Ocean diver exam pass rate

[shellw]

I took my ocean diver exam last night and only just passed with has got me really miffed, I know a pass is a pass but I wanted to do really well.
I'm not a perfectionist or anything but just think from a saftey aspect I should have done better ( 7 wrong answers out of 30). What is the usual pass rate for 1st timers and are resits normal

[Woz]

We have loads of failures cos people don't do any revision and let themselves down on the basic facts.

[shellw]

I revised every day for the past week but tend to crumble in test/exam situations I was using the bsca interactive quiz and was getting 100% everytime

[Gordon]

What Woz said is true here too.


G

[Ed Howarth]

Hi shellw

Firstly, congratulations! Don't beat yourself up.

As you might have worked out by now, some of the questions in BSAC exams can be a little unclear and answers are not always black or white. Diving is a practical skill and there are few "Only do it this way" answers.

It is quite common for people to get 4 or 5 answers wrong just because they haven't really read or understood the questions correctly, or the questions are a bit obtuse. If this is the case with you, you might have only got 2 or 3 wrong because of a lack of knowledge. Hopefully, your instructor went through the paper with you after and you could, if you sat the paper tonight, get 100%. If that's the case, then you have gained knowledge and you are now a really safe diver. Result!

If you crumble in theory test conditions - no problem. You will find you rarely have to answer a written theory test when you are out diving.:D

I would say 23 out of 30 is not out of the ordinary for Ocean Diver. I bet you get a higher mark in your Sports Diver.

Ed

[shellw]

Thanks Ed I really appreciate your answer

[PeteM]

I revised every day for the past week but tend to crumble in test/exam situations

Ask to do a verbal test next time. Sitting in a quiet room with an instructor you know is a lot less stressful than a written exam and if that helps you it is worth doing.

Remember these exams are not like most exams you will have done up until now. Normally exams are checking how good you are, these are checking you have sufficient knowledge for something so it is in everyone's interest to de-stress you enough to get you through.

[Woz]

I revised every day for the past week but tend to crumble in test/exam situations I was using the bsca interactive quiz and was getting 100% everytimeIn that case I wouldn't worry about it. If you're rubbish in exams, then you can always ask the instructor about taking it a different way. Normally the time allocated is more than enough for you to go through the exam twice!

Also if you are a borderline pass (say you have failed by one or two) then I sit down with the candidate and go through their wrong answers in detail. Talking it through demonstrates extremely well the candidate's level of knowledge and sometimes it's enough justification for a mark to be awarded, especially if it's one of those annoying "B+C+E" answers which are often not easy to understand if you are flustered.

Just remember the instructors really want you to pass!

[Corker1209]

I took my ocean diver exam last night and only just passed with has got me really miffed, I know a pass is a pass but I wanted to do really well.
I'm not a perfectionist or anything but just think from a saftey aspect I should have done better ( 7 wrong answers out of 30). What is the usual pass rate for 1st timers and are resits normal


Well done and best of luck with the rest of the OD course..!

SC

[Richie N]

Hi there. Don't beat yourself up about it. Some of the best divers suffer in exams but excel in the practical. Most students that sit exams seem to be annoyed they only just passed or annoyed they never quite scored 100% - either way a pass is a pass. Incidentally the passmark is 24/30 in Ocean Diver? so not sure if your original post has an error or the examiner was extra lenient??

Nobody likes exams, i certainly appreciate that, when I'm setting them for students I get them in the right frame of mind by, if necessary setting them a 'mock' paper to get in the swing of things. Only when they are ready and I'm confident they will pass do I let them sit the actual paper - this generall applies to any grade up to AD.

History shows its those who generally don't revise, that will fail. I had a sports diver last year who crashed twice before finally taking the time to revise and then pass with a fair score.

The notes that come with the student packs are comprehensive and we encourage all students to swot up, continually throughout the course, I think its this ethos that helps our students pass first time in around 90% of the time.

Good luck with the rest of the course, but maybe in the future you can seek advice from your DO or TO to ask for such a paper in preparation? After all if it helps you revise and retain the info then they will have at least the knowledge your are serious about passing and getting on rather than being complacent and blaise (the type nobody wants in a club !).

[Nigel Hewitt]

If you're rubbish at exams and you passed you still passed.

We normally go through the wrong answers with the candidates that fail and you can tell at once if they really knew it but misunderstood the questions. If they passed I admit we don't bother.

So many people haven't done an exam in decades when they face OD so it can be a stress before they even look at the first question and we always bear that in mind.

Did you review the 7 you got wrong with you books? If you really got them wrong it might be worth a recap.

[shellw]

My instructor was really cool about it we went through the questions I got wrong and if I didn't understand at the time why they were wrong i.e silly mistakes or unclear questions I do now through explaination he has let me pass but I still kind of want to re take it anyway, guess I'm just a bit odd! x

[Ron MacRae]

.... guess I'm just a bit odd!

Yes, you certainly are odd. You have a strange compulsion to spend your time in a hostile environment that your body was never designed to deal with.:eek:

Welcome to the club.:)

Ron.

[Ed Howarth]

If the student is particularly nervous, we do a mock the week before. If they pass, I surprise them with a handshake and a signature. If they fail (or I think they haven't grasped some basic principles), we go over the weak areas and we do the real one next week. Invariably they easily pass, having left their nervousness behind.

Ed

[Mike Halligan]

Congratulations on your achievement. I fear that resits are far from unusual, for the reasons already stated here.

Ideally, every instructor wants every student to pass with flying colours. Some are hit with nerves, some didn't pay sufficient attention, some did no homework between lectures and some simply can't cope with the style of exam - especially on the OD exam as it's their first experience.

That is why we offer alternative ways of sitting the exam (it says so on either the paper or the answer sheet), run mocks which surprisingly become the real thing once passed, offer interactive tests, validate lessons with quiz after each, go through 'wrong' answers looking for understanding and have several versions of each exam.

We went through a period when our usual 80% first-time-pass rate was reversed, to 20%. This was when the self-tests were dropped from the syllabus (was it 1998?). We constructed our own replacements and the pass rate went right back to 80%. Even at 80% it still means that every fifth student has to resit. So don't worry, certainly don't beat yourself up, but do discuss with an experienced instructor any disappointment or fear right now, before it sinks to your sub-conscious.