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kingrook

Hi All,

Glad to inform that I passed the driving test on 2nd attempt in Raheny on 20th Jan, 2017. Here is the story so far :-)

First , About Me : I have been driving in India for 10 years and after coming to Ireland I took EDT. I feel this is required and good for someone who is not used to driving in Ireland. It helped me a lot to correct few of my driving mistakes. I don't drive daily and take out car only on weekends and that too very short distance.
I wanted to get Churchtown Driving center as it is near to my home but could not get appointment and the earliest I could get was in Raheny. So, Raheny confirmed.


1st Attempt : I took a pre-test a week before the test. It did not go well. The instructor pointed out lot of loopholes in my driving. I realized that most of them were due to lack of practice. On the plus side, since I was not aware of Raheny routes, pre-test helped my in getting aware of route. I had a week times and corrected reverse round the corner, turnabout, moving off procedure, theory questions and hill start.
On the day of test, frankly speaking , I was not confident .

I fumbled in one theory question related to road signs.

Test started and initially it went smooth. My first mistake was at one signal where I should have pulled hand brake to prevent car to roll back when starting off. So when I started, teh car rolled back a bit. Anyway, I carried on and other manoeuvres like reverse round the corner, turnabout, roundabouts went fine. No mistakes there.
My next blunder came in hill start. It was not that I was not aware of the procedure. However, I was under the impression that the instructor would specify that next moving off is a hill start. The place where hill start happened was not very steep and very slight ascent. I started without applying handbrakes :-( .
Next blunder was in mini-roundabouts. Raheny route has many mini-roundabouts. Some are so mini , that you tend to forget the exact procedure when entering and exiting. I think in couple of mini-roundabouts , I just went straight ahead, without looking of traffic. Actually, the area was so quite that I forgot to look left :-).

So I failed with 1 Grade 3 (mini-roundabout), 9 Grade 2 (hand-brake, roundabout, etc) and 3 Grade 1.

2nd Attempt :
I corrected all my mistakes from previous attempt. Practiced a lot. Went to different routes around my home.
Just before the test , I booked a pre-test. Some minor flaws were corrected. There were around approaching and exiting T-junction.
My test was scheduled on Friday afternoon. Theory went well. No mistakes. Car check went fine. The instructor was very cool. Driving started well. There was one point though where the route is very tricky. I think it is on Houth road. On approaching, there is yellow box in front of you across the road. I was asked to take right. But it's very tricky to get past it as there is a traffic left and right. Anyone on raheny route should practice that . All other aspects went fine.
There were 4 minor things which the tester said I should be careful. I am still waiting for the final report.

All the best to all the candidates :-)

Edit : Received my detail report : 0 Grade 1, 5 Grade 2 and 0 Grade 3.

plodder

My daughter passed this morning in Finglas. We are over the moon about it. Driving is so much harder nowadays, compared to when I did it in the 80's. It's a fantastic achievement to pass it. Agree with advice above about arriving very early (at least 20 minutes). Unfortunate young lad at same time, was late, and it looks like he missed his slot.

FellasFellas

Passed first time today in Churchtown. Had a really friendly tester, was dying nervous and stalled the car 5 mins into the test when turning right. Ended up getting 8 Grade 2's along with 18 Grade 1's. Cannot believe he didn't give me another Grade 2 as I had four Grade 1's for Overtaking as all the roads were blocked up with cars. Said at one stage he was considering a Grade 3 for not anticipating as a mother fought with her two children on the path but decided against it. Absolutely delighted, and it shows even with it being a poor test, you can still pass!

Neon_Lights

FellasFellas wrote: »

Passed first time today in Churchtown. Had a really friendly tester, was dying nervous and stalled the car 5 mins into the test when turning right. Ended up getting 8 Grade 2's along with 18 Grade 1's. Cannot believe he didn't give me another Grade 2 as I had four Grade 1's for Overtaking as all the roads were blocked up with cars. Said at one stage he was considering a Grade 3 for not anticipating as a mother fought with her two children on the path but decided against it. Absolutely delighted, and it shows even with it being a poor test, you can still pass!

Walked out of the test centre grinning smugly saying I'll take that, well played

Man on Fire

passed today in tallaght.... 1st go driving anyway...
Had a full test 2 years ago and driving to the test to get L plates on the day of the test..
Walked into the garage saw no L plates, i was like wtf but i saw these N plates and somehow i said this must be
the new sign or somethong... stuck them on me car, test fella comes out and says wer is ur L plates , failed me on the spot lol.
Well yesterday i got me L plates so i defo improved there and i passed the test this morning, the instructor was great and let me get on with the test... done 3 pretests and thanks to my instructor was a big help

Delighted

barry181091

Passed today (12.45) in Galway. It was my second attempt but felt like a first one as I did my first over two years ago! :P

I was very nervous and actually stalled the car waiting at the junction just outside the test center, didn't think it looked good from there tbh. I felt I had a lot of silly mistakes like signalling too early and stuff like that. Reverse around a corner was done on a bit of a hill and that seemed to make it easier. During my turnabout a car drove up alongside me but I just stopped, waited for the car to fully stop and then I completed the maneuver.

Didn't think I had passed at all but at the end it was 5 Grade 2's and 1 Grade 1. 2 grade 2's were for progression, basically not exiting two junctions in a timely manner. One of the other grade 2's was actually for courtesy! I didn't make it easy for a city bus to maneuver a junction when I was near the stop sign.

pudzey101

Passed first time ( motorcycle ) test in tipperary today !! Well delighted . especially as it was called off last month over "high gusting winds" and was not conducted untill this morning !! Was nervous as hell when woke up this morning and once i got through a pre test with my instructor i was calm happy days !!

neonsofa

pudzey101 wrote: »

Passed first time ( motorcycle ) test in tipperary today !! Well delighted . especially as it was called off last month over "high gusting winds" and was not conducted untill this morning !! Was nervous as hell when woke up this morning and once i got through a pre test with my instructor i was calm happy days !!

Well done!!!!

Neon_Lights

neonsofa wrote: »

Well done!!!!

Can I put my lights in your sofa?

valoren

Passed yesterday in Cork. I came late to driving. Started when I was 33, three years ago.
5th time doing it.

7 grade 2's.

First test I was a bag of nerves. Expected and accepted the failure.

Second test, I got a grade 3 for continuing through an amber on approach. Felt like I didn't have time to stop safely so continued. Would have passed were it not for that. Gutted.

Third test, hit the kerb reversing, not observing, basic faults. Hadn't practiced enough. Took a lesson, a proper 2 hour lesson with an excellent instructor.

Fourth test, got a grade 3 for not using the filter lane for taking 3rd exit on the Wilton Rd roundabout. Pissed off.

I was now beginning to feel truly incompetent. I was driving 3 years at this stage and felt I was an ok driver, with common sense. It was a reality check to fail 4 times. I am wired to truly despise being 'tested', particularly under such an unrealistic situation of the driving test, with someone telling you where to drive, about how nerve wracking it is to have someone watching you, and the stress when they start to tap their iPads. That's the reality for me. It is an incredibly stressful scenario to do a driving test. Perhaps a recommendation to counter that, to give people a Plan B so to speak, would be that if you fail the test 5 times, then you can either continue applying for a test, or apply for 6 final lessons, where the instructor will be required to sign off on your competency. You can only avail of that if you have failed 5 times. It would be at the instructors discretion to pass you as a 'Novice'. You remove the whole stress of the test that way, because in the back of your mind you will think that it's not the end of the world should you fail. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Currently, the approach is that you have to pass 'the test' and that's that. It's a closed shop mentally.

I changed cars. A 2 Litre diesel. Much more control on it than the petrol 1.6 litre.
I suppose it was having the confidence to be able to drive the heavier car that swayed it this time.
Wasn't nervous at all this time. I just told myself that I had the car under total control.

Still got some nit picking grade 2's (observation etc) but the relief at never having to see the RSA office again is immense.

The Young Wan

Passed this morning on the fourth attempt in Dungarvan. Six G2s, three for forgetting to indicate when I did my turnabout, and not looking over my right shoulder before take off.

neonsofa

The Young Wan wrote: »

Passed this morning on the fourth attempt in Dungarvan. Six G2s, three for forgetting to indicate when I did my turnabout, and not looking over my right shoulder before take off.

Well done!!!

MissElle

So I passed my test this morning in Finglas, third time lucky! Failed twice in Raheny so decided a change of scenery might be better. I hadn't done the test in 3 years because I lost all confidence in myself but decided to bite the bullet and try again. Absolutely delighted Sitting in that waiting room is definitely one of the worst bits!

neonsofa

MissElle wrote: »

So I passed my test this morning in Finglas, third time lucky! Failed twice in Raheny so decided a change of scenery might be better. I hadn't done the test in 3 years because I lost all confidence in myself but decided to bite the bullet and try again. Absolutely delighted Sitting in that waiting room is definitely one of the worst bits!

Woohoo over and done with now, fair play to you!

NeilMcGrane

Passed first time in Finglas on Friday morning. Finished with 4 grade twos and 2 grade ones. Delighted!

Had the tester and another person in the back, not sure why as he had no clipboard or papers, just himself. Possibly a trainee?

Fuzzybuddy

Passed first time in Raheny last monday! It was a beautiful day for it but the heat made me paranoid I would start to sweat so much the examiner would give me a grade 3 just to escape!

It started badly I must admit as I was immediately tailgated by a black insignia who clearly had somewhere more important to be then behind myself, luckily the examiners first direction turned me off this unfriendly drivers path.

I received 4 grade twos - two under the same heading which was giving way at roundabouts, he told me I had the right of way but never took it. I can't fully remmember but I'll take his word for it!

The others were during my reverse around the corner - he told me I took too long and marked me for competency, I didn't know this was possible and when I accidentally money shifted from third into second instead of fourth - luckily my Astras gearbox didn't plummet from the engine but sure it kept going

I did have an odd moment on the road into raheny village from Killbarrick fire station - a dog decided to sit down in the road and not move, when a passerby tried to corral the dog onto the path it decided to run down my side of the road leaving myself and my examiner to slowly cruise behind it in first and hope it moved as traffic wouldn't allow us to overtake

Eventually when the dog moved I continued down the steep hill into raheny village where clearance was practically zero and then back to the test centre! I thought if I passed he would tell me immediately and if I failed he would bring me inside so you can imagine my heart when I read 'certificate or compenty' across the desk!

waiting on my licence now!! I have driven a few times with just the receipt of licence but I don't think guards would accept that?

neonsofa

Passed first time, Finglas. Such a weird type of stress and an amazing relief when it's over- even before I was told I passed, I thought I failed and still felt relief :pac:

bedlamaticable

Passed first time in Tallaght a couple of days ago. Had never taken a lesson (got my first provisional before the EDT was compulsory). Took a pre-test a few days before my actual test, wanted to get a feel for the routes and identify any bad habits. The instructor was confident I'd pass, but I didn't feel particularly confident myself to be honest, looked at it as more of a practice run and to get first time nerves out. On the day itself I was FAR more nervous than I was expecting, nearly shaking walking into the centre. Ended up with 3 grade 2's, and walking back into the centre I'd honestly thought I'd failed, was delighted!
Anyone doing the test in Tallaght I would definitely recommend watching the videos of the routes, found those really helpful. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, just look at it as an experience and to get to know what to expect if first time doesn't go well. Within 5 mins I was sure I'd failed and tbh it sort of took away some of my nerves and I figured I'd just drive as best I could and learn from it for next time, turns out there is no next time! Good luck to anyone with an upcoming test!!

neonsofa

bedlamaticable wrote: »

Passed first time in Tallaght a couple of days ago. Had never taken a lesson (got my first provisional before the EDT was compulsory). Took a pre-test a few days before my actual test, wanted to get a feel for the routes and identify any bad habits. The instructor was confident I'd pass, but I didn't feel particularly confident myself to be honest, looked at it as more of a practice run and to get first time nerves out. On the day itself I was FAR more nervous than I was expecting, nearly shaking walking into the centre. Ended up with 3 grade 2's, and walking back into the centre I'd honestly thought I'd failed, was delighted! ....

Could have written that post myself! Exact same experience! Well done

Edit: I quoted the wrong part of your post, I'm a dope! The second part is same as me, first part isn't at all lol

ArtyC

Lads had a disasterous start to my test. Last minute couldn't sit it in my own car, ----I got into a car I never drove before- messed up a few times- enough to fail I thought!! Made myself forget it happened and continued as if I was all good!! I passed! First time too ! Don't let anything let you treat the rest of your test as a fail!! Happy ****ing days !

neonsofa

ArtyC wrote: »

Lads had a disasterous start to my test. Last minute couldn't sit it in my own car, ----I got into a car I never drove before- messed up a few times- enough to fail I thought!! Made myself forget it happened and continued as if I was all good!! I passed! First time too ! Don't let anything let you treat the rest of your test as a fail!! Happy ****ing days !

Well done!!!!

LovelySpuds

Passed first time today in Killarney with only a few minor faults! Just a quick question while I'm here, which categories am I allowed to tick on the driving license application? Pretty sure it's B, BE and W after passing the B test but not entirely sure. Anyone know?

JamboMac

madforthebike wrote: »

Passed first time today in Killarney with only a few minor faults! Just a quick question while I'm here, which categories am I allowed to tick on the driving license application? Pretty sure it's B, BE and W after passing the B test but not entirely sure. Anyone know?

Just B and W, congrats. BE is trailer over a certain size I think, but have to do a test for that separate.

LovelySpuds

JamboMac wrote:

Just B and W, congrats. BE is trailer over a certain size I think, but have to do a test for that separate.

Sound!

neonsofa

madforthebike wrote: »

Passed first time today in Killarney with only a few minor faults! Just a quick question while I'm here, which categories am I allowed to tick on the driving license application? Pretty sure it's B, BE and W after passing the B test but not entirely sure. Anyone know?

Fair play!

Vel

Passed on my first attempt today in Churchtown. Absolutely delighted. 3 Grade 1s and 4 Grade 2s

I am 38 and was kind of forced into driving as the result of a relationship breakdown and needing to be able to ferry my kids around. I decided the quickest way to to make this happen based on the fact that I have no car and would be doing it on lessons alone would be to do it in an automatic.

Some people get a bit of a bee in their bonnet about automatics being limiting in terms of what you can buy etc. but I am over the moon that I will soon have my own little car to drive myself and my kids around, and not have to rely on other people, and the fact that it will be an automatic does not bother me in the slightest!

The tester was a lovely man - quiet but really put me at ease in the office beforehand and as we were setting off.

And without a shadow of a doubt I could not have done it without the support of my driving instructor who is amazing!!

JamboMac

Vel wrote: »

Passed on my first attempt today in Churchtown. Absolutely delighted. 3 Grade 1s and 4 Grade 2s

I am 38 and was kind of forced into driving as the result of a relationship breakdown and needing to be able to ferry my kids around. I decided the quickest way to to make this happen based on the fact that I have no car and would be doing it on lessons alone would be to do it in an automatic.

Some people get a bit of a bee in their bonnet about automatics being limiting in terms of what you can buy etc. but I am over the moon that I will soon have my own little car to drive myself and my kids around, and not have to rely on other people, and the fact that it will be an automatic does not bother me in the slightest!

The tester was a lovely man - quiet but really put me at ease in the office beforehand and as we were setting off.

And without a shadow of a doubt I could not have done it without the support of my driving instructor who is amazing!!

Congrats no real issue with people driving automatics limiting their buying power, but limiting skill set maybe if you need to.

neonsofa

Vel wrote: »

Passed on my first attempt today in Churchtown. Absolutely delighted. 3 Grade 1s and 4 Grade 2s

I am 38 and was kind of forced into driving as the result of a relationship breakdown and needing to be able to ferry my kids around. I decided the quickest way to to make this happen based on the fact that I have no car and would be doing it on lessons alone would be to do it in an automatic.

Some people get a bit of a bee in their bonnet about automatics being limiting in terms of what you can buy etc. but I am over the moon that I will soon have my own little car to drive myself and my kids around, and not have to rely on other people, and the fact that it will be an automatic does not bother me in the slightest!

The tester was a lovely man - quiet but really put me at ease in the office beforehand and as we were setting off.

And without a shadow of a doubt I could not have done it without the support of my driving instructor who is amazing!!

Well done! Honestly, I don't see why people have an issue with automatics, it's only limiting if you actually want or need to drive manual. When compared to the option of not driving at all it has increased your options tenfold and if it's what you want/need right now I don't see why it matters to anybody else! Good for you! You won't know yourself.

Vel

JamboMac wrote: »

Congrats no real issue with people driving automatics limiting their buying power, but limiting skill set maybe if you need to.

My main method of transport is cycling. I adore it and will continue to choose cycling over driving as much as I can. I also live within 10 minutes of a Luas stop. The main things I will be using my car for are ferrying my kids to playdates, parties and after school activities and hopefully on the odd holiday here or there so I in no way see how choosing an automatic has limited me. In fact, it has opened up a whole new world of possibilities that I never expected I would have. I've managed fine for 38 years not being able to drive so don't forsee a situation where I would *need* to drive anyone else's car.

Anyway, I'm delighted and proud to be a fully qualified automatic driver!!!

Ninjavampire

Passed today on my second attempt. Went from failing with 13 grade two faults to passing with only 2, one for coasting (for about 30 metres, I knew well while I had my foot on the clutch!) and the other for reacting to hazards (parked cars). Delighted to say the least as I am 26 and only started driving before Christmas. I guarantee if I can do it, anyone can!