Going For Your P's - Tips (2 Viewers)

[jessiej87]

- i had a friend fail as she asked the tester a question - which showed that she was unsure about her driving - this was out of habit from asking the driving instructor questions as she thought of them

 

[Jiga]

Well thats just dumb asking a question... your trying to show in a p's test that you can drive on your own, if you have to ask questions that means your not ready.

The only things I said to the instructor were 'turn the a/c off?' or 'so next left?'

As for the three point turn, I got to do it on a HUGE road that I had to force the 3 point turn on because I could have very easily just done a U-Turn, it was so stupid but in anycase 3 point turns are easy.

 

[blue_chameleon]

Which one is the go pedal?

 

[seremify007]

Well thats just dumb asking a question... your trying to show in a p's test that you can drive on your own, if you have to ask questions that means your not ready.

I agree with you on that. Smells of incompetence.

 

[wanton-wonton]

Which one is the go pedal?

HAHAHHAHAHAHA

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Here's a hot tip.
Don't fail by one mark...:mad1: If i get the same old fat lazy ass tester next time I'm gonna snap.

Not smooth enough with the gears aye?? WELL mayb if i could change gears without moving through three kilos of fat that might help :burn:

 

[seremify007]

Which one is the go pedal?

I got asked that when some lil' kid challenged me in Maximum Tune >__>

Btw nice av.

Also.. Does anyone know if the pedals are the same in the USA? I can't imagine using my left foot to accelerate o__O... *shrugs*

 

[CieL]

Does anyone know if the pedals are the same in the USA? I can't imagine using my left foot to accelerate o__O... *shrugs*

wtf is with all these Qs, jeff?

of course it's the same.. gas on right, brake in middle (or left), clutch on left (or non-existant)

Just that the gear knob is on your right

 

[klh]

i just have 2 quick questions..one is about a slight disagreement with a friend of mine, then other is just if its in the rles or not:

1. when driving and th eligths go red so you have to stop, do you downshift? [obviously this is meant fo those who drive manuals] like do oyu always do it? Ive always put it into neutral, brake to a stop and then when it goes green, ill put it into 1st, and yes i do downshift after i have to slow down and turn or slow down until there is an appropriate speed to go upa gear.

2. When overtaking, can you go faster than the speed limit and hten when you are a safe distance, merge and then settle to th espeed limit? Im on L's so yeah i wan tot know the rules and i dont think i can find it in my DART booklet.

oh yeah, also its antoehr question sorry, but when i do observation i use my eyes rathe rthan turn my neck when obseriving unless i need to check blindspots or when required, but im concerned when in the DART test, if they dont see you turn your head will they assuem you arent observing?

Thanks very much...

 

[CieL]

2. When overtaking, can you go faster than the speed limit and hten when you are a safe distance, merge and then settle to th espeed limit? Im on L's so yeah i wan tot know the rules and i dont think i can find it in my DART booklet.

It's called a speed LIMIT for a reason.. and always remember that a L plater has a limit of 80km/hr.. so even if you're on a 90 zone, you're only allowed 80.. (as in daily driving, during exams they won't take you to highways and stuff)

oh yeah, also its antoehr question sorry, but when i do observation i use my eyes rathe rthan turn my neck when obseriving unless i need to check blindspots or when required, but im concerned when in the DART test, if they dont see you turn your head will they assuem you arent observing?

Try to exaggerate yourself a bit.. My grandpa who has been a taxi driver in HK has really good driving skills and without being obvious could see and he knows when he can go into the traffic, etc (since HK roads are much more busy that Aus roads, he needs to be a good driver to get anywhere)

Anyways, the point is, the examiner failed him (even when he's been full licenced for over 20yrs in HK) because the examiner thought he didn't look at the roads properly nor shoulder check when he did.

 

[Pace_T]

i just have 2 quick questions..one is about a slight disagreement with a friend of mine, then other is just if its in the rles or not:

1. when driving and th eligths go red so you have to stop, do you downshift? [obviously this is meant fo those who drive manuals] like do oyu always do it? Ive always put it into neutral, brake to a stop and then when it goes green, ill put it into 1st, and yes i do downshift after i have to slow down and turn or slow down until there is an appropriate speed to go upa gear.

2. When overtaking, can you go faster than the speed limit and hten when you are a safe distance, merge and then settle to th espeed limit? Im on L's so yeah i wan tot know the rules and i dont think i can find it in my DART booklet.

oh yeah, also its antoehr question sorry, but when i do observation i use my eyes rathe rthan turn my neck when obseriving unless i need to check blindspots or when required, but im concerned when in the DART test, if they dont see you turn your head will they assuem you arent observing?

Thanks very much...

1. It's a matter of preference. If you want to wear out your gearbox quicker, then downshift. Otherwise you'll wear out your brake pads quicker (which are cheaper to replace).
2. No. The person testing you will only ask you to overtake a car going slower than the speed limit (if they ask you at all).

You can't expect the person testing you to assume you're observing the situation well when (s)he doesn't see you moving your head. They have other things to look at when your doing the test, not just analysing your eyes. When your doing the observations in the test, make it really clear you're looking around (i.e. exaggerate) and you should be fine.

 

[klh]

Thanks very much for your time CieL!

Its juse these "rules" that you hear fom others saying that so and so is ok, ruel of thumbs if oyu will...well at least that is cleared for me.

Now i hope someone can hlep me answer the 1st question I asked...

EDIT: Thanks for your time Pace_T!

 

[CieL]

1. It's a matter of preference. If you want to wear out your gearbox quicker, then downshift. Otherwise you'll wear out your brake pads quicker (which are cheaper to replace).

Yeah I'm just wondering if the RTA sets a guideline or something..

Because I remember when my friend talked about her learning from an instructor and he specifically told her which gear to downshift to on the specific corners etc

So yeah.. but I guess it depends on how close to the lights you are.. if you have the time, why not.. if you need to brake suddenly, do so but keep it smooth

 

[Pace_T]

Yeah I'm just wondering if the RTA sets a guideline or something..

Because I remember when my friend talked about her learning from an instructor and he specifically told her which gear to downshift to on the specific corners etc

So yeah.. but I guess it depends on how close to the lights you are.. if you have the time, why not.. if you need to brake suddenly, do so but keep it smooth

The RTA doesn't have a rule for this. Basically, when you drive, you eventually shift into the gear required to make a turn or to stop (which is the first gear). In the process you have two options. 1) Go down gears sequentially, e.g. from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd and then turn (or continue down to first and stop at the lights, for example) or you can roll down to an complete stop and as you put the clutch in you shift straight from 5th to 1st (which is what I do). With this method, you would also normally shift say from 4th to 2nd when making a regular turn into side streets or whatever. This is the method that my instructor told me to use (for simplicity).

I wouldn't recommend downshifting most of the time because with all the shit cunts doing the test, they're bound to make the car jerk excessively for each downshift. Do it if you can do it smoothly, otherwise you might get points taken off. (Note that some cars can downshift smoothly very easily, but with others it may take a fair bit of practice.)

 

[Serius]

i would suggest downshifting if you can do it, the way you said that you come to a stop sounds incredible amaturish and the instructor would notice this. The RTA altough not making any rules on it, suggests using your engine to break and keep your speed under control, as such i wouldnt be surprised if downshifting is counted under proper gear selection or something.

an experienced driver, or any driver for that matter should be in first[with clutch in ofcourse] by the time you come to a stop, not clutch in, break and then put in first like you said. There is an RTA reason for this [something like you must be in first incase u need to move for an emergency vehicle] and so ithat is why downshifting is a good idea and why u cant just put it in first when the lights go green, you must be in first the whole time.

Missing a gear when downsifting is fine, as is when accelarating, but i would serously warn you against getting into the bad habbit of clutching in to slow down

 

[Shell]

I got asked that when some lil' kid challenged me in Maximum Tune >__>

Btw nice av.

Also.. Does anyone know if the pedals are the same in the USA? I can't imagine using my left foot to accelerate o__O... *shrugs*

lol i had to once. my best friends dad only has one leg, he got his right leg amputated about 10 years ago. so in his car (which i drive sometimes), has an odd attatchment from teh normal accelerator to teh left hand side of the brake. its so weird, and took me a while to get used to.

 

[nit]

Personally, in my test, I got penalised for turning into the middle lane of a 3-laned main road (King georges from broadarrow)....not entirely sure why it was an offence to have turned into the middle lane, given theres only one lane turning right, but yeh, watch out for that.

As for the speed thing, I was doing about 45 in a 50 zone, and the cars behind were easily doing 55+ and were trying to overtake me - examiners dont like it when that happens, cos it then appears that youre driving too slowly, so without traffic, 45 is an ok speed, but with cars following, as close to 50 as possible, maybe 50-51 even is probably preferable.

Also, to appear alert, keep continuously checking rear-view mirror and side mirrors while driving and make those checks conspicuous. Also exaggerate the blind-spot checks, as has already been said.

Something useful to get if you havent already got them are a pair of convex blindspot mirrors that attach to the side mirrors - great for blind spot checks and a miracle for day parking and to check where you are on the kerb exactly - hence highly useful for a ps test.

I'll add anything else that would appear helpful in a bit later.

 

[Supra]

ooo my friend got her Ps today...shes so cute

I let her drive my car last week as well

The main thing with the Ps test, is confidence. You have to stay calm, and do as many hours/reverse parks as possible to gain more confidence

 

[paris 183]

ok so im going for my p's tomorrow morning freaking out any advice? in an auto btw!

 

[ToO LaZy ^*]

advice is in the first post.

otherwise...umm..drive goodly.