The day of your driving test will no doubt be a daunting one, but there are several ways you can prepare allowing you to feel at ease and geared up to cope.
1. Before you take your test, you should practice wherever possible in a relatively empty area. Make sure you have a professional or good driver with you to make sure you’re doing things right.
2. Practice driving on the test routes. A list of all of these can be found on the Internet and there are normally 10 to 15 per driving test centre. These unfortunately will be disappearing with the introduction of the independent driving so gain knowledge from your driving instructor instead.
3. Familiarise yourself with street signs, hand gestures and bus lane times of your area beforehand.
4. Once in the car, adjust the seat to fit your body height and style. You should sit at least 25 centimetres from the steering wheel and your hands should be bent at approximately 45 degrees.
5. At all times drive at a safe speed, if possible at the speed limit if it’s safe to do so, this will show the examiner you are confident in your abilities, but not so confident you’re breaking the law.
6. Be sure to check your mirrors regularly. Don’t make this a little more exaggerated than normal, just so it is clear that you are doing it will be fine.
7. Get a good night’s sleep. You’ll feel a lot less anxious with more rest. Eat a good breakfast. It’s difficult to concentrate when you’re hungry.
8. Practice with your driving instructor, parent or friend before taking the test. Refresh yourself on parallel parking, reversing around a corner, and 3 & 5 point turns.
9. Practice smaller but important things such as checking your rear view mirror and side mirrors, as well as coming to a full stop at stop signs. Make sure you use your indicators and manoeuvre correctly or you gain faults.
10. Get your car ready. Make sure your cars headlights, indicators and brake lights work and there are no cracks in the windscreen. It also helps if the car is neat and clean inside, a tidy car is a tidy mind. An extra rear view mirror will be necessary for the examiner, as is the L Plates on show.
11. Make sure you arrive at least 10 minutes prior to your appointment. Bring both parts of your driving licence, your theory pass certificate and your letter of appointment. It is likely they will only ask for your driving licence but you can’t afford to not have the rest of the required documents on your driving test day. If you are using your own vehicle you will need to take along the MOT and valid insurance certification.
12. Get in the car with the examiner. Relax. Check your seat, mirrors, and steering wheel to help ensure the Examiner you know what you are doing. Ask any questions that you have prior to the test. The examiner will be glad to answer them.
13. Stop at all Stop signs. Use right indicator when you turn right or pull out off from the parked/stopped position. Keep your eyes on the road, checking to the right and left, and look in each mirror once in a while to see that no car is coming behind you.
14. Manoeuvre as best as you can. Try not to bump the curb, go slowly and carefully, looking to the back and sides as you do so. Remember, it’s OK to slightly bump the curb, ideally avoid even touching the kerb – just don’t jump it as you would likely fail the test altogether.
15. Remember, if you make a mistake, it might not be a serious/dangerous (fail faults) so forget about it and concentrate on what you are doing, this is more important because you cannot change your mistake anyway. Dwelling on the past will only make things more difficult.
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Tags: driving tips, learning to drive, pass the driving test
