My preparations leading up to the test were very good with me taking regular lessons with my qualified instructor and there were no areas of concern apart from me being very nervous at the thought of having to take the assessment and driving with a complete stranger as I'm so used to my instructor sitting next to me.
On the day of the test, my driving instructor picked me up one hour before the appointment time, and we drove to the Hendon area, practiced some test manuevers, dealt with some roundabouts, and before I knew it, it was time to head for the DSA centre.
By the time we got to the centre, I had started to get nervous, and my instructor was trying his best to calm me down.
When the examiner came out, I had decided that I would be going by myself as I could not handle both the examiner and instructor watching my every move.
The test started with the show me tell me questions and then I was told to do the bay parking exercise. I managed to do it to the best of my ability, and then we were off for the 40 minutes of assessment.
As far as I could tell everything was going well, we were into the independent driving section and then I had to deal with Apex corner multi-lane roundabout which I had practiced many times before. I entered the roundabout but for some reason forgot about the traffic lights, by the time I stopped, I had passed the line a bit! I knew it was a serious fault.
I continued with the rest of the driving test, and picked up another minor fault for observations at a mini roundabout and finally we got back to the test centre.
I was therefore not surprised when the DSA examiner said she was sorry but I had not passed.
As my instructor drove me home, I was very upset with myself for making such a silly mistake. I have not bothered to think about lessons or booking another appointment, and only updated this blog following a comment requesting how I was getting on.
When I have overcome my emotions and can get my act together I will call my instructor (who has called and texted my many times) to get the ball rolling again.
Don't forget the highway code is the standard expected, so master it as it could save you from make a simple error that would result in failure, revise it when not taking practical lessons!
