Proof that the VATUSA exam questions are misleading

[Bruce Clingan]

First of all I listed all the answers and only notated the one that was wrong. Never said which one was right so the next guy now has a 2/3 chances of getting it wrong too.

Isak - I won't assume your age but I will assume that at some point you have been exposed to the high school or college education level.  Do you think that if you posted this material in conjunction with a course you were taking in school that it would be acceptable?  It is unprofessional at best.  If we wanted the questions published we would publish them so that those taking them could see it.  

The reality is that regardless of whether the questions are misleading the answers that you chose are incorrect.  They aren't even supported necessarily in the VATUSA training material.

You are not going to get away from the 7110 guys.  It is what was used to create the training material in the first place, and I guarantee that if you got an answer wrong because you followed the information in the 7110 that this would be a completely different conversation.  You may not ever want to be a real world controller, neither do I, but this is where we get the information that we need to control.  Most facilities procedures are written almost word for word like that of their real world counterparts.  This is a simulation, that is what makes it enjoyable to most of us.  Trust me though there is such a thing as too realistic and I think we do a good job balancing this.  When I got on this network there were some facilities that the minimum time to get promoted to C1 was nearly 2 years because you essentially had to have the 7110 memorized like a real world controller.  We are a long way from that.  

I would say that if you can show your instructor or TA why the answers you chose were correct that they would be happy to fight for your test to be changed.  I actually had this happen to me on my S3 test.  But I went through my instructor and TA.

[Isak Moebius]

Not worried about it anymore. I can wait the 7 days

[Tom Seeley]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE [/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]On topic with this there are a few questions that aren't even located within the training material for all of the exams from Tower on up (at least 1 on each). The thing that I want to request is tests should follow what is available on the VATUSA training material, rather than assuming you would follow the 7110.65 for some material but be wrong on others.[/quote]

I'm sure the FAA has personnel on its payroll that closely follow changes to the 7110.65 and incorporate them into the training material it uses for its controllers. VATUSA does not. As has already been suggested several times, a simple email about matters such as these will in almost all cases result in updates or corrections being instituted with very little delay. The VATUSA training material and tests were not authored by any current staff; what we try to do within our available time and with a little heads up where appropriate, is maintain and update the material when necessary.

It's one thing to come into a public forum and complain about the existing system, where eventually it will come to the attention of those that can address it. It's far more constructive and effective to bring it to staff attention directly, thereby enabling a quick remedy. Since the word "assume" was used above, is it logical to assume that an error on a question will be addressed if you simply have a problem with it, but don't let someone know? If not you, at least bring it to the attention of your training staff, and let them forward it.

[size=]InterimPlease note the word interim.[/size]

[Harold Rutila]

My point to make is that the wording of the questions above and the questions themselves should really only be focused on how the positions work on VATSIM. For example the Approach Controller Primary Function: On VATSIM the APP controller also controls Departure and that is how it is taught in my ARTCC from what I hear almost every other ARTCC. So when I come into a test with practical training and experience on the APP controller position and see the word Approach Controller it is obvious to assume that the APP controller is controlling both positions because well VATUSA is a VATSIM controller training environment and none of this training should be used for real life controller training as the disclaimer states.

Purely for the sake of education:

Don't let your VATSIM callsign make you think differently about your radio callsign. In terminal radar, if you are providing departure control services, you should be called "Seattle Departure" by the pilot and yourself on initial contact with that pilot. Likewise, if you are providing approach control service, you should be called "Seattle Approach" by the pilot and yourself on initial contact with that pilot. This is how it's done in every terminal radar facility throughout the US. Some of those facilities do split the normal departure and arrival airspace corridors into two or more positions, but it makes no difference.

In Denver, the guy manning DEN_L_DEP is controlling the departure corridors in the Denver TRACON, but he also works the satellite airport sectors, too. When aircraft contact that controller, he identifies himself as "Denver Approach." The VATSIM callsign is simply a means of helping controllers identify who is who, and pilots place way too much reliance on those callsigns when flying in the virtual system. The same goes for NORCAL and SOCAL Departure and Approach.

[Kevin Kelm]

Regarding the 7110.65. This is a hobby of simulation controlling. I am not paid to do this, and I never would fathom that I would become an ATC in real life. This in mind the 7110.65 should be irrelevant to my hobby and not important. I haven't even read the first sentence of the 7110.65 and I don't particularly care to. If VATUSA's training material is supposed to be designed to teach me how to be an effective and good controller on VATSIM, which it does, then the 7110.65 should not matter.  This is a hobby, the 7110.65 is an ATC bible particularly aimed at training real world controllers. Which I, and I am sure many other controllers on VATSIM are not. Because of this VATUSA should never have any of its test material based off of material from the 7110.65 that is not in its very own training material on the VATUSA site.

I disagree completely. The .65 is the reason you know how to give anything from a taxi clearance to an approach clearance, it's just been laid out nicely and is a bit easier to find in the training material. While this isn't real life, and we aren't real controllers, realism is what VATSIM users are to strive for; especially controllers. Why control if you don't want to replicate realistic procedures? While VATSIM controllers shouldn't be expected to know it cover to cover, "not even reading even the first sentence" means that more than likely, pilots are receiving unrealistic service in some manner.

The only thing that separates VATSIM from "a game", is the fact that we do strive for realism; both pilot's and controllers.