you to succeed but with that said in order for them to help you you really do have to help yourself.

Enjoy the training! it will be the hardest and most rewarding thing you will ever do. You will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows but appreciate and make the most of the entire process. No matter what happens put yourself in a position to be able to say that you really gave it everything you had. Your effort will pay off in the end and this program will change you as a person and will teach you things about yourself, your friends and your family that you never knew before.

Best of luck!
TA/RA

[kevenv]

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Fail the ITA exam and everyone in the ACC knows you failed. Not a good way to start. You really should know all of that material cold before you get to your course. The overwhelming majority of students pass it. Don't be the one to stand out for the wrong reason.

[Dyngwal]

Thanks for all the responses, and anybody that has anything else to add please do so.

I guess it boils down to this for me; does success on the ITA self study translate into success on the written exam? I've done fine on the quizzes and exams, but I don't want that to give a flase sense of security.

Thanks again everybody!

[TA/RA]

Yes, if you are consistently scoring in the mid-high 90's on the practice quizzes you can consider yourself well prepared.

[RunwayWindAltimer]

From my generic VFR course, I would say the ITA was definitely not the hardest written test. It was lengthy, and I did have a fair bit of base aviation knowledge from flying, but you have (usually) months to prepare for it with no simulation evals to worry about, and it is multiple choice type questions.

If you don't properly prepare for it, then yes it will be very hard. In my class of 6, we'd all gone through the practice questions so many times that we had memorized the questions themselves (ie the answer for question 24 is c). By the time we all met on day one and began studying, the practice questions were useless for us and we just quizzed each other with our own questions.

As mentioned previously, you do not want to show up and fail a test within days of arriving. Not only does this set a bad impression, you are only allowed to re-write one written test through the whole course. You do not want to burn your one re-write on the first test and then have the added pressure of knowing you can't screw up any of your subsequent MANOPS tests. Additionally, and I may be remembering this wrong, I think the MANOPS tests have a higher pass mark as well. Someone correct me on that if I'm wrong.

Just thoroughly review the information, go in on day one with confidence, and you can carry the momentum of passing the first test into the first phase of the course. TA/RA hit the nail on the head regarding training; it is very challenging, incredibly rewarding and you'll make some great friends on course through sharing such a unique learning experience.

[No_Delay]

You could try to ignore the ground up, pass every exam through regurgitation, but if you are lucky enough to make it to the floor your OJI will realize right away that you have massive amounts of knowledge gap neccessary to be an IFR controller..... This, will delay your progress and possibly get you CT'd.
From an IFR controller.