I took a NAUI course in 1976 and it was tough and comprehensive.
That course is what I would consider old school.
Here is a list of
some of the course elements.
In class and pool.
1. Long pool swim (dont remember exact distance)
2. 20 min treading water then 40 minutes water survival techniques.
3. Buddy breathing. (drill done many times and unannounced too)
4. Gear recovery
a. Turn your air off and leave your tank on bottom of 15 ft deep pool.
b. ESA to surface.
c. Drop mask while treading water hands above head.
d. Drop one fin while treading water hands above head.
e. Drop other fin while treading water hands above head.
f. Finally you get to pass off your weight belt which is kindly deposited somewhere on the bottom of the pool.
g. Then swim down and recover your gear and put it on.
5. CPR instruction (mouth to mouth was preformed on classmates)
6. Rescue techniques
a. Unconscious diver rescue(surface and bottom)
b. Combative diver (evade, control and rescue)
c. In water mouth to mouth
7. Basic classroom instruction including high altitude diving and deco diving.
We spent hours and hours in the pool building PVC pipe puzzles, performing out of air drills, playing games and working on buoyancy control using hula hoops and a PVC pipe swim through.
It was not uncommon for the instructor to slip up behind you and carefully shut of your air or flood your mask just to see how you handle it.
Open water.
1. Skin dive (water temp 36 degrees)
2. Open water rescue (unconscious diver, breathing and combative diver(water temp 36 degrees)
I got bronchial pneumonia and could not complete my other dives on the next weekend.
I know that the next dive was open water rescue (unconscious victim, not breathing) but I am not sure of the other dives or what the skills were tested but my buddy said they were tough and nothing had given him trouble up to that point.
I never completed that course and now many years later I finally completed my NAUI Scuba Diver course. The course was very good but it was nothing like that first one and for that I am glad because I dont know if I would have made through the old school course if I took it today.