How to prepare for and PASS your Driving Test during a Pandemic

1. Keep a positive Mindset , don’t be panicking and especially don’t be listening to your peers giving out and complaining that you are NEVER going to be driving. YOU WILL !

2. If you are insured on the family car at home, then whenever possible , drive to the Local Shop and or Church or Graveyard ; even better do the School run with your Mum or Dad sitting on. If you are studying from home as College lectures are online, then use this as an excuse to get up early in the Morning and get a bit of practice in during the morning rush. You will feel all the better for getting up early and ahead of yourself then for your Online lectures.

3. Practice Parking, in all scenarios ie at the school gates, near the Secondary School if possible. If the School has one of those new One Way systems, then use it. Where are you rushing off to anyway ?

These are great practice for your Clutch control and your concentration, moving off and Stopping. Spacial awareness, anticipation and awareness of other road users and then at the end you can practice your decision making when back out at the Junction onto the main road.

4. If possible after the School run, practice parking in the local Supermarket , SuperValu, Lidl or Aldi. Even if you are not going into the shop, you can wait in the car for your Sponsor to return. NB when parking, always when possible REVERSE park into a parking bay for practice. Taking it slowly, observing all around for Hazards especially children and if necessary , pull forward to correct your position. Don’t worry if you don’t get into the spot you wanted first time round, or if you ended up in the spot beside the parking spot you planned to be in !!!! practice makes perfect !

5. When you get home, reward yourself with a cup of Tea or Coffee and be positive about how you did. Remember constructive criticism marks are to taken on board only, If the drive didn’t go so well, don’t be too hard on yourself. If you stalled the car at the junction opposite the hospital at the Old Laghey Road, use it as a challenge, that you will do better the next time.

Be grateful for how well you reacted to the Stall, did you remember the rhyme ; Handbrake, Neutral, Key ? As long as you didn’t let the car roll back, this would only be marked as a Grade 2 fault on your test.

6. At home in your spare time and also in particular if you are not insured on the family car at home. Study on line. Google tips on passing your driving Test and also look up YouTube videos.

Read up on the Rules of the Road, especially Chapters 6 to 12 and also the Road signs at the back of the book. This is available as a pdf from the RSA, if needed I can send it to you by whatsapp when you book a driving lesson. I will also give you other links to help prepare for the Theory aspect of your Test.

Also check out other websites , any websites nationwide can be used for Theory test revision.

LOOK UP SEVERAL DIFFERENT WEBSITES, ALSO GOOGLE AND USE THE “askjoe” driving quiz too.

On my website www.awardmotoring.com

I have 60 Sample Theory questions and also the Answers are hidden underneath each question, so that you can try and attempt to answer it first before just looking at the correct answer. If possible get a friend or family member to ASK you the questions in a random order , as this is similar to the way you will be asked them on the day of the Test. Keep it lighthearted, and if you don’t know the correct answer; take an educated guess, you will surprise yourself at the knowledge that you have; you will know more than you think you know. And if you didn’t know the answer, well you do now !

Also go back to the Theory Test book, cd or app and practice answering some of those.

7. Ensure that you are familiar with all the safety checks and secondary controls on your vehicle. If possible on a good dry day; go out and practice a physical SHOW AND TELL on the car you are planning to take your Test in.

Practice opening the Bonnet, do you know how to open the catch inside the car and also the safety catch under the bonnet, and finally how does the bonnet stay up safely.

Then go over all the main fluid levels under the bonnet and practice securing the Bonnet back down again.

8. Practice checking all the Tyres on the car, know the minimum Thread depth , Air Pressure and Visual Inspections required. Ensure that all 4 tyres and compliant for the day of your Driving Test.

Check the Front windscreen of the car and ensure that the Insurance disc, Tax disc and NCT if applicable are all within date .. Also start the car and snsure that there are NO warning lights showing on the dashboard, if so the vehicle will not be allowed to be used for the day of the Test.

9. If you are lucky enough to have received a scheduled date for your Driving Test then book a Driving Lesson with your adi , don’t leave it until just the week before your TEST !!! This will show up any bad habits you have picked up since you completed your EDT Programme and also habits that have creeped in since practising for several weeks ( or months ) without a Professional Lesson ).

Your Driving Instructor may perform a mini Mock Test with you to see how you perform listening to directions and driving without prompts and instruction . Also it will give you an opportunity to detect faults and correct them early and in good time. If the Mock Test didn’t go well, don’t panic ! You still have time to correct your faults and practice more.

10. I advise students to take 3 to 6 lessons before the scheduled Driving Test; one initially when you receive the date for your Test and also 2 the week of your Test, one of those being your Pre Test lesson the morning or afternoon of your Test, this Pre Test lesson is to build up your confidence and pack all your nerves into a bag and leave them outside the car ( it’s entirely up to you if you want to pick them up again after the Test !!!)

For a handy Teaching aid during Lockdown and the encumbent backlog of Driving Test appointments for 2021 , Angela Ward School of Motoring has just launched a 2 hour Training video which is available to purchase online at www.awardmotoring.com

This 2 hour Training video includes a Refresher on skills learned in the EDT Programme, Safety checks on the vehicle, Bonnet check, Secondary Controls, Tyres and Drone footage and real live GO PRO action of a 50 minute Mock Drive of the Driving Test Routes in Donegal Town, including the maneouvres, Hazards , Roundabouts and much much more ……………

For any questions or queries you can call or Text Angela on 087 3748464 or email info@awardmotoring.com

Thanks for reading and hope it was helpful , regards , Angela