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Failed my driving test twice already! :(

Ive failed my driving test twice now! I have my third coming up soon! Failed the first one with 8 minors and 1 major and second 6 minors and also 1 major. I feel confident with everything apart from roundabouts and the reverse around the corner! I know I can doIt I just have hardly any faith in myself can anyone help or recommend anything? .
is this an issue over semantics.
I'm sorry what? Lol
Reply 3
Hi Charlotte, me and you are in the same boat, first time i failed (oct 14/11 minors, 1 major), fair enough it was my fault i went in front of car coming from right on roundabout. second time i failed (oct 27/4 minors, 1 major), complete bul****, they failed me over complete garbage and i was literally 5mins to the end of the test (5mins from test centre). now im doing my third test tomorrow (nov 9). advice i would give you on roundabouts is that make sure never let your eye off the right side, do not copy other cars, plan ahead and judge signals given by other cars and also judge their speed and whether or not you can come out.
(edited 8 years ago)
good luck, I hope you pass. Switch instructor if necessary.
Reply 5
Have you tried using Youtube? I watched lots of videos before my practical test and it really helped me to relax. Driving instructors upload mock tests, demonstrations of manoeuvres and talk through the show-me tell-me questions.

I know you can't revise for a driving test but this really does help to calm your nerves xxx
Basically, keep trying and it'll happen. For the reverse around a corner, take it slowly (as my first instructor said, you should be able to crawl faster than you reverse - you'll not be penalised for taking your time in manoeuvres!), stopping if necessary to think about how to correct it. Look mostly out of your back window, but every couple of seconds glance at either your left mirror, angled downwards, or your blind spots forwards left and right. Keep constantly about a foot from the kerb if possible. Just practise like that.

For roundabouts, firstly don't panic. Don't feel you have to go at every slight gap, because there'll always be another one. Missing a few suitable spaces is a minor; going when there isn't one, and you've got a serious or even a dangerous. Don't enter the roundabout until you're sure you can do it at your own pace without disturbing any other drivers. Wait until you're sure that the driver approaching is coming off at the exit before yours. They should (but might not) be indicating left; they will drift away from the centre circle of the roundabout as they come around if they intend to leave. If you have any doubt, always wait either until they start to leave, or until you're certain the way's clear. See this video for help.

Apart from that, just keep practising. Two failures is not that bad, and I know people who've done a lot worse than that.
Reply 7
Original post by SosbanFach
Basically, keep trying and it'll happen. For the reverse around a corner, take it slowly (as my first instructor said, you should be able to crawl faster than you reverse - you'll not be penalised for taking your time in manoeuvres!), stopping if necessary to think about how to correct it. Look mostly out of your back window, but every couple of seconds glance at either your left mirror, angled downwards, or your blind spots forwards left and right. Keep constantly about a foot from the kerb if possible. Just practise like that.


By going too slowly you're making it harder for yourself. The situation can change quickly, so you need to do observations - so if you're going too slowly you need to look around more (because it will take more time). If you complete the manoeuvre at a competent speed you will only need to look around a few times, maybe even once - if you're less than crawling pace you'll need to look around much more.

You'll also risk coming across more traffic. Cars might initially decide to wait for you, but then because you're going at less than crawling speed get frustrated, and this is where they will do anything to get round you - this won't be classed as their fault, so you can and will fail.

Your instructor is either terrible, or you misunderstood what he said. Manoeuvres should not be performed at less than crawling speed. Maybe the first two times whilst you get used to it, but after that you need to show that you can do it, and that you are considerate to other road users. I'm not saying that you need to do them fast enough to break the land speed record, but you should be doing them as quickly as you can (by this I do mean as fast as *you* can, which doesn't mean the more colloquial "as quickly as possible"). And if you're taking your driving test that means you think you're good enough to no longer be a learner driver, so that means you need to do them at a sensible speed.

Even though this advice is from a slightly different situation, it still applies here:

Original post by Advisor
Go to a busy town centre / high street and watch experienced drivers park in spaces. Look how long it takes them. Now imagine you're in the car behind the person manoeuvring and you're waiting for them to finish so you can continue on your way. How long do you feel is reasonable? 30 seconds? A minute? Two minutes? Five minutes?

Yes, the time you take is assessed on the test. Taking more than a reasonable time to complete a manoeuvre is a fault in control as you are obviously having issues with judgement. Taking too long means you are blocking the road longer than necessary. Waiting unreasonably for distant hazards (that are in no way affecting you) is a fault too.

While you shouldn't rush a manoeuvre, if you find it's taking you minutes to complete, something's wrong.

Look at this video to see how it should NOT be done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alL5K4p5fPc
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Juno
By going too slowly you're making it harder for yourself. The situation can change quickly, so you need to do observations - so if you're going too slowly you need to look around more (because it will take more time). If you complete the manoeuvre at a competent speed you will only need to look around a few times, maybe even once - if you're less than crawling pace you'll need to look around much more.

You'll also risk coming across more traffic. Cars might initially decide to wait for you, but then because you're going at less than crawling speed get frustrated, and this is where they will do anything to get round you - this won't be classed as their fault, so you can and will fail.

Your instructor is either terrible, or you misunderstood what he said. Manoeuvres should not be performed at less than crawling speed. Maybe the first two times whilst you get used to it, but after that you need to show that you can do it, and that you are considerate to other road users. I'm not saying that you need to do them fast enough to break the land speed record, but you should be doing them as quickly as you can (by this I do mean as fast as *you* can, which doesn't mean the more colloquial "as quickly as possible":wink:. And if you're taking your driving test that means you think you're good enough to no longer be a learner driver, so that means you need to do them at a sensible speed.

Even though this advice is from a slightly different situation, it still applies here:


My apologies, I did actually mean that to get used to it, it would maybe help to start slowly. It would obviously get easier and quicker with practice, but I disagree that practising slowly (on a quiet street, which maybe would be best for some initial confidence-building) is necessarily harder than practising quickly, as initially it gives more time to react to issues like drifting too far towards/away from the kerb. When you get to test level, there is a certain level of movement required, although it has never seemed to be unreasonably fast. Maybe my experience is also different through doing my test in a small town rather than a city, however, particularly in terms of volume of traffic encountered.

Also, this may not be the problem of the OP, but sometimes just slowing things down and going back to basics can (in my opinion, and no more than that) be beneficial.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by xUzi786
Hi Charlotte, me and you are in the same boat, first time i failed (oct 14/11 minors, 1 major), fair enough it was my fault i went in front of car coming from right on roundabout. second time i failed (oct 27/4 minors, 1 major), complete bul****, they failed me over complete garbage and i was literally 5mins to the end of the test (5mins from test centre). now im doing my third test tomorrow (nov 9). advice i would give you on roundabouts is that make sure never let your eye off the right side, do not copy other cars, plan ahead and judge signals given by other cars and also judge their speed and whether or not you can come out.


howd it go?

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