PADI IE - mission accomplished
Well, after over a year of planning and preparing, 10 days of IDC work and a 2 and a half day IE, I have finally got my Open Water Scuba Instructor licence. And boy, am I relieved about it. Whoever tells you that IE stands for “It’s Easy” must have had a very different exam than we had. It was pretty tough, and marked fairly, but very strictly.
We got to Koh Tao on Tuesday morning and settled in before our initial meeting with the examiners at 3pm. That lasted about an hour, and then we went straight into dive theory exams. They covered the usual 5 topics (Physics, Physiology, Equipment, Skills & Environment, and the Recreational Dive Planner), plus a 50-question open-book exam on PADI Standards. Some of the theory questions were pretty difficult, but I managed to find the answers in the Standards exam pretty quickly. I got 92%, 100%, 100%, 100% and 83% in my theory exams, and 98% in my Standards exam. So I came out of those pretty relieved, but satisfied with my performance. I was definately in no mood to get complacent though, as we had confined water presentations, a skill circuit and then a knowledge review presentation on the Wednesday afternoon. So Tuesday night was spent preparing for those presentations, and by about 2230 I was shattered and ready to call it a night.
Wednesday was a day of mixed fortunes. The confined water presentation went pretty well, with me getting 4.4 out of 5 - a good score, if not perfect. But it was enough to pass. On the mini skill circuit, we had to do the following skills: mask removal & replacement, fin pivot, regulator recovery & replacement, BCD removal and replacement, and a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent. All went well up until the CESA - as I was swimming along my knee touched the bottom a couple of times. The examiner saw this and consequently I was given a 2 for that skill and had to redo it. The pressure was on but the second time I made sure my buoyancy was spot on and I passed it. A slight brush with failure there but I managed to pass and live to fight until the afternoon. In the afternoon I had a knowledge presentation about emergency oxygen delivery systems. This type of presentation was my forte, and I was ready to impress. It came to my presentation and it went exactly as I’d planned, with me including everything I had wanted to. My presentation finished and then with a satisfied feeling I went to get my evaluation. What I got was a complete shock to me. I was told that my initial contact with the students was not elaborate enough, and so consequently I couldn’t score more than 1 out of 5 for the introduction. Then he said he didn’t like the way I was talking about the course generally, and that I should be more specific. My final mark was a meagre 3.7 out of 5. Now taking into account that the passing mark was 3.5, I had barely scraped through. I was in 2 minds about it though - in one mind I was annoyed that I’d got such a low score (I saved the lowest marks for the IE), but on the other hand I had scraped through and passed without needing a retake. So in the end I decided that I’d passed and I should be satisfied.
So then we got to today, and the open water presentation and resuce demonstration. My skills that I had to present were: using an alternate air course, and tying a sheet bend. The nerves couldn’t have been higher today as all our hopes were pinned on these last couple of hours of evaluations. I thought that my briefing went pretty well, and when we went into the water I didn’t notice myself making any major mistakes. If I had done something wrong, it had been pretty subtle. And then the debriefing went as flawlessly as I could manage. Everyone gave their presentations and then we were given our final evaluation marks. I was so relieved more than pleased when I’d got my mark, mainly because if I had failed I wouldn’t have been able to take the course again for at least another year. The pressure had definately been on, and I felt a huge weight taken off my shoulders when the examiner shook my hand. My only wish is that everyone in our course would have passed. One guy was doing well up until the open water evaluations. They made a couple of mistakes which got them automatic 1’s on both presentations. He was gutted, and we all felt for him. The other guy who failed had done so mainly due to a lack of preparation. He wasn’t the most confident person in the classroom, but knowing that he should had put more effort into that part of the course. He didn’t do so, and consequently failed. I also felt for him, although sympathy was pretty thin on the ground from other members due to the way he had treated the IDC.
So here we are - finally I’m a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, and my aim of getting a foothold in the diving industry has taken a big step forward today. It’s a strange feeling, as I thought I’d be more happy about it than I do. I suppose at the moment I just feel it’s a job well done, and it will sink in over the next few days. At this point I should definately give credit to my Course Director, Camille Lemmens, who has helped me over the past year by email and who ran an excellent IDC course. Without his help I certainly wouldn’t have been where I am today. I can highly recommend him to anyone who is thinking of doing an IDC in Thailand - I doubt you’ll find a friendlier and helpful guy. If you put the work in, he will do everything he can to make sure you succeed. Secondly, I’d like to thank a couple of people from Okinawa - Brian Parker (my friend, first & foremost, but also my instructor and mentor in Oki), and Heather Lilly. They’ve dived with me over the past year almost every week and I’ve learnt a hell of a lot from them both. Hopefully I can start to pay them back for their help now. And then I’ve got to mention Lindsey - a dive buddy and good friend who unfortunately won’t be able to see me as an instructor as she’s left the island. It’s a small world though and hopefully she won’t be a stranger for too long.
Well that’s it for now. Take care, dive safely, and I’ll be in touch again soon.
or Discuss this Article
Congratulations!!!!!
You are too hard on yourself, but I know you push yourself to excel. All the hard work paid off, and like with my accountancy exams, a pass is all that matters in the end, and it’s more of a relief than excitement when it turns out well.
Enjy the other courses, hope they go well.
Love Bim x