Driving Test

I had my Class 3A driving test (as a private candidate) yesterday at the Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC).

It was my first attempt and I started to get nervous when I was in the waiting room. About 10 others were having the test at the same time as I was. A tester drew lots for our testing routes and testers. We then studied the route on the maps that was pasted on the walls. The atmosphere was tensed!

I might have practised my testing route before during my lessons, but I could recognized nor could not recall when I saw it on the map. I started feeling panicky when one by one, we were called to go down to the circuit route to start on the test.

My tester was a middle-aged man who looks rather strict and stern. After he got into the car, he said plainly, “You may start when you are ready.” I took a deep breath and off I went!

Everything seemed to be going fine until he said, “Turn right and go up the ramp.” My mind must have been a blank, because it only registered the words “go up”, and so I turned right, and went up the……slope!

I realized my mistake only when I was halfway up the slope. “I am sorry, I made a mistake!” I was flustered. He replied straightforwardly, “Okie, if you want to do the slope, go ahead. Had you turned into the other lane (where cars move down the slope), I would have failed you immediately.”

My heart jumped a beat. I could not tell if he was mad or if my mistake was not too disastrous, but I kept my composure, and thank goodness, the rest of the circuit was a bliss.

As we went out to the roads, he said, “Turn right”. I must have been too jumpy, because when he said that, I actually signaled “left”! Not realizing my mistake, I was about to go left when the tester repeated “right”. I then quickly uttered, “Sorry” and changed my signal. Whew!

My test route seemed rather short, because in a while I was back at BBDC. Time to hear my “verdict”!

The tester brought me back to the waiting room. He pointed out my mistake of turning up the slope when he mentioned the ramp. He said I was not decisive when I changed lane and he gave me 4 demerit points for changing lanes too abruptly. I wanted to argue that I did not change lanes “decisively” as I was nearing bends and it was not appropriate to do so, but I kept quiet for fear that I would incur more demerit points for that.

He mentioned some other mistakes: I was too slow in making turns that resulted in certain cars having to slow down. And he gave me 8 demerit points for that.

With my heart thumping, I clasped my hands together and waited.

The moment has come.

My tester signed the assessment form and said plainly, “You passed.”

I made it! It was such a nerve-wrecking experience, and I am so glad I made it through!

After five months learning on “L” plate behind the wheel, I am now a qualified driver (on probation, that is)!