Except Last: Save Your Best Real Exam Questions for the Exam That Counts
Why the newest real exam questions are your most valuable study asset
Every ATPL Questions database contains a high percentage of real exam questions — the ones students report seeing in their official EASA examinations. Naturally, students gravitate towards them: if a question showed up in a real exam last week, it is very likely to show up in yours.
But there is a catch. If you practise the freshest real exam questions again and again during your revision, by the time you sit a full mock you already know them by heart. Your mock score looks great — but it is measuring your memory, not your understanding. The one set of questions that could have given you the most honest "am I ready?" signal has been spoiled.
The Except Last real exam filter solves exactly this problem.
Study everything except the most recent real exam questions now — and keep those latest questions untouched for a clean, realistic final simulation later.
What the Except Last filter actually does
When you build a test, the Except Last filter lets you exclude the last N real exam questions from your study set. "Last" means the most recently reported real exam questions in the database — the freshest signal of what is currently being asked.
You choose:
- How many of the latest real exam questions to hold back (for example the last 100, 200 or 500).
- Which countries to base "latest" on — so you can align the filter with the authority where you will actually sit the exam.
The result is a study test drawn from the whole bank minus those reserved questions. Nothing is deleted and nothing is hidden permanently — you are simply setting the newest questions aside for later.
The two-phase strategy that gets the most out of it
Phase 1 — Learn on everything except the latest
Throughout your revision, turn Except Last on. You will still practise thousands of real exam questions and cover every subject and sub-topic, but the most recent batch stays sealed. This keeps your day-to-day study honest and prevents you from accidentally memorising the exact questions you want to save.
Phase 2 — Simulate on only the latest
A few days before your exam, flip the logic: build a test from only the last real exam questions you were holding back. Because you have never drilled them, this becomes the closest thing to a real, unseen exam you can get — a true readiness check under exam conditions.
Phase 1 builds your knowledge. Phase 2 measures it — on questions you have never seen before.
Who should use it
- Students close to their exam date who want one clean, trustworthy mock instead of a score inflated by repetition.
- Repeat sitters who have already been through the bank once and need fresh material to test themselves honestly.
- Anyone targeting a specific authority — pair Except Last with the country selector so "latest" reflects the questions being reported where you will sit.
A quick example
Say you are preparing for Air Law and want to reserve the 200 most recent real exam questions for a final mock:
- During revision: Except Last = on, count 200, country set to your exam authority. You study Air Law across the full bank, minus those 200.
- Three days before the exam: build a test of only those last 200. You have never practised them, so your score is a genuine forecast of exam day.
Example question
Before flight, transition level information can be obtained by consulting…
- the ATIS or by requesting it from ATC.
- the aircraft flight manual.
- the aeronautical information circular only.
- the operator's route manual only.
Correct answer: A — the ATIS or by requesting it from ATC.
Questions like this one live in the "latest real exam" batch when students report them after their exams. Except Last lets you decide when you meet them — during practice, or under simulation.
How to turn it on
- Go to New Test and pick your subject and sub-topics as usual.
- Open the filters and enable Except Last real exam.
- Set the count (how many latest questions to reserve) and, optionally, the country.
- Create your test — it now excludes those reserved questions. When you are ready for your final mock, build a separate test using only the last questions.
The bottom line
The Except Last filter is a small setting with an outsized payoff: it protects the integrity of your final mock. Study wide now, keep the freshest real exam questions sealed, and spend them on one honest simulation when it counts. That is how you walk into the exam room already knowing you are ready.
Practise with 20,000+ real exam questions
Build your test, turn on Except Last, and keep the freshest questions for your final mock.
