Thought I'd pass this along for the sake of interest: as of Jan. 1, at least two flight schools in the Greater Toronto Area have begun to virtually require ground school as part of the recreational pilot permit training.

While still not required by Transport Canada, the schools themselves are so strongly recommending ground school that it's tantamount to being a requirement with them.

This, I think, is a good thing.

One of them told me that, without ground school, the failure rate on the written exam among RPP students was extremely high. So it's a highly practical move on the part of the school to do this, I think.

I totally agree. There is so much you don't learn by just reading a book. Years ago when i did my RPP I did the PPL ground school as well as the PPL written exam. I also think they should put ex 24 Full panel on the RPP flight test as well as spins back on both the RPP and the PPL rides, but thats just my opinion.

Cheers

PME

It really depends on the individual tho. I never attended Ground School for my RPP yet I did just as good on the written exam as anybody else with ground school courses. Yeah it took much longer, but the more effort i put into it the greater the result.
However, in my opinion, the self-study route needs to be supervised by an instructor to meet once in a while to check up on progress and of course before sending the student out to TC. I did it this way for my RPP and PPL