Among the main reasons for failing a driving test remarkably isn’t due to your skill of driving. It’s frequently due to your mind-set on the day of a driving test and how this affects the application of your driving skills under test conditions. Hopefully this short article will supply you with some methods that will assist you to have a positive mind-set and focus leading up to and during your driving test.
The trick to any success is preparation – fail to prepare, then prepare to fail, which is specifically true for your driving test. Your trainer would have provided instruction on all the aspects that you could be tested on during your driving test, so you will be well prepared and at test standard.
For 40 minutes, you have to prove you can do the following in front of an examiner:
- Make safe decisions
- Manage risk from hazards
- Remaining in control of your vehicle
- Making progress where suitable
The best way of handling this is to treat your driving test with an examiner as a normal driving lesson, simply with a different instructor. The instructions provided by the examiner will be the same as your instructor provides, so you will know what kind of instructions to anticipate.
What to expect on my test
Naturally, you will anxious for the first few minutes of your test, and there is a separate short article on relaxing nerves offered here link blog. As soon as you are focussed, it will more than likely feel like you are on a driving lesson anyway. Once you enter into your groove of driving, the 40 minutes will fly by and you’ll be completed before you know it.
In the few days prior to your test, focus on all the things you can do with the new-found freedom of getting your licence. This will help visualise the minute of, “Congratulations, I’m delighted to inform you have actually passed your driving test”. Whatever you do, focus on success rather than failure – it will help develop a favourable attitude where passing your test becomes possible.
Throughout your driving test itself, concentrate on driving positively (driving to pass), instead of driving negatively (driving to fail). An example of this is “I will make sure im driving at or under the speed limit”, rather than “I will not drive over the speed limit”. Our brains are conditioned to respond to negative words by increasing activity in its worry centre. This floods our system with more stress-producing hormones and the result is we end up doing exactly what we set our not to. In this case, it would be driving over the speed limit, resulting in a stopped driving test.
The other obstacle for us as human beings is our impulse to get ourselves out of any difficult circumstance as rapidly as possible, which can result in rushing your driving test, and as a result making silly mistakes that are not generally apparent on lessons. Examiners know the significance of this and will typically motivate pupils to take their time while driving. Taking your time enables you to think and decreases the stress reaction.
Think thoroughly about putting any unneeded pressure on yourself, especially from family and friends. This can be avoided by them not knowing about your test date – what they don’t know, they wont worry about. They often think they might be doing you a favour by encouraging you with expressions like, “I’ll make sure i’m around after when your test finishes”. Unless you know the individual very well and you appreciate their sentiment, this could result in them lowering your self-confidence. Peer pressure can likewise weaken your confidence. Full licence holders frequently put unnecessary pressure on you, with declarations like “all of our family passed first time, without any more than 3 driving faults each” and so on. Ignore comments like these – it’s your test, just concentrate on what your required to do.
In general, it’s really important to keep your driving test in perspective. If you do fail, this does not mean you are a failure. Typically, just 50% of test prospects pass very first time, and there is no difference in passing on your first or ninth time. If you do fail your test, it will take a while to recover from this and restore your self-confidence. Your examiner and instructor will go through what went wrong, and more importantly how to recover from it so you can gain confidence from this. When you are ready and finances enable, have another go and treat the previous test attempt(s) as learning curves. There’s always next time, and try to book your test as quickly as you can. You will approach your next test with this past experience, so you will know precisely what to expect and how you felt, which can help you be even much better prepared.
Finally, when you’re at the test centre waiting on your examiner to welcome you, use the time sensibly. Your instructor will ensure you show up with a lot of time in hand, so utilise this as an opportunity to concentrate on what you need to do, calm yourself, switch your brain on, and stay focused. Approach your test as your chance to show what you can already do, not what you can’t do. If you approach it in this manner, you know you can do this!
