IFC

[Roy Ketley]

I am booked on the IFC 13/11/04, Any info on what to expect and what preparation I should do?

[steve anderson]

Best advice is to turn up with an open mind.

The IFC is only a course, so there is nothing required for you to prepare before the event. You will need pen & paper for notes and you will need pool equipment (mask, fins, snorkel, Bc, cylinder and reg and anything else you commonly use during a pool session)

Everything else you need you will be informed of at the event.

Watch, learn and above all else, enjoy

Steve

[Khaled Alwassia]

I am booked on the IFC 13/11/04, Any info on what to expect and what preparation I should do?

Hello,
I just completed the course a week ago. If you bring a digital camera with you then you can make a record of the presentation stule used by your NI for the different parts of the course.
I found that helpful as a reference for later perperation of the TIE.

Go to a stationary shop and get some coulours flash cards.
Maybe 10 in 4 coulours and a black marker pen. That will help you with your theory presentation especially if the training venue is far away from home or the course runs late like mine.

For the pool session bring a slate or a water book with you to note the details of what you will teach.

As i did not bring my own equipment i had some problems as i was not familiar with it. But is was not a major deal.

Hope that helps.

Khaled

[dano]

I used the BSAC powerpoint cd rom that went down well
Cheers
James

:=I am booked on the IFC 13/11/04, Any info on what to expect and what preparation I should do?

Hello,
I just completed the course a week ago. If you bring a digital camera with you then you can make a record of the presentation stule used by your NI for the different parts of the course.
I found that helpful as a reference for later perperation of the TIE.

Go to a stationary shop and get some coulours flash cards.
Maybe 10 in 4 coulours and a black marker pen. That will help you with your theory presentation especially if the training venue is far away from home or the course runs late like mine.

For the pool session bring a slate or a water book with you to note the details of what you will teach.

As i did not bring my own equipment i had some problems as i was not familiar with it. But is was not a major deal.

Hope that helps.

Khaled

[David Walker]

I used the BSAC powerpoint cd rom that went down well

Be careful using it for the TIE - they really don't have very much detail on the slides considering you are doing a lecture based on a small portion of the overall lecture. It affects some more than others though. Especially for the TIE which you get 2 weeks to prepare for, it just looks like people haven't bothered to put very much effort into it.

David

[Richie N]

David, Do you have to take the whole exam again, say if you do well and pass the lecture but fail the written exam? If so, would the lecture topic be different or would just the written exam be re-sat, assuming this was the bit the student failed.

Just taken mine and felt, the lecture was good but the written I may have bombed as I had to guess more than I would of liked.

cheers,
Rich.

[Khaled Alwassia]

the written I may have bombed as I had to guess more than I would of liked.
cheers,
Rich.

Rich,
I do not have an answer to question, but possibly you could help me in the perparation to the TIE.
The question in the theory exam to which level where they?
Same as on the Dive Leader exam or higher. Do you remember any question which you felt was difficult.

Any Feedback is highly appreciated and i hope that your gues work did the job.

Khaled

[Richie N]

I do not have an answer to question, but possibly you could help me in the perparation to the TIE.
The question in the theory exam to which level where they?
Same as on the Dive Leader exam or higher. Do you remember any question which you felt was difficult.

Any Feedback is highly appreciated and i hope that your gues work did the job.

Khaled

The paper is geared to DL level but personally I felt it was much more difficult than the straight forward DL paper. The range of topics include seamanship, human physiology, BSAC tables, in particular levels 1-4, Dive Planning and general knowledge on teaching situations. Compass navigation crops up too.

The questions are very, very varied and test your general to the full. Know your tables as these account for many question that will be asked. 60 question in 1 hour - so you cant hang around too much.

As for the lecture - it can depend on the topic but basically I would say, keep it simple, clear and informative, involve your 'class' with questions/handouts etc, and remember to plan a summary to bring everything together at the end. If questions are asked by the floor (and the examiners will ask several questions) answer if you can but if you cant, dont 'make up' an answer, they would rather you say you are not sure, and will get back to them later.

Good luck.
Rich.

[David Walker]

David, Do you have to take the whole exam again, say if you do well and pass the lecture but fail the written exam? If so, would the lecture topic be different or would just the written exam be re-sat, assuming this was the bit the student failed.

If you do fail one part of it you only need to retake that part. The TIE is basically two different events, just that just about everyone always does it together, and they're on the same day in the same location. No idea about lecture topics, i'd assume they'd change but I'm not certain.

I *believe* though that they only have one possible paper for the TIE, so that might be the same, but again I could be wrong.

David

[David Walker]

60 question in 1 hour - so you cant hang around too much.

Bear in mind though that a lot of the questions are simple "you either know it or you don't" type, and they take no time at all. Don't start with the idea you have to rush to get it finished, I'd gone through all the questions within the first 20 miutes, although I did stay a bit longer to check what i'd done (just because I always do, I only changed one answer that i misread the first time around).

As for the lecture - it can depend on the topic but basically I would say, keep it simple, clear and informative,

Most importantly, re-read what was given to you on your IFC. There's only 4 parts of the essential criteria, and if you get them then you're sorted. Anything else is good to have, but focus on the essential criteria, and as long as you don't make any big mistakes then that should be fairly simple.
If you're not sure about anything, practice it to some instructors in your branch and get some constructive feedback.

David

[PeteM]

:=As for the lecture - it can depend on the topic but basically I would say, keep it simple, clear and informative,

Most importantly, re-read what was given to you on your IFC. There's only 4 parts of the essential criteria, and if you get them then you're sorted. Anything else is good to have, but focus on the essential criteria, and as long as you don't make any big mistakes then that should be fairly simple.
If you're not sure about anything, practice it to some instructors in your branch and get some constructive feedback.


And don't try and cover too much. I think the lecture is 10 minutes but the subject you will be given could potentially cover a lot longer than that. You are better off covering part of the subject properly rather than skiming the whole thing. I had "adverse affects of gases" but did the lecture on nitrogen narcosis ignoring things like O2 toxicity, CO2, CO etc. and was commended for doing so

[Allan Goodwin]

:=David, Do you have to take the whole exam again, say if you do well and pass the lecture but fail the written exam? If so, would the lecture topic be different or would just the written exam be re-sat, assuming this was the bit the student failed.

If you do fail one part of it you only need to retake that part. The TIE is basically two different events, just that just about everyone always does it together, and they're on the same day in the same location. No idea about lecture topics, i'd assume they'd change but I'm not certain.

I *believe* though that they only have one possible paper for the TIE, so that might be the same, but again I could be wrong.

David

As you state, these two elements stand in their own right. They are almost always held on the same day simply because of logistics.
The TIE and the Theory Exam are two of the three assessed modules needed to be awarded Open Water Instructor - the third being the PIE (Practical Instructor Exam).
These three can be taken in any order, and once someone has passed one part, that's that part 'ticked off', regardless of the other two elements.
On applying for a TIE, each candidate get a lesson topic taken from a list; they get the next topic on the list. If they fail at that time and apply to take the exam again, then they MIGHT get the same topic again by pure chance - but the odds are against it.
The Theory Exam Paper - I don't want to give any 'secrets' away, but ........
if someone failed the paper and then limited their preparation for a re-sit based on the assumption that they would get that same paper again - then they would almosr certainly be disappointed !
I hope this helps. Let me know if anyone needs any further information.
Allan Goodwin (OWI Chief Examiner)

[Richie N]

[Allan Goodwin]

Well done, Richie !