Posted by Wayne on June 12, 2001 at 10:15:47:
In Reply to: Requires? posted by johnb on June 12, 2001 at 00:13:18:
Sounds a bit hard to do. There are 4 dives. OK so dive 1 is a tour and a chance to calm down. I suppose you could run through the skills pretty fast if you are the only student and are totally prepared, but that is not what you implied. And if you do get everything done and have air to burn I cant believe that you would be brought up. My recent OW student experiences averaged about 37 minutes per dive -- and at least that long at the surface at least once doing weightbelts, scuba units, reg/snorkel swaps, and wandering with a compass.
It is possible to blow your table questions and still pass the final if you get everything else right, but for an OW student to have no table knowledge to pass the final is a bit hard to believe. At the end of the OW training dives, the students try to use the tables. I do find it amazing how many get it wrong once they are on a boat, but they get it corrected and re-explained and they have it down when they leave the class (although if they do not practice they will forget). I see a lot of PADI students on boats and I see that they all are doing the stuff on the cue cards. I have not seen the violations that are being reported here.
The legitimate complaint is that the entry level training is less substantial that what used to be provided. But that is what the market is demanding. Now it is necessary to take additional classes, and the additional training is being pushed in the OW classes so that the student knows their value (I think this is not pimping, but rather a necessary part of explaing to the students that they are getting a very basic entry level certification and need additional trainign if they want to be more than a vacation diver at resorts).
Wayne