Self-study is great and you should do a lot of it anyway but I have to say
that combining it with a formal ground school made me get a lot more out of
both. Hearing others talk about it, make mistakes, and having a forced
exposure twice a week kept everything in front of me almost daily. It also
filled in the knowledge gaps where I might have misread or misunderstood
something. There's nothing like answering questions in front of your peers
for motivation. I personally don't think I can get too much exposure to the
subject and passing the tests doesn't make one anything close to an expert.

Mike Clapp
LVK

"Scott Lowrey" wrote in message
m...
[Sorry for not reading the FAQ first...]

As a soon-to-be-minted private pilot, what are the experiences of
others concerning instrument training and self-teaching?

I don't have a problem flying with my current flight school to get the
hours, but I question the need for their formal ground school and the
requisite pile of books.

I'm an engineer and have been studying instrument flight for a few
years, so I'm I'm thinking about some kind of self-paced computer
training to augment the dual time. Any pointers?

Thanks -Scott