Advice on preparing for driving test

fatedtopretend

Hi all,

I'm waiting on a date for my driving test. It will be my first time attempting it. I've completed my EDT's and am trying to get as much experience driving in various traffic situations to help with confidence. My instructor says I am at a good level and need to continue to polish my driving.

I still have approximately 9 weeks before the test so I'm looking for any advice from experienced drivers or anyone who's passed on the first time. I desperately need to pass as I need to drive for work so I'm hoping to pass on my first attempt! Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks.

L

bpb101

fatedtopretend wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm waiting on a date for my driving test. It will be my first time attempting it. I've completed my EDT's and am trying to get as much experience driving in various traffic situations to help with confidence. My instructor says I am at a good level and need to continue to polish my driving.

I still have approximately 9 weeks before the test so I'm looking for any advice from experienced drivers or anyone who's passed on the first time. I desperately need to pass as I need to drive for work so I'm hoping to pass on my first attempt! Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks.

L

you can call them and ask them for a cancellation appointment . You will get one for about a week away .
Advice. Drive like a granny. check your mirrors 20 times a second.

I failed because i turned right too quickly. and i didnt check my mirror when i was doing it. (grade 3).
Drive like a granny...

tradhead

My advice would be go on Youtube to the Irish School of Motoring channel and look at their videos which go through each individual aspect of the test.

I've never had a lesson from any of their instructors, and my instructor is not associated with them at all but he swears by them and reckons if you study them you'll have no bother once you get the practise in.

I have my test the day after tomorrow and watched them all again at the weekend and went to my lesson today with a list of questions of things that I wanted to check with him, it made me feel a lot more calm in my preparations for the test (fingers crossed it'll work!!!)

Forgot to mention- I couldn't get a date for ages and they eventually offered me a date about 2 months in advance- I rang them every day for about a week and explained that I needed to do it sooner for various reasons and they sorted me out Good luck!

spookmaster

bpb101 wrote: »

you can call them and ask them for a cancellation appointment . You will get one for about a week away .
Advice. Drive like a granny. check your mirrors 20 times a second.

I failed because i turned right too quickly. and i didnt check my mirror when i was doing it. (grade 3).
Drive like a granny...

That's the complete opposite to what I was told. I failed on my first two attempts, because I 'drove like a granny' as you so eloquently put it. The instructor said I was 'too cautious' and I needed to be more confident.

I passed on my third attempt because I was confident but careful. Don't drive like a robot. Act naturally and drive as if you're going somewhere. And don't check your mirrors 20 times every second. Check your mirrors before indicating and check your rearview every 15 seconds. Make use of them while reversing.

Keep calm, know your traffic lights and Roundabouts and remember your position on the road.

Best of luck.

whiskeyman

bpb101 wrote: »

.
Drive like a granny...

spookmaster wrote: »

That's the complete opposite to what I was told. I failed on my first two attempts, because I 'drove like a granny' as you so eloquently put it. The instructor said I was 'too cautious' and I needed to be more confident.

Do not 'drive like a granny', but drive confidently while cautious at the same time as spook has said.

If you drive too slowly, you can get marked down for 'progression'.
The key is to get as much experience behind the wheel as possible.
The more you get, the less fear / nerves you'll have.

Pugzilla

Drive everyday from here on, get completely desensitised to driving so that it's as natural as walking.

bpb101

what i mean by it is. Drive 10 and 2 . hands on the wheel. sit up straight. Dont speed.keep your lane. Dont overtake(unless you have to). stay in left lane always unless turning right and only before the junction.

Follow the letter of the law. indicators when parking and on small roundabouts ect.

also where possible i would say keep the surest up ( you get a lot clearer view of the road.)

and dont be rushed by anybody and dont wave in acknowledgement if somebody lets you out

GrumpyMe

bpb101 wrote: »

...Follow the letter of the law. indicators when parking and on small roundabouts ect...

Fixed that for you...

bpb101 wrote: »

...and dont wave in acknowledgement if somebody lets you out...

And finally - be careful what and whose advice you take!:rolleyes:

Pugzilla

For the driving test, you have to use indicators on any roundabout, no matter the size.

dennyk

GrumpyMe wrote: »

I guess waving at someone could be interpreted as "beckoning" by the tester regardless of your actual intent, and that's a grade 2 fault at least (or grade 3 if the tester believes it could have created a dangerous situation). No idea how likely that is, but why risk it?

MascotDec85

bpb101 wrote: »

you can call them and ask them for a cancellation appointment . You will get one for about a week away .
Advice. Drive like a granny. check your mirrors 20 times a second.

I failed because i turned right too quickly. and i didnt check my mirror when i was doing it. (grade 3).
Drive like a granny...

Do not do any of the above

MascotDec85

Pugzilla wrote: »

For the driving test, you have to use indicators on any roundabout, no matter the size.

Emmm shouldn't you don't that ALWAYS regardless of whether you're on your test or not?

fin12

Do not drive like a granny, keep near to the speed limit, so if you are in a 50 zone, be driving 48 to 50, my driving instructor said to me drive as if you are late for work but the Guards are behind you. Do lots of looking in your mirror, check over your shoulder when moving out, do not coast on the gears, when stopping behind a car make sure you can see the tyres of the car you are stopped behind.

Just do as much driving lessons as you can between now and your test, and focus on points that you find more difficult.. I found roundabouts quite difficult so I spent a whole lessons just doing roundabouts. Best of luck with the test. Oh ya don't cross your hands on the wheel when turning. Passed first time.

Pugzilla

MascotDec85 wrote: »

Emmm shouldn't you don't that ALWAYS regardless of whether you're on your test or not?

Where did I suggest that he shouldn't? Don't be so pedantic....

Old Perry

Another point, obviously dont prepare to fail but i found i learned more failing my first test than i had learned in any lessons beforehand.

misstearheus

Do all Instructors not have to be Board-Certified or approved or something nowadays or is it only just some?

White Ninja

The day of the test I put a little shiney sticker on my speedo, I used it to remind me to check my mirrors, so every time I checked my speedometer, I checked my mirror too.
I also stuck duct tape on my right shoulder, it was annoying, but it reminded me to look over my shoulder when I was pulling out instead of just using the mirror.
They were the two things I wasn't doing properly before the test, whatever your own weak points are see if you can do something similar to remind you.

ainecaine

Drive the test routes as much as possible. For mine there was 3 routes the tester could take and my instructor had me drive them over and over until I knew every bump, turn, traffic light, hillstart, kerb, 3 point turn and reversible corner.

bpb101

what i always find is im a worst driver when i start for that day. I found was a good benift was to have about a 40 minutes drive around the test route directly before the test. I failed however, but was very close. Only got 5 grade 2 and 1 grade 3. and 2 grade 1s

Pissed, But it definitely helped