Send me your email. I'll send you the outline to my Advanced Class. My biggest issue with the AOW class as it is usually taught is that it gives an entirely false sense of security to divers. It is also not truly marketed as what it is as Andy said previously.
To be fair it is often the diver that puts the emphasis on the word "advanced' and gets themselves into trouble, but I don't see shops actually discouraging that line of thought. Operations also bear some of the blame for using the AOW card as a "cover your butt" liability issue. If you have an "Advanced" card they'll gladly let you go out on dives that you truly have no business on.
The Advanced card often gives you access to dives that are deeper, may have high current, low vis, or at night. They may require you and your buddy to fend for yourself completely in those conditions. That you did a few "experience" dives with an instructor and are in no way capable of those things is beside the point. You have an "advanced" card so the liability is on you should you get hurt, have a really bad experience, or die.
If they were honest and called it Open Water II or "the stuff you really should have gotten most of in your OW class" they wouldn't sell as many certs. A diver in possession of a card with the word "advanced" on it should have all the skills and knowledge to do those dives safely. That means on the deep dive you should know what your SAC rate is, know how to gas match for different tank sizes in the team, know emergency deco procedures, understand what narcosis is and does. Writing your name backwards or opening a lock is a poor test of narcosis. Seen people actually do it faster. Do an actual dive skill and observe the level of impairment.
I also feel that if you did not get basic rescue skills in your OW class, taking Rescue before AOW is a better route. It will improve your situational awareness, build buddy/team skills, and give you the tools to handle an emergency or, even better, prevent one from happening.
If for any reason a diver does not want to take the rescue class and have not had the rescue skills that SEI requires for the OW Class I will do a workshop at minimal cost to the student before signing them up for advanced. Reason is we are going to build on those skills during the six dives in the class.
A number of AOW courses offer the student a myriad of choices for dives outside of the mandatory deep and UW Navigation. All of the dives in mine are required. Only may be substituted. The core dives are
Advanced Skills Dive
Underwater Navigation
Night/Low Vis
Deep
Search and Recovery
Buddy Skills and Assists
Wreck may be substituted for Search and Recovery but I don't push that option because I feel the S&R teaches some very valuable lessons.
I require ten dives post OW to begin for students I have OW certified. Those I have not may be required to have more, do a couple skills checkout dives in the pool and/or open water with me, and possibly a workshop.
Buoyancy and Trim are addressed on every dive but you should have those down pretty well before starting the class since those are basic, fundamental open water class skills. If you don't you'll not enjoy the Advanced class as much because, again, there is a lot going to be built on those. It's not a rehash of OW skills. It's new knowledge and new skills that are designed to give you the tools to those dives safely and with full knowledge of the risks.
I'm not the only one that teaches a class like this. NW Grateful Diver has a similar program.
I had one student come back and tell me his Intro to Tech class was easier that he did with another instructor before I started teaching tech classes.
It's also not cheap. $425.00 this past season. 600.00 for a private class that includes 6-8 hours of actual classroom plus the time between dives adding to that. 6 Dives over 2 or 3 days. All materials are provided and the student must have their own gear or arrange to have it. I can supply the pony or stage bottle and reg for the advanced skills and deep dives, reels, and back up lights. I also have 100 cu ft plus capacity main tanks for the deep dive since an al80 is not acceptable for a 90-100 ft dive. Students can also use doubles or sidemount for the class.
A cert card at the end is not guaranteed. If I feel the diver needs more time in one area I will tell them and, at my expense, provide that extra day or couple of dives to get them where they need to be.
