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PSIA lvl 1 exam

midwestfabs

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I currently ski/live in MN with several trips out west. Been taking lessons consistently over the last five+ years with multiple groups, local hills, etc. Both group and private. for the last couple of years i have been interested/motivated to take lvl 1 exam, but life and the calendar always seems to get in the way early in the season when clinics, seminars, etc are held in my area. I have been PSIA member couple years as well.

I have been as of latley more serious about the process and getting some insight from instructors i take classes with. From the feedback i have recieved, skill/drill wise requied for lvl 1 i should be fine and not have issue completing that portion. Some have encouraged i look more serious into getting certified, more so this season than in past. This season i bought the books and have been reading online, watching videos, etc.

?’s
  • I understand it is helpful to have some time under ones bet, does one actually need teaching experience to take or even pass the lvl 1 exam.
  • Is a rareity folks w/o having teaching experience take the lvl 1exam and is it frowned upon for those w/o teaching wpexperience to take the exam.
  • Do olks get dinged for not having teaching experience
  • Any other pros/cons for attempting lvl 1 exam
The general teaching part doesnt scare me, since i have done some teaching and mentoring in other settings in classroom setting and current employment.

Reason im asking b/c it being end of the season and i was thinking of trying out for lvl 1 and come next season goto clinic, get set up at local hill to be mentored, get some teaching experience, etc.

Thanksfor any and all feedback.
 

Magi

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...I understand it is helpful to have some time under ones bet, does one actually need teaching experience to take or even pass the lvl 1 exam.
  • Is a rareity folks w/o having teaching experience take the lvl 1exam and is it frowned upon for those w/o teaching wpexperience to take the exam.
  • Do olks get dinged for not having teaching experience
  • Any other pros/cons for attempting lvl 1 exam
The general teaching part doesnt scare me, since i have done some teaching and mentoring in other settings in classroom setting and current employment.

Reason im asking b/c it being end of the season and i was thinking of trying out for lvl 1 and come next season goto clinic, get set up at local hill to be mentored, get some teaching experience, etc.

Thanksfor any and all feedback.

Do the work, and you'll be fine. Don't do the work and you'll probably fail.

Learn to Teach, Learn to MA, Learn to Ski, and get feedback on all of those from an actual examiner, preferably one from your division. A level 3 instructor should be able to tell you what definitely *isn't* the standard, but they haven't gone through the training and calibration required to identify the difference between passing and not.

I also know the failure rate for "unaffiliated" instructors is *significantly* higher. FAiling the level 1 usually happens because someone assumes they're "A good ______", never get feedback from an examiner, don't prep correctly, and proceed to fail. I'm not aware of prior teaching experience at a ski school being a formal criterion for evaluation in any division.

Can I ask - Why do you want to become a certified instructor? (Especially if you aren't instructing...)
 
Thread Starter
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midwestfabs

midwestfabs

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Do the work, and you'll be fine. Don't do the work and you'll probably fail.

Learn to Teach, Learn to MA, Learn to Ski, and get feedback on all of those from an actual examiner, preferably one from your division. A level 3 instructor should be able to tell you what definitely *isn't* the standard, but they haven't gone through the training and calibration required to identify the difference between passing and not.

I also know the failure rate for "unaffiliated" instructors is *significantly* higher. FAiling the level 1 usually happens because someone assumes they're "A good ______", never get feedback from an examiner, don't prep correctly, and proceed to fail. I'm not aware of prior teaching experience at a ski school being a formal criterion for evaluation in any division.

Can I ask - Why do you want to become a certified instructor? (Especially if you aren't instructing...)

Points taken on getting experience to teach and learn more about ma. The instructors i have had over the years all have been lvl 2/3, not sure if any are examiners.

If by ‘unaffiliated’ you refer to being a member if psia, i have been for 2 years. If you refer to being affiliated to a particular ski school, then no i am not, but have started to investigate what are the requirement for two in my area i would want to be part of in some sort of teaching fashion.

To answer your question, yes i do want to reach on a regular basis, or at least much as i can around my 40 hr/wk grind. As i mentioned its late in the season and in my region, central, there is a scheduled exsm date in minneapolis in march and in the oast few years havnt had the opportunity to dedicate more time, which is not the case as i forsee it going fwd.
 

T-Square

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Recommend you check with PSIA-Central Division office about ski school affiliation. Here in PSIA-E all exam applications need to be signed by your ski school director. Also, you need a combined 50 hours of training and actual teaching experience.

I would not recommend taking the exam without a good number of actual teaching hours under your belt. You won’t get much out of the exam process without that experience. Teaching skiing is a whole lot different than taking lessons.
 

Erik Timmerman

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Are you guys kidding?
What is the Level 1 pass rate?
90%?
In RM PSIA I bet it’s at least that.

It's probably more than that, but even if you are a new hire on a J1 from Argentina, by the time you take the exam you have probably taught 50 hours of actual ski lessons. I don't know why we would expect someone with no teaching experience at all to pass a ski teaching exam.
 

Kneale Brownson

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Do check with the Central Division. When I was active there, you needed to have experience teaching for a ski school in order to take an exam. There were instructor training clinics put on by the division you could participate in, but not the exam.
 

Blue Streak

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Are you guys kidding?
What is the Level 1 pass rate?
90%?
In RM PSIA I bet it’s at least that.
It's probably more than that, but even if you are a new hire on a J1 from Argentina, by the time you take the exam you have probably taught 50 hours of actual ski lessons. I don't know why we would expect someone with no teaching experience at all to pass a ski teaching exam.
True
 

LiquidFeet

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Call your regional PSIA office and ask if you can take the Level I exam without being employed as a teacher. They will probably say no. All the forms I've seen for certification exams require the signature of your boss, the ski school director, and they have that 50 hour teaching requirement. Most here are telling you this.

Have you gone to a ski school director's office, sat down, and said you want to start teaching on a part-time basis? Do that. Do it this next week. You might not need an appointment, but you could call the ski school before to try to make one.
 

Mike King

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I took the Level 1 exam in PSIA-RM without any teaching experience or ski school affiliation 5 years ago and passed. It was pretty hard to fail the exam, and everyone in my group passed. I took the exam as I was considering teaching to improve my own skiing, but had no firm plan to actually teach. Three months after taking and passing the exam, I applied for and took a part-time position at Breckenridge.

I don't know if things are different now in PSIA-RM or different in other divisions, but it seems like you are interested and ought to take the exam. In RM, the real value is in the two days of clinic prior to the actual exam day -- you get an introduction to teaching, movement analysis, and ski performance as well as some feedback on your skiing.

Mike
 

LiquidFeet

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Wow, they let you take it before ever teaching. Interesting.

Since almost everyone passes, I've always thought of the LI exam as a recruitment event. Kinda like getting invited to a free all-expenses paid weekend in Miami to look at waterfront property for sale. Except with PSIA you do have to pay for the exam.
 

Doby Man

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I like Magi's basic question. "Why do you want to teach?", an inquiry of which I think may have been skillfully dodged ... almost.
 

HDSkiing

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L-1 is generally a supportive process, they want to hook you in so they can crush you later:). I believe in RM you have to take the L-1 prep before you can take the exam if you are not affiliated with a ski school.

Honestly though, a L-1 cert WITHOUT teaching experience makes you only marginally more qualified than someone with no experience and no cert and LESS qualified than someone with no cert but with ski teaching experience.

If however it’s just something you want to do then go for it, but you will be significantly less prepared than others already working who have already gone through L-1 tasks with their training team.
 

Mike King

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L-1 is generally a supportive process, they want to hook you in so they can crush you later:). I believe in RM you have to take the L-1 prep before you can take the exam if you are not affiliated with a ski school.

Honestly though, a L-1 cert WITHOUT teaching experience makes you only marginally more qualified than someone with no experience and no cert and LESS qualified than someone with no cert but with ski teaching experience.

If however it’s just something you want to do then go for it, but you will be significantly less prepared than others already working who have already gone through L-1 tasks with their training team.
Maybe. That wasn’t my case as I’d be in weekly lessons for 7-8 years, had done several Epic Ski academy camps and skied several members of the demo team, had an E-3 examiner and a demo team member as my coaches, and had had some freebie training on teaching level 1-4.

The OPhas been a regular consumer of lessons. Depending on the content and quality of that experience, they may have a better base than many Level 1 instructors with experience.

As a result of my own lesson consumption background, I was able to pass my Level 2 exam with fewer than 20 days of teaching.

Mike
 

Magi

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Are you guys kidding?
What is the Level 1 pass rate?
90%?
In RM PSIA I bet it’s at least that.

You'd think/hope - but that's not even close. L1 pass rate seems to oscillate between 95+% one exam, and then 30% the next.

I can't tell you the overall percentage, but I've seen multiple Level 1 exams in the last 2 years that ended in less than 40% of people passing.

It seems to happen because people hear: "The LEvel 1 is easy! Everyone passes!" and miss that there's a DIRECT correlation between actually prepping, getting feedback from an examiner, and passing.

It's a very passable test, and they'll help you meet the standard (at least in RM).

That said - you have to actually meet the standard to pass and it's really easy to fail if you haven't prepped.
 

Magi

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I took the Level 1 exam in PSIA-RM without any teaching experience or ski school affiliation 5 years ago and passed. It was pretty hard to fail the exam, and everyone in my group passed. I took the exam as I was considering teaching to improve my own skiing, but had no firm plan to actually teach. Three months after taking and passing the exam, I applied for and took a part-time position at Breckenridge.

I don't know if things are different now in PSIA-RM or different in other divisions, but it seems like you are interested and ought to take the exam. In RM, the real value is in the two days of clinic prior to the actual exam day -- you get an introduction to teaching, movement analysis, and ski performance as well as some feedback on your skiing.

Mike


Mike's comment of "It was easy" is exactly why people underestimate the Level 1 and then enter a bloodbath. The Level 1 is only "easy" if you've got all the skills required (and admittedly - the requirements aren't crazy difficult!).

The format of the exam has also changed since Mike took it (or at least changed relative to his description).

The level 1 in PSIA-RM is now a 3 day exam, with one day for MA, one day for teaching, and one day for Skiing. He (and a few others) absolutely right that the examiners will give you feedback and help you get to the standard.

The root of the problem is usually people who can "ski" but can't demonstrate and isolate the movements required to pass the Level 1. I've seen lots of people who can ski groomed and variable blue-black and black terrain just fine but that couldn't pass the level 1.
There's too much upper body motion, or an inability to tip and/or rotate the legs, stay centered, etc..

I highly encourage anyone interested in teaching skiing to participate in the Level 1 process (and beyond!) just don't walk into it thinking they hand out pins like candy no matter what you bring to the exam.
 

LiquidFeet

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It was stupid easy when I took it. How did I know this? Everyone in my group passed. Two of them skied in the waay-back seat, had no upper body-lower body separation of any kind, used upper body rotation and banking to make a turn happen, and had absolutely NO knowledge of technical issues. Their only experience was leading choo-choo trains of 5-6 year olds around the lower mountain.

I'm glad to hear PSIA national, and/or some of the regions, have made it harder to pass. It should mean more than it did when I took it. Because those two people in my group passed, I had no pride in that LI pin and never wore it.
 

Mike King

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I think the biggest fctor in passing is showing that you are coachable - that is, when provided feedback you made a serious effort to internalize it. And some success as well. Btw, it was a 3 day event when I did it.
 

LiquidFeet

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It was a 1-1/2 day event when I did it. There was some loose coaching on day one sprinkled between the questions we were asked. I gave some doozies for answers(!) There was a sheet of paper with some questions on it to fill out at lunch on day two, to check something about our knowledge level. After lunch on Day 2 our scores were tallied by the examiners. Then around 2:00 the announcements were given of who passed (everyone) and we were given our pins with a great deal of fan fare.
 

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