Divemaster exam?

[k ellis]

Well I have set in on some of the new divemaster classes and its different then the way I was taught. It is a blast though once you get in to the water skills though and I am amazed to watch the candidates go through the skill requirements. Study the book and have fun learning. Dont fret too aweful much either as you will look back on it with the thought "That wasnt so bad now!"

 

[Deac in the Wake]

Thanks to all for clarifications. After I quit playing football, I never found an activity that possessed my mind and dedication until I went through OW training. That was it. I've always been very academically inclined and enjoy studying and testing and have enjoyed every single test and waterskills demonstrations scuba has required. The Rescue course will probably always be my favorite thanks to the instructors I had. So I figured moving to DM and onward is the next logical step. Thanks again.

 

[SubMariner]

I know this has been discussed and answered before so my apologies as I cannot find the answer via search. I am going to start prepping for PADI DM this summer and in addition to the great suggestions here and the linked thread above, I am simply going to work on swim tests and times based directly on the requirements in the DM manual.

To that end, PADI seems to equate meters and yards without making an allowance for times. If I am correct in that understanding, why would I ever want to do yards instead of meters? On the 400M swim, doing it in yards would add an extra almost 40 yards in distance without an allowance for time. I have read that this is dependent on the DM Instructor's discretion.

Frankly, unless you are doing the test in Canada (with an Instructor that was born after 1970) you will be doing everything "in Imperial", which means yards, feet, pounds, etc. IOW, this is a moot point in GA.

Additionally, if the swim skills require "non-stop" do candidates general swim in a pattern around the edge of the pool (i.e. always moving forward) or do they go wall-to-wall and reverse themselves back and forth?

This is purely dependent on where the confined water skills are conducted and how the Instructor overseeing the skill decides it should be performed. Don't forget that "confined water" means anything that has "pool like conditions", which means it can be a pond, quarry, or a lake as well a pool.

DM training is a big learning curve. Yes, there is a significant component of knowledge development, but also an awareness of improving one's skills & confidence level. Instructors do not expect you to be perfect first time out. Relax & enjoy the experience.

 

[Simon-]

Swim tests can also be carried out in the sea. Doesn't have to be confined water.

 

[Peter Guy]

DM training is a big learning curve. Yes, there is a significant component of knowledge development, but also an awareness of improving one's skills & confidence level.

If only I could believe this -- and if only it was true -- and if it IS true in a particular instance, how sad.

Am I the only instructor (and I know I am not) that believes someone who enters a DM program should already HAVE significant diving skills and be a confident diver? Nothing that I've seen in the PADI DM program has anything to do with improving one's diving skills -- and that is how it should be IMHO. The DM program should be all about learning how to be a DM -- how to work with students; how to lead divers; how to work with boats; etc., etc. and so forth.

Someone coming INTO the PADI DM program should be getting "3s" on each individual "skill" -- and through the DM program learn how to "demonstrate" those skills so that they are upped to "5s." And don't get me started on how someone needs to learn how to swim (for example) so that they can pass the DM watermanship tests (and I'm not talking about getting all 5s here -- I'm just talking about being able to comfortably pass the overall test). For crying out loud, if you aren't at that level of physicality then you need to rethink whether you are ready to even THINK about becoming a DM.

OK -- IF one's DM program actually DOES significantly increase one's diving skills, then what is being done in that program? Does the program have very high standards which really, in fact, sharpens the skills OF DIVING (for example, like an Intro-to-Tech program with actual, real, definable standards)? If that is what is being done in YOUR DM program, then congratulations for you have taken a solid diver and made them into a better one.

Hmmm, did I just have a bad night? Rant over.

 

[endurodog]

I will say the DM program made me a better diver, significantly better as Peter is talking about (Peter your the only one using that word), I don't know. I felt confident as a diver before but learning the skills at demonstration quality made me re-evaluate the way I do things that were learned 20 plus years ago. The knowledge developement stuff and reading the Encyclopedia I learned things about diving I didn't know.

I'm an instructor for several different things in my day job and each time I went through those instructor training courses it made me better at those skills also. It made me think about the way I did things and refreshed some things that I wasn't even thinking about.

With the swim test I hadn't swam laps in 25 years before I started the DM test. I ran, bike, do endurance events on dirtbikes and consider myself in good shape. But there is no way I could pass the swim test without doing some pool work to get ready for the tests. Had to relearn pace and using those muscles for longer swims again.

Now there is no way someone should start DM till they are confortable with their diving, but I think improvement at some level is to be expected from many that enter the program.

Just my take on it.

 

[k ellis]

And don't get me started on how someone needs to learn how to swim (for example) so that they can pass the DM watermanship tests (and I'm not talking about getting all 5s here -- I'm just talking about being able to comfortably pass the overall test). For crying out loud, if you aren't at that level of physicality then you need to rethink whether you are ready to even THINK about becoming a DM.

Thank God I learned after I started the course and only a few weeks before I had to pass the test. LOL I hurt so bad afterwords but I made it Also the instructor had to of had ear phones in LOL he never flinched at all my swearing

 

[Deac in the Wake]

If only I could believe this -- and if only it was true -- and if it IS true in a particular instance, how sad.

Am I the only instructor (and I know I am not) that believes someone who enters a DM program should already HAVE significant diving skills and be a confident diver? Nothing that I've seen in the PADI DM program has anything to do with improving one's diving skills -- and that is how it should be IMHO. The DM program should be all about learning how to be a DM -- how to work with students; how to lead divers; how to work with boats; etc., etc. and so forth.

Fantastic post. I can say from my own point of view, the one aspect of starting the "pro" side of diving is that I have embrace the fact that more than basic responsibilities for a recreational dive buddy, I will be responsible for the development and training of another diver. To me that goes well beyond BWFAR. If I'm making more of it than those who are instructors, that's fine. But to me taking on the responsibility for diver education is a tremendous responsibility and one I don't know if I'll ever be truly ready to take on. If moving through DM to instructor path takes me a few years, then it takes a few years. If I have a single doubt about my own skills, I would never be comfortable for developing another diver.

 

[SubMariner]

If only I could believe this -- and if only it was true -- and if it IS true in a particular instance, how sad.

Am I the only instructor (and I know I am not) that believes someone who enters a DM program should already HAVE significant diving skills and be a confident diver? Nothing that I've seen in the PADI DM program has anything to do with improving one's diving skills -- and that is how it should be IMHO. The DM program should be all about learning how to be a DM -- how to work with students; how to lead divers; how to work with boats; etc., etc. and so forth.

Someone coming INTO the PADI DM program should be getting "3s" on each individual "skill" -- and through the DM program learn how to "demonstrate" those skills so that they are upped to "5s." And don't get me started on how someone needs to learn how to swim (for example) so that they can pass the DM watermanship tests (and I'm not talking about getting all 5s here -- I'm just talking about being able to comfortably pass the overall test). For crying out loud, if you aren't at that level of physicality then you need to rethink whether you are ready to even THINK about becoming a DM.

OK -- IF one's DM program actually DOES significantly increase one's diving skills, then what is being done in that program? Does the program have very high standards which really, in fact, sharpens the skills OF DIVING (for example, like an Intro-to-Tech program with actual, real, definable standards)? If that is what is being done in YOUR DM program, then congratulations for you have taken a solid diver and made them into a better one.

Hmmm, did I just have a bad night? Rant over.

Yeah, you did have a bad night. You forgot that the program starts out with DIVEMASTERS IN TRAINING (DMs) or DIVEMASTER CANDIDATES (DMCs) not DIVEMASTERS. If there was no training program, then there would only be testing. But that of course begs the question "where do you LEARN to be a Divemaster?"

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. Figuratively speaking, one does not have to be Athena, springing fully formed from the head of Zeus to be a DMC, just a diving enthusiast with a drive towards bettering oneself.

By the end of the course you will either have the requisite skills & knowledge or you won't. The former leads to a DM rating; the latter doesn't.

 

[t-mac]

I'm working on my DM right now -- knowledge development tests on Saturday, in fact -- and this discussion is very interesting because some posts essentially question whether I should be doing this. One of the (several) reasons I wanted to do DM was in fact to become a better diver. That doesn't mean that I feel like I lack skills and I feel like DM coursework will give them to me. I'm curious what others think, but in other areas of my life I felt like the mastery occurred when I was put in the position of teaching someone else. I have only just started, but that is already happening and it is mostly from a change in perspective. While our buddy system and Rescue course put our focus on the people around us periodically, this is the first diving course I've taken where the complete focus is other people. For me, at least, this is the game-changer. It's not really about demonstration-quality mask clearing, it's about knowing something well enough to teach someone else. I have taught other things and I suspect that this process continues on up the instructor ranks. The best education for me comes from having to teach someone and I'm sure if I progress, I will become a better diver at every level -- and it will make me a better diver than I would have been if I had not gone further down the professional path, which has nothing at all to do with the actual instructor training.

It's also forced me to get my a@@ in the pool, which has been fantastic. I'm an avid runner with pretty good cardiovascular fitness, but getting in the pool was a bit of an eye-opener. I won't be getting 5s on everything, but I hope to come close because of the practice I've put in. That's something I wouldn't have done without the DM course to push me and I believe that because I am now a better swimmer, I am also a better diver -- better able to take care of myself, my buddy and hopefully someday soon those people for whom I am acting as a DM. It doesn't mean I was a bad diver before or that I was not in appropriate physical condition to dive or even rescue someone.

So, I guess my point is that I believe that becoming a DM does/can make you a better diver and that is a perfectly legitimate reason for doing it, even if that is not at all the point of the curriculum.