My apologies if I have the wrong people, I was trying to deduce who people were from past posts.
But, many thanks for the invaluable feedback above.
Always good to get the experiences of members who have done PfCO, and their thoughts of the process, be it long or short.
Sounds like @GTMonster that they are a Company to stay well clear of !.
Thank you for your time in responding, Big thanks to @JoeC for your response, and thanks for your thoughts on āUplift Dronesā .
Once again apologies for getting you muddled up with @joe.k .
No worriesā¦ I honestly spent a few minutes thinking āDid I?ā - must be getting old 
Thanks for taking the time to write that, very useful. 
Is there anywhere that gives details of the flight test so I could find a quiet place and practice?
Not schilling for them, honestā¦ but I googled āWhatās involved in a pfco flight testā and this was the first non-sponsored hit:
https://www.upliftdronetraining.com/courses/flight-test/
The video gets to the actual flight test at about 2:30, but all the prep before is just as important, and I was tested on my procedures, risk assessment and Ops Manuals as I was doing the flying.
The bit I found most tricky was actually just flying towards a cone placed on the ground 100m away and stopping directly above it. Itās a very small target! Also, I thought Iād nailed the figure-8 manoeuvre when I was practicing, but hadnāt account for them wanting the crossover-point to be above the cone in the middle of the flight area.
Having done it once, if I were doing it again Iād find somewhere I could set out some cones and practice flying the actual the course, instead of just flying an approximation over an empty field.
Oh, alsoā¦ at some point before your test find a big open space, fly 100m away and then turn off your controller to initiate failsafe RTH. I hadnāt ever risked doing it before the test, so when he told me to (the equivalent of slapping the dash for an emergency stop in a driving test, I guess) I knew what should happen, but was very nervous about actually doing it.
Very useful info Joe, practicing manoeuvreās they cover is always a good thing.
Maybe we here on GADC should come up with a series of flight manoeuvreās
that the Members could practice and hone there skills, not necessarily strictly for PfCO, but as a help to people who are learning to control their drones.
Flying sayā¦ a square, rectangle, circle, figure of eight, etc in an open field.
Anyone have any constructive suggestions?.
Flying a heptadecagon?
The prats taking your Flight Test probably would not know WTF you are talking about !
In the field where I fly there are two trees side by side, small gap between.
Each time I go there I do a figure of eight around them ( not above) and then do it sideways on , I also do this as low to the ground as possible.
Not hit anything yet or crashed it 
I just had to google that word to see if youād make it upā¦
He probably meant a āheptadecacopterā though. 
Now I have to google that word too, to see if youāve made it up!
If someone was weird enough to create a ācopterā with 17 props, that is what it would be called.
Hexacopter with three motors on each arm but one not working?
That would be a faulty octadecacopter. 
Ahā¦ havenāt been on here for a whileā¦been toooo busy with work, getting into my Z4 purchase ā¦ doing lotsā¦
completed the online stuff with 3IC. theyāre very quick to lock you out of your course material as soon as you complete it ā¦ so make sure you download it all before they do.
i havenāt done the practical / exam / ops manual etc as iāve just not had the time and my focus has moved.
Now that iām about to finish a contract role, i may have some time to finish it off. Just need to decide if a could be arsed.
Online all day long.
Its not ātrainingā, its just a background info verification. To make sure you know something about something - mainly to know what controlled airspace is and not to fly too close to people. The tests, whether on or offline, will always be passed. The flight assessment is just to make sure you arenāt a complete idiot.
I would however avoid any company that charges for retests. With no real means of appeal or recourse the NQEs are free to do whatever they want. I bet the number of chargeable retests far outweighs the freebie ones.
One other thing, donāt do your test until you can fly your drone. Sounds obvious butā¦
Thereās been one or two on here that have tried to ārun before they could walkā.
You know who you are.
Bearing in mind the potential changes to flying commercially in 2020 and the fact I still have to learn to crawl let alone walk a PfCO is a non-essential at the moment. I began the discussion when I first sneaked in to GADC. Iām fairly certain that given access to course materials I could pass the theory without problem, not boasting but I have always done well with reading for and passing exams - and forgetting most of the knowledge afterward.
Will we be going along with the European model of operations once / if we leave the EU? Or will we stride out on those sunny uplands to fly our drones in freedom (once that nice Mr Rees-Mogg has instituted a law hat all UAVs must be preceded by a man with a red flag)?