Tips & Tricks I Used For My 2nd Driving Test 🚗

is your practical test coming up and you’re overly anxious and scared? did your driving instructor not provide you sufficient tips to pass your test?

if your answer is yes to any of these questions, feel free to read on for tips and tricks to pass your next driving test!

1) Short background on my experience as a School Learner (@ Ubi CDC):

✏️ I enrolled to CDC as a school learner in February 2022, and had to wait 4 months for my eye test (May 2022) before I can start booking lessons.

✏️ My first lesson was in August and I initially signed up as a Class 3 Student (Manual Car)

✏️ After about 4-6 lessons, I made the decision to switch to Class 3A (Auto Car)

✏️ I signed up under common pool and did not choose the One Team option

✏️ I had about 21 practical lessons (including the first few Class 3 lessons) before I booked my first TP Test in December.

2) My (horrible) first TP Test Experience:

I clearly remembered this day and how overly anxious I was waiting in the small room with the other testers. I was very nervous and was thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

After waiting for about 10-20 minutes, we get called up by an instructor to do a Warm-Up round with your assigned car (which you will also use in the TP Test itself). The warm-up was pretty quick and smooth and cleared my nervousness a little and I was becoming slightly confident in passing my test.

After the warm-up ended we had to wait for another 30-35 minutes before our Tester calls us up for the test.

The first few stations in circuit were okay till I reached vertical parking which was my worst component and the reason I failed. Long story short, I exceeded the time because I kept re-positioning (which was already an immediate failure) and because I was already dejected I completely forgot about the shoulder rule when exiting the parking slot and mounted the kerb 🤡

My test ended there and I did not manage to go onto the road itself.

3) What I did to prepare for my 2nd TP Test and how I passed.

✏️ One thing I learned from my instructors is to make mistakes while having your lessons. Before I booked my 2nd TP Test, I managed to clutch 7 practical lessons to brush up on my driving skills.

✏️ During these lessons, I explained to the instructor that I have done the TP test before (sometimes the instructor might not know, so it’s good to tell them!). They will then ask me which component I would like to practice more on and I basically managed to curate my own lesson so that I can practice the stations that I am least confident in.

✏️ While on the lessons, always ask the instructor for advice or tips on how to brush up your skills. Also feel free to let them know that you want to practice a certain stations a few times until you’re confident in it. For example, for me I told my instructors that I wanted to practice my vertical parking more than the other components. They allowed me to do so and also guided me well and encourage me to make mistakes so that I would know how to reposition/make adjustments easier!

✏️ Before my 2nd TP Test, I also tried to go on a CEP Lesson (*Circuit Enhancement Programme). While I feel this may not be necessary to everyone, it helped me practice on my weaker components more and that was the main focus for the whole lesson (which was about 30 minutes?)

✏️ Besides practical lessons, I will watch videos on YouTube, more specifically:

yt channel for car lesson vids

His videos helped me a lot to visualise any kinds of mistakes or refresh the steps for the different components before I took my test.

✏️ During the test itself, try your best to remain calm and appear confident. Observe your surroundings carefully and listen to everything your tester says! Also everyone says this but treat the TP Test as one of your driving lessons and go through the stations and the road like how you normally would.

✏️ One last thing I think really helped me the most was that I booked a morning driving lesson before my actual test in the afternoon on the same day. It helped me gain a sense of the road conditions on that day and refreshed any steps that I may have forgotten. (I believe it’s important to at least have a lesson 1-3 days prior to your actual TP Test so that you will be able to brush up on your skills and have a easier time remembering any steps)

✏️ Lastly, a reminder to be respectful and friendly to your testers! Although it won’t necessarily make you pass the test, it is important to have a good first impression to them and there is a slight chance they will close one eye on minor mistakes (like fail to check blind spot)

GOOD LUCK TO ANYONE WHO IS TAKING THEIR TEST SOON!!! YOU CAN DO IT 😁