PADI AOW

[GrafCanuck]

Looking at doing the PADI AOW certification while down in Bonaire next month. I understand that there are 2 mandatory dives - deep and navigation. The other 3 dives are electives. The LDS has informed me that I need to purchase the educations materials (aka AOW manual) through PADI. I have a chance to purchase the AOW manual/kit from a recent AOW grad and it's less than half of the PADI price. Note that I prefer the manual vs. the PADI online option.

Any reasons why I can't go this route in an effort to save money. Not certain if PADI is tracking, etc.

Thanks

 

[JackD342]

PADI standards are each student has to own their own copy of the book (or eLearning program)
The Knowledge Reviews are to be completed in the book on the original pages by the student, not photocopied. Instructor is to verify this completion during review and remediation of the Knowledge Reviews.
Student does not need to own their own copy of the video, but does need to view it.

 

[GrafCanuck]

PADI standards are each student has to own their own copy of the book (or eLearning program)
The Knowledge Reviews are to be completed in the book on the original pages by the student, not photocopied. Instructor is to verify this completion during review and remediation of the Knowledge Reviews.
Student does not need to own their own copy of the video, but does need to view it.

Thanks for your response. How would either PADI or the LDS know if the manual is their own copy or purchased second hand?

 

[TMHeimer]

I think the key is the Knowledge Review original pages thing. This insures that PADI sells materials directly to everyone. That apparently is their biggest way of making money. When I took the (classroom) course in 2005, we all bought our manuals, did the knowledge reviews on the original pages. Then Xeroxed them and handed them to our instructor to go in our file. The feeling was that we wanted to keep the original filled out KRs in our books to review later on. I suppose the instructor knew we all bought the book to begin with. And of course, it was an up to date manual at the time (there are a lot of outdated manuals floating around out there, and as with everything, things change all the time--wordings, etc.--and that is a big no-no).
I suppose if you found a used up to date manual without anything filled in on the KR pages PADI may not know/the instructor may not know/the shop owner may not know. Or, some or none of the preceding.

 

[JackD342]

If you find a discount current book with intact blank Knowledge Review pages, that will pass standards.

Now, expect some of the usual others to soon weigh in telling you to either shop around for an instructor willing to ignore standards by using photocopies, or to pressure your chosen instructor to do so.

I have explained the actual standards, and personally do not condone seeking to deprive anyone of the compensation they are rightfully due for their work and/or their products. PADI is first and foremost an educational company, and the academic materials are the lifeblood of the business.

 

[TMHeimer]

If you find a discount current book with intact blank Knowledge Review pages, that will pass standards.

Now, expect some of the usual others to soon weigh in telling you to either shop around for an instructor willing to ignore standards by using photocopies, or to pressure your chosen instructor to do so.

I have explained the actual standards, and personally do not condone seeking to deprive anyone of the compensation they are rightfully due for their work and/or their products. PADI is first and foremost an educational company, and the academic materials are the lifeblood of the business.

As an author/composer, I agree with your view of not depriving anyone of compensation. Also agree that if someone happens find a blank discount/used manual, it had to at some point be purchased from PADI. This is more of a grey area. People are still selling some of my father's 14 books used online (mostly novels) and he passed away in 1971.

 

[GrafCanuck]

Thanks Tom and Jack for your views and feedback.

 

[drbill]

While on a 3-month SCUBA/backpacking trip around the Pacific, too many PADI instructors had no clue what my Los Angeles County c-card meant. I'd been diving longer than most of them had been alive! When I got to Cairns, the PADI instructor there not only knew what the LAC card allowed me to do, he called it a museum piece and gave me the AOW cert for the cost of materials. It seems PADI needs to instill in their instructors a better sense of diving history and certification agencies so they recognize certs from other agencies. Heck, PADI didn't even come into existence until four years after I started diving.

 

[tursiops]

If you find a discount current book with intact blank Knowledge Review pages, that will pass standards.

It must be the current version, which has a chapter on Thinking Like a Diver. Earlier versions will not suffice.

 

[GrafCanuck]

Yes it is the 2016 version. I believe based on my research is the most current version and it does contain a chapter entitled Thinking Like a Diver. Thanks.