If you are not a new reader, you must remember Robin Piggott, the driving instructor who writes extremely long articles about the driving test. Well, today I have another one for you, this time with more hints for the driving test.
Driving Test Hints Uncovered
The Driving Test and everything that surrounds it up to a radius of a thousand miles is shrouded in myth, horror stories, half-truths and legends.
The Driving Test is a thorny subject especially if you are waiting to sit the exam and my advice to any candidate on the lead up to the Driving Test is to keep quiet and tell no one!
This will prevent an avalanche of curiosity and an even greater flood of often conflicting and confusing advice. Everyone has their favourite Driving Test story and some going back into the mists of time would make your hair curl.
It is a favourite topic on Internet forums and threads are usually punctuated by not only appalling spelling and grammar but quite a lot of vituperation. That’s a concise Oxford mouthful meaning much abuse. Who is on the receiving end of this language? It is usually the Driving Examiner and sometimes the Driving Instructor. Clearly someone posting a comment is rarely going to vilify themselves. Some excitable forum members quite frequently go into graphic detail about their Driving Test but the tune is almost always the same.” I would have passed but for…”
Blaming the world and his Uncle (or Aunt) makes failing the Driving Test a little easier to handle. There is only one person who should be shouldering the blame after failing a Driving Test and it certainly isn’t the person who normally resides in the passenger seat!
Now that we have got that out of the way we can get on with the serious subject of revealing some Driving Test Hints.
What is a Hint...the dictionary gives several explanations but we will take “a small piece of practical information” as the most appropriate in this case.
A small piece of practical information when added to another small piece and yet another and another, will cumulatively add up to a substantial list of hints. A substantial list will give the Learner Driver ample scope for homework. It is really up to the individual whether or not the list is followed through completely.
Sound advice from someone who has been studying Driving Test principles over many years and who is involved in the Industry is much more likely to be on the button and much more likely to produce some positive results. The same cannot be said about the advice from Parents, friends or workmates or candidates who have failed previously. When you want to succeed in a particular activity or get the latest information on a subject you don’t go to an amateur.
If you want to learn the techniques needed in order to pass today’s Driving Test you are going to be very disappointed if your information is gleaned from someone who sat their Driving Test thirty years ago or perhaps never sat the Test at all.
Q. What is the most common reason for Failing a Driving Test?
A. Lack of Preparation. Let’s say it again…Lack of Preparation.
What’s a Learner Driver to do? Prepare well in good time after absorbing the Hints List.
Here is the List:-
• Take Lessons with a suitably qualified Instructor.(not one week from the Test)
• Check your car in the minutest detail. Tyres, Lights, Brakes, Secondary Equipment
• Check all your paperwork. 4 Documents in the case of the Irish Driving Test.
• Familiarise yourself with the Area that your Test is scheduled for (3 mile radius)
• Check the day before the Test in case of major Road or Building works
• Practise your reversing manoeuvres in at least 6 different locations(5 times each)
• Check out the Test Centre for traffic flows and where you will park.
• Driving Test candidates frequently fail the Test at the first hurdle (manoeuvre) because they haven’t checked out what is going on in the locality.
• Learn the answers to the Technical check questions off by heart so that you can reel them off without any hesitation.
• Don’t change your car at the last minute. All cars are different and it’s too risky learning how to cope with a different car just before your Test.
• Practise in the Test centre locality at different times of day, different days of the week and at night. This will give you a clear picture of what you may be facing on the day of the Test.
• Learn and be familiar with the Driving Language that examiners use. An Instructor will be using this same terminology.
• Book a mock Test with your Instructor a few days before your appointment. This will give you a clearer picture of how the Test will be conducted and just how quickly a Test will be completed.
• Clean the car thoroughly inside and out and completely remove all loose objects including hanging Spiders, Nodding Dogs and Air Fresheners.
• Final check of tyre pressures including the spare.
• Buy a pack of spare Bulbs for Brake light and indicator failure. If you have them with you and your bulb goes, you will have a chance to take the Test. Without them your Test will be cancelled.
• If it is not your first time taking the Test then discuss your previous result with your Instructor.
Now you have an idea of the sort of preparation needed to give you a more than average chance of passing the Driving Test First time. Ignore any one of the Hints above and you could be joining the statistics of the unsuccessful.
Robin Piggott is a Driving Instructor in Ireland who brings four decades of experience to his Astral Driving School based in Limerick. His newly refurbed web site can be found at http://www.astraldrivingschool.ie Here you can find a treasure trove of everything for the Learner Driver and also pages for the visitor who is contemplating Touring Ireland by Car. Pick up a free seven part mini course "Passing the Driving Test First Time" and stack the cards in your favour.
Source: EzineArticles.com.
I hope you survived. This guy writes really long articles. And as always, if you are not Irish, my driving test guide is another resource to refer to when driving.
Yours,
Nadav
nadavs
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