Passing the test?

Zheiko

Hi guys,

I wanted to ask of those who got their full licence, how many times did you try? Did you do it on first attempt? I am going to finish my last three lessons in Sunday, and then I should be ready for the last test, I am however afraid(probably as everyone else) that I might not pass. Therefore I would like to know approx percentage of passing on first time?

Also, which testing center is better? I got offered Finglas and Raheny, I am personally from Raheny, and therefore I believe, that it will be easier for me doing it in there, since I know the place?

Thanks

Get Real

Hi OP,

I did my test in Finglas centre, but thats because I know and was comfprtable with the finglas/ glasnevin area. I failed the first time, and passed the second, three weeks later.

I'd be open to criticism here, or if anyone wants to tell me I'm wrong, but- I was told (and I am a male) that the testers have to stay within a certain decent percent ie, they can't be passing everyone, so if everyone that day is doing well, the general standard is raised so you might be taken to a different roundabout/ area for a three point turn etc which might be a little more difficult to test the men from the boys/ girls from the women.

I also heard that young males, as they are statistically more likely to speed/ die in crashes etc, are put through a longer test/ different route at times/ marked harder the first time so as not to inflate their ego/ have them think they're "deadly". I was told this before my test, by numerous people, including someone from the RSA.

If you're more comfortable with Raheny then go for it. Drive as you would when practising, you must be confident enough at this stage if you applied for it. Read the RSA book/ watch a driving DVD. Mentally take notes in your head on reversing, hill starts, entering and signalling off roundabouts. Then remember and use those bullet points when driving. Good luck!

Zheiko

I think I am pretty much ready, I have three more lessons to go, and my instructor told me that I am ready, except for the mirrors, I keep forgetting those:( and its not about forgetting, its more about not checking them in the correct order. I usually give signal, then check mirror and then turn, which is wrong, I need to check mirrors, and then signal... but I know where I am doing this mistake, the worse thing is, that sometimes when I get focused on something else, I just forget to keep this in my head...:(

Well, three more hours to practice with my Trainer, I will ask him to slap me everytime that I do not do it in proper order, and that should do that I will remember that

spurious

I failed six times in Raheny, an area I knew like the back of my hand and passed first time in Finglas, an area I didn't know at all.

Zheiko

spurious wrote: »

I failed six times in Raheny, an area I knew like the back of my hand and passed first time in Finglas, an area I didn't know at all.

wow, my confidence is gone...

MascotDec85

OP, don't listen to what other people's nightmare experiences are. It's what you do on the day that counts.

Drive to the best of your ability, following the advice given by your ADI.

If you see yourself making a mistake, fix it. If its too late, forget about it. You can't change it. Leave it where it happened. You'll make more mistakes thinking about that one and make others due to lack of concentration.

There are no fail quotas. If you deserve to pass, you will. End of

J_R

Zheiko wrote: »

I think I am pretty much ready, I have three more lessons to go, and my instructor told me that I am ready, except for the mirrors, I keep forgetting those:( and its not about forgetting, its more about not checking them in the correct order. I usually give signal, then check mirror and then turn, which is wrong, I need to check mirrors, and then signal... but I know where I am doing this mistake, the worse thing is, that sometimes when I get focused on something else, I just forget to keep this in my head...:(

Well, three more hours to practice with my Trainer, I will ask him to slap me everytime that I do not do it in proper order, and that should do that I will remember that

Hi,

Read about a learner in South Africa who turned up for his driving lesson and handed his instructor a cattle prod, told him to give him a poke with it everytime he made a mistake.

Just an idea.

ProudDUB

I developed a terrible lead foot after my first few lessons. Over cockiness made me drive, way, way too fast. (The fact that I was learning to drive on an unused race probably track didn't help matters much. :P )

Anyway, my instructor got really browned off always telling me to slow down & me not listening to him. So whenever the speedometer began to hover towards the danger zone, he'd wallop me on the knee with the metal part of his clip board. I left more than one lesson limping. But the tough love approach worked. I passed my test at the first go & have never, ever gotten a speeding ticket.

(Edit, you'd probably not want to do that these days, if you don't want to get sued. )

Zheiko

ProudDUB wrote: »

I developed a terrible lead foot after my first few lessons. Over cockiness made me drive, way, way too fast. (The fact that I was learning to drive on an unused race probably track didn't help matters much. :P )

Anyway, my instructor got really browned off always telling me to slow down & me not listening to him. So whenever the speedometer began to hover towards the danger zone, he'd wallop me on the knee with the metal part of his clip board. I left more than one lesson limping. But the tough love approach worked. I passed my test at the first go & have never, ever gotten a speeding ticket.

(Edit, you'd probably not want to do that these days, if you don't want to get sued. )

Well, if there is agreement on both sides, I dont believe any sueing would be possible. that was however just a 'retorical' joke:)

Anyways, I dont have problems with speeding, I always keep the proper distance and proper speed, I am no 21 anymore, and I realize what dangers and risks there are on the road, and therefore I do not need to speed or going on the last few seconds of amber etc.

spurious

Hope you get it first time, but if you don't, don't worry, keep trying.

endacl

Hi OP. Passed first time. Its really not a big deal. Just take your tester for a spin. If you fail its really no big deal. Just do it again. Don't do it six times though. After fail number five, invest in a nice bicycle.

Zheiko

hehe... lets hope I do it on the first time:)

spurious

Zheiko wrote: »

hehe... lets hope I do it on the first time:)

Do it as many times as it takes. They fail you on all sorts of different things at different times anyway. There doesn't appear to be any consistency. Just don't give up.

Sala

Everyone gets it, whether on the first go or the 4th or 5th go.

Zheiko

So, I have signed myself up for a test, now I have to wait, but why the hell does that take 6-10 weeks? if I fail and I want to retest, do I have to wait another 6-10 weeks, or is the retest faster?

arleitiss

Zheiko wrote: »

So, I have signed myself up for a test, now I have to wait, but why the hell does that take 6-10 weeks? if I fail and I want to retest, do I have to wait another 6-10 weeks, or is the retest faster?

You can apply for cancellation list, it will be quicker, also if you give them a ring it will most likely decrease waiting times.
I applied for my test in October 2012, got date for 2nd of January - 2013 (rough date, hangovers etc..), but I was on cancellation list + I rang them to ask about it which speeded up process.

Passed with first time, had lots of confidence though, as I was driving for a year by then, also on the day of test, I went to finglas (where my test was held), drove for 3 hours around streets of finglas getting used to turns etc... then went to test, felt confident enough.

Good luck.

wil

spurious wrote: »

They fail you on all sorts of different things at different times anyway. There doesn't appear to be any consistency. .

I hear this sort of anecdote so many times and further discussion with the person usually convinces me that its a self serving myth.

If somebody after failing can tell when and where they made mistakes I'd say there were well on the way to passing next time. If they fail and cant say where, then they dont know what to fix.
Often over familiarity can give false confidence and lead to bad habits.
In your situation you may have been paying more attention to an unfamiliar area rather than driving less cautiously in a familiar area.

2 anecdotal examples - 2 brothers, one driving parent car for ages, very experienced but failed test multiple times. After one fail, he was very annoyed I asked him what he failed on, couldnt really tell me, I was better able to guess his fail reasons.
Other brother, only took proper lessons, no other driving experience, passed first time.

I same, only took proper lessons, no other driving experience, passed first time. I can still tell you many years later what mistakes I made.
My examiner asked me a theory question on rules of road which I immediately realised was to do with one mistake. I told him, you shouldnt do exactly what I had done which I was glad to explain. This proved to be the correct approach and he told me I passed.

Zheiko

wil wrote: »

I hear this sort of anecdote so many times and further discussion with the person usually convinces me that its a self serving myth.

If somebody after failing can tell when and where they made mistakes I'd say there were well on the way to passing next time. If they fail and cant say where, then they dont know what to fix.
Often over familiarity can give false confidence and lead to bad habits.
In your situation you may have been paying more attention to an unfamiliar area rather than driving less cautiously in a familiar area.

2 anecdotal examples - 2 brothers, one driving parent car for ages, very experienced but failed test multiple times. After one fail, he was very annoyed I asked him what he failed on, couldnt really tell me, I was better able to guess his fail reasons.
Other brother, only took proper lessons, no other driving experience, passed first time.

I same, only took proper lessons, no other driving experience, passed first time. I can still tell you many years later what mistakes I made.
My examiner asked me a theory question on rules of road which I immediately realised was to do with one mistake. I told him, you shouldnt do exactly what I had done which I was glad to explain. This proved to be the correct approach and he told me I passed.

Yes, this is what I am afraid of, I was driving before too, and I have habbits, bad habbits, that my instructor tried to remove and learn me those the right way... its gonna be hard, but I believe if I focus hard enough, I can do it

ThunderZtorm

wil wrote: »

I hear this sort of anecdote so many times and further discussion with the person usually convinces me that its a self serving myth.

If somebody after failing can tell when and where they made mistakes I'd say there were well on the way to passing next time. If they fail and cant say where, then they dont know what to fix.
Often over familiarity can give false confidence and lead to bad habits.
In your situation you may have been paying more attention to an unfamiliar area rather than driving less cautiously in a familiar area.

2 anecdotal examples - 2 brothers, one driving parent car for ages, very experienced but failed test multiple times. After one fail, he was very annoyed I asked him what he failed on, couldnt really tell me, I was better able to guess his fail reasons.
Other brother, only took proper lessons, no other driving experience, passed first time.

I same, only took proper lessons, no other driving experience, passed first time. I can still tell you many years later what mistakes I made.
My examiner asked me a theory question on rules of road which I immediately realised was to do with one mistake. I told him, you shouldnt do exactly what I had done which I was glad to explain. This proved to be the correct approach and he told me I passed.

I fully support the _fact_ that there is absolutely NO consistency in the way you are marked at the driving test.

So, I took two different tests at the same place. I didn't change much during either test at all, a few details, a bit observation.

Test 1: I am told I take turns way too fast, I don't slow down/stop to look around, and I generally drive a bit too fast considering the conditions.

Test 2: I am told I take turns way too slowly, there's no need to stop and look around and I generally drive too slowly.

For both tests my standard procedure was to drive around 35-40 km/h in the small roads @ Finglas due to lots of parked cars and pedestrians/dogs/kids on the side.
I would slow down/stop at crosses to look around at both tests.

For both tests the weather was good, no rain, good visibility, middle afternoon so lots of people about. So no change in conditions warranting any particular reaction.

So you tell me, considering that the difference in my driving is minimal for each test - how do you explain the completely opposite comments from the instructors? I sure can't.

_Puma_

When I was doing my test it wasn't in an ideal situation. Learned to drive in a Diesel but had to take the test in my Instructors 1L petrol that I only had 5 lessons done in. Was stalling it right up to the lesson before my test. Done the test in Galway city and spent most my lessons driving around the test route.

While having a good grasp of the rules of the road and good judgement driving, driving the petrol that I had little experience in really made me nervous about the test.

The test was at 9 30am on a monday(Luck of the draw because the roads were quiet and the schools were off), so to ease the nerves I got up at 7am and took the instructors car and just started driving right up untill 9am, just to get my clutching and gearing right. There really is a big difference between a 1.9 Diesel and a 1.0 Petrol.

Pre checks went fine and off I went. Was still nervous but the pre driving I did in the morning made it alot easier to get comfortable. About half way through I almost stalled it when someone slowed down to let me out of a side road (was on an incline) but other than that I did a fairly good test. The only other drama was when the tester asked me to pull over to do the hand signals. Tried to put down the electric windows but they weren't budging, couldn't find the lock so the tester just asked me to show him without actually doing them.

In the end I got a ticks for clutching, gearing, another one or two that I cant remember, and the hand signals one but passed on my first go. Was really lucky that there was not a lot of traffic at the time as anything can happen when it is busy on the road.

My advice is just prepare and do some driving right up to the test to ease the nerves, but don't get too upset if ya fail because at the end of the day it is just a driving test.

Zheiko

Ok, so I am working with Airport Driving school, they are pretty expensive, but on the other hand, they say they have 98% successful rate. Well, I have done my 12 lessons I had to with them, and now I paid for 3hours which are 'Mock Test' when first hour was with my own instructor preparing me for test, and then with another instructor undergoing standard test, after which he tells me if I fail or not.

Now, this is very sensitive thing, since they told me, that I should do another 3hours and then pay for another '3' Mock test... thats like 6 hours on top... at this stage, I am doubting this, and it feels like greedyness.

So, is here anyone with experiences from this driving school?

wil

ThunderZtorm wrote: »

I fully support the _fact_ that there is absolutely NO consistency in the way you are marked at the driving test.

So, I took two different tests at the same place. I didn't change much during either test at all, a few details, a bit observation.

Test 1: I am told I take turns way too fast, I don't slow down/stop to look around, and I generally drive a bit too fast considering the conditions.

Test 2: I am told I take turns way too slowly, there's no need to stop and look around and I generally drive too slowly.

For both tests my standard procedure was to drive around 35-40 km/h in the small roads @ Finglas due to lots of parked cars and pedestrians/dogs/kids on the side.
I would slow down/stop at crosses to look around at both tests.

For both tests the weather was good, no rain, good visibility, middle afternoon so lots of people about. So no change in conditions warranting any particular reaction.

So you tell me, considering that the difference in my driving is minimal for each test - how do you explain the completely opposite comments from the instructors? I sure can't.

So what do you think you did wrong during the tests?

spurious

I would love if, as an experiment, they took a random 20 drivers, 10 full licence holders and ten learner permits ready to sit a test, test them all and see what the results are.

It would not surprise me in the slightest if some (or many) of the licence holders failed. The test to me (and I had lots of tests) seemed entirely arbitrary - otherwise how would observation issues be 'missed' in three tests and suddenly pop up in the fourth? Or clutch control pop up in the third and fifth, but not the others?

Luck of the draw on the day, imo.