my best advise would be to purchase a simulator, like realflight and fly on it untill your eyes fall out of their sockets...when I bought my nexstar the first thing I did was start flying on the simulator it came with. I would sit for hours flying patterns untill my landings and take offs were perfect..then three months later I got my first lesson and it took me a week to fly my first solo.. I think simulators,(if used correctly) are a great help..but remember nothing beats real flight time..