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nope, i stalled on a busy A road, and passed.
Dstbgre
When I did my test I was told by my instructor that they cant fail if you go the wrong way, only if you do it continuously or if you go the wrong way up a one way street etc
We have a roundabout in Swindon called the magic roundabout (google it if you haven't heard of it) and its rated as one of the worst in Europe. He told me that if I was taken on it and was asked to go straight over and wasn't comfortable with it just to take first left and claim I had misheard the examiner :biggrin:
So you cant fail for going the wrong way but will if you do it a lot.


Such a good idea. If I get the magic tomorrow I'll be doing that :P
Betty P
i'm too young to drive at the moment (4 months to go :woo:) so im probably stating something stupid but ....

whats so wrong about turning left? :confused:


Oh bless!! You might be too young to drive, but surely you're not too young to understand the concept of sarcasm lol!:p:
Reply 23
Crystaltears
Oh bless!! You might be too young to drive, but surely you're not too young to understand the concept of sarcasm lol!:p:


Ohh thank god! I'm not too stupid to drive - just too stupid to recognise sarcasm in social situations!!! :redface: :smile: Hahahahaa
Makes you wonder how anyone passes! :s-smilie:
Reply 26
Running over an entire family will cause you too fail, most definitely.
I got a minor for speeding on my test. That's how we roll (quickly).
Reply 28
Not showing up. That'd be a definite fail. So get going and do it! Don't worry. If you think you know your stuff, you won't fail. And drive slowly and carefully.

If you don't know your stuff, you really shouldn't be doing a test on the chance that you'd pass...it'll make it hell for all the other road users.
Reply 29
Betty P
i'm too young to drive at the moment (4 months to go :woo:) so im probably stating something stupid but ....

whats so wrong about turning left? :confused:


:toofunny: , rep is so coming your way!
I was actually told by my instructor: "If you do something wrong, swear under your breath, but loud enough for the examiner to hear. They'll think 'That person knows they've made a mistake, let's not be too harsh on them..." Like that worked...

You're only really likely to have any majors if you don't think. Pulling off in third and stalling - that's a major. Going on to a roundabout and almost being rear-ended by some **** who doesn't indicate...that's a major. Not taking your time and judging things at junctions - major. Almost hitting a bus - major. The list is endless.

Stalling, slightly messing up any of your manoeuvres, going just a bit over or under the speed limit, doing a crap emergency stop, not "feeding" the wheel correctly - so long as you can recover, or do well in other things, these are only minors that they'll put down to "anxiety".

Examiners in school exams are told to mark you based on what you do well, given the time frame. I've seen crap essays, that'd I'd have given a D, been given an A. It's the same with driving, they can fail you based on something huge, or something little if you really mess it up, but they won't fail you for no good reason - especially at the start of a test, when you're most nervous...
Yeah - and at the end of the day, if you know how to drive, you'll pass. You won't fail because of anything anyone else does.
Reply 32
imtired
There is an unofficial quota. I have spoken to an ex-examiner, at their test center if their pass rate was 10% above or below the average they got somebody to go with them on tests to check they were doing the job right, to avoid this they tried to keep it around the average so there is practically a quota. Also i know two people who hit the curb on their test, one pass and one failed. There is no strict definition of a major, any minor can be made into a potential serious or dangerous error, which is why unless you're pretty much perfect they decide whether to fail you.


Firstly, check tests are standard across examiners and instructors to make sure that standards are kept constant.

Secondly, hitting a kerb is not always a fail. If it's only a brush and corrected, it'll only be a minor. However, if there was a pedestrian about or the examiner feels the kerb stopped the vehicle from going onto the pavement, it'll be a fail.
The people you know may have hit the kerb in different ways. It all depends on the circumstances. And the people in the driving seat (your friends) may exaggerate or be wrong about how firmly they hit the kerb.

Finally, fails are split into two categories.

Firstly, there are 'serious' fails, which mean that in another instance the driving could have caused a crash.

Secondly, there are 'dangerous' fails, which are where the examiner has to take action to avoid crash damage.

For example, a 'serious' fail could be hitting the kerb with a large enough overhang that it could hit a pedestrian walking past who would / could be hit. It would be a dangerous fault if the person were there in a test.

So yes, there are actually definitions of what constitutes a major fail.

From a DSA instructor :wink:
worrying!!!

just relax... and listen to the examiner!
Make sure that if your signal turns off prematurely that you put it back on again ASAP. I didn't, and they failed me for it.
Ok, I got 2 minors on my test: -hesitation (its a complicated roundabout system, with 5 islands coming off each exit and heading onto the M6 toll, so HGV's come speeding off- I still am overly cautious there now still!)
-When they asked me to pull over one time, I pulled accross someones driveway.

My friends have failed on the following counts:

Travelling too slow on a country lane, speed limit was 50mph she was doing 35mph because the lane was muddy and we were having a heavy rain/thunder storm, but still failed.

When pulling over when asked to, a friend put her left indicator on but forgot to turn it off when she had to pull off. So the left indicator was left on, instead of turning it off and putting on the right.

A friend failed for going through a red light :rolleyes:

Finally another friend failed for brushing the curb with her tyres whilst going round a roundabout on the inside for the 3rd exit.
Dstbgre
When I did my test I was told by my instructor that they cant fail if you go the wrong way, only if you do it continuously or if you go the wrong way up a one way street etc
We have a roundabout in Swindon called the magic roundabout (google it if you haven't heard of it) and its rated as one of the worst in Europe. He told me that if I was taken on it and was asked to go straight over and wasn't comfortable with it just to take first left and claim I had misheard the examiner :biggrin:
So you cant fail for going the wrong way but will if you do it a lot.

I live near swindon and the magic roundabout is nasty :frown:
My friend assed his test (in chippenham not swindon) and he turned off first exit because he didnt like the roundabout and still passed.
Reply 37
Callipygian
I live near swindon and the magic roundabout is nasty :frown:
My friend assed his test (in chippenham not swindon) and he turned off first exit because he didnt like the roundabout and still passed.


Yeah I wont drive on the magic. I was rather lucky in my test though as the examiner asked me to do first left anyway :biggrin:

having a seizure duringbthevexam...goddammit...

stalling isn't an automatic fail unless it was a dangerous place.
it doenst end well if you take a left turn when they tell you to take a right turn...this may or may not have happened to me :no: ......everything that needs to mentioned has probably been mentioned by now in this thread so all im gonna say is to try your best to appear confident...:smile:

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