PADI OPEN WATER COMPREHENSIVE 2026/2027 EXAM
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔How does hearing differ underwater? - ✔✔It travels faster and longer
✔✔How does water's density affect moving in water? - ✔✔It takes more energy the
faster you try to swim
✔✔What is "airway control"? - ✔✔The skill of breathing past remaining water without
drawing any into your throat after clearing your regulator/snorkel
✔✔What are 2 techniques for airway control? - ✔✔Inhaling slowly, looking down, and
touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth as you inhale
✔✔What are 8 symptoms of overexertion while diving? - ✔✔Fatigue, labored breathing,
a feeling of suffocation, weakness, anxiety, headaches, muscle cramping, and a
tendency to panic
✔✔What should I do if I think I'm becoming overexerted at the surface and underwater?
- ✔✔Stop all activity, signal your buddy, and rest
✔✔What points should a dive plan normally include? - ✔✔Agree on best entry/exit
techniques, decide what course you'll follow, agree on maximum time and depth, review
underwater signs, determine when you will head back, agree on how you'll stay together
during the dive, establish what you'll do if you become separated, discuss emergency
procedures
✔✔How do we conduct the predive safety check? - ✔✔Using Begin With Review And
Friend (BWRAF)
✔✔BWRAF - ✔✔BCD, weight, releases, air, final check
✔✔What do I do if I get separated from my buddy on a dive? - ✔✔Look for each other
for no more than 1 minute, and then ascend to the surface if you can't find them
✔✔How do my buddy and I manage our air supply together while diving? - ✔✔Plan your
dive around who breathes air the fastest.
Subtract your reserve/ascent supply from your starting pressure to find out how much
pressure you have for the main part of the dive
To be safe, plan to use half your air coming down, and half coming back
✔✔What are the 5 steps for a proper descent with scuba? - ✔✔1. Confirm that your
buddy is ready
2. Orient yourself to something
, 3. Switch from your snorkel to your regulator
4. Check your dive computer/timer
5. Signal "descend" and slowly deflate your BCD
✔✔What are the 5 steps for a proper ascent with scuba? - ✔✔1. Signal "up" and
confirm that your buddy is ready
2. Check your dive computer/timer to be sure you're within dive limits
3. Look up and hold your BCD deflator hose
4. Ascend no slower than your dive computer's maximum rate
5. Look up, turn as you ascend, and stay with your buddy
✔✔What is the maximum ascent rate? - ✔✔18 m/60 ft//min
✔✔What is a safety stop? - ✔✔A pause in your ascent between 6 m/20 ft and 3 m/10 ft
to give your tissues extra time to release dissolved gases for at least 3 minutes
✔✔When would I not make a safety stop? - ✔✔When you're assisting a diver who has
an air supply problem or if you're low on air
✔✔dive computer - ✔✔Tells you your time and depth underwater and guides you in
keeping dissolved nitrogen in your body within accepted limits
✔✔How do I measure/define visibility as a diver? - ✔✔The distance you can see
horizontally underwater
✔✔What 4 principles affect visibility? - ✔✔Water movement, weather, plankton, bottom
composition
✔✔When diving in a mild current, in what direction would I normally go? - ✔✔Swim
slowly into the current so that when you turn the dive, the current will push you back to
your exit point
✔✔What do I do if I'm caught in a current and am carried downstream from where I
planned to dive or exit the water? - ✔✔Swim perpendicular to the current
✔✔What two things in the water affect a diver? - ✔✔The waves and current
✔✔What is assessing conditions based on? - ✔✔The weather, season, water motion,
water appearance, reports online and from other divers, and dives made at similar sites
✔✔What should I do if I see a potentially aggressive animal underwater? - ✔✔Remain
still and calm. Swim away if you become uncomfortable
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔How does hearing differ underwater? - ✔✔It travels faster and longer
✔✔How does water's density affect moving in water? - ✔✔It takes more energy the
faster you try to swim
✔✔What is "airway control"? - ✔✔The skill of breathing past remaining water without
drawing any into your throat after clearing your regulator/snorkel
✔✔What are 2 techniques for airway control? - ✔✔Inhaling slowly, looking down, and
touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth as you inhale
✔✔What are 8 symptoms of overexertion while diving? - ✔✔Fatigue, labored breathing,
a feeling of suffocation, weakness, anxiety, headaches, muscle cramping, and a
tendency to panic
✔✔What should I do if I think I'm becoming overexerted at the surface and underwater?
- ✔✔Stop all activity, signal your buddy, and rest
✔✔What points should a dive plan normally include? - ✔✔Agree on best entry/exit
techniques, decide what course you'll follow, agree on maximum time and depth, review
underwater signs, determine when you will head back, agree on how you'll stay together
during the dive, establish what you'll do if you become separated, discuss emergency
procedures
✔✔How do we conduct the predive safety check? - ✔✔Using Begin With Review And
Friend (BWRAF)
✔✔BWRAF - ✔✔BCD, weight, releases, air, final check
✔✔What do I do if I get separated from my buddy on a dive? - ✔✔Look for each other
for no more than 1 minute, and then ascend to the surface if you can't find them
✔✔How do my buddy and I manage our air supply together while diving? - ✔✔Plan your
dive around who breathes air the fastest.
Subtract your reserve/ascent supply from your starting pressure to find out how much
pressure you have for the main part of the dive
To be safe, plan to use half your air coming down, and half coming back
✔✔What are the 5 steps for a proper descent with scuba? - ✔✔1. Confirm that your
buddy is ready
2. Orient yourself to something
, 3. Switch from your snorkel to your regulator
4. Check your dive computer/timer
5. Signal "descend" and slowly deflate your BCD
✔✔What are the 5 steps for a proper ascent with scuba? - ✔✔1. Signal "up" and
confirm that your buddy is ready
2. Check your dive computer/timer to be sure you're within dive limits
3. Look up and hold your BCD deflator hose
4. Ascend no slower than your dive computer's maximum rate
5. Look up, turn as you ascend, and stay with your buddy
✔✔What is the maximum ascent rate? - ✔✔18 m/60 ft//min
✔✔What is a safety stop? - ✔✔A pause in your ascent between 6 m/20 ft and 3 m/10 ft
to give your tissues extra time to release dissolved gases for at least 3 minutes
✔✔When would I not make a safety stop? - ✔✔When you're assisting a diver who has
an air supply problem or if you're low on air
✔✔dive computer - ✔✔Tells you your time and depth underwater and guides you in
keeping dissolved nitrogen in your body within accepted limits
✔✔How do I measure/define visibility as a diver? - ✔✔The distance you can see
horizontally underwater
✔✔What 4 principles affect visibility? - ✔✔Water movement, weather, plankton, bottom
composition
✔✔When diving in a mild current, in what direction would I normally go? - ✔✔Swim
slowly into the current so that when you turn the dive, the current will push you back to
your exit point
✔✔What do I do if I'm caught in a current and am carried downstream from where I
planned to dive or exit the water? - ✔✔Swim perpendicular to the current
✔✔What two things in the water affect a diver? - ✔✔The waves and current
✔✔What is assessing conditions based on? - ✔✔The weather, season, water motion,
water appearance, reports online and from other divers, and dives made at similar sites
✔✔What should I do if I see a potentially aggressive animal underwater? - ✔✔Remain
still and calm. Swim away if you become uncomfortable
