Driver's license tries

[Roboman]

Hello like-minded people.

Word is this subject has been taken up before, however I didn't find it, so here we go again.

I am on a horrible run with the drivers license, next time will be my 4th try. On the theoretical test I passed with zero mistakes, without reading and on first try by only using logic.

Operating the vehicle isn't the problem. However, following all of these rules in practice while driving, while being evaluated seems to be something I am currently unable to grasp.

To you whom can familiarize, do you have any advice?
Also. How many tries did it take before you got your driver's license?

Cheers.

 

[Iximi]

I'm about to try for the first time today. I'll let you know how it goes

 

[Particle]

It's pretty easy really. Driving in the real world mainly consists of checking your blind spots and mirrors before changing lanes or turning, watching for pedestrians, making sure to stop at stop signs and lights, and never trusting any other driver on the road to not be a braindead moron who is on the road for the sole purpose of running into your car. For a test, your main obstacle will be to remember the facts and figures that are wholly unimportant in real world driving, such as how many feet before changing lanes to signal, etc. Focus on the numbers and build your distance estimation skill if you're having trouble.

 

[Trebuchet]

I think it took me 3 tries. Just keep trying; you'll get it. Driving is hard, so give yourself time.

Part of the skill of driving is filtering out information. When you are new to it, it seems like everything has equal importance, so it is hard to function. Every time you drive, you get better at filtering, so keep logging those hours and be patient.

 

[Cavallier]

Twice. The car died when I tried to put it in reverse. It wasn't my fault. The car was old and always died when anyone put it in reverse but I couldn't tell the examiner that because then he wouldn't pass my car for the test.

The second exam went great. The passenger side mirror fell off but the examiner didn't seem to notice because she was turned away from it. Plus, she didn't make me go in reverse so I passed!

Life is odd.

 

[Roboman]

I'm about to try for the first time today. I'll let you know how it goes

Good luck

It's pretty easy really. Driving in the real world mainly consists of checking your blind spots and mirrors before changing lanes or turning ...

Yeah. Easy as dancing in the nightclubs. That's pretty easy too.
Thanks for the range estimation tip.

Part of the skill of driving is filtering out information. When you are new to it, it seems like everything has equal importance, so it is hard to function ...

Looking forward for the realization. Thank you.

 

[Minuend]

Twice. The car died when I tried to put it in reverse. It wasn't my fault. The car was old and always died when anyone put it in reverse but I couldn't tell the examiner that because then he wouldn't pass my car for the test.

The second exam went great. The passenger side mirror fell off but the examiner didn't seem to notice because she was turned away from it. Plus, she didn't make me go in reverse so I passed!

Life is odd.

You use your own cars? I didn't know the economy was spiraling down in Australia.

I passed the driving on my first try, but I failed the theory a couple of times.

 

[Cavallier]

^Ummm...Australia? You tryin' to say I'm a dirty sheep roppin' Aussie?

Oh, welcome to the forum and good luck with the test Mr. Roboman.

 

[briangriffin32]

I think it took me 3 tries. Just keep trying; you'll get it. Driving is hard, so give yourself time.

Part of the skill of driving is filtering out information. When you are new to it, it seems like everything has equal importance, so it is hard to function. Every time you drive, you get better at filtering, so keep logging those hours and be patient.

I agree completely. There were some stupid mistakes I made on my 1st drivers test simply because I was concentrating over-analyzing other things. As INTPs we tend to do that, especially when someone is watching us!

The most frustrating thing about the tester is they don't talk. Lucklily on my 2nd drivers test I had someone who was unusually chill and talkative and I passed fine!

 

[Roboman]

The tester I drove with today had a tell whenever I was doing a mistake.
To bad there isn't a 'do you confirm your action?'-option

 

[JoeJoe]

It might be helpful to include what country you're in. From what I've heard there are vast differences in license test difficulty. There's also a difference whether you're in a big city or somewhere out in the country.

I passed the theoretical with just 2 incorrect answers on my first try. I failed the practical test on the first try though.

 

[Jesse]

I passed first time. Have you tried driving around for practice? Driving isn't that hard, and if you give it time you will be more comfortable in a car.

 

[Iximi]

I passed my test today. It was in a rural area and I have 2 years of driving practice. The test took 10 minutes and I had to pay the guy $40 cash up-front. I think I did pretty well regardless

 

[Jesse]

That's how I got mine. Went to a country town with only one round about and no roads over 60k. Wasn't my choice as all the local spots were booked but t made my test really easy.

 

[Ex-User (4771)]

i took it twice, the only advice i can give you is to just drive, dont worry about the rules and shit like that. It will become very easy with more practice

 

[lucky12]

I probably would have failed my written and first in car test ( in Ontario there are 2 in car tests ).
Written test I got 1 too many wrong, but the lady told me "everyone gets this one wrong" so she passed me.
First driving test just passed, some guy did kinda screw me over while driving but I still made a few minor mistakes. My second test, the guy didn't give a fuck.. We talked about dirt bikes for 20 minutes.

A friend of mine was doing his final drive test and the woman was being rude to him, really snarly and bitchy, etc etc. So he said he got to a point where he couldn't take it anymore and he dropped her off on a random corner (I hope everyone thinks this is funny, cause it always makes me laugh out loud). He then went back to the testing building, told them and they didn't even care.

 

[Gather_Wanderer]

With practice, it really does become second nature. Honestly, I've been in a car for several hours, lost in a train of thought and suddenly I'll come back to. I'll go through this cycle of coming in and out of driving awareness and thinking, lots of time will have passed, and I'll be wondering how the heck I didn't run off the road.

 

[The Gopher]

You use your own cars? I didn't know the economy was spiraling down in Australia.

I passed the driving on my first try, but I failed the theory a couple of times.

^Ummm...Australia? You tryin' to say I'm a dirty sheep roppin' Aussie?

Oh hang on you two! The Australian dollar is beating yours (well we are 0.09 under just now but we were beating you.) And now to you Cav! THAT is New Zealand.

Ehhm, that said I passed first go both theory and test, only because he didn't ask me to to a reverse park though. Haven't driven since November though. I am going to lose touch.

 

[Architectonic]

The passenger side mirror fell off but the examiner didn't seem to notice because she was turned away from it.

Nice.

Anyway, in Aussieland, we have the 'log-book' option, which means that we don't have an explicit 'test' as such, though the final 'drive' is probably equivalent. The downside to the 'log book' option is that it requires more cash/lessons. But, I had an awesome ESTP driving instructor and got my license in only 6 lessons. He'd say stuff like, 'I'm not worried about parallel parking, because it is not as if anyone has been killed due to bad parking'. Oh and 'never speed through country towns, especially after a bend as that is where the cops usually sit, if you drive to Melbourne there is always at least one cop along the way'. Thrashing his little car around the hills was fun too.

I agree with the others, assuming you have practised enough, all you should concentrate on doing is the actual driving. Pretend the other person in the car is one of your quiet friends.

 

[EditorOne]

Failed once, not for any defect of skill but because, in INTP fashion, I saw no one was coming at the stop sign and didn't come to a complete halt. I'd just come to one of those "almost" halts and the tester was one of those detail-oriented people who will plague us all our lives. So the next time I came to a stop and actually sat there for 10 seconds, then went ahead. All ended well.

That was a darn long time ago, but it still annoys me.

At the time we used our own vehicles. I doubt I could have easily parallel parked a strange vehicle, so for everyone forced to do that, my condolences.

Focus is everything. It's about one thing, driving. That's about total awareness of your environment and total understanding of what the results of all your actions will be. My unscientifically tested impression is that Europeans tend to be more focused while driving than people in the United States. Nearly every European I've ever ridden with was driving, to the exclusion of everything else. Many Americans seem to regard driving as something going on in the background while they text, telephone, do their nails, or even, help us all, read a book. Kind of like the difference between the means and the end; for a lot of Europeans, the driving is the thing. For Americans, it's a half-your-mind means to the end result of being someplace else.

 

[Aramea]

Took me two tries.

INTP and blind in one eye, LOL. They had this little obstacle course set up in the parking lot. I passed the written exam no problem and promptly backed into a cone. That was auto-fail. Something to consider is not to take the test in a land yacht. Try to find a smallish vehicle.

 

[digital angel]

@Roboman: Does having the examiner sit in the car with you make you nervous? If so, try to focus on other things without completing zoning out the other person. Have you tried asking the person who helps you practice pretend to be the examiner?

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Get a smart car. They may look...
but they are able to parallel park almost without effort.

 

[basickatie]

took me one try. i'm so proud of me.... my friends all took it multiple times though. common.

 

[MissQuote]

It was so long ago, 14 years ago. Nearly half my life. I remember quite clearly though, because of how irrational both testers were.

It took me two tries. The first time I had so much confidence I was bursting, and I failed before I left the parking lot.

The lady started the test by telling me to park " in the last parking space in this row" so I did that, perfectly. She then informs me that I parked in the wrong spot, I was meant to park in the spot directly next to the one I was in... the one that had a giant X crossing it out a huge sign that said "NO PARKING" and two orange cones on either side of it.

I tell her that it is obvious that is not a parking spot and she corrects me that it obviously IS a parking spot, one saved for driving testing, and that I need to park in it. So I pull out of the the spot I am in a realise I am at a bad angle to pull into the X-ed out spot directly next to the spot I was in, I tell her I want to go around the parking lot again to come back to this X spot at a better angle and she refuses to let me do this and insists I pull into the spot from exactly where I am, I hit one of the cones trying to do this and she informs me I have hit a "representation of another vehicle" and fails me right there.

Basically I failed because I had a hypothetical wreck caused by poor communication over a theoretical parking space and a refusal to allow me to start my expirement (driving test) over once I was aware of all the information I needed.

The second time I tested I was a bag of nerves, I rolled through a stop sign, went five over the speed limit, swerved into the bike lane, forgot to check my blind spot, forgot to use my blinker, and crossed the railroad tracks without slowing at all to look for a train. The man informed me of all these mistakes when we pulled back up to the DMV, then he passed me. He must have thought I was cute or something, I am not sure.

 

[Minuend]

^Ummm...Australia? You tryin' to say I'm a dirty sheep roppin' Aussie?

Oh, stop being such a sissy! Obviously you look like an Australian! How am I supposed to remember that you come from that island!

Or wait, is tat rite?

It was in a rural area and I have 2 years of driving practice.

Ha, 6 months!

Biddabidabidodobdadabdabda

At the time we used our own vehicles. I doubt I could have easily parallel parked a strange vehicle, so for everyone forced to do that, my condolences.

The driving instructor uses his work car with pedals on both sides. That same car is driven when testing, so you are already used to the car.

I don't think I ever learned parallel parking. But when I moved to the city a couple of years after, I didn't really have a problem with it. You can just back your way in and swing a little about and BAM you're there.

IT'S A FIGURATIVELY BAM!

 

[tearingmeapart]

The last time I tried, I failed before even pulling out of the parking lot. :/ I neglected to watch a guy crossing and the proctor intervened...The two times before that was a failure as a result of me being stubborn. I refused to drive automatic.