[DRAFT]
So I just passed my TP test yesterday with my first try with 12 demerit points!
Taking a driving license (in fact I wanted a bike license initially) was one of my new year goal and I started my journey at the start of Feb this year and gotten my pass on 14 April! That's about 2.5 months journey and it was not as draggy as I thought it would be.
BTT AND FTT
To me, it was pretty easy since I went through being a secondary school student, polytechnic student as well as uni students. So I had my own tactic of reading the BTT an FTT books and find the key points. I also googled to find other people expereince on how they pass the tests so I will know what are the key pointers to look out for.
I bought the books on Carousell and manage to sell it immediately after I passed my FTT with $1 profit. haha.
Below are some tips when completing FTT (I forgotten about BTT because I took that 7 years ago):
- Remember those numbers (eg. 1m away from on coming pedestrian)
- Instead of remembering what to do with clutch at what point of time, remember what's the purpose of clutch to make sense out of the question - I remember it as it provide more power but less speech.
- After you pass BTT, straight away start with practical before FTT, Driving experience helps you to answer a lot of questions, instead of hard core memorisig.
- If you don't want to do e-trial, go and download whatever online FTT questions you can find. I used sgdriving web.
- Remember the key terms that were bold such as aquaplaning and some central force one.
- Read your book right before the test again so othe information will be fresh in your mind. But I think reading it once at the start of the day might be good enough.
- When doing the test, count thenumber of questions you are not confident with. If it is 5 or less, just submit once you reach the last question. If not, better to review those questions which you were unsure.
After passing your FTT, BOOK YOUR TP TEST DATE!!
I passed my FTT at the end of Feb and my private instructor managed to get a TP test date that will happen 1.5 months later.
CHOOSING AN INSTRUCTOR
I looked around for private instructors and my friends recommend Uncle Tan Kee Tong Denny but did mention that he is slightly pricier. Ultimately, paying a little more for a good teacher to let me pass my first time is better than paying cheaper for someone who won't let me pass. Also, I don't have any family members who drive.. so I only can learn my 100% knowledge from Uncle Tan and no one else.
He is about 60 to 70 years old and only speaks Chinese. His car in Nissan Sunny and stays at Ubi.
For the first few lesson, I always try to "explain" myself when he said that I did something wrong. One sentence at makes me irritated was "If you are going to say I am wrong, then what's the point of me teaching you?". But I start to realise that's quite true. Ultimately everyone has their own teaching method and when I chose him, I should respect him and his teaching method. He also allow me to ask as many questions as I want. The second sentence he will say is "Okay lor.. if you want to continue to say you are right.. just go ahead.. The most I get to earn more money from you.. I don't mind". HAHAHA. The first time I heard I was irritated but afterwards it started to get funny and cute. He was no where near being "serious" about what he said because he just don't want his students to fail so he say this kind of things. haha.
I took CDC school lessons in 2011 before and I kind of didn't continue because I just dont get a single thing that was taught. I guess I gave up too easily. Because the instructors change for every lesson and they will always double check if I done this and that. Well, I got to admit I don't have driving talent and that's why having one instructor will be so much easier.
Overall, I am very glad that I made the right choice to get Uncle Tan. He was extremely patient and kind and funny and cute. He was NEVER late for every single lesson I attended.
I took about 2 lessons per week. For me who works office hours from Monday to Friday, I was damm fortunately that he was able to put schedules like 8.30pm to 10.00pm for me.
COSTING
Overall, below is how much I spent to get a driving license. It will different from person to person because it depends on how fast you learn.
Registration with CDC: $53.50
Eye sight test: $1.82
BTT: $6.50
FTT: $6.50
PDL: $25
Private Lessons x 20 (1.5 per lesson): $38 x 20 x 1.5 = 1,140
Circuit: $32 x 20 lessons: $640
TP Test with Warm up: $390
Total: $2,263.32
I have this feeling that I spent more than the above amount but just forgotten to add some misc fees incurred.
I saw another student of his who took probably 15 lessons only and he mentioned that the student probably learn a lot from her family and friends that she is already filled with driving knowledge before every lesson. Well, I wasnt as fortunate as her I guess.
TRAFFIC POLICE TEST
I got the shock out of my life.
Basically I started my warm up with Uncle Tan at 10.30am and ended about an hour later. I went in the room to wait for someone to call me. TP tester C, an old uncle, called me. He took my IC and looked at me and asked me to read out my NRIC. At first I find him quite cute and I thought I'm gonna have an easy test. BUT NO!!!
Went to my car, he sat down and explained if I didn't do well in circuit, it will be immediate failure and I will not get to go out on the road. I swear I was already nervous.
The moment my car left the parking lot, IT WAS ONE HELLA OF A RIDE. Whatever safety my Uncle taught me... I got to just forget it and drives like how all my friends normally drive on the road. HAHAHHAAHAHAA.
I completed the test in 15 min, which is faster than a boy who started the same time as me and gotten an immediate failure from circuit test. But from what I google about him. He seems to be a nice tester la. But that he sounds quite impatient and angsty throughout the ride.
