Well I took my Cat C test today, and when the examiner turned to me at the end of the test and told me I’d passed, well, you can imagine how I felt given that I made some schoolboy errors early on and accepted failure halfway through!!
To others who are considering taking the Cat C course, or have their test soon, just listen to your instructor. I would do things right a few times, then suddenly make the same error a couple of hours later which was really frustrating for both of us. But if you take onboard what they are saying to you and make an effort to follow their advice and adjust your driving accordingly, you’re 90% there.
I did find the test stressful. I did suffer nerves beforehand. The difference is, I think, I was prepared for that and there were many occasions where I had to take a quick step back to make sure it didn’t affect my driving. I didn’t find the reversing exercise too intimidating, but a lot of people seem to fail here due to nerves. I found that like driving, planning and PRACTICE was key here. It helped to practice two or three times this morning before the test.
During the test itself, two situations stuck out as nerve racking… The first five minutes, where I was very conscious that I now had an examiner sat next to me, and if anything I was OVERanalysing my driving. And the other situation was each time I saw the examiner put pen to paper out the corner of my eye. Here is some advice that I feel is worth something… It is easy, if you make a mistake (and in my case catch the examiner marking you for it), to think the worst and assume you have then failed. My advice would be to ignore this, try not to make the same mistake again, and concentrate, and ENJOY your driving. After 45 minutes or so, in my eyes my examiner had seemed to have spent more time making marks on that test report than looking outside! This is what unnerved me the most I think. But here’s the result… Passed, with 9 driver errors. So sure, I certainly made enough mistakes to keep him busy. But they weren’t SERIOUS, they weren’t DANGEROUS, and the bottom line is, it’s a pass.
I felt as though the training was to a higher level than what was required for the test. But please don’t let that put anybody who reads this off their guard. The test WAS tough, and I can’t remember the last time I had concentrated so hard for an hour.
Quick summary of my faults… I clipped a kerb (turning left of course) into a fairly narrow street, which I saw in the mirror but had no more space to maneuvre to avoid it. Better positioning and lower speed would have avoided this… I rolled back a couple of inches when stopping at the top of a hill because I took my foot off the footbrake too soon before applying the parking brake… I obstructed a ‘keep clear’ road marking, although this wasn’t entirely my fault due to other drivers and unlucky traffic lights… Approaching a junction where I was asked to turn right, I realized at the last minute I wasn’t far enough to the left, so I stuck my left indicator on for two ‘clicks’ while I moved over, then immediately switched it back to a right indication for the turn itself…
All in all that does sound quite damning and maybe I sound like I’m gloating. I’m not. What I’m saying is, DO try to relax for your test. The examiner gives clear instructions, so listen to their instructions, then plan your route.
And here’s something else that worked for me. The ‘if in doubt, don’t pull out’ couldn’t be more true. A couple of times (once when I was about to move out from parked on the left, and another when waiting to enter a roundabout), my brain threw a fizzy and I wasn’t sure whether to go or not, which resulted in me rolling for a second or two, then stopping. In both cases I stopped, applied the parking brake, collected my thoughts, waited, then only went when I was SURE there was nothing to conflict. I wasn’t marked down for either of these occasions, but to take a risk (maybe for fear of being marked for not making progress) would have resulted in either a serious or dangerous driver error. If in doubt, don’t pull out. End of.
Sorry for the lecture! I only joined this forum yesterday, been a long time reader and felt I wanted to give something back, and hopefully help somebody who is going to be taking their test.
Obviously I’m not an instructor or an examiner, so take my words with a large pinch of salt - I am just trying to outline MY OWN experience here and what worked for me.
Cheers
Jack
