As an international student, my whole experience with getting a simple driver's license was nothing short of a nightmare. Starting with the horrible idea of loaning my landlord's car for the test, where the examiner panicked because of my right turn and steered my wheel towards the curb, crashing it, to the 500 USD that I paid to get the car fixed taught me some valuable lessons on how to go about this whole situation.
After loads of research and learning from my mistakes, I can share some amazing tips with you that can help you save a lot of money and time and help you to pass your behind-the-wheel driving test on your first attempt.
1.Do you need a driving school to learn driving?
I spent almost 600 USD on driving school and it was of no good use to me. If you are above the age of 18, I would highly recommend that you learn driving from your family members or a friend who is good at driving, in your own car. At the end of the day the more you practice driving, the better you will be at it and this will increase your chances of passing the test on your first attempt. Driving schools charge you about 90 USD for two hours and in those two hours, you hardly learn anything. But if you are below the age of 18 and have to take driving lessons then do your research well and choose a good school. Once you complete your mandatory hours of practicing, you can then practice more with your family member or friends.
If you are an international student, please do not loan a car from friends to learn, if you crash while learning your expenses will be huge. You have to join a driving school and learn from there and during your test, you can ask the school to rent you a car for the test day.
2.Read and understand the DMV score sheet.
The score sheet consists of the things you are being scored on during the driving test. There are three major sections on the score sheet. The first one is the hand signals (Right, left, and stop) and the different controls on the car (you just have to point them out when asked, no need to switch them on), the second section is about traffic check, speed, turns and your overall driving skill and the third section is for critical errors. Critical errors are when you don't stop for a red light or a stop sign or when the examiner had to intervene. Critical errors are automatic fails.
You will pass the first section pretty easily, it's not hard at all. For the second section, remember to do exaggerated head movements as the examiner cannot see your eyes move. So even though you have checked the streets for pedestrians before moving, the examiner might deduct a point thinking that you haven't done a traffic check. So keep that in mind and keep doing exaggerated head movements like turning your neck to the right and left to scan your surroundings.
3.Checking Blind spots has to be an exaggerated head movement.
While doing your lane changes, you need to check your rear and side mirror and look over your shoulder to check the blind spot. You will have to turn your neck and your shoulder in a way that you are able to completely check the blind spot. This is very critical to pass the test.
4.Choose your testing center carefully.
The center that I chose was Pomona DMV which was notorious for having a high percentage of fail rates for behind-the-wheel driving tests. There are certain centers that have a higher pass percentage rate like Westminster or Fullerton. However, this does not guarantee that you will pass the test with poor driving skills but it does increase your chances of not getting unnecessary deductions on your score sheet.
5. Practice on the test routes.
After you choose your test center you can drive around the test routes. You can find these routes on youtube. You can use the app 'My Maps' and create the practice route on the app. Once you have the route on your phone, 'My Maps' works like a GPS and will guide you through the route and you can practice your driving. Knowing the route is very important as you need to be familiar with the speed limits and the lanes so that you are not anxious driving on unfamiliar routes.
6. Curb your anxiety.
Anxiety makes the examiner feel that you are not a confident driver and this can work against you during your test. Every new driver has a little bit of anxiety while driving but it slowly fades away with practice. Start practicing on empty streets and gradually go into busy streets. Keep motivating yourself with positive words of affirmation about your driving and let the examiner know that you are in control of the vehicle. I personally used to watch videos on youtube that taught me how to curb driving anxiety and that has helped me a lot.
7. Investing in a dashcam
Investing in a dashcam can help you know the mistakes that you make while driving and then you can practice the areas that you are the weakest at. I could buy a second-hand
dashcam for 26 USD from amazon. I also brought a
memory card for about USD 12 for the dashcam. I think this is a pretty cheap investment and the dashcam will be very handy when you actually start driving once you pass your test.
And above everything practice, practice, and practice a lot. Practise will give you the confidence that a good driver should have!
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