getting my driving license during NS⁉️🏎️🚙

HELLO!!! i decided to do something with my free times in NS so i decided to start learning driving! the whole process took me about 8 months, but i’ll share some tips and mistakes i made so you can save some money and time when you start learning too! 🚘 i’ll break this into two parts, firstly sharing the process and my experiences, then sharing my mistakes and some tips for new learners!

i first signed up in april after bmt since i had quite abit of time and my parents were pushing for me to learn driving…the signing up process was quite easy! i decided to sign up with CDC (ComfortDelGro Driving Centre) bcos i felt that the whole process would be easier if i was learning with a school as compared to learning private! i did consider learning private since it’s cheaper than school but i thought that the whole process outside of school would b vv troublesome (cant say i know for sure but i can say learning under school was a very very simple process).

i signed up online and made payment for my membership all online, and the process took less than 15mins! the next thing to do was to book an appointment for an eye test and the earliest available slot i could go for was a month later…so i decided to call them to see what could be done. NOW here comes the hard part…getting ahold of their customer service hotline. for some reason, their lines are always busy and its super hard to get someone to speak to, so i had to call multiple times throughout the day and waiting 5-10mins for someone to pick up if not i would hang up after. 👎 anws they let me take my eye test at kovan, a different centre from where i would be taking lessons (ubi), so i was grateful yay

the eye test was a rly fast, just had to make a payment on the spot. after the eye test, hard part number 2 came…booking lessons. booking lessons were an absolute nightmare because the lessons were booked up so quickly and the next available lessons were one/ two months later…and it was even harder because i was in NS, meaning i could only go for friday night or weekend lessons (PEAK! = more expensive) 💸💸

i heard from a friend who got her manual driving license, and she told me that it was alot easier to book manual lessons than auto lessons, and that a manual license was also more useful than an auto one, since those holding manual licenses are also allowed to drive auto cars! altho i initially opted to take a class 3A license (auto), i decided to change my license to a class 3 license (manual), because whats the harm anyways.. also i was in a rush to get my license because im in the navy, and i was afraid that i would be deployed to sea and forget how to drive 🤣🤣 anyways… i called them (again) and asked them to change my license and they did (after calling multiple times) and for an admin fee…

for the basic and final theory tests, it’s quite a process since i had to take an internal evaluation before taking my basic theory test and before my final theory test (internal evaluation is a paper set by the school to test the learners), so that 4x tests!! and we had to pay for each of those too so…i didnt choose to pay for theory lessons from the school so i just self studied 🤓

for practical lessons i had to book a month plus in advance, and there are specific timings when the slots for the next month opens, so i was always ready at 10pm on the 13th of each month to book as many lessons as i could HAHAH🤳

for the simulator, vpc (vehicular pre-operative check) and ldcs (learner’s driver competency screening), it was fairly simple to book and go for, and each session took up less than half an hour (except vpc), so it was very simple and fast!

finally, the big practical test. booking it was HARDD because i was trying to make sure it was only shortly after any practical lessons i had booked, plus it was quite late into my learning already bcos, as usual, i forgot to book my final theory test hence i couldnt book my practical test until i passed my final theory…

and i managed to pass my practical test on the first try! (with 18 demerit points..) i was just glad it was over lol bcos i was quite stressed about it for awhile HAHA and was quite tiring too! because my friday nights and weekends were very occupied by driving lessons and i cldnt do anything else during my free time.

so this was a short recap on how my entire process of getting my driving license was! stay tuned for part two of some mistakes i made in the process and some tips for those of you thinking of learning driving!

#drivinglicense #drivingtest #driving #howto #learningdriving