DGCA ground classes or self study

Self study works if you have the textbooks, a bank with worked solutions, timed papers and a schedule you keep. Pay for ground classes if you need a teacher, or someone to hold you to a timetable.

Ground classes against self study

Both routes end at the same papers.

RouteWhat it sells you

Ground classesStructure, bought. A class at a fixed hour with other people in the room, a teacher to ask, and a cohort who tell you when a booking window has opened.

Self studyStructure, supplied. The books, a bank with worked solutions, timed full length papers, and a schedule nobody is enforcing but you.

What you need either way

The textbooks the papers are actually drawn from. Not a summary of them. Reading around them is how you answer a question the exam did not ask.
Enough questions to meet the same idea several ways. A bank teaches you the shape the exam bends the idea into.
A worked solution behind every question. A wrong answer with no working is a wasted question.
Full length papers under a clock, before the real one. Pace and stamina are separate skills from knowing the material.
A weekly schedule you keep without being watched. Written down, with a specific number of hours on specific days.

Five questions to ask yourself

1Are you starting from a non-technical background?
Technical General and the calculation half of Air Navigation assume a comfort with physics and arithmetic that a commerce or arts background does not hand you.
A teacher can catch a wrong method on the spot.
2Do you keep a schedule that nobody is enforcing?
A class at a fixed hour with other people in the room is a commitment device, and if you know from experience that you need one, buy it.
If you have gone quiet on a study plan before, choose a school.
3Do you want someone to ask?
A question bank answers the question it was asked. It cannot answer the question behind your confusion, and some confusions take a person.
4Will classmates help you?
The people in the room with you are the ones who tell you a booking window has opened and which centre has seats left. That is a real benefit, and it does not show up in a syllabus comparison.
5Do you already have what a school sells?
Say you have an engineering or science background, you can hold a study schedule without someone checking, and you have a question bank with worked solutions and full length timed papers. Then a ground school mostly adds structure you already have.
Two to three lakh rupees is a lot to pay for that, and the money does more in flying hours.

What they cost: published against reported

Published means the institute prints that price on its own page. Reported means a third party says so and the institute does not publish it. Exam fees, RTR coaching, medicals and flying are all separate, and GST is usually added on top. The DGCA ground classes fees page sets what a course leaves out against what self study costs.

What it isRupees

Full package coaching, one institute's own published price2,50,000 plus GSTPublished

Another institute's per-subject table, plus registration2,35,000Published

Premium institutes, operator breakdown3,00,000 to 6,00,000Reported

Prevailing market minimum2,00,000 to 3,00,000Reported

General market range across the sector1,50,000 to 3,50,000Reported

What we are, and what we are not

We are not a ground school. There are no classes here, no attendance, no batch and no teacher to ask a follow-up question to. If you need a person in a room, we are not it.

We are the question half of self study: the DGCA bank arranged by textbook and chapter, a worked solution behind every question, animated worked solutions on Pro, timed mock papers, and past papers you can sit under the clock.

The school teaches the subject; this is where you find out whether you can answer the questions.

Common questions

How much do DGCA ground classes cost?

Two institutes publish their own prices at about 2,35,000 and 2,50,000 rupees plus GST for a full package. The wider market is reported at roughly 1,50,000 to 3,50,000 rupees, with premium institutes reported up to 6,00,000. Those figures are tuition only: exam fees, RTR coaching, medicals and flying are all separate.

Do I need ground classes to pass the DGCA exams?

Not everyone does. If you have a technical background, time, and the discipline to keep a schedule alone, self study with a question bank works. If you are starting from a non-technical background, moving to a new city anyway, or you know you do not keep a schedule without one being imposed, a ground school buys you structure and a person to ask, and that is worth real money.

Are DGCA online classes better than self study?

Online classes give you a teacher and a timetable without moving city, and they suit you if you need someone to explain a topic or keep you to a schedule. They do not replace the questions: you still need a bank with worked solutions and timed papers before you sit a paper. If you keep a schedule on your own, self study covers the same syllabus.

Is Ready Aviator a ground school?

No. We are a question bank with a worked solution behind every question. We do not run classes, we do not take attendance and we do not replace a teacher you can ask a follow-up question to.

What does self study have to include to work?

The textbooks the papers are drawn from, a question bank large enough that you meet the same idea in several forms, worked solutions so a wrong answer teaches you something, timed full-length papers before you sit the real one, and a fixed weekly schedule you actually keep.

Practise the DGCA question bank

The question half of self study, and the half a ground school does not replace. Sample questions in many chapters are free to read.

Keep reading

Practise by subject