Driving Test Preparation.


Driving Test Preparation: preparing yourself.

driving lessons Glasgow North

Driving test preparation involves fine-tuning your driving during your lessons to ensure that it is of the required level to take the test.

There are a number of ways that you can prepare yourself for your driving test:


  • Keep taking your driving lessons consistently and regularly as this is the most effective way to improve driving skills.
    •

  • Read up on the theory of driving, and think about it, in relation to your own driving, when you're out on your lessons.
    •

  • Get extra practice with friends/relatives (so long as they're over 21 years of age, and have been licensed to drive for more than 3 years), and drive as your instructor has advised. It's your A.D.I. who can best advise you as to what the driving examiner expects from your driving at the test, not your friends/relatives.
    •

  • Focus when taking your driving lessons.
    •

  • Ask questions at your lessons if there is anything that you're unsure about.
    •

  • Ask your instructor to go over routes or manoeuvres that you're less than confident about.
    •

  • Listen to your instructor and take any advice on board - he/she knows the format and pressures of the test.
    •

  • Make sure, before the day of the test, that you've gone over, and feel comfortable and confident about, the 'Show me, Tell me' questions. (See next section).
    •



    Driving Test Preparation: Mock tests.

    learning to drive Muirhead

    Your instructor will already, more than likely, have done at least one mock test with you prior to you sitting your practical test. The mock test is a significant part of driving test preparation.

    Your instructor will not give you guidance, or prompts, along the driving route, but acts the part of the examiner by giving direction and explanation only. In this way, the mock test prepares you, to a degree, for the driving test situation, and it gives you an indication of how the driving examiner will behave on the test.


    We have constucted a full page on 'Mock Tests' that has some useful information to help put you in the picture about what mock tests are, what they're for, and how they can be of benefit to you. They're an important part of driving test preparation and will usually be included in a course of driving lessons by most Approved Driving Instructors. Here, at Antonine, we always include them at an appropriate stage in a course of lessons, and use them as a specific component of our learners' driving test preparation.

    For a more detailed description of what the mock test involves, please have a look at our expanded section on Mock Tests .


    Driving Test Preparation: The night, and morning, before the test.

    There are a number of ways that you can take your own driving test preparation into your own hands on the night before you sit your driving test, and on the dreaded (!) morning of the test. Have a read at the list, and select what's good for you from it.

  • Do something during the evening that really takes your mind off things and relaxes you. That might be going to see a comedy show at the theatre; going out for a meal with friends who make you feel good about yourself; going to a karaoke with your mates; having a tennis or squash match with a few friends. Doing something that's interactive is more likely to take your mind off things and boost your confidence in yourself. Going to the cinema isn't really the best idea, because you're all in your own head and it's too easy to think about what you're trying to get away from, unless it's a movie you've really been looking forward to seeing.
    •

  • It's best to avoid alcohol altogether. It's easy to say "I'll only have two". But when there's even a tiny amount of stress it's too easy to feel good with two - and then that two becomes three - and then it's "just one more"! It's best to avoid it altogether. It'd be awful for the test to be cancelled because you're still over the limit.
    •

  • At the end of the evening, maybe watch something on TV that's really distracting. Something that makes you forget about your own situation for a bit, like a comedy, or maybe something really interesting about the natural world from David Attenborough. Whatever makes you feel good and helps to put real life on the back burner for a while.
    •

  • Spend your time with someone who makes you feel good about yourself and who helps you to relax just being with them. A kiss and a cuddle does no harm either, if you have a special someone to kiss and cuddle with. (It's not the same if you just grab someone off the street, and unfortunately, it's a bit difficult on your own!!)
    •

  • Have a bath the night before your test with a bath product that contains essential oils or a shower product that has a high essential oil content. Another option is to smooth some essential oil based massage oil into your skin before you go to sleep. But, for both options, choose an essential oil that has relaxing properties (e.g. Lavender).

  • Put a few spots of Lavender essential oil on the four corners of your pillow before you go to sleep - it's been proven to aid in relaxing sleep.
    •

  • On the morning of the test, shower or bath with a product that contains an uplifing essential oil e.g. Ylang Ylang or Lemongrass - for a positive mood; Bergamot (manly scent) or Jasmine (girly scent) - which inspire self-confidence; Ginger - for concentration. Alternatively, you could dab a product that contains one of the above essential oils on your wrists, at the pulse points, and have a sniff every now and then over the course of the morning to get that 'lift'.

  • Wear clothes that you normally wear during your lessons, both for comfort and to cheat your mind into thinking it's just a driving lesson.
    •

  • Wear the same shoes for your driving test as you've usually worn for your lessons.
    •

  • If your hair often falls forward into your face during your lessons then clip it back, either with a hairband, clasps or slides, or by tying it back. (Maybe best to tie it back if you're a bloke - guys don't look macho in Alice bands, no matter what David Beckham tried to make us believe!)
    •

  • Eat a breakfast - it's been proven that food for the brain results in better performance, so make sure you eat.
    •

  • Be ready in plenty of time - one of the worst things you can do on the morning of your test is to be in a mad rush. It stresses you out so, so much.
    •

  • Be positive - your instructor's putting you up for test and leaving his/her badge in the window because you're ready for test and, in his/her opinion, you can drive to a safe standard, consistently enough to pass your driving test. He/she has faith in you, so believe in yourself.
    •


    We hope this page was of help to you with your driving test preparation, and that you've found a few of these tips beneficial.

    Or, if this page has interested you in booking driving lessons with Antonine, please do not hesitate to contact us .



    Next Page - Show Me Tell Me


    Return from Driving Test Preparation page to the Driving Test page

    Return to the Home Page

    Antonine Driving School , for a DSA Approved Driving Instructor.

    Please click on the DSA logo below to see the DSA's advice on 'choosing a driving instructor'.

    choosing a driving instructor

    Share this page:
    Enjoy this page? Why not add it to your webpage! Here's how....

    Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

    1. Click on the HTML link code below.
    2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
    © 2009-2024 Antonine Driving School. Mobile: 07825 619 664 Last updated March 2024