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Was at 11am.
Last time my test was on a saturday morning so was fairly quiet and the tester didn't take me on busy roads.
This time it looked like the guy was picking out the busiest and trickiest possible routes to take me out on. Road works everywhere, weird roundabouts and junctions and all.
And all the faults he gave me were for absolutely pedantic little things.
I got 1 grade 2 for observation while doing the turnabout. It was a small empty corner of a street with no one around and I looked around around the car before making every mode.
I got 3 grade 2's for progress at traffic lights. Ok, I was maybe 2secs too slow (not slow enough to cause any annoyance to anyone), like maybe I took about 3 secs to completely pull off from the lights. This is because my car has a very light clutch and so I need to pull out gently. If not I either end up stalling the car or revving it high and the car shoots out. But like, maybe it could be justified if I was falling asleep at the lights and taking 5-6secs to pull off but I didn't. No one ever beeped at me for being too slow. No one ever does because yes, I may not be as fast as everyone else but you still couldn't call it slow.
Got a couple more grade 2's for gears. A couple of grade 2's for reaction towards hazards, there were roads works everywhere, people jumping in from every direction, I looked out for everything, slowed down when needed to and didn't hit or cause disruption to anything, what more was I supposed to do...
Got a few grade 2's for observation and positioning while turning left, again I barely had time in those fast corners to get things right and I don't remember a single incident where I forgot to check the appropriate mirror or look in the right direction while making turns. I did everything by the book. Still it wasn't good enough.
And I got a few more grade 2's for stupid crap like that. It was absolutely disappointing. Considering that now I know how to drive well. I've driven on all kinds of roads in the past month at all kinds of speeds in all kinds of traffic and haven't had a single incident. I've improved significantly since I got my own car and I'm much more confident at the wheel.
I know people who are much worse drivers than me and they all managed to pass their test 1st or 2nd time. Especially some of the girls I know who aren't great drivers have passed their test with no problems. I feel the testers are partial towards female drivers. How is it that most girls I know who aren't great drivers pass their test without any problems while most guys I know who're much more confident and better drivers end up failing their test for pedantic things like observation, position, progress and such.
Sorry if I'm ranting. I'm just in a very bad mood after that.
Hopefully I should be better tomorrow after a good night's sleep!
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I disagree with the comments about male testers being more likely to pass girls, based on my own experiences and those of people I know. I failed my first two tests, with male testers, and passed my third, with a female tester!af_thefragile wrote: »Was at 11am.
Last time my test was on a saturday morning so was fairly quiet and the tester didn't take me on busy roads.
This time it looked like the guy was picking out the busiest and trickiest possible routes to take me out on. Road works everywhere, weird roundabouts and junctions and all.
And all the faults he gave me were for absolutely pedantic little things.
I got 1 grade 2 for observation while doing the turnabout. It was a small empty corner of a street with no one around and I looked around around the car before making every mode.
I got 3 grade 2's for progress at traffic lights. Ok, I was maybe 2secs too slow (not slow enough to cause any annoyance to anyone), like maybe I took about 3 secs to completely pull off from the lights. This is because my car has a very light clutch and so I need to pull out gently. If not I either end up stalling the car or revving it high and the car shoots out. But like, maybe it could be justified if I was falling asleep at the lights and taking 5-6secs to pull off but I didn't. No one ever beeped at me for being too slow. No one ever does because yes, I may not be as fast as everyone else but you still couldn't call it slow.
Got a couple more grade 2's for gears. A couple of grade 2's for reaction towards hazards, there were roads works everywhere, people jumping in from every direction, I looked out for everything, slowed down when needed to and didn't hit or cause disruption to anything, what more was I supposed to do...
Got a few grade 2's for observation and positioning while turning left, again I barely had time in those fast corners to get things right and I don't remember a single incident where I forgot to check the appropriate mirror or look in the right direction while making turns. I did everything by the book. Still it wasn't good enough.
And I got a few more grade 2's for stupid crap like that. It was absolutely disappointing. Considering that now I know how to drive well. I've driven on all kinds of roads in the past month at all kinds of speeds in all kinds of traffic and haven't had a single incident. I've improved significantly since I got my own car and I'm much more confident at the wheel.
I know people who are much worse drivers than me and they all managed to pass their test 1st or 2nd time. Especially some of the girls I know who aren't great drivers have passed their test with no problems. I feel the testers are partial towards female drivers. How is it that most girls I know who aren't great drivers pass their test without any problems while most guys I know who're much more confident and better drivers end up failing their test for pedantic things like observation, position, progress and such.
Sorry if I'm ranting. I'm just in a very bad mood after that.
Hopefully I should be better tomorrow after a good night's sleep!
How are you feeling about it now? I know how frustrating it is. But it doesn't matter how many times you've sat the test, it's nobody's business but yours anyway. And you will get it soon. Hopefully next time you'll have a different tester and you'll pass.
Just a comment - I wouldn't call observation etc. pedantic things to be marked on - remember your close shave before because you didn't see a car in your blind spot? Maybe it's because these guys you know are overconfident that they're lax with these basics and aren't driving safely enough.
I hope you've applied again, and wish you the best of luck with your next (and hopefully last!) test.0 -
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About #1, completely taking your foot off the accelerator when changing gears is similar to keeping your foot down - when you upshift you need to drop the engine speed a bit, and increase the engine speed a bit when you downshift... otherwise you'll get that jerky moment when releasing the clutch resolves the imbalance between transmission and engine RPM. However, the engine speed will of course shoot up if you hold your foot as-is when pressing the clutch, since it's suddenly freewheeling... so most people (including me) just ease off the throttle like you do, but not so far as to lift your foot right off it.Regarding #2, let's say I am approaching a junction where I know I am going to have to stop. As I approach the junction I'll be breaking, and then just before the junction instead of stopping in say 3rd gear, changing into 1st gear and then moving off, I'll move down to 1st gear just before the stop (I'll already be about about 5 kph) so I am ready to go as soon as it's safe. This is what my instructor and his schools DVD said I should do.
You probably compensate by releasing the clutch slowly and smoothly, so it's not a big deal.
#2 is odd, but seems slightly related to engine braking, which some instructors seem indifferent about and some recommend you don't do - mine used the adage "gears to go, brakes to slow". More specifically relating to your case, he asked me to slow down and stop in third because it's good to have both hands on the wheel, staying in control of the car.
It seems somewhat arbitrary and a personal choice thing - surely taking one hand off the wheel at 5kph (and slowing) to change gears is less significant than taking one hand off the wheel at 50kph (which we do all the time) - if it's considered dangerous or indicative of a lack of control at very low speeds, then obviously it's even more so at cruising speeds.
Soon after I passed the test, I got an automatic anyway and have both hands on the wheel all the time now (which is, I must say, superb fun
), but before that I got used to stopping in 3rd, then switching to first when ready... it felt more controlled and relaxed.
Did you actually get grade 2 faults for those things (and how many)? They both seem like flimsy reasons to fail someone.0 -
About #1, completely taking your foot off the accelerator when changing gears is similar to keeping your foot down - when you upshift you need to drop the engine speed a bit, and increase the engine speed a bit when you downshift... otherwise you'll get that jerky moment when releasing the clutch resolves the imbalance between transmission and engine RPM. However, the engine speed will of course shoot up if you hold your foot as-is when pressing the clutch, since it's suddenly freewheeling... so most people (including me) just ease off the throttle like you do, but not so far as to lift your foot right off it.
You probably compensate by releasing the clutch slowly and smoothly, so it's not a big deal.
#2 is odd, but seems slightly related to engine braking, which some instructors seem indifferent about and some recommend you don't do - mine used the adage "gears to go, brakes to slow". More specifically relating to your case, he asked me to slow down and stop in third because it's good to have both hands on the wheel, staying in control of the car.
It seems somewhat arbitrary and a personal choice thing - surely taking one hand off the wheel at 5kph (and slowing) to change gears is less significant than taking one hand off the wheel at 50kph (which we do all the time) - if it's considered dangerous or indicative of a lack of control at very low speeds, then obviously it's even more so at cruising speeds.
Soon after I passed the test, I got an automatic anyway and have both hands on the wheel all the time now (which is, I must say, superb fun), but before that I got used to stopping in 3rd, then switching to first when ready... it felt more controlled and relaxed.
Did you actually get grade 2 faults for those things (and how many)? They both seem like flimsy reasons to fail someone.
Thanks for the reply.
He gave me 12 grade 2 faults for these two issues, so I failed the test. I would have passed if he didn't do this.
Regarding your two replies:
#1: so are you saying when I am going from say 2nd to 3rd gear, I should keep my foot on the accelerator?! Won't that just make the engine go WHEEEE! If so, keep it where it was in 2nd, or release it a bit but not all the way...?
#2: yeah, I can understand why you might stop in say 3rd, then change to 1st, but it just seems quicker to already be in 1st and ready to go...
But honestly, I think he was going to fail me no matter what. He seemed mighty pissed off with life.0 -
That's pretty disturbing and maybe worth chasing up with the RSA.He gave me 12 grade 2 faults for these two issues, so I failed the test. I would have passed if he didn't do this.
No, I mean set the throttle so the engine speed will (roughly) match the input to the gearbox, which will suddenly change when you shift gears.#1: so are you saying when I am going from say 2nd to 3rd gear, I should keep my foot on the accelerator?! Won't that just make the engine go WHEEEE! If so, keep it where it was in 2nd, or release it a bit but not all the way...?
Note that I'm not an expert at any of this, but it seems logical... so take it with a grain of salt!
At higher gears, the wheels are turning faster without the engine speed increasing (think of going up gears on a bicycle - you have to push harder, rather than faster).
When you go from 2nd to 3rd, your wheel speed will be fixed (during that short gear change period), but the gearbox side of the clutch will slow down. e.g. If 3rd gear was twice the ratio of 2nd gear (it's not, but easy to visualise), the clutch-to-gearbox shaft would slow down to half its speed when you shift up.
So going from 2nd to 3rd, drop off the throttle a bit. Going down from 3rd to 2nd is the opposite, you would increase the engine speed a little but that will happen automatically since it has less work to do when you press the clutch. Experiment with it until gear shifts feel smooth (i.e. car doesn't jerk faster/slower) without having to declutch slowly.0 -
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Yes I agree, if you change down to 1st while still doing 20kmh you'll get marked for gears, and maybe that's what happened in this case
Definitely not what happened in this case.
I would only ever change down to 1st gear if the car was at a walking pace (or slower than walking pace).
I think he basically just wanted to fail me as he knew I was a new driver. He couldn't get me on anything else (my reversing, turnabout, progression, observation, etc. were fine) so he got me for this.
But honestly I could tell when I met him I was going to fail. He seemed in a very odd mood.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I have considered everything you have said so far.0 -
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Another disturbing tale of arbitrary, inconsistent decisions by testers. :eek: Although I'm somewhat surprised that people have been getting any sort of specific feedback from them (which leaves them open to rightful scrutiny). On both occasions, the testers refused to give me a single bit of advice, telling me simply to present my marking sheet to my driving instructor (even after I passed) who would magically understand (which is hilariously stupid, since all the contextual information on what actually happened on the road is lost).My best friend failed her test last year. She had 5 grade 2's, 4 of them for gears. The tester told her it was because she DIDN'T change down thru the gears when stopping. She got a cancellation 3 weeks later, had the same tester, drove exactly the same as the first test, ie stopped in whatever gear she was in, and passed with no gear faults.
It just makes you wonder sometimes.
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Another disturbing tale of arbitrary, inconsistent decisions by testers. :eek: Although I'm somewhat surprised that people have been getting any sort of specific feedback from them (which leaves them open to rightful scrutiny). On both occasions, the testers refused to give me a single bit of advice, telling me simply to present my marking sheet to my driving instructor (even after I passed) who would magically understand (which is hilariously stupid, since all the contextual information on what actually happened on the road is lost).
All my tester told me was to read the back of the test sheet to figure out where I went wrong and I failed because I got more than 8 grade 2s...
Very helpful...
Shouldn't the testers take into consideration the traffic and road conditions while you're doing the test?
Anyway, about the gears, when I'm stopping at lights, I just press the brake to slow the car down and when the revs drop below 1000rpm, I press in the clutch and bring the car to a stop. Once the car is stopped, I push it into 1st.
This makes sense to me as firstly when you're just bringing your car to a stop in gear, the engine is using almost no fuel, so you're saving there. And secondly you're stopping the car anyway and there is no point going down the gears before you come to a complete stop, you're only giving yourself more work to do.
But then I got like a couple of grade 2s for gears so maybe this is where I'm going wrong!
I use the 1st gear when taking off from a stand still and at some corners which I need to take slowly and 2nd gear struggles at those slow speeds (around 5mph).0 -
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If you believe that this was unfair, the RSA invites people to bring their cases to them. If they side with you, then they will pay for the test...
(feel free to correct me!)
They'd probably waive the re-booking fee alright, but I'm one of those who'd see pursuing it as more hassle than it's worth, for the sake of convenience, just buy new L plates, pay the fee and get a cancellation
...
I'll try get a photo when I've a chance, my own instructor personally would have accepted them, but I guess that's just the inconsistent nature of humans and their interpretation of discretion, not much you can do about that!0 -
They'd probably waive the re-booking fee alright, but I'm one of those who'd see pursuing it as more hassle than it's worth, for the sake of convenience, just buy new L plates, pay the fee and get a cancellation...
I'll try get a photo when I've a chance, my own instructor personally would have accepted them, but I guess that's just the inconsistent nature of humans and their interpretation of discretion, not much you can do about that!
Sorry mate, that must have been a kick in the teeth.0 -
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I'm one of those who would pursue it relentlessly on principle, even though it probably wouldn't be worth the price of the phone calls/wasted timeThey'd probably waive the re-booking fee alright, but I'm one of those who'd see pursuing it as more hassle than it's worth, for the sake of convenience, just buy new L plates, pay the fee and get a cancellation... 0
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