If you have your driving test coming up soon, then we recommend you read this page just to make sure none of the below effects you on your big day. Here we will outline a few things to think about when approaching your driving test.
Things to consider when your test is near
If you feel you may not be ready for your driving test, then our assessment lesson can help you work out how many driving lessons you may need. We have been providing driving lessons for over 10 years now and regularly see candidates tests being unable to go ahead for one of the following reasons:
Have you got your licence?
Make sure you have your provisional driving licence with you on the day of your test. Once you have booked your practical driving test, make sure it’s kept in a safe place. The examiner will need to see it before taking you out for your test. Unfortunately, I regularly see candidates going to their test without their licence and trying to plead with the examiner for leniency. However, if you don’t have it with you, there’s nothing the examiner can do no matter how much you may plead or beg.
Make sure your car is roadworthy
Many tests are aborted before the candidate and the examiner have even entered the vehicle. This happens quite a lot to candidates that use their own vehicle for the driving test and their car is not considered safe and legal for the purpose of the driving test. Basically, the examiner will ask you to sign a declaration to confirm that the car is insured for the purpose of the test. Then the driving test examiner will inspect your vehicle and ask you a show me, tell me question about the car. Checking/testing the brake lights, dipped lights, direction indicators, windscreen washers are just a few ways the examiner could abort the test if one of these areas on your car is not working.
Insurance
If you’re going to the test centre in your own vehicle, then make sure it has the appropriate insurance. You should also be accompanied by a person who is at least 21 years old and has a minimum of 3 years driving experience. We have been providing driving lessons for a long time now and have seen the driving test examiners call the police if they suspect a candidate has turned up for their test in an uninsured vehicle.
Check your eyesight
This is crazy, but some instructors don’t check their pupil’s eyesight at the beginning of their driving lessons or just before their test. Believe it or not, some people get themselves to test standard, with reduced vision and then find out on the day of their test that they can’t complete the number plate check from 20.5 meters away. If you are unable to complete the eyesight check, the examiner will have to abort the driving test.
Don’t change instructors/vehicles just before the test
Some pupils will go and have lessons with another driving instructor, in a different vehicle just before their test. We often get pupils who book a test without first confirming the test date with their instructor, they’re then left trying to secure an instructor for their test date. You may be unable to find another instructor at short notice, and even if you do, they’re likely to have a different vehicle that you won’t be used to driving. Here are some of the things you should consider about driving a different car:
- Different biting point on clutch, brakes could be more sensitive
- Focal points for manoeuvres, for example Bay Parks are usually different in every car you learn in.
- Familiarity with the gear lever will be less, so higher risk of accidentally going into the wrong gear.
Try and drive in as many weather conditions before your test as possible.
Knowing the Great British weather, just because it’s been sunny for the last week, doesn’t mean it might not rain on your big day. Obviously we can’t control the weather, but driving in the rain, fog or snowy conditions is great practice beforehand just in case it happens on the day of your driving test.
If your driving test is coming up and you’re in a rush, then you may want to consider doing a crash driving course in conjunction with an assessment driving lesson to give you the best possible chances of passing first time.
