What do you wish you had known before sitting your first test?

Rosstopher

Were there any minor or major things you wished you’d known prior to taking your first test?

I’m not necessarily talking about just known manoeuvres you wish you’d pulled off better or stuff that’s common knowledge as such.

But for instance - was the experience in the test centre and approaching the car with the instructor any different to how you anticipated and did it contribute to any nerves?

Or say, during the test, were there any difficulties in exiting or entering the test centre that you wish you’d known? Was the instructor in the car more or less noticeable in terms of marking grades than you’d imagined? Or was it more relaxed than you thought? Were they more lenient or more strict on a certain part of the test than you’d envisaged?

I am taking my first test in the next couple of weeks having rescheduled. And I’m curious to know if there’s anything that would either help with the inevitable nerves or just as importantly, the actual drive and what small things can make a difference.

Any feedback appreciated!

Hercule Poirot

Probably a common one but the simple fact that the tester is just a person doing their job and not some autobot highly trained to spot even the tiniest of errors.

My tester was a normal guy, not over friendly but not staring daggers expecting me to fail either - although I was in my mid thirties when I did mine so maybe I wasn't what he expected either.

I made a few mistakes but I did enough to pass, he even said that he knew some of them were out of nervousness rather than lack of ability but he had to mark what he saw. But yeah, the tester is just a normal person and there's loads of jobs one can do in the RSA and you wouldn't find a tester who hates their job because they can easily change to a different if they didn't like it.

Your first driving lesson was 1000x worse.

Just make sure you don't pull out in front of anything. It isn't a race so always err on the cautious side.

Rosstopher

Hercule Poirot wrote: »

Probably a common one but the simple fact that the tester is just a person doing their job and not some autobot highly trained to spot even the tiniest of errors.

My tester was a normal guy, not over friendly but not staring daggers expecting me to fail either - although I was in my mid thirties when I did mine so maybe I wasn't what he expected either.

I made a few mistakes but I did enough to pass, he even said that he knew some of them were out of nervousness rather than lack of ability but he had to mark what he saw. But yeah, the tester is just a normal person and there's loads of jobs one can do in the RSA and you wouldn't find a tester who hates their job because they can easily change to a different if they didn't like it.

Yeah it can probably feel like the testers are the enemy for some people whereas I’m sure most if not all of them take pleasure in being able to pass people.

Rosstopher

Deleted User wrote: »

Your first driving lesson was 1000x worse.

Just make sure you don't pull out in front of anything. It isn't a race so always err on the cautious side.

Good advice. I reckon panicking and not taking enough time when something is going on ahead doesn’t help people in the slightest.