Padi Open Water Final Exam Questions

[Leroy Turcios]

Intheory, an expert diver should be writing this post. Logically, he or she could tell you what to expect, give you insider tips and prepare you for the challenge ahead. That said, I have one distinct advantage over the experts: I know exactly how hard it is for nervous first-timers.

You will find the practical side of diving much easier if you read through the theory first. Your dive centre will supply you with a book comprising five different chapters. If you can confidently answer the tests within the chapters and the knowledge reviews at the end of each, you will likely pass the exam without difficulty.

Depending on your learning style, it is possible to blitz through chapters 1-3 on one night and 4-5 on the second. Naturally, if you have more time to play with, then feel free to split up the studying even further. You can also choose the eLearning option. This may be provided by your dive centre as standard, or you can choose to self-learn before beginning the practical course.

You must complete four open water dives in order to pass the course. Dive 1 will orientate you, get you comfortable with the scuba gear and test a few of the above skills. Dives 2 and 3 will rigorously test the above skills while Dive 4 is usually a more relaxed affair allowing you to use and enjoy your newly developed skills.

The PADI Open Water Diver Certification course is the most basic level certification for any starting diver. It is a rigorous 3-day course that includes reading a 250-page textbook about the theory of diving (pressure, currents, safety scenarios, how to calculate body nitrogen levels, etc.), watching a 2.5 hr DVD, taking 4 quizzes, a 50-question final exam, 5 confined water dives, and 4 open water dives. With the certification, Irene and I have the privilege to rent scuba gear and dive independently without an instructor anywhere in the world. We can also descend to a maximum depth of 60 feet and my certification is lifelong and internationally recognized. It opens up a whole new door of opportunities and is a great investment.

On the first day of the course at 8am, Irene and I drove 20 minutes into the sleepy town of Grand Case on the French side. We had completed all the mini-review questions in the textbook and were ready to take the exam. For the past few days, we had studied together, quizzed each other, and answered each others questions. We were fortunate that we were the only two people in the class: just Irene and me, and Sally, the instructor and co-owner of Octopus Diving. We went over the key points for each of the five chapters, taking a 10-question quiz between each chapter. After we felt we were ready, we took a deep breath and attempted the 50-question final exam that would complete our academic portion of the course. We both passed with a 44/50, albeit each of us missing completely different questions.

Then on the third and last day of the course, we knew what to do and were confident going into the water. Irene bought an underwater camera to take pictures and videos with. For these dives, we knew we were going to really enjoy it. Like last time, we dived at Creole Rock and Turtle Reef. We learned a few more new skills, like navigating through the waters using a compass.

You need to answer questions about the basic principles of scuba diving, which shows that you know how to plan dives, choose the right scuba gear and understand underwater signals and diving procedures. You can learn this information in the PADI Open Water Diver Manual or by completing the PADI Open Water Diver eLearning course. Your instructor will demonstrate each skill for you and will get a chance to show you have learned the skills during your confined water dives. At the end of the course, you will take the final exam.

The Open Water Diver course consists of 3 major parts: theory, confined water, and open water dives. All parts must be successfully completed in order to obtain the most sought-after dive certification worldwide. Therefore, being great at theory and not so confident in water, or vice versa, is not a good start to your life as a diver.

Too many times I have seen students failing their theory exam, thinking the only one that matters is the practical part, intoxicated by the idea of swimming next to a shark or visiting a shipwreck. Remember, no good diver should ever ignore the basic rules of physics and physiology that your OWD course taught you!

Another important skill to master, definitely underrated, is the care of the equipment. In my experience as a dive guide, I have encountered certified divers that had no idea how to set up their own gear, because their instructor never taught them and they always did it for them. Wow! Learning how to set up and maintain your equipment, including after-dive care, is such an important skill that many diving agencies specify a minimum number of times you are required to perform this skill throughout your course. Would you buy a car, without knowing how to open the trunk or changing a light?

He is a professional Commercial Diver with Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS) Part 1-3 certified licenses, IMCA Dive Medic Technician (DMT) and Assistant Life Support Technician (ALST). He is currently working on material with us to help others in their professional careers.

We have recently produced an online exam prep course on the Teachable platform: which includes our downloadable guide with practise test questions, diving hand signals handout and an online quiz for $35.

An advanced scuba certification will allow you to dive deeper, introduce you to different diving environments, and help you to develop the skills you have learned in your Open Water course. Many dive sites are not accessible to divers who hold a mere OW certification as they lie below 18 m or require a special skill set to explore them comfortably and safely.

In addition, many liveaboards, a gateway to some of the best dive destinations in the world, will require a certain amount of logged dives and sometimes an Advanced Open Water.

This is not an easy question to answer. Chances are most dive centers will convince you to take your Advanced Open Water course immediately after your done with our OW. After all, this is how a dive center and a diving instructor make their money and the more certifications an instructor has under their belt the better for them.

Doing an advanced diving course is meant to give you a glimpse into different diving environments (i.e. wreck diving, drift diving) as well as hone the basic skills you have acquired during your Open Water course.

The setup for an SSI or PADI Advanced is pretty similar (and I imagine for the other agencies as well though I cannot speak for them with personal experience). In your course, you will do 5 open water dives which are so-called Adventure Dives.

These dives are equivalent to the first dive of any given specialty course thus you will gain a bit of knowledge in each of them. Mandatory is a deep dive as well as underwater navigation. You are free to choose the other 3 and this choice will depend on your interest, your instructor, and where you are diving.

There are not many prerequisites to get started with your Advanced Open Water. You do need to be a certified PADI Open Water Diver (or equivalent from another agency) or PADI Junior Open Water Diver.

To do your Junior Advanced Open Water you need to be at least 12 years old. Once certified you will be allowed to a depth of 21 m until you are 15 years old when your certification will be turned into an AOW and you can dip down to 30 m like the grown-ups.

The deep dive is especially important as it will show you how depth and increased pressure affect your body. You will notice that your air consumption may go up and that you may need to add a little more air to your BCD in order to stay neutrally buoyant.

Please note that you will be allowed to go to 30 m once you have completed your Advanced Open Water course. In order to go deeper, you will need to do the Deep Dive specialty course. The deep dive you are doing during your AOW can count towards it.

The other 3 Adventure Dives will depend on your interests, your location, and your instructor. A firm favorite for many is Peak Performance Buoyancy and for good reason. Buoyancy is one of the most important skills a diver should hone and this class will teach you some nifty tricks on how to get it just right. Mind you, practice makes perfect so your buoyancy will get better the more you dive but still, this specialty is a great place to start.

Alternatively, you can choose courses like Fish ID, Drift Diving, Search & Recovery, Digital Underwater Photography, and many more. As I said, check what is available and see what sounds interesting to you. The Advanced Open Water is not only a great course to gain some new skills but also to dip your toes into different areas of diving and see what you like and may want to get specialties in.

Both will include some theoretical knowledge development however there is no exam at the end of it. After you complete either of these courses you are what is commonly known as an Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW) and are allowed to dive to 30 m.

You can however combine the SSI Advanced Open Water and the SSI Advanced Adventurer. Either you can count the adventure dive towards the corresponding specialty or count one of the specialty dives as part of your Advanced Adventurer dives.

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