Since the discontinuation of some website services, such as the training system, administered by the DevOps department, the HQ Training Department has urgently started to interact with them to give our members the opportunity to retake their exams.
Hopefully, a new system is going to be developed by DevOps which has informed us of an expected release date of late August 2022. For now, this project is still in a very preliminary phase and needs to be consolidated.
In the meantime, we will allow our members to take some practical exams at the divisional level.
The temporary procedures below will be valid from May 23 until September 1, 2022.
• Divisions may conduct PP/SPP/CP and ADC/APC/ACC practical exams.
• It is not possible to perform any ATP/SEC exam (theoretical and practical) until further notice.
• The AS3 and FS3 theoretical exams are suspended. You will be informed about the new procedure to have those ratings very soon (adaptations still in progress with DevOps - these exams will be removed and an automatic grading procedure will be put in place but still requires adjustments at this stage)
• The PP/SPP/CP and ADC/APC/ACC theoretical assessment will be fully performed at the divisional level within the corresponding practical exam. As part of our standard procedures, it is possible to split both theoretical and practical parts of a given exam.
• The exam policy (including minimum connection time), examiner guidelines and Staff/Staff exam procedures remain in effect with the amendments below.
1) For PP/SPP/CP/ADC/APC/ACC, there is no MCQ theoretical exam to do beforehand
2) For a given rating, a member can attempt the exam once a month (regardless of the score obtained on the last practical exam)
3) Members must contact their Divisional TC and TAC to request the appropriate exam, even in the case of a previously cancelled exam (by email or via divisional website functionality)
4) The TC or TAC shall check the date of the last exam that may have been performed (same rating) and the minimum requirements (hours, rating, etc.)
5) If everything is in compliance, the TC or TAC will assign the exam to an examiner with the appropriate rating (standard procedures). If the Division does not have an examiner with the appropriate rating, the TC or TAC should contact the Division mentor.
6) Staff exams shall be performed as usual (contact the Division mentor by email and fill the attached PDF to have the approval number - do not fill the exam number)
7) Before the practical session, the theoretical knowledge must be carefully checked. The start and end times of the oral theoretical test and the list of questions asked must be indicated in the report (comments to validator).
Note: Theoretical assessment recommendations will be sent this week.
8) If the theoretical assessment is considered satisfactory, the exam should continue to the practical examination according to the usual standard procedures (maximum duration, traffic quotas, examination grids, etc.)
9) The examiner will have to send a report as per our standard procedures to training@ivao.aero ; the email shall contain:
a. a word document containing the score, the comments to the examinee and the comments to the validator (fill the attached word doc)
b. the excel file with the scoring grid (see Google Drive, Exam documents (temporary access))
c. if applicable, the traffic counting sheet (excel, IVEX or PDF generated by Aurora)
Note: An examiner has 3 days maximum to send his/her report as per the exam policy. It is not required to Cc the Division mentors.
In this regard, we apologize in advance for the complexity and inconvenience of these temporary procedures, which are only intended to take into account the needs of our members. We thank you in advance for all the efforts you will make. On the other hand, please be aware that these procedures add considerably to the workload of the HQ Training department, which is why we are counting on your rigour (deadline for sending reports, quality of writing, etc.). Indeed, we will not be able to be flexible on the administrative tasks required, especially reports sent late.
We remind you that all training can be performed as a routine. Requests are handled by the Divisions (either by email to the TC and TAC, or through a feature on the divisional website).
Finally, please feel free to contact your Division mentors if you have any questions or doubts about this temporary procedure.
Valid from May 23 until September 1, 2022
This assessment aims at checking if the member has the appropriate knowledge for a given rating. It does not replace the theoretical items included in the actual evaluation grid.
Only valid if the member has no theoretical exam for the evaluated rating.
ATC: The maximum duration of all practical ATC exams remains 2 hours. It is highly recommended to do a split exam to address the theoretical part first.
Pilots: The theoretical part of the pilot exams is usually done before the flight, during a briefing. This method can be done in one sequence on the same day.
If the examiner has any doubt, he shall contact the Division Mentor.
ADC/PP levels:
The theoretical assessment should not exceed 30 minutes. The questions must be in accordance with the different published briefings. It is recommended that 10 specific questions be covered. Questions about the software need to be asked. If the examinee cannot answer at least 3 questions (30% of answers), the level should be considered insufficient. The exam report must be written in this sense (failed exam) and the practical part does not have to be done. Regardless of the final score, the exact formulation of each question shall be reported in the “comments to validator” part and will be a validation criterion.
Examiners should base their assessment on the IVAO HQ documentation:
https://wiki.ivao.aero/en/home/training/main/atc_documentation
https://wiki.ivao.aero/en/home/training/main/pilot_documentation
In particular, it is required to assess 1 question per chapter for a given rating.
APC/ACC/SPP/CP levels:
The theoretical assessment of the higher levels shall address ADC/PP level questions. The theoretical part should not exceed 45 minutes. The questions should cover the areas targeted in the briefings, with an emphasis on interpretation and operational aspects. It is recommended to ask 20 specific questions. The theoretical level should be considered insufficient if the examinee has less than 70% of correct answers. The exam report must be written in this sense (failed exam) and the practical part does not have to be done. Regardless of the final score, the exact formulation of each question shall be reported in the “comments to validator” part and will be a validation criterion. Examiners should base their assessment on the IVAO HQ documentation:
https://wiki.ivao.aero/en/home/training/main/atc_documentation
https://wiki.ivao.aero/en/home/training/main/pilot_documentation
In particular, it is required to assess 1 question per chapter for a given rating.
Some random examples:
PP: Decode the TAF of XXXX (simple reading).
SPP: Assign a TAF and ask for the expected weather at a given time (interpretation).
ADC: Ask for the minimum separation between two aircraft at departure (theoretical knowledge).
ACC: Ask about the operational consequences of a loss of RNP capability for a given aircraft at a given position (theoretical knowledge and interpretation of a situation).
Note: If the questions are correct just inform “correct”, If the question is answered incorrectly simply inform why. E.g Q: What is QNH? Incorrect. Member confused QNH with QNE.