dive school didn't make us do swim & float test - should i be worried?
i'll be taking my OW certificate this coming weekend, so i had my confined pool session with the school on the weekend that just passed.
for context, there were 2 groups of about 5-6 each doing OW, and each group had 2 divemasters attached to them.
i initially thought they'd make us do the 200m swimming & 10 minutes floating test too, but instead they went straight into equipments, and subsequently spending the rest of the day teaching and letting us practice the necessary skills in the pool (mask clearing, etc).
after everything, i thought they'd make us do the tests but they didnt. i asked, but instead the DMs were looking suspiciously at one another and then subsequently they jokingly asked us "you guys did the swim test right?" (basically wanting us to lie and agree with them). so in the end, we didnt do it. however, i saw that the other group of students were made to do it. the DMs for our group then shared that based on the skills tests, they assessed that everyone in my group could swim and float comfortably, hence they didnt feel the need to assess us.
though im confident in my skills and did also feel like everyone in my group is comfortable in water, i just felt a little uncomfortable and kinda ?icky about this whole situation... it did made me question their processes in safety as well as in ensuring people's skills are adequate to dive (although i would say that everything else was well taken care of, and the DMs taught and guided us in the necessary skills in a safe and thourough manner)
wanted to hear people's thoughts on this incident, especially from DMs themselves and/or more experienced divers! wanna know if im overthinking this or overcomplicating things LOL (the rest of my group members seemed pretty happy that they didnt need to do the tests, probably because we all were already tired after a full day of skills practising)
thanks in advance!
Posted Aug 4, 2026, 8:55 AM UTC