Spring 2017 Exam Season

As our season winds to a close we kick into high-gear for final exams. The PSIA-AASI Community has a great discussion thread right now on exam tactics.

The thread is full of great advice, and the discussion is ongoing.

Get a haircut, shave, brush your teeth, wash your ski clothes, tune your equipment… prepare yourself like you’re going to the most important job interview of your life, and put your PSIA pin on your jacket.

Bring your personality with you! The best advice I ever got before going to an exam was to be myself. It’s harder for an examiner to score you down if they like you.

YES! Get out of the middle and stop making that medium radius “ski instructor” turn.

Whatever you do DON’T panic during a demo or run and call attention to your screw up. In fact let’s say you did flub a turn, laugh about it, ski out of it and right into the next turn.

Don’t be afraid to say what you see in the other instructors. Be truthful because the examiner is seeing this as well so you are being judged on your ability to spot what needs to be addressed. This doesn’t mean to tear the other instructors up and spit them out. You can give an analysis of another instructor without providing the examiner reason to fail them,

Some other tips include:
Don’t be late, introduce yourself to the examiners and other attendees, think before you speak, volunteer to teach first

Check out the PSIA-AASI Community Thread here.