How Many Hours of Training Does it Take to be Successful at an Assessment?

By Josh Fogg, PSIA Rocky Mountain Alpine Committee Chair

 

How Many Hours of Training Does it Take to be Successful at an Assessment?

 

There are countless articles about how to prepare for assessments, including tips for performance tactics, study strategies, and understanding assessment criteria. They are all very valuable and they all encourage candidates to prepare thoroughly. But they don’t answer the question of how much training and education does someone need to be successful?

 

In this winter’s new Alpine Curriculum Catalog, the Introduction includes a number of certification-level-specific training hours recommended for success. Before we get to the numbers, allow me to provide some background and context for how we arrived at these numbers.

 

This story starts last April when I represented PSIA with Dave Schuiling, Michael Rogan, and Dominique Crawford at the International Ski Instructors Association (ISIA) Americas Forum in Aspen, Colorado. PSIA-AASI is a member of ISIA, which is required for us to participate in Interski. Our continued membership to ISIA allows us to host Interski in Vail, Colorado in 2027. The connection between PSIA-AASI and ISIA also plays a significant and silent role in our certification system. Membership also requires us to prove how our top level of certification meets ISIA’s internationally agreed upon standards.  

 

During the ISIA Americas Forum, Argentina, Chile, Canada, and the USA shared details about our certification systems with each other. One of the international standards for ski instructor certification is a documented minimum number of educational hours required to achieve the highest levels of qualification. PSIA-AASI’s certification system meets the international agreements starting at Level 3. 

 

During PSIA’s presentation, we explained how PSIA-AASI relies on members largely deciding on their own educational pathway. That pathway can include training and education supplied by resorts in addition to the clinics PSIA-AASI offers. In contrast, Argentina and Chile do not rely on resort-led training. Instead, their national associations (AADIDESS and ENISSCHAG) require all certification candidates to attend their extensive education courses. Each module is typically 1-2 weeks long with a day-long exam at the end of the course.

 

Comparing this model with the flexibility offered in PSIA-AASI’s curriculum got me thinking about our member’s personalized training approaches. What do PSIA-RM’s education requirements indicate about the amount of training a candidate needs to be adequately prepared for a certification assessment?

 

PSIA-RM requires the following:

 

• Cert 1- We can safely say PSIA-RM requires 14 hours of education prior to taking the Level 1 Assessment. Attend either your resort’s new hire training (which varies) or Precision Skiing 101 (12 hours). Candidates also have to complete the Level 1 E-Learning Course (roughly 2 hours). 
• Cert 2- 18 Hours. Attend the CS1 (12 hours) and one clinic from our Level 2 Certification Prep menu (a minimum of 6 hours).
• Cert 3- 18 Hours. Attend the CS2 (12 hours) and one clinic from our Level 3 Certification Prep menu (a minimum of 6 hours). 

 

A first impression indicates that is all of the education someone needa to be successful in the assessments in addition to some teaching experience. My experience as a candidate, Examiner, and Training Director say otherwise. So, I did some more research. 

 

We looked at the trends of successful candidates, and measured the average number of certification-level-specific clinic hours they attended in addition to PSIA-RM’s requirements. Using this information, we feel confident sharing these numbers as recommended targets. These recommendations include PSIA-RM’s required education hours. 

 

Cert 1- 25 hours

Cert 2- 80 hours 

Cert 3- 110 hours 

Total Training Hours- 215 hours

 

While crunching the numbers, we found members who far surpassed our recommendations without reaching their certification goals and others who reached all of their certification goals with less than the recommended number of training hours. Clearly, the quantity of training isn’t the only factor in success. However, I believe it has been notably absent in the advice dispensed for certification preparation.  

 

In closing, my intention is to help members be more deliberate in their preparations for a certification assessment this winter. If you are planning on taking an assessment this year, tally up how many hours of certification-specific training you’ve done so far, and how many more you need to set yourself up for success. Don’t include assessment days as training days in your tally, keep the training tally focused solely on education hours. It might be more training than you initially planned, and that might push your timeline for the assessments back a bit. Having a target of how much preparation can help you prioritize what you need and how to get it. From my personal experience as a candidate and Examiner, confidence comes from preparation.