Top 123 Tips to Pass your Driving test First time

As a trusted driving school we get lots of questions asked about learning to drive etc. So we have decided to create blogs for all the FAQ’s about learning to drive. This blog post is part of our 123 top tips to pass your driving test.

You need to Check you MIRRORS!

 According to the DVSA, the number 1 reason marked for a failure on the test sheets is Junctions (observation).

What does the DVSA say about checking mirrors and observations at junctions?

The DVSA every year produce a list of the top 10 fails recorded on the marking sheets. For the Past 13 years! the main reason has been – Junctions (observation).  The DVSA DT1 tells examiners to:

The examiner should observe whether the candidate has the vehicle under proper control and in the appropriate gear, takes account of the type of junction, road signs and following traffic, gives any necessary and appropriate signals in good time, and keeps the vehicle correctly positioned throughout. The examiner should also note whether the candidate takes adequate and effective observation before entering the intersection, and that they do so with due regard for other road users.

The route should still include some urban roads which will allow the examiner to observe the candidate’s reaction to crossing intersections during general driving. A driver who is over-cautious at a main road may act differently at a junction of less important roads.

The examiner is looking for you to take effective observations on approach to the junctions, when emerging from a junction and then make more observations when progressing away form the junction. – Thats a lot of observations! One of the reasons why its so commonly marked as a fail on the driving test.

Why do you need to Check your Mirrors on approach to junctions to pass your test?

Quite simply, you need to always know what’s around you in order to be able to make the correct decisions. If you cant see the risks on the road then you can’t plan or prepare for them. Benjamin Franklin’s quote ‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail‘ is a grat thing to remmerb when driving. – Always know what is around you especial at or near junctions as Junctions are a big area of risk when driving.

A good drive will always know whats around them at all times.

If you have any thoughts or comments on this post, we would love to hear your opinions or views. Just leave us a comment below.

Top 123 Tips to Pass your Driving test First time

As a trusted driving school we get lots of questions asked about learning to drive etc. So we have decided to create blogs for all the FAQ’s about learning to drive. This blog post is part of our 123 top tips to pass your driving test.

Confidence

You need to have CONFIDENCE!

 The main reason people fail a test is due to not being confident.

Why do you need to be confident to pass your test?

We find that you need to be confident to pass your test. The main reason for this is that if you are unsure about anything, it will lead to doubt, worry and hessitancy on a test! When the pressure is on to pass a driving test, you need to know what you are doing is the correct thing for that situation. If you have any doubts, then you will get flustered over think the situationand then end up hesitating and then usually you then rush the next bit. Often, either of the option you were thinking about could have been ok, but as you hesitated then now you can t do any and you are stuck in “no mans land”!

Confident / lack of confidence driving test example.

Emagine you are on a driving test, driving down the road towards a meeting situation, you think about going past parked cars but you hesitate, now your road positon is not showing what you are doing, the car comming from the other direction doest know your intentions and just at the last minute, you pull out past the parked car forcing the car form the opposite direction to change his actions and you caused unessary risk! If you were confident that you could get thought the gap and you had enought time/space for it to be safe and you positioned early and maintained a safe speed, you could have got thought the gap with no risk. Also if you had slowed down early, and positioned in a “holding back” position, you could have timed it to let the car form the opposite way get thought the gap and then preceded to go after him. Either of the above example would have been fine but if you werent confident, you delayed making the approproite action and thefore ended up partly going, partly showing you were stoping and the risk involed made it a major fault on a driving test! Moral of the story is to be prepared, be confident and if you are not confident have an extra lesson or two to get you to be confident and pass your driving test with ease 🙂

If you have any thoughts or comments on this post, we would love to hear your opinions or views. Just leave us a comment below.