I failed my driving test. Yay?
Ooh.. the title speaks for itself. I cannot believe it that it could go wrong after so many things went right prior to and during the test.

1) First of all, such an early test date was already a god-send. I booked my test date in mid-May and at first, got a date in late July. I was already very lucky as I thought it was going to be in September.

Then my friend told me a rumour that there is a quota of passes. And it is bad to take test at the end of the month. Furthermore, my test timing was during a peak hour. It was a VERY BAD timing.

So I immediately took out my laptop and got an even better date. Early August, non-peak hour. Wah, couldn't believe my luck already at this point in time.

Then when I got home, I had itchy fingers, so I went to see if there is a better date. There was a peak hour, mid-July date and I took a risk and cancelled my good date (cos I really want to get it over and done with before the next semester starts). But alas, after I cancelled it, the mid-July date was snapped up by someone else.

I was cursing myself when suddenly an early June, non-peak hour slot came up and I snatched it up immediately. Wow I seem to get luckier and luckier, and I was so happy after that.

Book in mid-May, get early June non-peak slot. Can you believe this?

2) Then my instructor asked me to book a last minute lesson in the morning of my test date. (Yah, I felt I needed it too but due to a little oversight from my instructor and that I believed I shouldn't tax my back too much before the test, I didn't book it the last time. For your info, I was on a school's fixed group instructor.)

Initially, there was no available slot.

Then itchy fingers again. Only got a morning 8-940 slot. Hmm... Will have to wake up before my optimum waking time. Will I be too tired then? But no choice, I booked it anyway.

Then one day before the test, my ideal slot came in! 950-1130 slot. As usual, I took the risk and booked it. (Those who took school should know that you are not allowed to cancel your slots 48 hours before the commencement). So I am stuck with two back-to back-slots. I was a little worried because if nobody takes my slot, I will waste $64.

There is no way my back can tahan two back-to-back driving lessons, the test warm-up and survive the test.

Miraculously, someone actually wanted the slot. So I saved $64.

3) I slept quite well last night, considering that I would normally lose sleep over something like this. So I was quite refreshed.

4) Well, and then since it was a last minute booking. My 950-1130 slot was not supposed to be conducted by my fixed instructor (who already knows my faults well) but by someone else. Then to my pleasant surprise, when I arrived, the reporting slip actually showed my fixed instructor's name!

5) There were dark clouds in the morning and it threatened to rain. But it didn't rain during my test at all. All sunny.

6) Since I was so used to my fixed instructor's car, I wondered if I would be able to handle the test car (which is another car) as well. As yet another pleasant surprise, the test car was even easier to handle!

7) My back hurt quite badly last week. Think cos I was standing and walking around too much when doing my fyp lab. And I was lugging my 2.5 kg Acer and rushing from Biz to Engin. (That's why I changed my laptop again recently).

The whole of last week, I had to take special care not to strain my back too much, like not walking around too much and running around which I like to do. It managed to recover in time for my test. And surprisingly, it could tahan until the test was over. Sometimes, even 100 minutes (the length of one lesson) is too much for me. Today, I drove close to 200 minutes total and I was alright.

8) I balloted and drew a mild-tempered examiner.

9) And I drew a test route which I was very familiar with.

10) The road conditions were very good. Few people, few cars.

11) My circuit during the test was perfect! I have NEVER EVER done a perfect circuit before in a driving lesson before.

12) Yes, I did something that warranted an immediate failure. But even then, I had a gut feeling that it would be overlooked. And after the test, he told me that he meant to overlook it.


With all these 12 things that went my way, I really started to believe that heaven meant for me to pass the test. But I didn't. On hindsight, I felt that I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be before the test.

I think I over-compensated for my common mistakes during my driving lessons - slow reaction in turning. So today I turned quickly and I was initially happy that I overcame my mistakes. But think I overdid it, which added together with other minor things, caused my failure.

I was so happy after the test that I even smiled at the instructor who owned the test car. (I'm normally very dao) I thought I passed lor... I really felt that it was my best performance.

Though I SMS some of you to grumble about it, I wasn't too unhappy about it. I'm just stunned. And I wonder if the lucky things that I enjoy this time would happen again during my next time.
Failing to pass the test meant that preparing for the next test would cause significant inconveniences, since it most prob would overlap into the next semester.

And I am very fresh now. When the test comes in September or so, I may not be so familiar with it anymore. Sigh...

As I was saying, they should have just let me pass. Cos I meant to drive some of you around during the next three months. And this would give me practice. (More relevant practice than going for driving lessons). Aiya, this meant that those who are waiting for me to keep my promise of sending you home will have to wait longer.

Ok enough of my boring story. Time for itchy fingers. Hope I can work a miracle again.
- posted by FaceOff^ @ 9:39 PM