How many sessions did you take to pass OW certification

[roturner]

Just wondering how long it has taken those qualifying and how long it took those who have qualified?

I took 6 dives in a pool and 6 in open water. At the time that was the standard, I think.

These days the "official" program is 5 hours in a pool and 4 open water dives. It takes a very efficient instructor and a student who basically has no difficulty to teach someone in 5 hours in a pool. Usually it takes more.

In terms of theory, we usually spend 10 hours in the classroom on it. Personally, I think if someone does their homework then then standards part of the theory can be done in a couple of hours. What I do with that time is spend it deeping out the material.

The most time I've ever spent in the water with any one student was someone who needed 20 hours in the pool and about that many dives in open water as well.

R..

[masizemore]

Let's see, my family and I (wife and son) just finished our OW this last weekend after working on it for 5 months..

1st Go around, online learning, test passed, sched 2 days CW and 2 Days OW, all in local quarry, 4 each weekend. As a group, barely made it through CW, first OW botched (wife had anxiety issue, I didn't equalize properly injured ear and got vertigo). Second attempt just the three of us at first open water (after ear healed), wife was in perfect hover at 30' but vis was bad and had anxiety issue, aborted dive. Instructor didn't want to continue with us. (My opinion, we just needed too much time to get comfortable)

2nd Go around, totally new shop, complete re-do of materials in classroom, all CW sched for indoor pool.. The hitch, buy all gear there or pay double for the class, given the anxiety issues etc, we bought the gear (3 sets).. 8-12 multi-hour pool sessions (and necessary classroom) then off to do 5 OW dives, ended up doing 2 in springs and 3 in ocean with max depths of 30-70'.. This time, all successful, no anxiety, no one hurt, all had a good time . So 5 months, what is that about 16 CW and 5 OW. (Pays to find the right group for you, luckily we did)