PADI OW Final Exam Questions that are either wrong or just bad

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So sweet but I doubt very much that PADI, or any other agency, designed the exam as a group cooperation exam.
Of course not. But it was eLearning, so the exam taker could easily have had the OP sitting right there.
I'm hoping not.
 
Why even have a hand signal for out of air? Do they actually expect someone to give a hand signal while pulling a regulator from your buddy’s mouth?
Seems like task overloading.
Respectfully, I disagree. I believe that the "signal" is totally beneficial if the conditions allow. If a buddy (or my wife) is swimming towards me with the OOA signal clear and apparent, then it gives me the additional option of swimming towards them to close the gap and pulling my alt source or octo to offer it to them, which can help to clarify for both parties what the share air program is. If you are swimming at me and you see me offering you my alt source then I guarantee that will be your choice.

Bottom line......is that the OOA signal totally helps the donor to prepare and brace in advance for what's coming. I think that's the whole point!
 
But it was eLearning, so the exam taker could easily have had the OP sitting right there.
I'm hoping not.

It sounded like they were, enjoying the togetherness and cooperation.
 
It sounded like they were, enjoying the togetherness and cooperation.
What is your point? Do you think taking the exam together is OK?
 
What is your point? Do you think taking the exam together is OK?

Not at all, I am being sarcastic about the togetherness. I initially thought it was him that was taking the exam since he "remembered" some of the questions but now it turns out it was his GF. eLearning is based on "honor code" not to share or cooperate with others in the exam, it wasn't meant to be a community project.
 
was reviewing the PADI OW final exam questions with my girlfriend and IMHO there are 3 or 4 poorly worded questions or the answers are simply wrong.
I feel your frustration. Having taken courses through more agencies than just PADI, I have found that poorly or ambiguously worded questions occur now and then, even in tech diving-level exams. I suspect many of us here are the personality types who find this kind of thing frustrating. I take solace in knowing I passed the exam despite being dinged for those questions, and knowing I have a solid grasp of the subject matter.

If it makes your girlfriend feel better, I suppose she could write to PADI to point out the poor wording or ambiguity. I have felt like doing this, but of course I never bothered.
 
1. I have never heard of a single finger slicing across the neck as a signal for OOA.
2. Bottom composition can affect visibility even if it is not stirred up. If you have light sand on the bottom reflecting sunlight, the visibility will be very different from a bottom covered with dead black leaves absorbing sunlight.
3. I would like to see the actual wording of the question. Ever since PADI began teaching alternate air source for an OOA emergency, it has listed it as preferable to a CESA. The last choice is always the buoyant emergency ascent.
 
I pretty sure there might be issues of copying the PADI copyrighted images here, so I wont. The OOA image on the Final Exam is of a diver performing a cutting motion with a horizontal hand at the neck level..yes there is an arrow. Of greater importance is that the image presented during the Final Exam is the identical image presented in Section One - Your Skills as a Diver I. That picture is identified as "Out of Air". There is not a signal provided for "Level Off" in the section on signals.

There are two OOA questions on the final exam. Only one has two blanks that must be filled in with the options presented in the answers.

The fill-in the blank question is "If my buddy is nearby, my best option is to ______, another option is to _______ if I’m in shallow water and the surface is closer than my buddy."

Neither of the questions that have "Ascend using my buddy's alternate air-source" as the answer for the first blank have "Make a normal ascent" as the second option in the answer. If you are using your buddy's alternate air-source, you are not making a normal ascent.

For the visibility question, one answer is obvious, two are ridiculous, the remaining one "could be", but it is never discussed in the learning material, knowledge reviews, or quiz. The correct answer is discussed in the material, presented in the knowledge review, and is part of the Section Quiz prior to being included on the Final Exam.
 

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