Failed Irish Full Driving Test

tugii20

Hi All,

I was very confident about passing my test today in Wilton, Cork. I restudied the rules of the book over the last few weeks, day and night. When the driving inspector asked about road signs before driving, I answered mostly correctly, and three road signs were not in the book (so I mentioned that they were not in the book).

When the test started, I opened the bonnet and correctly showed everything as required, and my vehicle was in good condition. During the driving portion, I felt very relaxed, and although I mistakenly heard left turns when he asked right, it seems there is room for improvement.

When we arrived back at the test centre, the inspector informed me that I had failed and did not provide much explanation. On the driving test feedback form, he circled observations related to moving off, traffic controls (road markings), and right of way (turning right).

However, when I received the email attachment, there were numerous mistakes noted (of which I have no idea). Could someone please explain each point and advise me on what I should work on for the next test?

Additionally, I'm wondering if I'm likely to have the same inspector for the second test or retest.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

Screenshot 2024-04-25 at 15.32.14.png

o1s1n

How did you get the grade 3 fail for turning right? Did you get stuck in a junction?

You seem to have a lot of issues with your general positioning of the car too and basically paying attention to the road markings and knowing where to be.

Looking at your scoresheet you really need a few pre test lessons. Bring the score sheet along with you so they can help you work on the items you need to focus on.

Kimbot

You are best off going to an instructor and getting them to go through the faults with you.

Kimbot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062343#Comment_122062343

The grade 3 appears to be for failing to yield to traffic coming from the right on a right turn.

hoodie6029

Hard luck OP. You won’t get a breakdown of exactly where you went wrong eg wrong road position on X street for 2 mins. They just mark the sheet when the error happens.
As above, get plenty of lessons with an instructor who will take you on the test routes and advise you where you need to improve.

Get a friend to quiz you on the road signs, much better than doing it yourself.

It’s the luck of the draw if you’ll get the same tester again, the RSA rotates them around the various centres.
Best of luck next time!

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062360#Comment_122062360

Oh yes of course! I missed the heading. Any time I see a grade 3 for turning right it's usually folks getting stuck in a junction or not proceeding into the right turning box.

TheRiverman

"Heard left turns when he asked right". Surely that's a failure without doing anything else wrong. Sounds like very poor concentration by you.

Gary_dunne

4 faults for observation when moving off is something that you should easily be able to remedy. Now it's been a good few years since I did my test but my instructor always told me to exaggerate all my head movements when observing around me. Basically ensure they cannot miss every observation you make.

tugii20

next time, I will be following what the man doing in this video, like turning my head around 180degrees

https://youtu.be/OlvLk52CqgI?si=AqX5CYAAb3IE_PUO

billie1b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058348835/failed-irish-full-driving-test

Your Grade 3 mark is an automatic fail, the two grade two's with 4 marks on each are both automatic fails too. The ten 1 mark grades are a fail too, so if you break it down like that it will be easier to improve on.

tugii20

is ballincollig test centre only for trucks and lorries?

billie1b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062812#Comment_122062812

Yes, there is no B category testing in Ballincollig but there is everything else there, Wilton only does cars and nothing else.

Mallow and Skibbereen do everything apart from buses and trucks

HazeDoll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062443#Comment_122062443

Plenty of people have difficulty with left and right. I'm almost certain I have some very specific form of dyslexia or something, I am guaranteed to get it wrong 50% of the time, which is worse than being wrong 100% of the time if you think about it. When I did my driving test I told the examiner this, so instead of saying "Turn left" he pointed in the direction he wanted me to go. Passed my test first time!

I know which side of the road to drive on and which way to go around a roundabout, it's just the names of the directions I get confused, rather than the directions themselves. It like if you call somebody at work by the name of somebody in your family. It's not that you got confused and forgot who you were talking to, you just used the wrong name.

OP, next time, tell the examiner that under pressure you're likely to get them mixed up.

FishOnABike

Failure of the test arises when an applicant incurs any of the following: -

1 or more grade 3 faults.

4 of the same grade 2 faults for a single aspect.

6 or more grade 2 faults under the same heading.

9 or more grade 2 faults overall.

Based on the above pass/fail criteria it looks like you failed on multiple counts.

You should be sent an invitation to book a retest in the next six to eight weeks and there's typically a three to five week wait for a test appointment.

This gives you somewhere between nine and thirteen weeks to a retest. Use that time to get additional driving lessons, showing your driving instructor the fault sheet from your test to help identify the points you need to work on. Get enough lessons and practice for your instructor to be confident for your retest.

Official policy is for a different text examiner so it is unlikely your retest would be with the same examiner.

billyhead

OP.

Always remember the saying mirror, signal maneuver. As someone mentioned it can't be emphasized enough to always show the tester the that your looking in the side mirrors and centre mirror.

freshpopcorn

A few lessons will get you sorted and for you to know the away.

The instructor will have a good idea of the questions/etc asked.

You need to brush up on your positions and your mirrors.

Before my test when I was walking around in public I was pretending I driving checking my mirrors, indicating,etc( whilst trying not to draw attention to myself.)

Similar with signals.

Reactions to hazards can be anything really. An instructor could open your eyes to things in the area.

All your issues should be fine with a bit of support.

You might have the same tester again. They won't hold it against you.

They also tend to be very vague at the end of the test. They don't want to start a battle with somebody.

Hard luck.

Oscar_Madison

Hard luck OP- all good advice above - but also- I personally wouldn’t challenge the instructor on whether those road signs are in the book or not - just try and guess then if you don’t know them - it might have got his back up a bit - just a thought - it MAY explain some of the mark-downs

tugii20

anyone can tell this road signs without google ing it?

Screenshot 2024-04-25 at 20.05.23.png

Screenshot 2024-04-25 at 20.05.42.png

Screenshot 2024-04-25 at 20.07.18.png

standardg60

End of reduced speed limit

Cul de sac

Various signs directing around ongoing construction

How did I do?

GTTDI GOD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122063299#Comment_122063299

Perfect

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062443#Comment_122062443

That’s not a failure, as long as you do what you are doing correctly and safely. The tester just has to guide you back on route

tugii20

Screenshot_20240425-212853.png

There is this strange roundabout in Wilton, with a very high zebra crossing just before the roundabout. One of my failures could be that I stopped on the zebra crossing because I could not see the car in the roundabout, and there was no pedestrian crossing or anyone waiting to cross. Even though there was no pedestrian at that time, should I not stop at the zebra crossing?

GTTDI GOD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122063643#Comment_122063643

You should treat pedestrian crossings the same way as yellow boxes. That’s a tough one there though.

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122063643#Comment_122063643

That is a shockingly bad design. No allowance made whatsoever for cars coming off the roundabout and having to stop for a pedestrian. Those zebra crossings should have been put 10 or 15 metres back from the roundabout to give space.

Maybe it's just me. :)

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122063246#Comment_122063246

yes. All of them.

And they are all pretty important bar the first one.

Your book could be out of date for the first one but the other two have to be your book unless it’s from the 80s.

There are some great apps that do the signs well.

Like others have said just get going again with instructor and keep going until the next test. Ideally have a lesson the day of the test shortly beforehand so you can get all the nerves out of your system.

Best of luck with the next one!

thomas 123

As your approaching say that to yourself out loud.
the tester won’t react but will know you are considering the hazard.

Take it nice and slowly.