Tips: Starting Your Driving Lessons

Hey guys,

As you may have seen from my previous post (click here) I passed my driving test before 2022. Woo finally. I thought I would share some pointers that helped me and some tips that I learnt on the way. Hopefully you find this useful.  

This is one meme I found last year and I saved it to my Notes section on my phone

1. Instructor - Find one that is right for you and you feel comfortable with, ask around and get reviews on different instructors. Would you prefer a female or a male instructor?. At first my instructor was my mum's cousin and as he was just starting he didn't really have the best patience. I moved to another instructor about 2-3 years later (after a big break) who has such a great personality, the patience of a god send and was just so lovely. Unfortunately, he ended up with some health issues and had to take a step back and with the pandemic all the instructors had a backlog. Luckily, my mum's cousin took me back and had developed the patience and we could have a laugh and it felt a lot more chilled as we was talking about the family and how everyone was.
2. It's okay to change instructors - At the end of the day, it's how you feel and it's you whos got to pass
3. Lessons take time - Driving is a huge life skill that you don't want to rush your lessons with. They'll be some aspects of driving that you'll be amazing at and some that you'll be less good at. But, practice makes perfect. And to be honest, everyone says that driving lessons don't stop after you've passed your test. 
4. You'll have at least one bad lesson -  Heck I had a few, I bumped the kerb on my own road - would think I would know my own road by now. My mum has been driving for 25+ years and the other day she was messing with her gears, wasn't prepared for the traffic lights so ended up stalling and then rolling backwards haha. You definitely need concentration and to always keep your eyes on the road. Don't get distracted. It's okay to panic sometimes. Definitely talk to your instructor as they are there to help and try and resolve your problems. It always works itself out in the end.
5. Everyone learns at different paces but you'll eventually get there. 
6. Don't book if your instructor doesn't think your ready - Tests are a lot of money, especially if you fail. Keep in contact with your instructor and always have full honesty between yous both. My instructor was telling me that one of his pupils thought she was ready for her test, he said she wasn't and she went on to do the test anyways and failed within 5 minutes of the test. Your instructor does know best (majority of the time haha).
7. It's okay to not pass first time - Nerves and anxiety definitely play a key factor. My  leg wouldn't stop shaking - especially as my instructor had been a male but then the examiner was a female who had the complete opposite personality. Plus, failing the first time at least you know what to expect for the next time around. The examiner gives you a good understanding as to why and what you failed on. This helps give your instructor a good understanding of what they need to focus the next lesson on ready for the next test.
8. Buy lessons in bulk - Make sure you can afford to keep on top of your lessons 
9. Time slot/day - Luckily as I don't work Tuesday's I found this was a perfect day to focus on my lessons. Prior to this, I used to work a 0 hour contract and quite a lot of them hours were night shifts so I found I was cancelling all the time and losing so much money.
10. Theory test - Make sure you have passed your theory test in plenty of time. Theory tests run out after 2 years so if you haven't passed your test there could be a chance that you may have to redo your Theory test. This means more money and more stress. Due to the pandemic I know in my area that there is currently a backlog of people waiting to take their tests. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this and found some of these tips useful. If you have any other tips please leave them below :)