Driving test

barbiegirl123

Hi everyone, I had my driving test in the last few months (1st time) and I received 14 grade twos. Out of these I got 4 for road positioning. Please don't be rude as I am very nervous but is this a very bad result. I have another driving test in 2 weeks time and I'm practicing way more. I had a lesson with my instructor this morning and she told me my main problems are still road positioning, gear control and reacting to hazards. I've been told I have excellent observation as well as other aspects however these 3 things is what's holding me back. Since I got 14 grade twos in my last test i'm so scared I will fail again. Any advice/ tips? Do ye think I could pass? I feel like last time my nerves will get the better of me and I will doubt myself during the test.

walshtipp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058220896/driving-test

Best advice is just to practice, practice, practice. Aside from lessons, do plenty of driving in your own time with a relative/friend. This should get you well used to the gearbox and keeping correct position on the road. With reacting to hazards, you always need to be looking well ahead on the road and predicting what pedestrians/vehicles/animals will do. This will allow you to react earlier. Do a lot of driving in the town/city and you should get plenty of practice at this.

Have a look at this video about positioning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2t1CBUVwZs

barbiegirl123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258355#Comment_118258355

That really helped. Thank you

CreadanLady

Driving test in ireland is ridiculously arduous and difficult to pass. It is not unheard of for people to be doing 5 or 6 tests and still not pass. To a large extent, altough they will deny it, the driving test is a money spinner for the RSA and NDLS.

The driving testers themselves are a large part of the problem too. They are virtually all impersonable aloof arseholes that will literally do nothing to put a nervous person at ease, or help them along, rather their ignorant piggish attitudes will make a nervous person even more nervous.

In other EU countries the driving test is more of a formality and once you are not completely useless you will get your licence.

get_test_ready

The test is indeed difficult to pass especially for nervous drivers. That said, the test is not just about your driving, there is an element of luck involved in it too. Practice as much as you can and pretend that each session is a test. You should stop thinking in terms of pass/fail and penalties, because it prevents you being focused on driving well.

Your road position needs to be around 0.5m from the kerb. (I don't like to be prescriptive as you need to take road conditions into account but most drivers are too far to the right for the RSA's liking. So if you are following traffic, you will often be 'out of position') You should maintain this distance going around left turns and should follow an imaginary kerb as you go around roundabouts. The RSA don't like you 'straightening' roundabouts either.

If your observation is good and you spot hazards early, then you must not be taking appropriate action. You need to decide whether to slow down or move away from the hazard (using MSM of course!).

I don't know what gear control means without seeing your driving. Is is wrong use of gears or clutch issues? Your driving instructor should be able to clear this up quickly, then its down to practice.

You just need a bit a luck and to tidy up you driving a bit to reduce your penalty score. By reducing your score by four or five points, you will pass. That is not such a big challenge.

I used to advise my students not to do the tester's job during the test -do not think about penalties! If you are thinking about penalties you are not concentrating on your driving, and this normally makes things worse.

Do as much practice as you can, imagining each one is a test. Relax, and give it your best shot.