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Keep failing driving test, NEED to pass, try automatic?
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Also i think driving during rush hour is the best time. As you are in slow moving traffic, Its really easy to follow traffic and therefore maintain speed limit. Check all your mirrors every 5 seconds and you will pass0
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Morganarla, It's not your driving ability that's causing you to fail the test but your anxiety. Learning what causes your nervousness is key to understanding how to cope with it. Either read some good books on understanding stress/anxiety or save the money from further lessons and see a counsellor who can help you develop strategies to cope with stressful situations.0
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...some simple advice - the tester is expecting you to be a learner, so be one. Everyone has nerves - I remember being terrified during my test - not at driving, but at the fear of failure.
I wonder if you're trying to drive during your test in the way you think an experienced driver would do? Here's my tuppence worth - the tester isn't going to expect you to be an experienced driver. Don't be afraid to take your time with pretty much everything. Accelerate a bit slower, manouver a bit slower, be far more deliberate in everyting you do. Be slightly more cautious than an experienced driver would be - if the instructor thinks you've been a bit overly hesitant it would be a minor (driver error), but if you rush and risk a convergence it will either be a serious or dangerous error. Just err on the side of caution.
The other advatage of doing this is you'll not drive as far, or go through as many junctions or roundabouts. By being very deliberate about your manouvers you'll also be giving yourself less opportunities to make mistakes.
Don't beat yourself up, and be patient with yourself. Focus on what the instructor is looking for - (1) are you safe, and (2) is your use of controls acceptable. From your description and the low number of minors it sounds like its the safety aspect that you're failing on. What you consider to be dangerous, and what a tester conider to be dangerous may be very different things. As my instructor beat into me time and time and time again..."if in doubt, chicken out".
Finally - think about what's the worst that can happen - waiting 2 weeks for your next test (if you can get a cancellation) and another 60 quid. It's not the end of the world
It's your 40 minutes of fame - time for you to show off what you are capable of.
Good luck!0 -
...some simple advice - the tester is expecting you to be a learner, so be one. Everyone has nerves - I remember being terrified during my test - not at driving, but at the fear of failure.
I wonder if you're trying to drive during your test in the way you think an experienced driver would do? Here's my tuppence worth - the tester isn't going to expect you to be an experienced driver. Don't be afraid to take your time with pretty much everything. Accelerate a bit slower, manouver a bit slower, be far more deliberate in everyting you do. Be slightly more cautious than an experienced driver would be - if the instructor thinks you've been a bit overly hesitant it would be a minor (driver error), but if you rush and risk a convergence it will either be a serious or dangerous error. Just err on the side of caution.
The other advatage of doing this is you'll not drive as far, or go through as many junctions or roundabouts. By being very deliberate about your manouvers you'll also be giving yourself less opportunities to make mistakes.
Don't beat yourself up, and be patient with yourself. Focus on what the instructor is looking for - (1) are you safe, and (2) is your use of controls acceptable. From your description and the low number of minors it sounds like its the safety aspect that you're failing on. What you consider to be dangerous, and what a tester conider to be dangerous may be very different things. As my instructor beat into me time and time and time again..."if in doubt, chicken out".
Finally - think about what's the worst that can happen - waiting 2 weeks for your next test (if you can get a cancellation) and another 60 quid. It's not the end of the world
It's your 40 minutes of fame - time for you to show off what you are capable of.
Good luck!
I do get the whole, better to get a minor than be a little confident and get a failure - there may be something in that, maybe lax habits that have crept in there. All the same, the OP says their issue with the test itself (as opposed to mock ones) is nerves - which I understand, but when you've been driving so long, may be difficult for some to really get.
That seems to be the battle more than anything else. If you were showing signs that it was all becoming too much under test conditions, maybe an auto test would be the answer, but it may well not make any difference, and the real answer may be in battling those nerves - or recognising that something you do under those conditions, is leading you to drive a certain way - I can't help but think that all the time you've had driving experience for, has some bearing.0 -
would your doctor not prescribe you beta blockers for your test? they will make you much calmer'We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time0
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Update in op0
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Well done.
You'll probably pass your manual test with no problems now you've got an auto license and taken the immediate pressure to pass off yourself.
Shame to see the usual bell ends who populate this forum doing everything they could to make you feel worse about the situation though.0 -
Well done on passing! Definitely take your manual test, it'll be worth it in the long run and I bet you'll feel less nervous knowing you always have your automatic license to fall back on.
Reading through this thread, there's some good advice, some bad advice, some !!!!!! and some interesting stories.
I passed on my second attempt, but my first was a complete shambles. There were only 19 days between the two tests, so I find it hard to believe I improved drastically over that period, however I did take a big trip with my dad the day before my second which gave me the confidence going into the second.
Regarding my first test, my instructor somewhat pushed me into taking it. She was very confident that I would pass first time and called me one of her 'best' students. In truth, her over-confidence made me nervous because I felt pressured to succeed. When I was in the car with my dad, I was quite arrogant and felt very confident but the thought of taking the test made my legs turn to jelly, especially when she spoke about it.
I took my first test in mid-December and decided to go for an early morning booking, 10am specifically. I figured it might improve my chance of passing because the examiner would be less 'grouchy', fresh from their cup of coffee etc. My instructor also insisted that her students take a 2 hour booking before the test. Anyway, it was seriously cold and my car had iced over significantly (note, I took my test in my car as opposed to my instructors). My instructor turned up and was immediately in my ear about preparation "oh you haven't cleared all the snow off your car, we're wasting time". All this got to me and started to wind me up. I couldn't focus whatsoever in the lesson and I nearly went through a red light, something I'd never done before, because she was telling me to check for hazards coming out of side roads and my brain just couldn't take the peppering she was giving it. To further complicate matters, there was a lot of sleet, salt and grit on the road which was kicking up against the windscreen and I was having to use my washers to clear it quite regularly...
Come the test, I'm wound up beyond belief. My instructor told me to try and strike up a conversation as it would help calm me down. Unfortunately, the lady examiner wasn't much of a talker, and immediately insisted that she took her tests in silence. As you can imagine, I'm now wound up, nervous, panicking, every kind of negative emotion flowing through me and I've not even started the car. She asked me to do a bay park which I successfully completed in one go, she then asked me to take the car out of the test centre and head to the main road. More sleet and salt is kicking up against the windscreen from the car in front, then boom, disaster, my washers run out of fluid. I can't clean the screen but I can't admit that my washers have run out really can I? So my nervousness, panic has now turned to complete horror as my windscreen continues to get dirtier and dirtier. I stupidly turned my head slightly and noticed that she was staring intently at my hands at which point I just lost it. She asked me to turn left into a busy road and I clipped the curb quite badly. I'd failed less than 200 yards away from the test centre, within 2 minutes of taking my test! Obviously I was quite disappointed with myself and the rest of the test was just an exhibition. In a lot of ways, knowing I'd already failed completely calmed me and I finished the test with only a couple of miners and one fail. One of the minors was : "failure to operate ancillary controls", ah yes, the murky windscreen which by the end of the test was almost unbearable. At the end of the test, the examiner gave me a fairly brief explanation as to why I failed but I really couldn't have cared less. I just needed to write that day off.
The second test, I was able to get a cancellation slot, as I say, 19 days after. I told my instructor who said she was fully booked and couldn't fit me in, and suggested I take it another day. My instructor was visibly annoyed when I told her I was going to take it anyway. I approached this test completely differently. The day before, I drove my dad to Derby and back which was a really good drive and I felt very confident at the end. The night before, I hoovered out the car, cleaned the seats, put in some new air fresheners and.... topped up the windscreen washing fluid. First impressions must count surely?
The second test was booked for 10:30 as opposed to 10:00. Instead of spending two hours driving round getting nervous and stressed and angry and using up the washer fluid, I drove me and my dad to Halford's and we had a look at some new car stereos for when I passed (we were talking as though I had already passed, as as opposed to IF I passed, all good for confidence). We then drove to McDonald's grabbed some naff food and chilled out for a bit before the test. I went in the test very confident, in a good mood and completely relaxed. In a lot of ways, I felt the way I did when I was with my dad, confident and a bit arrogant, probably a bit too arrogant really, but confidence doesn't hurt if you can back it up with some ability. The driving examiner was completely different to the first one. She was friendly and chatty and shared the same interest in music as me, so we instantly got chatting about various bands, concerts, albums etc.
I passed the test with just two few minors and the test seemed to go like a breeze. 45 minutes felt more like 10. Perhaps that was the chatting, but I fully believe that being confident and nerve free helps and I'm convinced that most of my nerves were caused by my instructor.0 -
Be realistic, the driving test is pretty basic and you have tried alternative training and medication and can't pass. You also say you have no problems with gears or clutch control, then what would an auto really do for your sutabilty for the road? A driving licence, even with the pretty low barrier to entry of the current test, is awarded on some kind of merit, not time served or eagerness to gain one.
Face facts, you might just be one of the many that shouldn't get a licence until you get a lot more training or come to terms it's not for you.
Actually driving tests assume one size fits all and many aspects of it neglect the realities of the road. It's also easy to fail a test due to the sheer number of majors at the testers disposal. I remember failing a test merely because I stalled at traffic lights, inconvenient, certainly not dangerous.
It wouldnt be difficult for a safe and good driver to fail a test. Nerves are often a major factor for many people as well0
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