Attending the USPA Examiner Rating Course is one of the ground requirements for earning your USPA Examiner rating in any discipline. You may not necessarily earn an examiner rating at the end of this course. Other requirements for this rating are discipline specific and are found on the appropriate Proficiency card at USPA's website.

The requirements for attending an ERC are that you must:

• hold a current USPA instructor rating
• conducted at least 100 freefall student training jumps (in the method sought)
• taught at least 15 solo student first jump courses
• *for Tandem examiner, also have 100 tandem jumps
  *for SL or IAD examiner, also have 25 dispatches in the method sought

You can attend this ground course at any time in your pursuit of your examiner rating. In fact, the methods and techniques in this course are best done early, so you can apply them and incorporate them in your regular instruction.

Before the course, please do the following:
1. Make sure you have a SIM and IRM. Please familiarize yourself with these two important references.
2. Complete the Examiner Test from the IRM. 
3. You will be evaluated on your teaching skills. The first evaluation is more informal, just to get your feet wet. Each candidate will give a 10 to 15 minute classroom presentation on a non-skydiving topic, i.e. fly fishing, juggling, shooting a gun, hitting a baseball, changing oil in an airplane, taking photographs, loading and organizing files on a computer, playing a basic drumset pattern. You can assume your audience knows NOTHING about this topic. Let Jen know what topic you decide on; plus secure any necessary physical materials and prepare a written lesson plan. 

This three day all ground course is tailored to the type of rating you are pursuing. You have multiple opportunities to practice conducting lessons from a rating course curriculum, as well as practice evaluating presentations. If done in conjunction with an actual rating course, you may be able to count your experience towards your proficiency card as well. (Requires an extra day.) 

Topics covered include:

• USPA Rating Structure
• IRM / SIM in depth
• Adult Education Principles
• Presentation Techniques
• Evaluation Methods
• Facilitation Methods
• Psychology: The Cycle of Success
• Skill Analysis
• Situational Leadership
• S&TA compared to Examiner
• Role of Examiner
• Conflict Resolution
• Debriefing and Exit Interviews