The Best Ways to Prepare For Your Practical Driving Test
For many, as soon as they turn 17, the first thing that they will want to do is start their driving lessons. It goes without saying that being able to drive is incredibly advantageous and the vast majority of people will try and pass their test as soon as they can once they’re at the legal driving age. However, learning how to drive isn’t always as easy as people assume.
Once you have passed your driving theory test, the hard work really starts and you will need to find a driving instructor who can help you get practical test ready, so to speak. Whilst they will then teach you everything that you need to know to be able to pass your driving test, you will need to ensure that you’re putting in the time and effort yourself to give yourself the best possible chance of passing your test the first time.
If you’re at the stage where your driving instructor thinks you’re ready to book your practical driving test, there are still some things that you can do to ensure that you’re fully prepared for what might happen during the test. So, to help anyone with a driving test booked, below are some of the best ways that you can prepare yourself for this practical test.
Get to know the local test routes
All driving test centres have a handful of approved test routes and these are what they will take learner drivers on during their tests. It is likely that your driving instructor will know some of these routes and it can be beneficial for them to take you around these during your driving lessons, if they haven’t done so already.
There are so many advantages to getting accustomed to these routes and it will help to prevent anything from catching you off guard during your test. Familiarising yourself with things such as the road layouts, the traffic levels, the speed limits and anything that isn’t common sight will help to calm your nerves for your test too. Of course, you won’t know before your test which route you’ll get, but driving them all in advance is still useful.
Revisit your theory on a regular basis
Once they have passed their theory test, it isn’t uncommon for people to throw away their practice DVDs and delete any apps they were using from their phone, but until you have passed your practical test, these will still come in handy. In fact, you should be keeping all of your theory knowledge in mind whenever you drive, no matter how experienced you are.
To ensure that you don’t get caught out by any road markings or signs during your practical driving test, take some time to go back through everything that you learnt in order to pass your theory test. This may seem like a mundane task, but you will definitely thank yourself for revisiting your theory knowledge if you’re faced with something that is out of the ordinary when you’re behind the wheel on your practical test.
Spend some additional time on the road
There is no denying that driving lessons can be expensive and once they have booked their practical test, many cut right back on how many lessons they’re having monthly. This isn’t necessarily an issue, but try not to reduce the amount of time you’re spending on the road too much. After all, practice makes perfect.
If you’re able to, try to spend some more time driving around with a responsible family member. As long as you’re being supervised by someone over the age of 21 who has had a valid driving license for at least three years and you’re insured on the car that you’re driving, then you can spend as much time on the road as you’d like. Just be sure to still have some lessons with your driving instructor so that you don’t pick up any bad habits.
Do some research into common faults
There are a handful of things that commonly let learner drivers down whilst they’re taking their practical driving test and these result in them picking up minor or major faults. These tend to be things like forgetting to check their mirrors, not signalling when turning, going over the speed limit and stalling due to bad clutch control.
Even though these might seem like things you would never forget, it isn’t uncommon for nerves to get the better of people during the practical test. So, to ensure that you don’t make the same mistakes that lots of other people do, familiarise yourself with what the most common faults are. Doing so will give you a chance to go over and over these faults before your practical driving test so that the right way of doing things becomes a habit.
Go over standard ‘show me’ and ‘tell me’ questions
As your driving instructor has probably already told you, during your driving test you will be asked one ‘show me’ question and one ‘tell me’ question. Similarly to driving routes, there are a few standard questions that examiners tend to ask in this regard and it can be beneficial to discuss these with your driving instructor.
All of these safety questions will be relating to the vehicle that you’re driving and you should spend some time ensuring that you know where everything is in the vehicle that you’re going to be using for your test. You can find out more about ‘show me’ and ‘tell me’ questions on the Government website, and don’t be afraid to ask your driving instructor to go over some of these with you during one of your lessons too.
Practice driving whilst following a sat nav
There is a chance that during the final section of your driving test, the independent driving section, you will need to follow a sat nav. Not everyone will be tasked with following street signs these days and if you’re asked by the examiner to follow a sat nav instead then it is essential that you will be able to do so.
To get used to driving safely whilst following a sat nav, ensure that this is something you’re practising either with your driving instructor or whilst you’re being supervised by someone else. Some people find following a sat nav quite distracting, so you don’t want during your test to be the first time that you do this. Don’t forget, navigation isn’t what’s important here and it doesn’t matter if you go the wrong way as long as you’re still driving safely.
Booking a driving test cancellation
When you’re preparing for your first practical driving test, hopefully, the information above will be beneficial. Whilst everyone is different and people learn in a variety of ways, you should be able to use some of these tips to help ensure that you’re ready for your test, whenever it may be. Of course, always remember that you can never be too prepared.
If the current waiting times for practical driving tests on the DVSA website are really long and you’re searching for a driving test cancellations service that can help you to move your test to a much earlier date, make sure you visit the Earlier Driving Test website. We are in no way associated or affiliated with the DVSA, DVLA or any government agencies, but we specialise in searching for earlier driving tests and helping people get a more convenient driving test date.
Our driving test cancellations service couldn’t be easier to use and all you need to do is fill in the required fields on our sign-up form and you will then start receiving text messages and email notifications of any new test dates as they become available. It really couldn’t be more straightforward for you to find driving test cancellations and our team can do all of the hard work for you, preventing you from having to continuously refresh the DVSA website.
Should you have any questions at all about our driving test cancellations service, feel free to contact us today and we will gladly provide you with the additional information you require.