Driving Test (Practical)

R0B75

R0B75

R0B75

Soldato
Joined
15 Aug 2003
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5,863
Location
Burton-upon-Trent
I have my driving test on Tuesday this week.

I bought a small car just over a month ago, insured it and have practised in it, as well as having lessons from an instructor. My instructor says I'm ready for my test and should pass if I keep my wits about me. Well that's the thing, I'm absolutely bricking it. The main reason is because in my penultimate lesson yesterday, I was awful, and I mean AWFUL. The only things I got right were manouvers. I was missing gears, missing road signs, hesitating and was generally a bag of nerves.

So, are there any tips you guys can give me that might help me get through this test (aside from driving properly), because I need to find a way of keeping calm. Yesterday was a nightmare and I don't want that to happen on my test, even though I don't doubt my ability.
 
Just pretend its like any other lesson (easy to say I know!). I failed my first test due to nerves... but on the second test I told myself that if I passed it would be great, as if I didn't I could just put in again. :)
 
Have some bananas before your test, take some rescue remedy, ideally a week or 2 before test but sometimes it does work within a day or two.

eat chewing gum while driving, takes your mind off some of the driving.

I got my practical tomorrow morning and have been doing the above.
 
Bananas? Lol. :p

Just pretend you're not doing your driving test, nothing to it really, just drive as you normally would.

Good luck :)
 
I failed my first two tests - you just need to relax.

Just have the mental attitude that you are "going for a drive", and not that you're being examined. Pretend it's a normal lesson. You'll be amazed how quickly it's all over, you really will!

If you are a bag of nerves, as long as you can still those manouevers, you should only pick up a couple of minors.

You'll see the examiner writing stuff down about every 30 seconds - that really put me off as I thought they were all my errors! It's not though, they just write down what you've done, fill in the date/time of test etc as you're going round.

Good luck!

Let us know how you do.
 
If anything, messing up in the lesson before the actual test helps... as you will be more determined to not make those same mistakes again... plus they are fresh in your mind... my lesson before was a bit ****, but it only helped me in the end (3rd time lucky)...

If you can just relax, eat some bananas (its true, these babies are wonderful for combatting concentration problems and hungerness :D ) and if you have a good examiner, you will pass fine... :)

edit: oh and a quick blast of prodigys 'smack my ***** up' does wonders too!!! ;) :D
 
Thanks for the replies and suggestions, I'm sure they will help me in some way.

I already chew chewing gum whilst on lessons. I find it helps a lot. I don't really like bananas but I'm willing to get some just for that if it really will help.

As for pretending its just another lesson, I'm not sure about that. I mean how do you fool yourself into thinking you're taking a test?
 
Think of the examiner as a friend of yours, and that they're giving you directions to their house - just listen to the directions they give etc. Don't get worked up if you see them mark the report, it's usually just to mark that you performed a particular maneuver, imagine it as a crossword instead of the driving report. The examiner isn't looking for a perfect drive, they only want to see that you can drive safely on the roads, so don't let that get in the way of your natural driving.

Finally, if you're like me, the driving test will be one of the easiest tests you'll ever sit in your life. All it is is driving around, and if you love driving, then just drive.
 
Try and forget about it, its going to be hard for you now as you are already nervous as I can see.

I have mine in 2 1/2 weeks and I am just going to carry on with my life and do my best not to think about it, when it comes round I am just going to get in the car and drive, i'm not going to over-concentrate on what I am doing as thats when you forget things because you are concntrating too hard on other things. Try and drive as nataurally as you can and forget you even have a passenger with you, think of them as a human sat-nav just telling you where to go.
Dont keep thinking you are being marked down as they sometimes just write the form out as you are taking the test (your name etc), making you thinkg you are being marked down. If you fail, tough luck, but you can always have another bash at it cant you.
 
Don't worry about the penultimate lesson going badly. I know my driving instructor said that happens with most people because you feel so self concious of it being the lesson before the test.
Like the others have said, just try to relax. Not like they shoot you if you make a mistake ;)
 
the same thing happened to me in the last proper lesson (had one right before test) i screwed up a bit, but was fine in the test.

Once youve been driving for a few mins you get used to it so dont worry.

also, if u happen to make a mistake, forget about it and move on.
 
I just don't want to fail, I would hate it. I know it's not the end of the world and yeah, I can take another test but failing would be horrible.

I have an hours lesson before my test on Tuesday to prepare. Tomorrow at work is going to go soooo slowly.
 
Well I failed my test, or atleast so the examiner said. Personally I think I've been VERY hard done by. Sure I was nervous and made quite a few tiny errors and got 13 minors, mostly at roundabouts as I was a little anxious, gear changes mainly.

Anyway, I failed on my reverse turn of all things! These I have always got right on lessons, almost perfect. I got 2 serious faults. 1 for control - I went wide going round the corner and had to come back in, but still on the correct side of the road, and ended up parking perfectly. This particular corner was very unforgiving and the curb was pretty much a 90 degree shape, hence the need to go wide. The other serious was for a pick-up coming past as I was swinging round the corner. He told me it was there, even though I knew it already and took action. He marked me down for verbal under ETA and gave me another serious. I saw the car and stopped, in doing so I never endangered myself or the approaching car, so I don't see where the problem is? I argued at the end but the ******* wasn't having any of it.

To say I'm furious is an understatement and to top it all off I can expect to wait till May 30th for another test and the test fee is now £48 on it's own! A waste of money if you get an examiner like I did today!

I'm so very angry.
 
remember the examiner is your mate, take an opportunity he gives you to strike up a conversation. He wants you to relax, and he wants you to pass :)

fonzee said:
edit: oh and a quick blast of prodigys 'smack my ***** up' does wonders too!!! ;) :D
Click to expand...

o/t but im listening to that now :D well, the sub focus remix of it :D

Tom.
 
Unlucky mate, hopefully it'll be second time lucky. :)

They usually tell you to pull up just before the corner if you're doing corner reversing. And if the corner is like as you mentioned 90*, then pull up a bit further away from the kerb, a good 6/8 inches away from the kerb will be fine. From the sound of it, it does seem a little harsh, considering that you took the appropriate action when you saw the car coming. Just a tip, open your window a little bit so that you can hear the car coming before you see it.

Try and get a cancellation date, the waiting list in my area was 3 months, and I managed to book another test 14 days after failing, so if you're lucky, you can jump the waiting list.

Apart from that, don't give up mate, you'll crack it next time. :p
 
it was a 90 degree corner? if so you should have done a square turn, which your instructor should have taught you

it doesnt help anyone blaming the examiner, when i failed my first test i didnt want to get worked up over it because it was too late to change anything
 
Bad luck dude,you can always do it again. 13 minors is quite a lot really. Maybe you wasn't ready or you were just having a bad day. Either way it won't help arguing with the examiner, his word is final so if he says you failed thats it.
Take the test sheet and work on brushing up in the areas that he has pointed out. then apply again.
 
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