The multiple fails club

I did my trianing wiith Ritchies in Glasgow and was lucky i passed my Class 1 first time. My instructor told me that most people fail on lane discipline and not enough use of the mirrors, but the biggest issue was believing you can pass. Having a positive attitude goes a long way,

On the day of the test i was sat with another student and the 2 examiners came in, one was quite a cheery guy and the other didnt really say much at all, guess which one i got!. As i sat in the cab i just reminded myself that all he is looking for is a safe smooth journey and in an hour we will be back here.

The first 20 mins went fine and then i came along a dual carraigeway which merged into one lane a bit further ahead, as i was in lane one i checked the mirrors and indicated to move across, a car behind signaled and held back to allow me to move across, before i moved i said out loud " white car signaled and has held back im moving across now" examiner looked across at my mirror and gave a nod.

Just before the merge there was a set of traffic lights and lane one was left turn only, the white car had now undertaken me and as the lights changed to green he passed me on the left. I was told during training if a car undercuts you it means your over too early and its a fail.
Realising that i have probably just blown it i was angry with myself. I composed myself and decided to just keep at it when we came to areas where it was a bit tight or there was an obstruction i just said out loud what i was doing and why.

As the rest of the test went the examiner started to talk a bit more, and i relaxed once more. As we entered the yard the examiner was again quite chatty and i put this down to the friendly chat before the bad news. We came to a stop and he fiddled about with his Ipad and then said Congratulations youve passed!

We had a quick talk about the drive and the incident with the merge and the white car. He commented that by giving a commentary, i had reassured him that i had hadnt cut anyone up and that the car had flashed me out and then hung back to let me complete the lane change. The examiner said not enough candidates use commentary when doing a drive, doing so lets gives the examiner a better understanding of what information your seeing and how your using that to make your decisions.

Best piece of advice i was told, show confidence whilst on the test the examiner will know your nervous so show him what youve learnt and be confident with your signals mirrors and lane discipline.