Practical Training.
Right after you pass your Theory Test, make sure to book a schedule for your practical lessons. This runs for 40 days (1 hour each day). They will book 36 days first and leave the 4 days reserved as refresher classes if ever you failed your first Road Test attempt (not sure if this applies to all schools). You can also choose your preferred nationality of the instructor (Filipino, Indian, Nigerian, Arabic-speaking etc.).
This is the part where you hit the road with your instructor. My instructor from Al Khebra was great and you can really feel that you’re in good hands but he was really strict with my driving which is good I guess haha.
Parking Classes.
This runs for 10 days (30 mins each day). You have to take this simultaneously with your practical training. You get a different instructor with your parking training too. It’s cool how they will teach you loads of tips and unique tricks to ace your L&P parking test. Although, you will practice on designated parking areas that are for lessons only. You won’t get to practice in the actual parking test spot.
Parking Test.
The two parking tests you have to pass is the L parking and the Parallel parking. I find the Parallel parking easier than L, which is contrary to most. The test schedule that was given to me was on a Sunday afternoon, a week after my last parking class, and it was still hot outside. I remember sweating as I waited for my turn. The aim of the test is obviously parking the car properly without touching the markings and poles with very sensitive sensors. Thank God I passed this on the first attempt. My number one tip for this is to try not to get nervous. While waiting for your turn, you can easily get tensed and anxious when you hear the beeps that signal when a student fails the test. Try your best to calm yourself and carefully look and analyze how the people are doing it with the actual parking.
Road Test.
Welcome to the most stressful part. Hahaha! You’re given 2 attempts for your road test. If you fail both, you have to enroll all over again (either half/full) or apply for a direct test that must be approved by the Traffic Police Department. According to instructors, previous students and anyone who took the exam – the road test usually goes for only 3-4 minutes. Sometimes less, sometimes a bit more. So let me tell you how mine went, haha! From an early Monday morning, I took my first road test. I arrived at the school around 5:30 am and waited hours. By 10:00 am, they finally called my name and instructed me to go to my assigned car. During road tests, there are supposed to be 3 students in the car and the police officer. But because I’m already part of the last batch of the day, we were just 2. I got into the driver’s seat thinking being the first one must be better. I drove.
Everything seemed to be okay until the police officer (which I later found out he was actually a captain.. haha) said to me.. “yallah! yallah go, go..” and I lowkey got confused because 1. we were in the residential area and 2. my speed is already 50. I then saw an upcoming speed hump approaching, I reduced my speed for it and he kept on saying (in Arabic) to go faster and don’t slow down. By this bit, I was very confused as I recall in my head what my instructor clearly said: “never go beyond 50 in residential areas and make the police officer feel that you’re slowing down on speed humps.” Also by this time, I somehow knew and accepted that I’m about to fail. My road test took around 15 minutes and whenever I tell students on the same batch, they’re shocked at how long my test took while they only had theirs for less than 5 minutes. As soon as we’re back to the school, we went back to the cabin to wait for the results. A guy in a suit came inside and started announcing names along with saying if you failed or passed. “Sharice Tan.. failed” Hahaha. I failed my first attempt but because I already expected it after my test, I didn’t get too upset about it. However, I got really stressed and worried about having the need to really pass my 2nd attempt. I have no choice but to pass it. Otherwise, another payment has to be done and that’s no thank you for me.
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