Is Communications (090) Hard? And Can You Memorise It?

VHF communication, frequency management, SELCAL, ACARS, radiotelephony procedures, IFR phraseology, emergency procedures and CPDLC.

The smallest exam by duration (34 questions in 45 minutes), which is precisely why it gets under-prepared.

For the full topic-by-topic syllabus breakdown, see the Communications subject guide.

Any single number here would be false precision, so we won’t give one. As a rough planning figure, most self-study candidates allocate 40–80 hours per subject, and students report Communications typically sitting toward the lower end of that range. A short syllabus — but budget honest hours anyway; the small size is what catches people.

Your own figure depends on background, maths comfort and whether you are studying full-time — treat the range as a budget to adjust, not a target to hit.

Phraseology and procedures are exact-recall material: the exam tests the published words, not a working approximation of them. Memorisation is the right tool — the mistake is not doing it because the subject looks small.

One student in our community scored 92% in Operational Procedures and 85% in Communications in the same sitting, and wrote afterwards: "I had greatly underestimated the subject." An 85% is a pass — their point was how close coasting brought them to the 75% line.

“I had greatly underestimated the subject”— a student in our community, after passing Communications with less margin than expected

Part of the seeded regulatory cluster: sit Communications with Air Law (010) and Operational Procedures (070).

How the pairings fit into a full plan — and why order matters — is covered in the recommended order of study, with the sitting mechanics in sittings & limits.