Three time Failure

mimster

Hi everyone,

I really need advice i have just sat and failed my driving test for the third time today. Today and the last time I was very prepared and this time had even passed a mock test with a driving school two days ago, I really skilled up my weak areas which were observation especially when turns and got no marks for this today but got four marks in a row for hazards - which i never got before and four in a row for driving too close to stationery vehicles. I genuinely feel these were very unfair marks and I feel completely frustrated that every time I sit the test with a different tester I get different marks. I begged the tester today to explain why he gave me the marks he did cos i genuinely felt they were completely unfair. He refused :mad:How am i ever going to pass - what is the key ? Ive just reapplied for attempt number four :(its costing me a fortune and is soooo disillusioning (is there such a word - ive a small baby sleep deprived )

ronbyrne2005

Were the hazards speed bumps? Maybe sleep deprevation from your baby had a real affect on your driving.

DrivingInfo

How many lessons have you taken?

Were they with the same instructor?

Over how long have you done your four tests? (years, months)

Bards

I failed twice when I did my test, both times the tester constructed situations to make me make mistakes.

1.) Approaching a traffic light controlled junction. Tester said "take a left at the next junction". I proceeded to go through the junction and take the next left when he said "I told you to take a left at the junction" and by the time I was arguing with him the traffic light had turned amber as I was passing the light.

However what he should have said was "take the next left before the Junction". How unfair is that!! - result was automatic fail

If he had to keep his mouth shut, (did it really matter that I was going to take a Left at the traffic light controlled junction) I would not have been distracted and abserved the light changing in time.

Worse thing was he said I would have passed if I didn't go through the amber light.

2.) I was driving down a long narrow road with cars parked either side. Some bloke gets in his car at the far end as I was already in the middle of the road and decides to pull out without seeing me coming.

again instructer decides to fail me for not been psychic that a driver was going to get into his car and may drive up the road. The Tester said if I didn't make that mistake I would have passed - WTF

Both of these tests were on a Friday and Saturday

Third time I did it ,I only out down on the form that I was only available for tests on Mondays & Tuesdays

Guess what passed with flying colours. as it was early in the week they had a load left on the Quota to pass

mikemac

Bards wrote: »

Guess what passed with flying colours. as it was early in the week they had a load left on the Quota to pass

A complete myth.

loobylou

Bards wrote: »

both times the tester constructed situations to make me make mistakes.





2.) I was driving down a long narrow road with cars parked either side. Some bloke gets in his car at the far end as I was already in the middle of the road and decides to pull out without seeing me coming.

Was he the testers brother perhaps?

Brow

On my first (and only so far) attempt I had a gut feeling going in I wouldnt pass. How and ever upon getting back to the test center I felt like it was plain sailing. Expected one or two marks but was confident I passed.

I failed. 4 in a row for overtaking stationary vehicles and 3 (very close) for reactions to hazards as well as 3 other marks in other areas. Tester wouldnt discuss it, it was self explanatory apparently

I still to this day have no idea where i picked up these marks. Its never come up with instructors (who ive done lessons with more than one) and when i told my instructor he was baffled how i picked up thse marks.

Fingers crossed for next time, my attention will be (even more so!) primed on distance and obstacles next time.

ballsymchugh

as a veteran of ... ahem... 7 tests, hope this can be some help.
it was only on the 7th test that i realised what the driving instructor does to help. for the previous 6 tests, every time i arranged lessons, i was block booked for 6 ro 7 lessons, with a 2 hour lesson before the test. this was with a few different instructors.
on the 7 test, i called a different guy. he took me out once about 4 days before the test, and once more for an hour before the test.
i felt the more lessons you take, the more nervous you get. the last guy just took it easy, explained where i needed to improve and sent me on my way for a few days. the previous instructors didn't think i could improve on my own so kept taking me out for lessons.
you've done it 3 times now, so you can drive, and it just takes a few minor tweeks to be perfect. maybe you just need to relax a bit more. funnily enough, my third test was failed cos i drove too close to parked cars too, although i had oncoming traffic too, so i don't know what exactly i was meant to do.
to be honest, among my friends and 10 years later, it's quite funny when i look back on it. defo not at the time though!

Bards

mikemac wrote: »

A complete myth.

funny that the person before me failed on both occasions also, while on the Monday the person before me passed too

coincidince I think not. bearing in mind this was about 11 years ago

would love to see the data on pass rates for different days of the week

brian076

Bards wrote: »

funny that the person before me failed on both occasions also, while on the Monday the person before me passed too

coincidince I think not. bearing in mind this was about 11 years ago

would love to see the data on pass rates for different days of the week

There is no quota, guaranteed 100%. Whether a tester passes or fails everyone on a Monday, Friday or any other day, makes absolutely no difference, they are not answerable to anyone over such a short period.

Obviously if their pass rate was substantially different to other testers in the same centre, their supervisor would look into it to see if there was a problem, but otherwise they just take each candidate on their merits, end of story.

Bards

brian076 wrote: »

There is no quota, guaranteed 100%. Whether a tester passes or fails everyone on a Monday, Friday or any other day, makes absolutely no difference, they are not answerable to anyone over such a short period.

Obviously if their pass rate was substantially different to other testers in the same centre, their supervisor would look into it to see if there was a problem, but otherwise they just take each candidate on their merits, end of story.

why the huge discrepancy between centres http://www.drivingtest.ie/drivingtest/EnglishStats.pdf

Lowest pass rate 42.5%, highest Pass Rate 64.1% that is a huge variance considering all tests should be the same and normal distribution would dictate that there should be no more than +/- 5% difference between all the test centres

why doesn't RSA /DoT investigate those centres which fall outside the Mean Distribution Curve

mikemac

Bards wrote: »

funny that the person before me failed on both occasions also, while on the Monday the person before me passed too

coincidince I think not. bearing in mind this was about 11 years ago

Maybe you failed twice as you didn't meet the standard, what? :eek:. No harm, I failed my first test too and learned from it
Sure everyone thinks they're a pretty good driver

You've a good point on the different test centres and that is something that should be checked. Since they have supervisors it shouldn't be happening.

In fact if there were quotas surely every test centre would surely have the same percentage rates. So how do you explain quotas and the different rates?

brian076

Bards wrote: »

why the huge discrepancy between centres http://www.drivingtest.ie/drivingtest/EnglishStats.pdf

Lowest pass rate 42.5%, highest Pass Rate 64.1% that is a huge variance considering all tests should be the same and normal distribution would dictate that there should be no more than +/- 5% difference between all the test centres

why doesn't RSA /DoT investigate those centres which fall outside the Mean Distribution Curve

The main reason would be the difficulty in traffic and road conditions on the routes used in each centre. The lowest is Rathgar, which has a few tricky routes, but I agree there shouldn't be such a big discrepency between this centre and Churchtown which are only a couple of miles apart.

However, as another poster mentioned, if there were quotas then all centres would have the same pass rate.

mimster

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies.

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

Were the hazards speed bumps? Maybe sleep deprevation from your baby had a real affect on your driving.

I was very cautious over the speed bumps as had been warned by the driving school so i dont think it was them. I went over them slowly and carefully in second gear watching in rear view mirror to ensure there was no other vehicle up my behind ! I dont feel that sleep deprivation had an affect on my driving as i was very tuned in and did all my manoevoures perfectly. What i dont understand is that i got only two marks for observation so how then did i get four in a row for hazards, surely if i was that observant i would have noticed hazards ?

Driving info, i originally took lessons about a year and a half ago with a local instructor and then coming up to my second test i went to a well known driving school. Between this and the third test i did a couple of two hour lessons and a mock test. My first test was april 2009, second test was the beginning of september and the third test was last week (november 13th).

I have just got a new date for next week - anyone any tips ???

murphm45

mimster wrote: »

I have just got a new date for next week - anyone any tips ???

Sorry this mightn't be much use but i'll throw in my experience, who knows it might help. I comrehensvely failed test the first time (if somethings worth doing it's worth doing right I suppose!!!) with numerous faults but I got 4 grade 2's for reaction to hazards, when i asked the tester afterwards if it was for hitting speed bumps too hard/fast but he said i was over-checking my blind spot and not paying enough attention to the road. Given you said you had problems with observation in earlier tests and that you fixed it you may have over-compensated and the tester could have penalised you the same way I was.

Again this mightn't be any use but it might be something considering and apologies if this freaks you out a bit i really don't mean it to.

Anyway best of luck with your test.

NukaCola

Bards wrote: »

funny that the person before me failed on both occasions also, while on the Monday the person before me passed too

coincidince I think not.

Coincidence? I think so!!
You failed because of the mistakes you made not because of the day you done it.

Blush_01

Sitting test #2 tomorrow.

I know I can drive, I just don't know if I can drive to the marking sheet when I'm very nervous, so I'm trying to relax as much as I can in advance.

I have a lesson in the morning, which I'm looking forward to, as my instructor always puts me at ease and I drive better when I'm "warmed up" a bit. Plus, her giving out to me won't hurt.

I'd love to pass - it'd change my life - but there's a 45% pass rate at my centre. I know if I fail it'll be on me, but it hurts less to blame the tester, so that's exactly what I'll be doing! If it doesn't work, I'll just reapply. I'd like to have achieved my goal of a full license in 2009, but if I don't, it's not the end of the world.

At the end of the day, imho you can only drive the way you're going to drive on the day. How things have gone before the test, whatever is going on in your life outside of driving, road conditions or weather conditions that you're not used to will all effect how you drive, you've just got to roll with it, do everything to the best of your ability, and work on what you do wrong for next time - assuming there is a next time!