DCTAS
Diver Competence Theory Assessment System
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DCTAS is an examination system developed by the University of Plymouth for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). DCTAS is used by HSE recognised diver assessment centres to generate theory examinations and marking guides from a large online database of encrypted questions, ensuring that examinations generated by the system are always up to date.
To find centres where you can undertake professional diver training and assessment, see the list of diver competence assessment organisations available from the HSE website.
To be accepted for professional diving training and assessment you must demonstrate that you have the capacity to complete the programme. Part of this selection procedure includes an assessment of your proficiency in Mathematics and English. You can view a sample of this assessment and associated text using the links below. Note that the actual assessment will include a writing exercise. Although the format of the real assessment will be very similar, the questions and supplementary text will be different. You need to be able to achieve 80% in order to pass this assessment.
- Assessment of Academic Ability Examination and Candidate Answer Sheet (sample practice paper)
- Supplementary text (you will need this to answer some of the questions)
- Answers to the Assessment of Academic Ability Examination
We welcome feedback on the examinations created by DCTAS. Comments from students and instructors / examiners are extremely valuable. Use the Reporting problems with DCTAS form to tell us about any problems you have experienced.
