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

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I always loved the combination of OOA/OOG combined with "donate (to me) air/gas". Is the latter necessary?

 

[Wibble]

I always loved the combination of OOA/OOG combined with "donate (to me) air/gas". Is the latter necessary?

Is it mandatory to signal OOG before grabbing the mouthpiece from the donor?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Is it mandatory to signal OOG before grabbing the mouthpiece from the donor?

I have spoken to a number of folks who had their primaries ripped out of their mouths by an OOG diver who ran out of air/gas. They didn't signal anything.

So the answer is an emphatic no!

I have this comical image of a person holding their breath signaling repeatedly that they are OOG while the requested donor does nothing as they haven't been signaled donate air. I mean, if someone signals OOG and doesn't signal donate, they must not want a person to donate, right?

 

[tursiops]

Is it mandatory to signal OOG before grabbing the mouthpiece from the donor?

Of course not, but it may be a good idea, to mitigate the problems of a surprise attack. I have personal experience with a reg being grabbed from a mouth, but the donor ended up with the mouthpiece and the OOG diver ended up with the reg without a mouthpiece.

 

[Zef]

I, too, don't understand why the question seems to assume there is already a label on the tank, but I have to believe it is supposed to be apparent from what the course materials said on the subject. Maybe the point of the question is that if you intend to dive with Nitrox and you analyze a tank for oxygen percentage, your next step is to see if there is a big green and yellow NITROX sticker on the tank? I have no idea. Because I don't have the course materials. When I dive Nitrox, my tanks generally don't have those NITROX stickers.

There may be lots of "good" answers. @gamon 's answer of checking the MOD first sounds reasonable to me, as does your practice of first labeling the tank--YOURSELF. For me, the next thing I do after analyzing a tank is ask myself whether the O2 percentage is APPROXIMATELY what I expect, regardless of any label that may be on the tank. But I'm not in the position of a student tanking an exam. The "correct" answer is whatever the course materials said.

Checking/calculating the MOD is not the best answer because one is still in the phase of verifying the contents of the cylinder. If the fill station's log or the cylinder contents tag/sticker indicates, for instance, 32% and one's independent analysis of the tank is 32% then one moves on to calculating MOD and logging/marking (or annotating the markings) on the cylinder. If one's independent analysis is different than the shop's then one need to verify whether or not the analyzer's used were/are calibrated properly and re-doing the analysis with both analyzers until a satisfactory result is achieved (both match) or a 3rd, properly calibrated and functioning analyzer, matches one of the other two....then you move on to calculating the MOD and logging/marking/annotating, etc.

-Z

 

[Esprise Me]

This reminds me a bit of an issue that has come up with the bar exam. In California and, I believe, most/all US states, there's both a multiple-choice section and some essay questions. One might assume that law students who speak English as a second language would do better on the multiple-choice vs essay as compared with native speakers, and that the multiple-choice would be a fairer and more objective measure, unclouded by the grader's bias if the essays were written awkwardly. But the data say the exact opposite. Not only that, but even for native speakers, there's more score variation from one test attempt to another in the multiple-choice section versus the essay section due to an increase in mistakes reading the question.

It's hard to write a clear question that tests one's knowledge without also testing one's ability to understand what the question-writer meant to ask. On an essay, you can see whether someone understands the issue and can analyze it thoughtfully, and you can give them credit even if they reach a different conclusion than what you had in mind as long as they defend it well. On a multiple-choice question, you can't tell if someone just guessed right, or misread the question and happened to get the right answer anyway.

In general, my experience with taking PADI courses and courses through other agencies is that PADI seems to be a bit above average in terms of their ability to write clearly. But that doesn't mean there isn't room to improve.

 

[Zef]

No argument from me. It's just that I have never gotten a tank from any shop that already had an analysis sticker on it, so the question struck me as odd and confusing at first. But on further reflection, I recalled receiving supposedly pre-analyzed tanks on some dive boats.

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

 

[Wibble]

Which one of the following four poorly worded scenarios is not least correct?

 

[tursiops]

This reminds me a bit of an issue that has come up with the bar exam. In California and, I believe, most/all US states, there's both a multiple-choice section and some essay questions. One might assume that law students who speak English as a second language would do better on the multiple-choice vs essay as compared with native speakers, and that the multiple-choice would be a fairer and more objective measure, unclouded by the grader's bias if the essays were written awkwardly. But the data say the exact opposite. Not only that, but even for native speakers, there's more score variation from one test attempt to another in the multiple-choice section versus the essay section due to an increase in mistakes reading the question.

It's hard to write a clear question that tests one's knowledge without also testing one's ability to understand what the question-writer meant to ask. On an essay, you can see whether someone understands the issue and can analyze it thoughtfully, and you can give them credit even if they reach a different conclusion than what you had in mind as long as they defend it well. On a multiple-choice question, you can't tell if someone just guessed right, or misread the question and happened to get the right answer anyway.

In general, my experience with taking PADI courses and courses through other agencies is that PADI seems to be a bit above average in terms of their ability to write clearly. But that doesn't mean there isn't room to improve.

It has been explained to me that a problem with test questions is that the test-taker -- especially when under stress -- tends to early "closure," that is, they decide what the question is asking too soon, perhaps before they have actually finished reading the question, and assimilating it. They take no time to think about it, and when questioned are quite certain they answered the question that was asked, even though they did not.

 

[Zef]

My paraphrasing did not alter the meaning of the question, and my experience reflects a very common situation.

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:

"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."

Further, the course material provides the following image and caption:

Note that real world experience may not follow the procedures as outlined in the PADI course material/manual as PADI has no control over how a shop carries out their affairs. It does, however, give the student a basis for how things could, or even should be done so they can recognize when there is a deviation in the real world that should make them ask questions, particularly about the mix of air they are receiving, and hopefully before using it.

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

-Z