First three weeks at IFOD useless?

[karkland]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning on enrolling in the 5 week IFOD course in the coming months. I am going to study for the ADX using Sheppard Air and will try to pass it before going to the class.

However, I've been reading online that IFOD spends the first three weeks helping you pass the written ADX via memorization (which is exactly what I plan to do on my own via Sheppard Air). I have heard that the written ADX content is generally useless to real dispatching and that it won't really teach me what I need to know about actual dispatching on the job. Does that mean the first three weeks will be largely useless for someone who has passed the ADX already since the content is largely irrelevant to real dispatch work?

I've heard Sheffield will gloss over ADX and expects you to have this down and that they spend most of their time on actual dispatch studying... Is that true? It's a nightmare trying to pick the right school and I'd love some guidance from someone who has had the experience.

Thank you!

 

[0nus382]

I took the 8 Week nightly IFOD course.
The first section of their classes is geared towards the written test. Whether or not that information is useless, I’ll leave it up to you. Even after working in 121 operations for a few years, I found it very informative. Back to back though? Might be repetitive, but I don’t think remembering that info would be harmful.

They might be willing to work with you, however, and if there’s a night class that’s about to take the practical, they may let you sit in on that for the first couple weeks. Definitely worth a call.

 

[karkland]

I will be flying in from out of state to take the 5 week course so unfortunately, I don't have that option at the moment.
I'm glad to hear you still found it really informative though. My biggest concern is spending 3 weeks on content/information that won't be useful in the real dispatching world.

 

[Dxer5138]

I will be flying in from out of state to take the 5 week course so unfortunately, I don't have that option at the moment.
I'm glad to hear you still found it really informative though. My biggest concern is spending 3 weeks on content/information that won't be useful in the real dispatching world.

Do you have prior aviation experience?

 

[karkland]

Do you have prior aviation experience?

I do not.

 

[Dxer5138]

I do not.

In that case I definitely would not consider studying for the ADX in class to be a waste -- there's a lot of general aviation knowledge that will be useful. If you had any aviation experience then I'd say it definitely isn't worthwhile, but you will definitely get a lot out of it imho, just my two cents!

 

[karkland]

In that case I definitely would not consider studying for the ADX in class to be a waste -- there's a lot of general aviation knowledge that will be useful. If you had any aviation experience then I'd say it definitely isn't worthwhile, but you will definitely get a lot out of it imho, just my two cents!

Thank you for the reassurance. I've been hearing all over the place that the ADX is irrelevant to anything related to the job at hand but I'm glad to hear that it'll still have some application in the real job and provide overall context.

Can anyone shed some light on how IFOD handles those three weeks? Is it pure memorization in preparation? Or do you actually learn real-hard content?

 

[Empennagie]

Thank you for the reassurance. I've been hearing all over the place that the ADX is irrelevant to anything related to the job at hand but I'm glad to hear that it'll still have some application in the real job and provide overall context.

Can anyone shed some light on how IFOD handles those three weeks? Is it pure memorization in preparation? Or do you actually learn real-hard content?

You will learn a bit of both. Some stuff from that time I didn't use some I did. No previous experience? Do it.

 

[PiperLady]

The ADX has a lot of ATP questions on it that aren't really geared towards DX which is where the memorization comes in but with not having any prior aviation experience you learn alot about reading weather reports, how to read charts and things like that, that are essential to know. The first 3 weeks aren't waste in that case.

 

[karkland]

Great. Thank you for the feedback everyone! Is there any particular resource I can study to learn charts/weather reports outside of school material?

 

[Dxer5138]

Great. Thank you for the feedback everyone! Is there any particular resource I can study to learn charts/weather reports outside of school material?

Check out aviationweather.gov as a start, they'll have lots of the charts you'll be learning about with the legends.

 

[DispatcherSam]

Learn how to read metars and tafs. I did that on my own and it helped me immensely in class

 

[karkland]

Thank you all for the advice! Will be looking at these resources and subjects prior to class start date!

 

[jose1337]

Learn how to read metars and tafs. I did that on my own and it helped me immensely in class

Getting the ASA testprep helped make things a lot easier for the ADX when I went there, allowing for more scenarios in prep for the oral test.

 

[Puckgoalie]

I'm currently at IFOD and should be finishing up this week. For the first three weeks, you are studying the ASA Testprep book and you will take a quiz every day to reinforce what you learned and studied the previous day. You will also go over and read METAR's, TAF's, PIREPS, and weather maps (it helps break up the day). That will help you in the second half. I also used Sheppard Air test prep, but the quizzes helped me pass the written exam.

 

[TheMadDispatcher]

When I attended IFOD, I found those 3 weeks to be very helpful. I went in not knowing much about aviation though. What really helped me was the groups that we broke in to after the class. Their main focus for those 3 weeks are to make sure you are ready to take the ADX and they will tell you if your are ready or not. Which will save you a lot of money if you fail.

 

[RegionalDXer]

They give you the tests over and over just for you to learn keywords, and not the material is how it felt for me. After you see the same questions 7-8 times you automatically just know the answer without understanding why

 

[Empennagie]

They give you the tests over and over just for you to learn keywords, and not the material is how it felt for me. After you see the same questions 7-8 times you automatically just know the answer without understanding why

There are definitely a number of questions like that. I remember floor loading limits, some q400 performance items, and the 117 stuff being that way. I did feel like they converted fars and weather well. My only complaint was a lack of training on 1nav 2nav but they might have changed since I went a number of years ago.