Jay giving his confined water presentation during the IE.
Today is a big day for me doing the IE—a confined water presentation, 5 skill circuit, PADI standards exam, and a knowledge presentation. There were times where I was nervous, but most of the time I was fairly relaxed. Possibly because of my renewed way of thinking about things—train hard and just do the best you can, not worrying about things. It’s easier said than not, but, really, I asked myself, why am I worrying? Before, during the IDC training, I was quite stressed and nervous. I strongly believe that had a negative affect on my performance during the IDC training. Now, I can only do my best.
The first evaluation everyone had to do was the confined water presentations. Everyone had a different skill they had to present and “teach”. My skill was breathing underwater without a mask for one minute. The skill though involved a sub-skill of removing and replacing a mask underwater. Mask removal and replacement underwater was separate skill and I wasn’t sure if I should combine it with my skill. Normally, instructors combine the skills, this just meant more work for me.
When it was my turn to present, I was slightly nervous. For every skill taught by a candidate, the examiner assigns the “students” problems they will have during the presentation. For my confined water presentation, the problems I had to notice and correct were Caroline replacing her mask upside down and Ivan spitting his regulator out of his mouth. Surprisingly, I got a 4.8 out of 5 on my presentation—the highest I’ve ever scored on a confined water presentation.
Next we all needed to role-model demonstrate 5 different skills in the pool—equipment replacement at surface, hovering, controlled emergency swimming ascent, regulator recovery, and mask removal and replace. I’ve always had issues doing these skill during the IDC and so practiced them a lot before—there are 20 total skills to learn. Surprisingly, I got a perfect 5 out of 5 score on all my skills. I’m starting to feel more confident in my skills which makes me less stressed. I’m actually starting to enjoy the IE.
The next evaluation we had to do was our knowledge presentation in the classroom. My topic was showing the class how to find the maximum amount of time a diver can stay underwater (air permitting) after doing a dive using the Electronic Recreational Dive Planner (eRDP). My presentation went fairly well but it wasn’t as smooth as my presentations during the IDC. Regardless, I still got the highest grade I’ve ever gotten on the knowledge presentation—4.7 out of 5.
The last thing we had to do for the day was take a PADI Standards exam. It was an open book, 50 questions, no makeup exam. The PADI Standards though are the skeleton of the PADI system of education. It is what defines PADI. After taking the exam, I was quite nervous and concerned about how I did on it. There were a lot of questions with awkward wording where I wasn’t too confident in my answer. I got 90% correct on my exam, far better than I expected.
Low tide in Sabang Beach. Why do I have so many pictures of this?
By 5 PM, I finished with all the exams for the day. It was exhausting, but I remained still fairly relaxed about things. I’m actually enjoying my times taking the IE because I get to interact with others colleagues and my scores are making me feel more confident in my abilities.
Before, I was the only student in the IDC prep course. While I learned a lot during that course, I’ve learned that having other peers in your class helps a lot with overall enjoyment, stress, and learning. I’m not sure if I would have learned more or less though. But, it’s good to see where you stand overall by comparing yourself to other colleagues. It’s good to know that others shared the same problems I had during my IDC training.
- jason
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