Is it difficult to get certified as a Dive master (PADI)?

Question

I intend on getting certified as a divemaster

Answer 1

You have to have open water one, advanced and then rescue before you can do the DM course.

Answer 2

The others are correct that there are some certification you need to have before you start the Divemaster program.  They are Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, and First Aid/CPR (ok, this one is a requirement to Rescue Diver).

From there you are ready to start the Divemaster program.

First, you have to get a full medical.  This is not the Yes/No form that you fill out for the other classes, but a complete exam.  For me, it was difficult to find a doctor that is familiar with diving so they'd be comfortable sigining the form.

The actual divemaster program is broken into Theory, Water Skills, Diving Skills, and Student work.

The Theory part is nine or ten exams that cover Physics, Decompression, Equipment, Working with Students, etc.  You will receive the reading material for these with your divemaster stuff.

The Water Skills part involves how you are in the water.  There is a 15-minute tread, 400 yard swim, 800 yard mask/fin/snorkel swim, and 100 yard tired diver tow.  You are timed on these, and based on your times you get points.  You need 12 points to pass out of 20 possible.

The Diving Skills portion is you demonstrating all of the skills.  There is a difference between being able to "do" the skill and being able to do the skill with demonstration quality.

The Student Work is really where you learn about teaching or assisting with classes.  There are two paths here, one is where you sit in multiple classes with an instructor(s) and you get to see how everything is done.  The other path involves some "staged" scenarios.

That is the PADI Divemaster program in a nutshell.  For me the hardest part was the 400 yard swim.  For my wife, the hardest part was the Physics exam.

Answer 3

First of all, you need to get yourself certified as a rescue diver before proceeding to attaining yourself a Dive Master.

Afterwhich, there is a Dive Master course which you need to take up and some of the modules can be quite tiring too.