PADI OW Final Exam Questions that are either wrong or just bad

[Lorenzoid]

Whether the shop you received the cylinder from put a sticker on it or not does not really matter...Typically when one picks up a NITROX cylinder one has either requested in advance a certain mix (even if that was a standard mix of 32% or 36%) or the shop mentions the O2% sometime between handing over the cylinder and the client walking off with it.

-Z

But in the case of the exam question being referred to in this thread, that "the shop you received the cylinder from put a sticker on it" for your benefit is exactly what the exam question is assuming. So, for the purpose of providing the answer PADI believes is correct, it does matter.

As I said in a previous post, I would not compare my analysis with anything on a sticker that I may find on my tank indicating someone previously analyzed it; rather, I would ask myself whether my analysis reveals an O2 percentage of approximately what I expected, and if it is, I would fill out my own tank sticker.

 

[tursiops]

I would ask myself whether my analysis reveals an O2 percentage of approximately what I expected,

How did you know what to expect? Isn't a sticker put there by the blender a good clue?

I would fill out my own tank sticker.

Of course. Unless it is the same info as the sticker already on the tank....why replace it?

 

[Lorenzoid]

4. After analyzing enriched air, you should compare the oxygen percent with:
a. the blender's guideline
b. the percentage marked on the contents sticker or tag
c. the calibration percent
d. None of the above

I would probably have gotten this question correct by ruling out the least likely choices, but the question really wouldn't have made sense to me UNLESS I had read the course material and surmised that that is what the question was referring to--what you do when you find yourself in one of those "some cases" in which "the sticker or tag may already be partially completed."

"Stickers, Tags, Decals and the Fill Log
After analyzing the cylinder contents, compare your analysis with the contents tag or sticker on the cylinder. In some cases, the sticker or tag may already be partially completed, and you verify and finish filling it out. At a busy blending station, you may fill it out entirely and attach it to your cylinder."

Could they not improve the clarity of the question by prefacing it with, "You received a tank having a partially filled-in Nitrox analysis sticker." Voila.

 

[Zef]

But in the case of the exam question being referred to in this thread, that "the shop you received the cylinder from put a sticker on it" for your benefit is exactly what the exam question is assuming. So, for the purpose of providing the answer PADI believes is correct, it does matter.

As I said in a previous post, I would not compare my analysis with anything on a sticker that I may find on my tank indicating someone previously analyzed it; rather, I would ask myself whether my analysis reveals an O2 percentage of approximately what I expected, and if it is, I would fill out my own tank sticker.

And that is pretty much what PADI is teaching/expecting. From the course material/manual:

"After analyzing the cylinder contents, compare your analysis with the contents tog or sticker on the cylinder. In some cases, the sticker or tag may already be partially completed, and you verify and finish filling it out. At a busy blending station, you may fill it out entirely and attach it to your cylinder. "

For the purpose of the PADI Enriched Air Diver certification course, the assumption that PADI uses is that the shop filling the cylinder is going to somehow provide information on what they put in the cylinder...be that tag, a sticker, a log, whatever. In real life you may get a cylinder with a pretty green and yellow sticker on it or you may get a cylinder with piece of duct tape on it where you mark it with a sharpie....or you may just get the cylinder.

The idea is that one should have at least an assumption of what is in the cylinder to compare their analysis to.

PADI can't teach to every possible iteration that may be dreamed up in the real world for how any and all the shops on the planet will conduct business, so they instead provide a basis for a certain degree of knowledge for a diver to safely obtain and use an EAN mix or question the mix...which should lead to safe outcome.

In the end we seem to be in vehement agreement on the subject, just approaching it from different angles...you from the real world and me from the basis of the course material.

Cheers,
-Z

 

[Subcooled]

I was reviewing the PADI OW final exam questions with my girlfriend and IMHO there are 3 or 4 poorly worded questions or the answers are simply wrong.

One of them shows a still image with a diver giving a hand signal with a horizontal hand across the chest. The answer - in my opinion- should be "stay at this depth" and yet the "correct" answer was "out of air". I don't recall seeing anything remotely close to a single finger slicing across the neck which is the correct signal for that.

It depends on where this sign is shown: in front of you in a calm manner or at your throat.
Everyone of us knows the correct answer as PADI does not teach the "keep this depth" sign - for obvious reasons.

The second was a question about ground terrain affecting which factor of a dive, the "supposedly correct" answer was "visibility". Visibility won't be affected unless whatever the material the bottom consists of is stirred up.

Wrong.
If it rains, the terrain will have an effect. Runoff...
If there are lots of tannis in the water (again the terrain...) then visibility is affected.
I have suffered the effects of both.

The third was in reference to the proper procedure if you run out of air. My choice- considered to be incorrect- was to use your buddy's air and ascend normally would be my choice

Yes. Although an empty tank is more than enough to cater you with air for a slow ascent from 60 feet.
I've done it actually, and with far less than 80 cuft.

the "correct" answer refers to an emergency procede which I believe was presented as "controlled emergency ascent".

PADI thinks every OOA situation is an emergency, does it not?
What is the difference between using your buddys air to ascend normally, and a controlled emergency ascent? Aren't they the same???

It's NOT an emergency unless the other buddy is low on gas too

for you.

 

[Lorenzoid]

How did you know what to expect? Isn't a sticker put there by the blender a good clue?

Of course. Unless it is the same info as the sticker already on the tank....why replace it?

I knew what to expect because I decided to do a dive using EAN32, and so I would expect the measured O2 percentage to be around 32. It has nothing to do with what any sticker may or may not say. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but my expectations aren't guided by what the guy at the fill station said--they're guided by my dive plan.

IF there were already a sticker in place, and IF I understood it had been put there and filled out by the guy at the fill station for my benefit, then no, I wouldn't necessarily "replace" the sticker, but I would preferably write in my own analysis result on the sticker if it differed from what was written there, and certainly add my initials to the sticker and otherwise "complete" the "partially completed" sticker, which is what Zef's quoted section of the course materials reveals the question is actually asking.

 

[Zef]

I would probably have gotten this question correct by ruling out the least likely choices, but the question really wouldn't have made sense to me UNLESS I had read the course material and surmised that that is what the question was referring to--what you do when you find yourself in one of those "some cases" in which "the sticker or tag may already be partially completed."


Could they not improve the clarity of the question by prefacing it with, "You received a tank having a partially filled-in Nitrox analysis sticker." Voila.

The expectation is that one has read the course material....that is why the course material is provided. It is also one of the study questions at the end of the section that discusses this.

The PADI exams are not about what is the best answer for a free thinking individual with lots of experience and presented with a challenge in the real world....the exams are about taking someone with no experience, providing them a very basic level of knowledge in the context of a specific course of instruction, and testing the student's/certification candidate's ability to recall that specific information from the course.

Is that the best way to teach, train, test? If one was to say no, you would not get an argument from me....but that is how PADI has chosen to go about training/educating those who engage in PADI courses. There is ample argument in past discussion threads as to whether PADI courses are adequate or not...that is not the basis for this thread's discussion. If one want's a different pedagogical approach to their diving education/training then one should research what the different agencies offer and how they go about educating/training and then choose the one that is a better fit.

-Z

 

[Lorenzoid]

And that is pretty much what PADI is teaching/expecting. From the course material/manual:

I understand, man. All I am getting at--and I sense this is the source of the OP's frustration--is that the specific answer PADI is looking for wouldn't be immediately apparent unless one had read the course material/manual.

I believe when we who did not take the course try to answer the questions, we are more likely than someone who studied the course materials to choose an incorrect answer, even though our dive practices may be well accepted. It doesn't bother me. It did seem to bother the OP.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The expectation is that one has read the course material....that is why the course material is provided. It is also one of the study questions at the end of the section that discusses this.

The PADI exams are not about what is the best answer for a free thinking individual with lots of experience and presented with a challenge in the real world....

I myself understand that. But I suspect the OP of this thread is exactly the kind of "free thinking individual with lots of experience" you refer to. I have been trying to direct my replies at what the OP may have been thinking in starting this thread.

 

[gamon]

Your experience has no bearing on the pedagogic basis for PADI's course material or exam. The question on the exam that you have paraphrased is right from the study questions in the Enriched Air Diver manual:

4. After analyzing enriched air, you should compare the oxygen percent with:
a. the blender's guideline
b. the percentage marked on the contents sticker or tag
c. the calibration percent
d. None of the above

The correct answer for this question on this exam is "b"...the rational culled directly from the course material is as follows:


Your experience is great, but it has no bearing on the course and its exam.

-Z

That's not the answer choices I saw- there was one comparing the analysis to the maximum depth to the blend which I felt was the correct answer (another member posted answers that were more inline with what I read).

Regardless, the PADI course and exam question pertaining to this particular topic has little to no correlation with real life.