Has anyone not passed their OW? Just finished our confined water and classroom sessions, will be taking our final written within the next week or so and open water dives in Maui next month. Our instructor said we're doing well but that we're not quite ready for the final open water and need a couple more practice pool sessions. Getting nervous....
It should be almost impossible to "fail" open water... because no student who isn't ready should ever be allowed to go to open water dives.
The good news is, you've got an instructor who cares enough - and is diligent enough - to continue to work with you to help ensure you're ready. Did the instructor say what specifically you needed to work on? (He/she should have.) Were you surprised that the instructor felt you weren't ready? Did
you feel you were ready? Much like a performance review at work... you shouldn't be surprised by any feedback.
As John mentions above, the role of the instructor is not to "fail" people who don't meet the performance requirements but rather to continue to work with them until they can. You should note, of course, that it would not be uncommon for an instructor/shop to expect to charge students who might need significant extra help additional for that time.
While a new instructor, I've been DM'ing and working with OW students for years now. The only student I've ever seen "fail" was the daughter of my CEO at the time. She simply did NOT want to get certified or ever go scuba diving, and was clever enough to realize that the only way she could ensure that would never happen was to purposely "fail" the class.
There are plenty of students who need to "get a little more practice in" before OW. I have worked with students who needed lots of extra time. I've even had students who had to step away and come back and try again later. But I've never seen anyone who wanted to dive and was willing to put in the time/effort not get certified.
Good luck... and let us know how it goes!
PS - where in Maui will you be doing your OW dives?