An Overview of PADI’s most popular dive course
This article lists the topics that you will cover during the classroom portion of your course. During your course you’ll be given access to the course manual. As the cost of manuals is quite high, over 1,500 Baht – they aren’t included in the cost of dive courses by the dive schools on Koh Chang. The same applies to accompanying videos and VCDs/DVDs which you’ll have access to at the dive school but will have to pay extra for if you require your own.
You’ll notice that the manual is divided into five chapters. Each chapter contains it’s own exercises and ‘Knowledge Review’ questions, pay attention to these questions as there is a final exam and the format and questions are very similar to that of the Knowledge Reviews in the manual.
Chapter 1
The Underwater World
Diving Equipment
Scuba Systems
The Buddy System
Confined Water Training Preview
Chapter 2
Adapting to the Underwater World
Respiration
Diving Equipment
Diving Communications
Buddy System Procedures
Confined Water Training Preview
Chapter 3
The Diving Environment
Dive Planning
Boat Diving Procedures
Problem Management
Confined Water Training Preview
General Open Water Skills
Open Water Training Preview
Chapter 4
Accessory Diving Equipment
Health for Diving
Breathing Air at Depth
Dive Tables Introduction
Using the Recreational Dive Planner – Wheel booklet
Complete Sample Problems and Exercise Questions using the Wheel
Confined Water Training Preview
Chapter 5
Recreational Dive Planner Special
Circumstances
Finding Minimum Surface Interval – Complete Sample Problems and Exercise Questions
Dive Tables Definitions Review
Basic Compass Navigation
Confined Water Training Preview
Open Water Training Preview
Continuing Education
Epilogue
Summary of Diving Safety Practices
Now you’re ready for your final review session. You’ll find that classroom sessions are often alternated with practical confined and open water training to allow for more variation during the course.
Some dive schools hold part of the classroom training on the dive boat itself. This can serve two purposes, it fills the time spent getting to the dive sites and also cuts down on the time taken to complete the course.