Driving Test Nerves by Tom of www.BigTom.org.uk/home/

It is virtually impossible to eliminate driving test nerves, but you can make good attempts to manage them effectively, this blog will tell you how.

If you imagine that to pass a driving test, a driver needs to perform no lower than a specific, made up level, let's say 75%    By way of a reference, 100% would be a perfectly fault free drive.  This is NOT how you are assessed but bear with me, all will be revealed shortly.

Now when you are taking driving lessons with your Driving Instructor, the two of you will be communicating with each other all the time about your driving ability, and as long as there is an agreement that your driving ability is indeed over this 75% mark, then happy days, it does indeed make sense to put in for the driving test.

However, what needs to be remembered is that on Test Day itself, with the nerves that will be present, your driving ability is very likely to be slightly lower than normal.  There are many reasons for this, it can be to do with your ability to make judgements of the speed of traffic around you, distance of other vehicles, it can be related to your perception of the position of your vehicle in the road.... lots of possible things, but ultimately, accurate judgement can be affected due to nerves.

As such, it pays to ensure that your actual driving ability, achieved BEFORE Test Day, is consistently, significantly higher than 75%.   So let's say for the sake of argument, 85% - the actual figures here are completely irrelevant, it is the concept that is important.  By ensuring your driving ability is regularly running at 85%, even with the reduced ability on the day of the test, you will still be driving at over 75%, which will result in a pass.

Another way of looking at it is that any slight cracks, minor hiccups in driving ability that occur on normal driving lessons, will very likely be exposed and be significantly more pronounced on test day, simply down to the decreased ability brought on by Test Day nerves.  So for example, a recurring issue related to inadequate observations on junctions, or the position of your vehicle in the road when turning right, or moving off on a hill, or exiting a roundabout, or driving over the speed limit, will tend to get exposed in the time of the test.

In summary, do not ignore what might appear to you to be relatively minor driving faults.  It can be very tempting to ignore a fault that crops up, because at that moment in time, on that occasion, nothing actually happened as a result.  But remember that whilst nothing actually happened THAT time, you were not in control of that outcome, on another day, the consequence might well be very different.

If you feel like you need some assistance applying the concept of this blog to your own driving ability then contact me and I will be able to help.  Maybe you want to know what the driving test pass standard of "75%" looks and feels like in real terms, or perhaps you want to know what your current driving ability is compared to that 75%.

Please feel free to ask any questions or make comments below.  

This blog has provided details of how driving test nerves can affect driving ability on Test Day, and how we all can manage that situation by ensuring a certain standard of driving ability is consistently achieved BEFORE Test Day.    

BIG TOM Driving School  Intensive Driving Course in Peterborough, Grantham, Sleaford, Boston, Stamford and Spalding.  0800 689 4174