#1493
Today I'm going to share bout` how to get driving license, their pros and cons, the progress, the know hows, basically everything you'll want to know before signing up.
Once you reach 18, the first thing you may want to do is, get a driving license, yet the following questions keep make you frustrated.
1. What's the difference between School & Private?
In school, you learn this thing called circuit first, familiarize with;
a. how to park, parallel etc.
b. going slopes
c. all those crank courses
d. narrow courses
after when the instructor feels you're ready, then you'll head out to the real road going to specific test routes
Pros: more confident in circuit
Cons: more expensive, may not get the same instructor*
*In school, you do not always get the same instructor unless you request for it which will be more expensive I believe. So your instructor may not always know your progress etc if they are different people.
-Why is it more expensive to learn in School?
Because, you when you first register for school, you have to pay around $90+ for the theory books (basic & final theory), for theory lessons (you've to attend them regardless), registration fee etc. sit for test before your actual ones and able to know where you went wrong etc.
And one lesson for practical is around $70+, price differs between auto & manual, peak & non-peak.
In Private, you learn the basic components of a car like pedals etc and you get to go to the real road on your first day of lesson and subsequently going to different test routes. Where later, your instructor will see your progress and bring you to public car park and practice various parking and get to enter circuit maybe 1-3 times.
Pros: You always get the same instructor, same car, so you build a relationship with the same instructor, knowing your progress and all. & of course way cheaper.
Cons: may not be confident in circuit, it's up to each individual.
-Why is it way cheaper to learn in Private?
Because when you first register in the driving school, you do not need to pay for those theory classes and theory books. One practical lesson is around $40, I know it's $45 for auto. After you passes your BTT (Basic theory test) you can start to apply your PDL (bascially a 'license' that allows you to learn driving), and find a private instructor outside.
2. Manual or Auto?
Personally, I think if you're a male, you should learn manual but if you're female auto for you will be sufficient.
There's a great difference between the two;
in manual, there's a extra pedal called clutch and you have to change gear in co-ordination with 3 different clutches. Which is very confusing and not easy when you're trying to change to a different gear.
In auto, you just step on the accelerator and you move the car! Step on brake when you want to stop.
If you think you've good co-ordination skills then feel free to go for manual ones otherwise auto. You can drive both transmission if you learn manual transmission. So why not spend the same amount of money yet able to drive both transmission?
But if you think you cannot cope, go for auto because in this modern day, there's hardly any manual cars left.
3. Basic Theory Test (BTT)
This is the first test you've to go through in this whole learning driving saga.
If you fail, too bad you can't proceed duh!
After you register in school for either private/school courses, you got to create this account and top up money to pay for various test. Register the BTT via online, and normally it takes a while for your test around 5 weeks. If you're lucky then it's within less than a month.
This test test about the traffic regulations, the board signs and etc which is fairly easy to pass and learn. The passing mark for this test is 45 and above, a total of 50 marks. All test are touch screen, so just follow it.
After passing BTT, you can apply for PDL and start learning driving with school or private. This PDL cost $25 for 6 months where in another sense you've to pass your practical test in 6 months otherwise you need to spend another $25. Normally this can be applied at the school and payment by NETS.
4. After Basic Theory Test
Either you can start learning driving after apply PDL and at the same time register & wait for your Final Theory Test (FTT). If you do this, of course you'll take a shorter time to get license. Same for FTT, if you're lucky usually before a month, or worse more than 5 weeks of waiting time before getting test.
5. During the course of learning driving
Either you learn in school or private, base on your progress, depends on how many lesson you'll need first before going for the practical test. Normally it takes around 20 lessons and if you are in school you got to register the practical test yourself online. If you're in private, your instructor will help you with it.
6. Final Theory Test (FTT)
If you do not pass your FTT, you are not allowed to take your practical test and the passing mark is 45 and above. FTT is more about the fines and law imposed in driving, more details in traffic regulations, components of the cars, their functions, scenarios and etc.
7. Practical Test
Not sure how the school policy goes, but in private you'll go for circuit once, and a lesson right before your test. So your instructor will show you where you have to wait and what to do after arriving back to driving centre. Firstly, you got to wait at this room where everyone is also taking the license and be prepared to hear your name form an instructor, go down to the car parking lot and start moving, following the tester's instructions, if you have not been deducted 20 points or get a immediate fail, you'll go out to the road after being test for 8 subjects in circuit. Your test route will be pre-chosen by computer system.
The test routes are fairly simple (at bukit batok & choa chu kang areas), just put in whatever you've learned during your lessons, exercise caution and follow the rules and you'll be fine. The worse situations you will meet with are like road constructions, or sudden red light.
After your test, drive back to the driving centre, and your private instructor will get back the car, for school, I've no idea. Then you follow your tester and go back to the waiting room and wait for your results. It comes with a piece of a4 size paper where it says your particulars and the mistakes you've made. And of course whether you pass or not!
If you pass, you'll be asked to go to the video room to watch two videos. You've to watch them, there's no running from it. I know people have been saying that the video is very disgusting and so on which I do not agree. I am someone who have no guts in watching bloody shows and I couldn't ride a roller coaster, yet those videos are not disgusting for me, so .......... use it as a reference!
The video is just bout` the various consequences you can get for not driving carefully, reckless driving and fines etc. After the video, you can choose to sign up with the school for extra lessons on parking on real scenarios, not sure whether you go on expressway with them or not. No idea whether if it's applicable for private students too, but I did not apply for it and trust me expressway and normal parking is way harder than you've learned.
Otherwise! Proceed to the counter, take a queue number and make your license! If you've forgotten to bring your photos, I believe there's a kiosk where somebody will help you take. No last minute panic! And the license itself cost $50. Your license will then be sent to your address via registered mail after a month, but in the mean time you can still drive so long as you don't loose the paper they gave you after you passed and remember your P-Plate!
******
So right now I'm going to share my personal experience with you.
This whole driving thing took me around 8-9 months because I was kind of unlucky where I had to wait for around 5 weeks for each of my theory test and most importantly I failed my final theory so I took a longer time to pass the whole thing.
I took on private lessons registered at Bukit Batok Driving centre and learned auto class 3a.
I registered back in April 2013, took my BTT in June 2013 and start learning driving via private instructor as soon as I get my PDL and also wait for my FTT. Later, I failed my FTT in august 2013, took my re-test in around early september 2013 and I passed. Then took my practical test in early december 2013 and passed.
As a private student it is kind of hard to study your theory test alone if you've friends who passed ask them if you've any questions. But I will say BTT is quite easy and yes FTT is hard. And also, I'm learning auto therefore I'm not very sure about manual cars, note all theory tests are about manual cars. So it's kind of a disadvantage for auto car learners, so that's definitely why I failed my FTT.
Test results:
BTT: 47/50
FTT: 45/50 or 46/50 I kind of forgot.
Practical: 14
During my practical test, it was quite of a crisis. You'll always have to slow down when you have to turn, so I slowed down too early inside the circuit and my tester thought I was going for a different number.
Later on real roads, I was torn between the decision of whether to overtake the bus or not. Because the road was a little curvy and approaching a traffic light soon, therefore the wise decision is not to overtake, otherwise you'll not have enough time to get back to the lane before the lights. So I decided to stay behind the bus and it stopped at the bus stop, so I have to too, and when the bus moved, just nice the lights went red, so the bus was in this yellow box while I stopped directly in front of the bus stop. And then there's another bus directly behind me, I could not move but to wait for green light, and people cannot alight/board the bus behind me. So I thought I'm going to fail this, and since you can never stop at the bus stop (actually depends). But I didn't get deducted for this, thank god.
I was deducted for not checking mirrors properly and being jerky and also got deducted at the ramp and change of direction.
If you notice, there's a lot of people having the score 18, so if you score below that, it's actually quite good, and is really good.
I've heard of stories where people kept failing at FTT and practical tests. Reason for failing because you're not well prepared or some people just don't understand the theory behind it. Reason for failing practical test mostly happens in manual courses and private students, it all depends on how the instructor teach and how well you can handle the car.
Very common reason for failing in manual cars are because, the car itself stalls and engine stopped, people panic with the clutch and therefore failed. Especially inside the circuit where you've slope, ( if your engine stalls, your car will really move backwards), so it's kind of difficult to handle it and your clutch cannot be depressed too little or too much, must be in the middle and that explains the difficulty.
Private student often fail at theory test because in school you'll be taught with all these theories, however for private cases, you've to learn yourself.
I've heard of more worse cases where people couldn't pass the practical test after 5 tries. I couldn't believe at first but maybe because of clumsiness and co-ordination, panic and etc, yes it can happen.
In the end, driving is more about your capability and your ability to learn the skill, and really not everyone can drive.
Last thing to add, must be very curious as to how much I've spent! For practical lessons and test, it took me for around $1.5k (I'm a private student). As for theory tests and apply PDL and so on, maybe a roughly of additional $50 plus.
Hopefully this sharing of experience helps those who wants to learn driving out there!
No comments:
Post a Comment