What's the hardest class you have taken, and what made it hard?

[TSandM]

Herpes is about the only thing I would worry about with regulator sharing, and that only if the person had an active outbreak in proximity to the regulator. I looked for information on herpes virus survival; it's very brief on dry surfaces and in chlorinated water, like pools or hot tubs. It's several hours in a moist environment. I could not find anything on the efficacy of simple rinsing (as would occur while a reg was being passed from one diver to the other) as a mechanism for getting rid of the virus. I think it's reasonable to be reluctant to do gas-sharing drills with someone with an active cold sore.

Can we get back to the original topic now, please?

 

[Mayor]

Wow, you people are really giving this guy who learned how to swim a hard time. I applaud him for learning how to swim through diving and being honest about it. I'd much rather dive with someone who is honest about their capabilities then someone who feels they are the best at everything. Be nice people. Diving is supposed to be fun and you are supposed to learn from your experiences.

Again, it's the low standards set buy some programs. How could you have any SCUBA class without a timed swim test. I'm glad the guy learned to swim and reach his goals. I have the upmost respect for that. My issues are with the training or lack of. Go dive with a well trained diver from UTD or GUE and it becomes clear what's missing.

 

[k ellis]

Again, it's the low standards set buy some programs. How could you have any SCUBA class without a timed swim test. I'm glad the guy learned to swim and reach his goals. I have the upmost respect for that. My issues are with the training or lack of. Go dive with a well trained diver from UTD or GUE and it becomes clear what's missing.

so if i did not tell you that I was PADI certified and you dove with me how are you not sure I would at this point in time make you mthink I was trained by UTD or GUE? Would you be able to tell a diver apart just by seeing how well of a diver they are NOW and not how good of a diver they were before they could swim???

 

[Mayor]

Part of the basic 5 has a modified S Drill. We tend to do S-Drills with full donation and the OOA diver just holds the reg in front of theirs. In classes we had to donate all the time without any issues. If you really need the air will you take the chance? Count me in because I like air.

 

[Mayor]

so if i did not tell you that I was PADI certified and you dove with me how are you not sure I would at this point in time make you mthink I was trained by UTD or GUE? Would you be able to tell a diver apart just by seeing how well of a diver they are NOW and not how good of a diver they were before they could swim???

I really don't understand what your asking. Can I tell a GUE or UTD diver from the rest, yes. Only by seeing them in the water and looking at their gear choices. I was trying to get this tread back on track but I guess we want to focus on this. Also never mentioned who certified you.

 

[Hepcat62]

The hardest class I've ever taken was GUE Fundies. There are two main reasons why it was so hard...

1) I switched to a new, much heavier, set of doubles right before the class, and I was still rather new to doubles before that.
2) I had pre-decided that it was to be the hardest class I've ever taken.

I had excellent instructors, who were extraordinarily helpful. By the end of the class, I was so wrapped up in my feelings of incompetence that incompetent performance became a foregone conclusion. A month, a few fun dives, and two days of practice later I finished the class and had a lot of fun doing it! Sometimes a positive attitude really DOES make a difference.

 

[Adobo]

Again, it's the low standards set buy some programs. How could you have any SCUBA class without a timed swim test. I'm glad the guy learned to swim and reach his goals. I have the upmost respect for that. My issues are with the training or lack of. Go dive with a well trained diver from UTD or GUE and it becomes clear what's missing.

Humility?

 

[k ellis]

I really don't understand what your asking. Can I tell a GUE or UTD diver from the rest, yes. Only by seeing them in the water and looking at their gear choices. I was trying to get this tread back on track but I guess we want to focus on this. Also never mentioned who certified you.

Ok to Ill leave it with this. How do you know a well seasoned non GUE or UTD diver who say has been diving 30 years and just so happens to like the same gear as the forementioned likes. Would you know immediately they were not the forementioned? Now with that in mind I am going to close out my arguement on this and not comment further on it. This is already off track enough and this debate really has no winning or loosing details in it for either.

 

[TSandM]

Guys, could we please get back to the original question?

Some classes are easy because you don't have to reach any particular standard to pass. Some are harder because the standard to pass is high. Even if the standard is high, if the class is well-designed and the instructor is good, passing should be within the reach of most students. The post that triggered me posting this thread had to do with the idea that the fact that a class is HARD may reflect on an unrealistic timeline, an instructor who isn't focused on helping and teaching, but more on evaluating, poorly selected prerequisites, or other things that have little to do with the content of the course. That's why I started the thread -- I wanted to find out if people had any commonalities to the classes they found difficult.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

GUE-F was certainly my hardest course. Mostly because there was a lack of constructive feedback on how to improve. Part of that came from taking the class in a location where rapid feedback was not possible, part of it was being somewhat shortchanged on hours, and part of it may just have been a difference in expectations about teaching/learning styles. The net result was coming out without a clear path forward that lead to months of ineffective practice. Interestingly some things like the back kick spontaneously appeared on their own six or more months later. The back kick along with a number of other things were good things to learn. The high standards and academic content were commendable. I would be hard pressed to say it was an effcient way to learn.