Barnaby'sDad
Contributor
In my 4 seasons of assisting there weren't many who "failed". I can off hand think of one guy who literally couldn't finish one pool lap without panicking and sinking. Another was a girl who just struggled with everything, and a third who depended on a buddy for help all the time (we told the buddy to not do this of course). In observing the swim test many times, I would have nixed a few students, but as it says, you can even do the dog paddle and pass. I won't get into my old rant about swim tests and what they should be about.
But you have to define "failed". More than once we had students join our group from a previous course due to this reason or that. One guy I was assigned to help had a problem with everything imaginable and of course also didn't like our instructor. He probably had all those problems in the course he didn't finish. Do we count these people as "failed"? They did fail to complete the original course they signed up for.
That sounds about right. From talking with a few instructors, a lack of comfort in the water to begin with (weak swimmer) seemed to be the most consistent reason for students not passing the course/getting the OW cert.
If you’re not comfortable paddling around on the surface, I’m not sure how people expect their comfort level to improve when they’re submerged. Add to that things like mask removal at depth. Not exactly a pleasant drill even if you are comfortable in the water.