After many pounds, much worry, and a nearly sleepless night last night, I passed my driving test today! What a relief!
If I could do it over, I would start applying for a British license as soon as I entered the country. Getting the provisional license, and then sorting out the theory test, is fairly easy but takes time. If you wait until the last minute, like I did, then it is really stressful.
I also would make sure to get a good instructor. My instructor was spotty, and today he was terrible. He spent most of the one hour lesson previous to the test texting his girlfriend, and then looking up enough from time to time to criticise me. So glad I never have to pay him another twenty pounds.
The standards are so much higher for driving skills here than they are in the USA. I did alot of practicing the things that my instructor told me, and the things I learned from the 2Pass driving site,
http://www.2pass.co.uk/index.htm. that I read about on this site. I read the forums to see how other people were passing and failing, and found out the routes,from the internet, that the examiners used for the test.
I had to do the reverse around corner, and the reverse park. To me, the reverse around corner is the hardest maneuver. My examiner was polite, and spoke enough for me to feel comfortable, but not too much to screw up my concentration. I had five minor faults, and you are allowed sixteen.
My overall thinking about the test for experienced US drivers is that, if you get familiar with the UK road system, and are familiar with their way of doing things, and show you are a competent and confident driver, you will do OK. I could see some of the other drivers, kids included, that were coming in to take the test that were definitely not confident. It is a very doable test, but it does take effort and practice. And wow, the expense! Forty five pounds per test, plus twenty pounds per hour lesson, theory I think was twenty pounds, provisional thirty five or so.....I easily spent two hundred fifty pounds on this deal. Thank God it is over, now I can drive in peace.
Don
