Passing your driving test is an exciting time, however it is also pretty nerve-wracking! Don’t worry, it does not have to be… here are our top tips to keep you feeling cool as a cucumber and ready to ace your driving test.
Practice – feeling over prepared is better than feeling under prepared and will help keep the pressure off when you start your test. The more at home you are behind the wheel, the more comfortable and confident you will feel come test day.
Try to keep calm – try your best to stay relaxed, and do not put too much pressure on yourself! Passing first time is great, but being a safe driver is more important – so if you fail the first time, do not worry. Get a bit more practice in to get you feeling confident and you will be ready to go again in no time. You can listen to some music right before your test to help calm you if that will help.
Prepare – make sure you get a good night’s sleep and eat something light just before your test (fun fact: bananas have natural B vitamins and tryptophan, which gets converted into serotonin to help keep you in a good mood and feeling positive ahead of your test!).
Remind yourself of the most common driving faults – you will probably feel like you have most of these covered in your lessons, but it never hurts to double check! Remind yourself of the key things that people usually do that could cost you your driving test success:
- Failing to check your mirrors before reversing.
- Not checking your mirrors when moving off.
- Failing to signal.
- Stalling due to poor clutch control.
- Failing to stick to the speed limit.
- Not reacting to what is going on around you.
Drive the test routes in your lessons – ask your instructor if you can get familiar with the driving test routes that you may use on the day. This will help take the pressure off as you will already be familiar with your surroundings.