Driving Lesson Nerves - how did you cope?

gpc273

TrickyWicky wrote: »

1. Stay calm
2. Take music to play (the cheesiest, most cringeworthy stuff you've got - see point 6)
3. Talk to the examiner, get to know him a little and realise he's just human
4. BREATH... IN... OUT... IN... OUT - repeat through the entire test
5. Talk the examiner through everything you're doing if you can't shake the nerves - you'll distract yourself by doing this and the nerves will soon vanish.
6. Tongue in cheek, at the beginning of the test threaten to come back repeatedly no matter how many times you fail and then be a tad irritating through the test
7. If you make a major mistake (or think you have) don't panic. Unless the instructor terminates the test early and asks to personally drive the car back, you're still in with a chance even if you think you're not.
8. Remember this: They tell you the test is very strict yet I made terrible blunders on the first one and until my 'serious mistake' I'd still got less than the maximum minor points. Things like parking 2 ft out from the kerb, hitting the kerb, not parking perfectly between bay lines etc are MINOR so just KEEP THE FAITH and KEEP GOING.

Some good points made, however I will tell you that the commentary is quite a hard skill to master, I have been on tests where a commentary has been attempted and the candidate was missing many much more important things due to overconcentrating on the commentary.
Play music by all means, very few people do, I've conducted 1000's of tests an never had anyone play music. Again I will tell you to concentrate and not think for 1 minute depsite what Trickywicky thinks that it will have any effect on the end result. A safe drive equals a pass, no matter how annoying you think you were Tricky the only reason you passed was due to reaching the standard required.
Point 8 is the best one made, you don't and most driving instructor do not know the criteria for fault marking. No matter what you think keep driving to the best of your ability.
Good luck, may all your traffic lights be red on test:)

Sharon87

I discovered I can commentary drive, but not overly so like TrickyWicky. I do it for the things that I've been told I need to work on, so I remember, like mirror, signal. I tended to do them both at the same time and got told off for it lol.

spadoosh

I failed when the examiner slammed on the brakes and left me in the middle of a junction blocking everyone after going through on amber (it definately was amber but hey ho) this was after about 4 minutes, upto that point i had 3 minors and obviously the major, after that, once i realised i had failed i didnt get a single point.

2nd time round, new car got asked to open the bonnet, panicked, didnt know what i was doing, spent 5 minutes trying to rag the bonnet open before she said the release catch was in the cab. Also managed to mount the kerb on a tight corner joining the main road. Passed that one. Had a friend who was a driving instructor and he told me it isnt a instant fail for mounting the kerb, only if you do it in an unsafe manner?!?

Nerves will be a problem, but not a lot you can do about it. If your a good learner i suppose the best thing to do is just not think about what your doing and react naturally, essentially you know what to do its just doing it on the day. Almost every day when driving i do stuff that would fail / be marked against in a test but believe im a safe driver.

My tip, drive as slow as your possibly allowed to, they have a time window (25 mins i think not sure though) and no matter how far youve got they will head back to the test centre. Would also suggest rush hour (if your confident enough to deal with traffic) as you will spend most of your time waiting and spend less time actually driving. If your 'whizzing' around everywhere, they will just keep you out till the time is done and test you on more things.

Cash-Strapped.T32

gpc273 wrote: »

Point 8 is the best one made, you don't and most driving instructor do not know the criteria for fault marking. No matter what you think keep driving to the best of your ability.

Agreed.
How did I deal with my nerves before the test? - I didn't. I was just bricking it & like a violent crime, hoped that it would all end soon

It's amazing how something seems like a massive deal to you, but it might not even register to an observer, or is less serious than you assume in the heat of the moment.

Imo, I rode so badly on my test compared to how I am at any other time, and several times I told myself "!!!!!!, you've failed now", & only kept going because it would be too embarrassing to signal the tester to turn round & let's head-home.

When we got back I'd passed with only a single minor & got told what a good boy I was; I still rode all the way home with L-plates on out of sheer disbelief..

Don't whatever you do, fluff something small, assume you've failed and then get that "sag", where all the life seems to go out of you & you just don't care any more, you just want to go home.

Keep at it like all the other posters have said, chances are if you've insta-failed he/she will let you know in no uncertain terms.. :rotfl:
Best of luck.

Sharon87

I've got my driving lesson booked for 1:45pm, so I don't have to bother about turning on my headlights lol. I don't like driving in the dark much, especially if the weather's bad, which being winter is quite likely. I sort of hope it rains so I don't have to do an emergency stop lol.

I do a mock test in every 2 hour lesson I have now, first time I done it I was nervous lol, but now I'm just driving following the instructions. I really hope he doesn't take me to Elstree, there's a set of double roundabouts there that always get me!

Strider590

Sharon87 wrote: »

I really hope he doesn't read these forums and take every 25yr old Sharon to Elstree, there's a set of double roundabouts there that always get me!

FTFY :rotfl:

Sharon87

I'm not 25 yet

james007ago

hi there,
i took my driving test in borehamwood September last year and it was my 3rd test. I did the first two in Mill Hill and I remembered my driving instructor telling me that they were very strict over there. Anyway, I failed so booked the test in Borehamwood! I took my DI with me to calm my nerves. My advice is bring somebody you knew and watch the road signs! As far as I remember there are roads there that are 50mph.

Sharon87

james007ago wrote: »

hi there,
i took my driving test in borehamwood September last year and it was my 3rd test. I did the first two in Mill Hill and I remembered my driving instructor telling me that they were very strict over there. Anyway, I failed so booked the test in Borehamwood! I took my DI with me to calm my nerves. My advice is bring somebody you knew and watch the road signs! As far as I remember there are roads there that are 50mph.

Yeah there's dual carriageways at 50mph and also variable speed limits on the country roads. I saw the pass rate for Mill Hill compared to Borehamwood and it was 5% lower there, which is one reason I chose Borehamwood, plus it's very pretty round there.

horse76

I was extremely nervous throughout most of my driving lessons, always very nervous just before I went out on one. I booked my practical test a few months ahead, probably too far ahead, and I got fed up waiting for it to come round. I think this worked in my favour because come the day of my test my nerves disappeared and I passed first time. I did suck boiled sweets before and during my test, which I think helped me to take my mind of getting too worked up and nervous.