Unsuccessful - post here

Mr.Helpful

Hey!

Failed in Finglas this morning....countless grade 2's especially for vechicle control and one 1 grade 3 (dont know why?)

It was one of the most nerve wrecking things I've ever done!!!:(

Oh well....we'll reapply again once my nerves settle down!!

Laters...I need a hot sugary cuppa tay!

Basq

Failed this morning in Sligo.

10 Grade 2's total, no Grade 1 or 3. I only know specifically where I got two of them - 1 for Rules/Check (can't believe I forgot the hand signal a left hand turn to cars behind?! Mind went blank!) and car wasn't properly in second gear when turning into an estate.

What I primarily failed on was 5 Grade 2 faults for observation (3 for moving off, and 2 for changing lane). No clue how, why or where. 2 less there and would have passed!

Didn't think I was ready for it.. but in my mind, it could went a helluva lot worse. My instructor said mirrors were my downfall.

He was right!

tba

The observation thing can be a nightmare, even if you have checked the examiner might not have seen you do it, the trick is to really exaggerate your glance, (girls tie the hair back in a ponytail for added swish).

next time.

Mr.Helpful wrote: »

Hey!

Failed in Finglas this morning....countless grade 2's especially for vechicle control and one 1 grade 3 (dont know why?)!

Grade 3 on vehicle control is usually when the vehicle is not in your control, ie coasting, rollback, etc...

Basq

tba wrote: »

The observation thing can be a nightmare, even if you have checked the examiner might not have seen you do it, the trick is to really exaggerate your glance, (girls tie the hair back in a ponytail for added swish).

Funnily enough, Xiney just gave me the exact same advice!

Hair not long enough for ponytail however..

mark renton

do they have cars in Sligo??

Basq

john47832 wrote: »

do they have cars in Sligo??

"High-larious".. seriously... brilliant!

zynaps

basquille wrote: »

Funnily enough, Xiney just gave me the exact same advice!

Hair not long enough for ponytail however..

Ponytail wig? Or one of those "Crocodile Dundee" hats with corks that swing dramatically at the slightest tilt of your head

Basq

zynaps wrote: »

Ponytail wig? Or one of those "Crocodile Dundee" hats with corks that swing dramatically at the slightest tilt of your head

She said to wear a baseball cap. But when in Rome:

zynaps

basquille wrote: »

She said to wear a baseball cap. But when in Rome:

Perfect! And then, anytime you see the tester going to mark something on the sheet (which, of course, will not happen next time), you can just blurt out "That's not a knife..." and watch them suddenly hesitate

greenie

zynaps wrote: »

Perfect! And then, anytime you see the tester going to mark something on the sheet (which, of course, will not happen next time), you can just blurt out "That's not a knife..." and watch them suddenly hesitate

Oh God this really made me laugh!! You're funny zynaps..:D

jnetron

Failed this morning in Rathgar, messed up my gears which i hadn't in pre-test. and hesistant in progress turning right. which was a shocker. obs and mirrors were perfect tho so not all lost. have reapplied, but i'm still really disappointed

SpaceBlaze

Just after booking my driving test, it'll be my third. Pretty nervous as last one was a horrible experience. 1st test in Galway city wasn't too bad, failed on observation 12 marks ( wear glasses and don't bop my head enough to be obvious) so I booked my next one in tralee, nearer to home. Went for a lesson just before my test to work out kinks and get advice. Driving tester seemed nice, did my 3 point turn perfectly and was feeling pretty confident until it came to the left hand reverse. Followin the advice of my instructor I stopped reversing when cars approached from behind. Did not go down well with the tester, he started giving out to me and refused to let me finish it. All down hill from there, continued to give out to me throughout the test. By the end I was such a nervous wreak my legs were shaking and I stalled. By the time we finally reached the test centre I was near to tears (and I'm not a sensitive soul). He ended up giving me 22 grade twos, not a single grade one. So you can understand my fear, I've been putting it off now for 5 months. Wondering should I have complained him or has this happened to anyone else? Hope Killarney people are nicer:)

Midnight_EG

Do we have grounds for abuse there?

You should have complained (Y)

greenie

Hi Space,
What an awful experience...you should have reported him. For sure you are supposed to stop when a car is approaching from behind, I can't believe he expected you to carry on reversing. Any other tester would have marked you harshly for not stopping.
I would definitely try to put the experience out of your head before the next test & good luck:)

zynaps

SpaceBlaze wrote: »

Followin the advice of my instructor I stopped reversing when cars approached from behind. Did not go down well with the tester, he started giving out to me and refused to let me finish it.

I'd definitely complain about this. Stopping was the right thing to do! And it's quite strange for a tester to explicitly complain about anything - they usually don't make any comment on specific things that happened during the test (presumably covering themselves from valid criticism, either way it's absolutely useless to learner drivers and should be changed ASAP IMO).
You can stop reversing at any time, for any reason, such as simply to make better observations - a lot of instructors and books recommend you stop completely at one or two points during the reverse and look all around you, over your right shoulder, right mirror all the way anti-clockwise to the rear window.

If he complained about you stopping during the reverse, especially when you saw cars approaching from behind, then that should render the whole test invalid. I'd say contact the RSA as soon as you can and if it was the case, tell them the tester specifically complained that you stopped reversing when approached from behind by other vehicles, and wouldn't let you continue. Clearly wrong and inappropriate behaviour by the tester.

tba

That is such bad advice on the part of the tester. During my test I stopped for a good minute while reversing around the corner and I got no marks for failure to progress.

A complaint will not get you much but, just so you know don't be afraid to observe in the reverse.

zynaps

tba wrote: »

A complaint will not get you much but, just so you know don't be afraid to observe in the reverse.

Well, it'll get a free test worth €75, next time!

SpaceBlaze

Well its too late now as the test happened 5 months ago. To be honest I didn't complain at the time as I kept thinking that maybe I was in the wrong, that I am a terrible driver and I was just blowing the whole thing out of proportion but on reflection I don't think he was right in what he did, don't think he really should have been talking to me at all, never mind criticizing me. So thats why now I have opted to go to a different test centre this time, though worried that the whole experience has ruined any confidence I had in relation to taking the test. I just wanted to get my story out there in case it has happened to anyone else and they weren't sure whether to complain.

zynaps

SpaceBlaze wrote: »

So thats why now I have opted to go to a different test centre this time, though worried that the whole experience has ruined any confidence I had in relation to taking the test. I just wanted to get my story out there in case it has happened to anyone else and they weren't sure whether to complain.

Then, if I can offer one piece of advice, it'd be to put this entirely out of your mind and play it super cool for the next test. The places I lost most marks in over my two tests were bits where I remember panicking a bit (e.g. flinging the steering wheel around on my old no-power-steering car during the turnabout - even though I executed it correctly and did good observations, I got a grade 2 each for execution and observation - but I got no faults doing it calmly in a power-steering car the first time).
So try to be absolutely calm and relaxed, faking it if need be (especially if you get another bad tester, but that's not likely). Not only does it make you look more competent, it probably makes you more competent!

thomashood10

Does anyone else find it shocking that most test centers have an around 50% ratio of fails to passes?

Seems a bit convenient to me that they're ALL roughly around that mark. Considering the amount of people that take professional lessons, and yet there's not one center that has 80% or even 70%.

I'd like to see the amount of people each center gets on a yearly basis.

I was going to book my test, I've been driving for a year now. Looking at these forums though it all seems like a bunch of <snip> to me.

75 euro for a 50/50 chance of passing, based on whether someone thinks your eyes are moving or not. I wouldn't mind if it was free (which it ought to be), but 75 quid just for someone to tell you "try harder", your <snip> havin a laugh.

zynaps

thomashood10 wrote: »

75 euro for a 50/50 chance of passing, based on whether someone thinks your eyes are moving or not. I wouldn't mind if it was free (which it ought to be), but 75 quid just for someone to tell you "try harder", your ****in havin a laugh.

Yeah, and the fact that they refuse to give you any feedback other than the marks on the sheet just takes the biscuit.

Alanstrainor

thomashood10 wrote: »

Does anyone else find it shocking that most test centers have an around 50% ratio of fails to passes?

Seems a bit convenient to me that they're ALL roughly around that mark. Considering the amount of people that take professional lessons, and yet there's not one center that has 80% or even 70%.

I'd like to see the amount of people each center gets on a yearly basis.

I was going to book my test, I've been driving for a year now. Looking at these forums though it all seems like a bunch of <SNIP>to me.

75 euro for a 50/50 chance of passing, based on whether someone thinks your eyes are moving or not. I wouldn't mind if it was free (which it ought to be), but 75 quid just for someone to tell you "try harder", your <snip> havin a laugh.

I would appreciate it if you would keep the fowl language to yourself, it doesn't help your argument and it's against the charter.

It's similar in the UK with a 43% pass rate. Some test centres in Ireland have quite high pass rates up in the 60's. Tbh, i would think there was something very wrong if a test centre had an 80% pass rate.
Don't go in thinking it's a game of chance, it's about your abilities, not what someone else feels on the day. The Irish driving test system is far far from perfect, so don't think i'm defending them, it's just that generally, when people fail they look for someone to blame rather than themselves. It's very easy to blame someone else, however it's hard to blame yourself.
Book the test asap, no point putting it off imo.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

spurious

I'd say the pass rate reflects what is going on on the road. In fact, I'd bet money if they randomly tested a hundred people currently driving on 'full' licences the pass rate wouldn't be a lot better.

thomashood10

I was just basically trying to say it seems shocking that so many people fail with all the stuff out there thats trying to help you pass.

Anyway yeh I booked the test.

What are you talking about, I'm a taxpayer and I'm here paying for my driving test. I'm paying taxes that go towards these centers.

We pay taxes on the cars, roads, driving on certain roads, the insurance.
If the government can hand out training courses like FAS for free (and on that note the dole), why can't they hand out free tests ey? Same bloody thing only we're going to pay for all the training and equipment.

cc

maybe they should increase the cost of a test, to say, €250. Would focus the mind and stop people just turning up with to do a test with only a couple of lessons done and expecting to pass.

zynaps

cc wrote: »

maybe they should increase the cost of a test, to say, €250. Would focus the mind and stop people just turning up with to do a test with only a couple of lessons done and expecting to pass.

And what about the people with lots of lessons who have failed three or more times? I know a guy who's been driving longer than me and failed his last test under very dubious circumstances - I don't think he should have to pay €1000 for four tests, unless they improve the consistency of the testing system so that nobody ends up feeling cheated or like their test result came from the roll of a die.

Oh and "focus the mind", you mean make a nervous learner driver even more nervous? That doesn't sound at all helpful.

greenie

cc wrote: »

maybe they should increase the cost of a test, to say, €250. Would focus the mind and stop people just turning up with to do a test with only a couple of lessons done and expecting to pass.

I don't think there are many people who take it too lightly to be honest. I think it's probably the experienced drivers, those who have been driving for years, who take a couple of lessons and expect to pass. A large percentage of learners waiting for their tests spend lots of money on lessons & pretests, lots of time studying, re-reading the rotr book, getting familiar with all technical aspects of the car aswell as the different routes and let's not forget the nerves and stress.
After going through all this and then failing for things like over observing, lack of progress in an estate (or simple things that are usually done by everyone on a daily basis ).. it's bound to annoy people. They have a right to question why they failed without people presuming they expected to pass without really trying.
It's easy to say 'Focus your mind'! Nerves will always win and I doubt raising the price will help you focus!

cc

greenie wrote: »

I don't think there are many people who take it too lightly to be honest. I think it's probably the experienced drivers, those who have been driving for years, who take a couple of lessons and expect to pass. A large percentage of learners waiting for their tests spend lots of money on lessons & pretests, lots of time studying, re-reading the rotr book, getting familiar with all technical aspects of the car aswell as the different routes and let's not forget the nerves and stress.
After going through all this and then failing for things like over observing, lack of progress in an estate (or simple things that are usually done by everyone on a daily basis ).. it's bound to annoy people. They have a right to question why they failed without people presuming they expected to pass without really trying.
It's easy to say 'Focus your mind'! Nerves will always win and I doubt raising the price will help you focus!

I take your points and don't disagree with them, i'm just trying to offer another perspective. But i've had a few friends fail there tests first time around and saying "oh i failed cos i didn't check my mirrors etc". It may seem harsh but the candidate may not have even realized they made other mistakes and are just concentrating on what they deem was unfair or trivial. I failed my test first time around put it was due to a number cumilative mistakes i made. Driving is also expensive! Yes tests and lessons are expensive, but add up a couple of months car tax, insurance, car payments, fuel and it'll add up to a lot more!

greenie

cc wrote: »

I take your points and don't disagree with them, i'm just trying to offer another perspective. But i've had a few friends fail there tests first time around and saying "oh i failed cos i didn't check my mirrors etc". It may seem harsh but the candidate may not have even realized they made other mistakes and are just concentrating on what they deem was unfair or trivial. I failed my test first time around put it was due to a number cumilative mistakes i made. Driving is also expensive! Yes tests and lessons are expensive, but add up a couple of months car tax, insurance, car payments, fuel and it'll add up to a lot more!

Lol add up test, lessons & more lessons plus car tax, insurance, fuel etc!!!
I do agree some people try to trivialise (is that how it's spelled!) their mistakes but there are others who yes, make mistakes but not, in my opinion worthy of a fail.
Too many people are failing with 10 or 11 grade 2's...simple mistakes usually down to nerves. In my opinion not checking mirrors should be marked but what I find ridiculous is being marked for being cautious like driving slowly when there are kids, dogs and pedestrians about. Or position on the straight, which every experienced driver that I've seen is doing wrong. And marks for too much observation??? Seriously?
For me, a fail means you are a hazard on the roads and you have no proper knowedge of the rules of the road. It shouldn't depend on which tester you get on the day or be because of some simple nervous mistakes that any experienced driver can make in the same situation.:rolleyes: