[adz2050]

Hi

So I’m 17 and yesterday I took my driving test for the first time and unfortunately I didn’t pass.

I started learning in April, I’m quite a nervous driver but ive changed a lot since I first started. It has taken me a long time to get where I am today, I’m much more confident on the roads now, hence why my instructor put me through for the test.

Yesterday, at a roundabout I was in the left hand lane, I stopped and gave way, there was a car in the inside lane of the roundabout and due to nerves my brain made me pull off because the car wasn’t actually in my lane so obviously that was a dangerous fault and I failed right away as the examiner had to shout stop.

I had done so well between the test centre and that roundabout, I only got one minor for stalling but after that roundabout I was just thrown and I accumulated 8 more minors so 9 in total by the end of the test.

I also got a serious fault for my bay park at the very end, although it didn’t matter as I had already failed. I hate the bay park,I find it so difficult.

I was so hopeful that I would pass, I know most people don’t pass first time but it’s making me paranoid now because I done a mock test with my instructor a few weeks ago and I failed it too for accidentally trying to take the wrong exit in a lane on the roundabout and now I’m worried I’ll not pass when I resit my test in a few weeks.

I guess the whole point of me making this thread was just to get advice from any examiners/instructors on here. Thanks

[Motman]

Just look on your first two tests as practice tests. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it......

[adz2050]

Yes that’s probably a good idea but I’m just so disheartened that I didn’t get the test yesterday. I don’t mean this to sound arrogant but I think had I not messed up the roundabout I would have passed

[adz2050]

Originally Posted by Motman

Just look on your first two tests as practice tests. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it......

Yes that’s probably a good idea but I’m just so disheartened that I didn’t get the test yesterday. I don’t mean this to sound arrogant but I think had I not messed up the roundabout I would have passed

[wagolynn]

I have seen some stats somewhere suggesting that the more test failures the better (fewer crashes) the driver when they finally pass.

The roundabout thing is something you will have to make the right decision on many times whilst driving, if drivers around you are not concentrating getting it wrong can end up with a big crash, so better a test fail until you can get it right every time.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by wagolynn

I have seen some stats somewhere suggesting that the more test failures the better (fewer crashes) the driver when they finally pass.
.

That's probably true. Not so much because of the failures themselves, but because every failure generally means more lessons (and possibly more practice with parents etc.).

Apart from the roundabout incident, the OP said "I hate the bay park,I find it so difficult." That one is easily solved - practice, practice and more practice.

[Drivingforfun]

I’m not an instructor but would suggest if your instructor thinks you ready for the test you don’t need any more lessons just practise - if you can afford to pay for more lessons to serve this purpose then fair enough but personally (as someone who was, and still is up to a point, a nervous driver) I found just clocking up “driving hours” made a lot of difference.

[Motman]

Originally Posted by Motman

Just look on your first two tests as practice tests. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it......

Although to be totally honest, for my first test at 17, I had no lessons (self taught, don’t ask!), I used my mums car, no insurance, my accompanying driver was my mate who couldn’t even drive, we went to the pub first for me to get a bit of Dutch courage and my mum gave me one of her Valium tablets to calm me down. Drive? It’s a wonder I could stand up! When I look back now, I did some silly things in my youth and I shudder when I think of some of the lucky escapes I had.

[Santa]

My father taught me in his Hilman Minx, although I did have one lesson prior to my first test as I wanted to use a driving school car for the actual test. Someone told me that candidates in school cars did better than those in their own cars.

I failed the first one and passed the second. Mrs Santa passed first time and she does not let me forget it.

Of course, when it comes to hitching up those reindeer on Christmas Eve, she stays by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

[Beelzebub]

I also was taught by Dad, from the age of 10 on a private road. After six months on proper roads I took the test at 17 and - inevitably- failed. Four hours with a proper instructor did the trick.

[Motman]

I failed my first two tests when I thought I had definitely passed. On my third, I made a mistake early on which convinced me I had failed. I gave up trying and at the end of the test I was already thinking when I could next take another test and I was told I had passed. I thought I drove terribly.

[98selitb]

Same as Motman! Failed my first two tests when I didn't think I'd done much wrong. Thought I'd mucked up the third one but passed it.

On my first test, I was driving along a narrow residential street with cars parked both sides. Someone in a parked car who clearly hadn't checked their wing mirror, opened their car door in front of me. I was on the verge of doing an emergency stop but the examiner beat me to it by a millisecond. Because the examiner had to brake, I failed instantly.

My second test I thought was uneventful. But I failed because I crossed lanes going around a roundabout - didn't matter that I was the only car on it. I also got criticised for failing to maintain progress by not overtaking a slower vehicle on a dual carriageway when we were practically at the 300 yd sign for the exit we were taking.

My third test I got into the wrong car at the test centre! My test car was one of many grey VW Golfs. The Golf I got into must have been unlocked. The examiner started writing down the details of the car when I realised we were in someone else's car, and my test car was the one next to the car we were in. I thought I'd failed there and then without even starting the car! But the examiner took it in good humour. When she later told me I'd passed, she advised that when she had instructed "find a safe place to pull over" during the test, a bus stop was not the best place to have chosen. I must have been so nervous and worried I'd failed right at the beginning that I didn't even notice and just took it for a lay-by.

[Santa]

My first test was on a Friday afternoon in Cardiff, way back in the 1950s. It got off to a bad start when the examiner, who was obviously running late, went outside to look for me when I was standing in the reception area. He then asked me to read the number plate of a car parked down the street, and I read one two or three cars further away; one which I think was too far away for him to read.

We set off and I expect that I did make a few mistakes, but nothing serious, until he told me to turn right. We were on a main road, and just after the turning was a large factory where the day shift was clearly ended, as what seemed like a never-ending stream of bicycles was streaming towards me. I sat there for what seemed like ages, blocking the road but unable to move, until a cyclist stopped and waved me through; several other cyclists also stopped and off I went. When he failed me, he said it was because I was inconsiderate to the cyclists by forcing them to stop.

A few weeks later, on a Monday morning with a different examiner, I passed with no problems; he even said something complimentary as he gave me my pink slip.