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What should you expect during your PADI Instructor Exams?
One of the most common questions during the PADI Instructor Development Course (PADI IDC) is “What happens at the PADI Instructor Exams (PADI IE)?” Here is some information on what to expect on your PADI Instructor Exams (PADI IE).
Ultimately scuba diving is fun, and teaching should be fun as well right?
During the PADI IE weekend, you will actually have a lot of fun. Aussie Divers Phuket’s intensive IDC program is designed to prepare you for the PADI Instructor Exams, and by the time you reach the IE weekend, you’ll be very well prepared to not only pass but also go on to teach with confidence. After multiple pool sessions and classroom presentation practice, there will be nothing you do with the PADI Examiner that you will have not already done countless times with us before.
Your PADI Instructor Exam Weekend is divided into 4 key areas
- Written Exams (Multiple Choice)
- Knowledge Development Presentation (Classroom presentation)
- Confined Water Presentation (Pool Skills)
- Open Water Presentation (Open Water Skills, including Rescue assessment)
PADI Written Exams
The written exams (multiple choice questions) possibly cause the most stress for a lot of PADI Instructor candidates, which is understandable if you haven’t done written exams for a while.
The written exams shouldn’t be stressful however, as a PADI Divemaster you should already have some good knowledge of Dive Theory, and after completing your 2-week Instructor Development Program you will be fully prepared for the PADI exams.
Dive theory is also an area in which you can start to prepare well in advance of starting your IDC. With the PADI Encyclopaedia of Diving, the PADI Dive Theory workbook and/or online theory practice.
Once you register for the PADI IDC with Aussie Divers we can give you access to the PADI Dive Theory learning and you can get started revising your theory straight away.
PADI Knowledge Development/Classroom Presentations
This part is easy, as it is simply chatting to your “students” about something you obviously love, diving, how hard is that!
The knowledge development part of your Examination Weekend will be about explaining to a student why they got a question wrong, and how to answer the question correctly.
You are not being examined on your knowledge of diving, but the PADI examiner wants to see that you understand the PADI system along with the teaching tricks that will help your students understand and remember what they are learning. During the exam you will only be expected to teach a topic for around 5 minutes and show the examiner that you are capable of teaching dive topics.
During the IDC you will deliver multiple classroom presentations without course director and staff instructors, on a number of topics, until teaching becomes natural to you.
Teaching Skills in Confined Water
With the PADI IE weekend, you will have to teach at least one skill in confined water. This is a skill that you will brief, demonstrate, correct any problems that your ‘students’ might have, control the class and debrief the skill. This will be done with the other IE candidates role-playing as your students, its a lot of fun.
You will also be required to simply demonstrate a PADI Skill circuit of 5 skills. The IDC program prior to the IE will prepare and develop your demonstration skills and woe on your briefing, problem-solving and debriefing ability.
Teaching Skills in Open Water
Teaching in Open Water is very similar to teaching in confined water, Brief the skill, do the skill and correct any problems, control the students in the water and debrief. You will have to teach 2 Open Water Skills during your PADI IE, again using the other IE candidates as your mock ‘students’.
Your rescue skills will also be assessed and you will be required to demonstrate your rescue ability with the Rescue Exercise 7 from the PADI Rescue Diver Course ( Unresponsive dive at the surface). Again all of these skills will be worked on and developed during your 2 week PADI IDC course.
