I hate bringing back "zombie" threads, but I wanted to express my appreciation for those that have posted responses to this.
I’m dealing with the exact same problem as the original poster (in 2012!).
I’ve passed the written portion of the class, the bookwork has been fine, I "get" the concepts and I’ve been able to do some of the non-mask flooding/removing exercises - stepping off is a blast. 8)
Thanks everyone, and I’ll let you know what happens.