Divemaster exam?

[endurodog]

Tmac good luck with the test on Saturday!!!

Your experince with the swim test was pretty much like mine, as matter of fact every realization your going through was kind of like mine.

I've noticed there are lots on SB that discourge people from moving up the pro ladder. If someone wants to take DM just so they get the card, more power to them. If they want to take DM because they only want to assist with classes, great. Or if they want to move up the instructor program, then great. If they meet the requirements and finish the work then congrats to them. It's a personal choice what everyone wants to do with it.

 

[t-mac]

Tmac good luck with the test on Saturday!!!

Your experince with the swim test was pretty much like mine, as matter of fact every realization your going through was kind of like mine.

I've noticed there are lots on SB that discourge people from moving up the pro ladder. If someone wants to take DM just so they get the card, more power to them. If they want to take DM because they only want to assist with classes, great. Or if they want to move up the instructor program, then great. If they meet the requirements and finish the work then congrats to them. It's a personal choice what everyone wants to do with it.

Thanks for the encouragement. Just to clarify, I'm not JUST doing this to become a better diver, but even if that was my sole purpose, I think it is legitimate and effective (at least for me). At any rate, I agree with you 100% and I really like your broader point about respecting personal choices and opinions. That gets lost around here sometimes.

 

[Peter Guy]

And IDCSI wrote

When someone enters the DM program, they have already been through basic training. There is a certain skill level that is presumed (and tested) that lays the foundation for more advanced skills & knowledge development.

"Basic training?" Should not "they have already been through" truly advanced training prior to beginning to learn how to be a DM -- not just "basic training?" My question is, WHERE in the PADI DM program is the "presumed" diving skill level described -- and where is it "tested?" To the extent I have a complaint about the PADI "professional" program it is that I don't believe there is any set level of "diving skill" that is required OR ever tested. If I am wrong here, I'd love to be corrected.

Note -- the best analagous program with which I've been involved was the PSIA program which certified me to be a ski instructor. PRIOR to being allowed to enter the training to be a ski instructor I was (we all were) "tested" in our actual skiing ability in real life conditions. This didn't mean we had to be great skiers but there WAS an evaluation of our actual skiing ability PRIOR to being "admitted" into the instructional program where we learned how to teach skiing.

Why isn't that done with learning how to be a "dive professional?"

 

[SubMariner]

And IDCSI wrote

"Basic training?" Should not "they have already been through" truly advanced training prior to beginning to learn how to be a DM -- not just "basic training?" My question is, WHERE in the PADI DM program is the "presumed" diving skill level described -- and where is it "tested?" To the extent I have a complaint about the PADI "professional" program it is that I don't believe there is any set level of "diving skill" that is required OR ever tested. If I am wrong here, I'd love to be corrected.

Note -- the best analagous program with which I've been involved was the PSIA program which certified me to be a ski instructor. PRIOR to being allowed to enter the training to be a ski instructor I was (we all were) "tested" in our actual skiing ability in real life conditions. This didn't mean we had to be great skiers but there WAS an evaluation of our actual skiing ability PRIOR to being "admitted" into the instructional program where we learned how to teach skiing.

Why isn't that done with learning how to be a "dive professional?"

Peter, your profile indicates that you achieved MSDT as a PADI Instructor. Then why the constant ranging against them? If you don't like their system, don't teach it. But to continuously berate their educational model because it doesn't meet your personal perception of what a diver needs to learn simply paints you as petty. At the minimum it's agency bashing; at the maximum it's unprofessional.

If you are a PADI Instructor then you have access to DM course materials. You can see for yourself how the course is laid out and what is required to earn a DM designation: knowledge development, watermanship, etc. Including the Skill Circuit and minimum scores required to pass in various sections of the course.

Are there Instructors who pass students in courses that don't deserve it? Absolutely. Are there Instructors out there that produce less-than-stellar divers? Yes. It happens in every agency. But there are and continue to be Instructors who are good teachers and good mentors that in turn create good divers at all levels, regardless of agency affiliation.

 

[Peter Guy]

SubM -- Yes, I am a PADI Instructor and I believe in the system which is why I stay with it. However, just because one believes in a system doesn't mean that one can't also believe it couldn't be better. Heck, I've even had a senior Course Director tell me he wishes the training of the PADI Professionals was more rigorous and has said so to people at PADI.

BTW, I don't believe I do "constantly berate the educational model" but I do question it at times -- generally as to WHY something is, or is not, done. Don't you ever question things?

 

[rlynch]

i just took the PADI DM exams (both sections) with a pass first time out. I did not find it hard, nor any reason to study expecially for it, as long as you finish the elearning, and look through the materials in the crew pack, and think like PADI does when it comes to wording of the question.
Compaired to a GUE fundimentals written test (which is shorter with a higher pass % bar) i found the DM test easier overall, in both pratical application areas and dive physics & theory.

YMMV though with the test.