I started ground school in February 2025. I didn't really know what to expect going into it and to be honest I'm glad I didn't know too much because I think it would have stopped me before I started. If you want to read about how I rated each subject click here to go to my ground school reviews. In this post I wanted to talk about my honest experience through the whole 6 months and the things I struggled with, outside of the obvious learning.
During the first couple of months I was finding my feet with a revision schedule as well as trying to stay on top of the work. Understanding the content was a bonus at this point because there was so much to cover in such little time, it was information overload for me. I felt really overwhelmed with how to revise and creating a schedule and during the start of ground school I wasted a lot of time trying to figure these things out. In hindsight I should have spent less time worrying about a revision schedule and more time going over the lessons we had already done. When I first started the course I went to the lessons expecting to be taught the content and to walk out of the classroom feeling like I understood what was just covered, however this was very far from how I really felt. I left the lessons feeling like I knew nothing and I wasn't quite sure what had just been covered in those 2 hours. After a long time of feeling like this I had to shift my mindset around it because it wasn't doing me any favours. I started to think that instead of going to the lessons expecting to be taught the subject, I was going to these lessons to get an overview of the topics and then at home is where I would do the 'learning' and try my best to understand the content and to learn how to answer questions around that topic.
I think this was one of the major learning curves for me during ground school. It was nothing like being at school where teachers ensure you have understood the topic before moving on, because in a 6 month ground school course there just isn't the time for that. In my case I didn't understand a lot of what was going on in the classroom and so I really had to spend every hour at home going over things. Another reason why I said that I shouldn't have spent so long on a revision schedule. Mainly because I wasn't revising at home! I was learning and going over everything from the day I just had. All my revision happened once we had finished the whole subject and we were preparing for end of module exams, thats when I had the time to revise, I couldn't revise alongside learning because it took me longer to understand.
Its worth noting that everyone has a different experience during ground school and I am only writing about mine. Some people in my class found things easier or picked things up quicker. This was not the case for me and personally I found it most effective to work alone for the most part. Something I had a really hard time with was comparing myself. Its something that I still actively have to remind myself not to do because its not helpful in the slightest. However this was really hard to not do during ground school. I was sitting around some really intelligent people who picked things up so much quicker than I did, and so I naturally felt less capable. Ultimately the thing I had to remember was that we were all at different starting points and so I can't compare myself to someone who for example, took A level physics and can understand principles of flight, purely because the prior knowledge is already there.
For me I am not the most academic person, my A level subjects were mostly essay based because I don't like maths and calculations, and still I find myself here. Sometimes it makes me laugh to think that I'm going into this career that has a reputation for physics and maths 🙂 Let me be the first to tell you that at GCSE I got a 5 in maths which is a grade C. I am by no means intelligent when it comes to maths or physics, but what I would say is you need to know what you are getting yourself into (just a little bit), take a pilot maths and physics test online to see how well you do as an idea. Equally as long as you can put the time into it you will most definitely come out the other side having passed all the exams. I was going into this knowing it would take me longer to understand and I would need to work harder than others to get a similar result. If you want it badly enough you will work for it at the end of the day.
My social life during ground school was pretty non existent. On a Friday night a lot of people would go out and I was invited many times but I knew if I would go out that was a night of revision I was missing out on, and I just couldn't afford to do that. You will probably hear people saying that they take a night or two off revising every week to chill and reset. I didn't have such luxury as I was already behind on work from being slow to understand. Looking back now it probably would have done me some good to take a night off once a week to reset, and to hit it hard the following day, but in the moment I felt really guilty if I took time off from studying. I know other people who shared this feeling; when you are not studying, revising or doing practise questions you feel really guilty because that is what you should be doing. Until all your exams are passed you don't feel like you can fully relax.
I am so glad to have completed ground school and definitely do not want to go back to that time. I have never felt more out of my depth and overwhelmed, and sometimes I truly don't know how I got through it, I'm just thankful I did. The last thing I would say is make sure you have your people around you, outside of ground school and the friends you will make during this time, its so important to have 'home' friends, I couldn't have done it without my friends and family and their support.