Really Bummed

[Cerge]

So I am a PADI instructor, also I do a lot of technical diving as I am TDI certified through Trimix. I recently took the Fundamentals class and didn't pass.

In fact, I didn't even get a rec pass, only a provisional.... I am feeling rather discouraged and am not sure where to go from here. I like the DIR style and practice, however, I am feeling like I am not that great of a diver after all.

Is it common to not pass on your first try? I had no practice of the skills prior to class.

 

[Rainer]

If you found the training and style of diving to your liking, no reason to feel discouraged, just take the class experience as a challenge to bring your diving to where you want it. Eye openers shouldn't be a reason to get down, but rather, a stimulus to get you excited about moving forward. Let this be a catalyst to take your diving to a new level.

Why not join some of us for the local recreational DIR Dive Day on Catalina Island on June 27th (DIR Dive Day - June 27th - Catalina - The Dive Matrix Forums)?

 

[El Orans]

No worries, it has been known to happen before.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Not to be trite, but when I am not successful at something, I don't consider that I failed. Rather, I view it as I learned a way not to be successful.

So in this case, you did not fail fundies, you learned one way not to pass it.

Jeff

 

[rongoodman]

I think a provisional on the first attempt is more common than not, especially if you haven't been diving with other GUE trained divers prior to the class. Go forth and practice!!

 

[b1gcountry]

In my fundamentals class of four, three got provisionals, and only one passed outright. The only failure was the person who passed waiting so long to take the class.

Tom

 

[mts0628]

Not to be trite, but when I am not successful at something, I don't consider that I failed. Rather, I view it as I learned a way not to be successful.

So in this case, you did not fail fundies, you learned one way not to pass it.

Jeff

I will keep this in mind if I don't pass.

Hey Cerge:

Did you get an idea of what happened or what prevented you from passing? I am curious because I am headed to Key Largo in June for my class. Anyway, any pointers you can provide would be appreciated.

Keep your chin up and hopefully you will get there after reviewing everything.

With kindest regards,
Thomas

 

[amascuba]

In my fundamentals class of four, three got provisionals, and only one passed outright. The only failure was the person who passed waiting so long to take the class.

Tom

Same with my class. Out of three students, I was the only one who passed. The other two got provisional's. That's not to say that they weren't good divers. It just meant that they had an area or two that they needed to work on.

I went into the class diving regularly with three other people who had taken the class and passed it, so I had a good baseline to go off of.

 

[Jasonmh]

Hi Cerge,

No reason to feel bad, and it is pretty common not to get a pass on the first try.
Did you feel like you learned from the experience? Do you feel like you know why you didn't pass, and what you need to improve on?
If you want to continue down the DIR path, just keep diving, have fun, dive with other DIR divers, and practice what needs to be brushed up. Don't get caught up in the bad feelings and think you are in some kind of race or mission to pass. Putting that kind of pressure on yourself serves no purpose.
Good luck to you.

 

[TSandM]

It took me six months to get a Rec pass from Fundies, and another year to get a Tech pass.

What's cool is that you now know where the bar is . . . It's an eye-opener (or was for me) to find out that ordinary people CAN be that precise and controlled and aware in the water. And you can do it, too, if you practice. I guarantee it, because I can, and I'm about as horribly untalented a diver as ever took to underwater. The key to gaining these skills is being willing to put in the work to get them, and having good buddies to do the work WITH. And if you are in SoCal, you won't lack for the latter.

And the good news is that the practice you need doesn't require devoting whole dives to drilling (although we all fall in that trap a bit, I think). Every dive you do, you can work on your trim, work on being still in the water, use your back kick (or keep trying, anyway), try to hone your awareness and your communication, use those kicks you learned . . . And, most importantly, you can debrief. The debrief is one of the most powerful things in the DIR canon, because the feedback you get is SO useful in directing the practice you do.

It's very easy to look at DIR instructors and think, "Oh, they must be special people, and I'll never look like that." But it simply isn't true. They all learned it, and so can you.