The 5 Things You Should Do Before Your Driving Test
Taking your driving test may ever be the most exciting or the most nerve-wracking time of your life. In most cases, it’s a weird, middle-of-the-road combination of those two heart-pounding sensations.
You might have have dozens of driving lessons by this point, so you’re either feeling very over-confident or very under-confident; nobody ever seems to be at that sweet-spot right in the middle until they’ve been driving by themselves for a few years. Of course, the test is very different to your lessons. You don’t know everything about the road yet and you’re not the perfect driver; experience and practice is what makes the perfect driver. When you pass your test, the lessons don’t stop; they’re just not examined and you won’t have somebody sitting next to you to help you out when there are idiots on the road.
Okay, so if you’re not going to be perfect at driving any time soon, what are some great tips for nailing the perfect driving test, at the very least?
- Take your time
You’re likely in a rush to pass your test, because you either want to get it over with and relax or you’re itching to get your own car and race onto the roads. Either way, your instructor knows best and you should trust his judgement. Take as many lessons as you need, because there is no rush. You should only be driving by yourself on the road when you’re ready and take the advice of the professional sitting next to you; they’ve been driving a lot longer than you and they’ve only got your interests at heart.
- Understand the theory
You might be a brilliant driver in terms of skill, but examinations rely on so much more than that now. If you know how to do a 3-point-turn, but you can’t answer a simple question about tread depth, this could be the difference between a pass and a fail. You don’t want the reason you failed your driving test to be nothing to do with the physical driving, but a simple question you could have answered if you’d just done a little extra reading.
- Work on your flaws
Examiners are trained to pick up on very common mistakes and being responsible for a major fault (which is more easily done than you might think, given licensed drivers are responsible for major faults on the road every single day) will cost you the entire driving test.
Every driver has different flaws and you should work on those too, but it’s really crucial to work hard and ensure that you’re not slipping up on simply, easily-avoidable things that you definitely won’t forget to do when you’re a real driver. It’s easy to lose focus on the day of your actual test, but you have to remember; it should be one of the best drives of your life. Every move you make is being examined, so make each manoeuvre count.
- Practice tests are great
Just like any school or work examination, the best way to ensure you’re prepared for the style of the exam, and to ensure that you know everything you need to know to pass, is to do a ‘mock’ test of sorts. A permit practice test could be perfect either the day before or on the same day as your actual test, because it refreshes your memory and it prepares you for the real thing.
- Keep a level head
Most importantly, try not to worry. As with any exam, there’s only so much you can do to prepare, and a calm state of mind is the best way to ensure you perform to the best of your ability.