As the first half of the semester comes to a close and mid-term season comes to an end, it is incredibly important for aviation students, whom make up a large portion of the student body at the University of North Dakota, to take a step back and consider how they can improve their study habits and utilize all of their potential resources that are offered to them on campus.
Especially since the weather is only going to get better and days are going to get longer, more students are going to be nearing their end-of-course flight tests that may require weeks’ worth of prep work leading up to the evaluation.
Some great resources that are on campus that help aid aviation students with their check-ride prep include the Aerospace Learning Center that is located on the third floor of Odegard Hall on campus.
The learning center offers free tutoring service from current certified flight instructors at UND for any enrolled aviation student. Carlo Siguenza, a third-year commercial aviation student, spoke about how he utilized the ALC to help prepare and pass his most recent check ride.
Siguenza stated, “that I often found that while studying amongst myself I had questions regarding the check ride that could not be answered.” This emphasizes that the tutors at the learning center were able to draw from their personal experience, and not only answer his question, but explain how and why the answer is right.
This is incredibly insightful as the Airman Certification Standards, that are published by the Federal Aviation Administration, for any of the ratings and certifications that are issued through UND can be extremely lengthy and hard to digest. It helps having a certified instructor offer their own insights and help you navigate these standards as you prepare for your end-of-course test.
Another great resource that is on campus and free of charge includes the state-of-the-art Virtual Reality Lab that is located on the first floor of Odegard hall. Through this flight lab, you are enabled to go ahead and simulate flying whatever aircraft you are currently training in. It has proven to be an invaluable resource to flight students who are honing in on their checklist and memory items while flying making it incredibly easy to visualize the flight itself.
Although many of the resources that have been discussed are exclusive to aviation students on campus, it is encouraged to take the time and visit the UND website and see if there are any resources on campus that offer free help or tutoring services that may benefit you as we look onward towards the second half of the semester with the goal remaining the same, to finish off strong.
Daniel Silva is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at daniel.silva@und.edu.
