DAY 95: Stage 5 Practical Lesson 5.01 Final Evaluation

Finally, the last stage of my practical lesson. It was on the same day as my lesson 4.04. When I got my car number and realize that it was parked in area C (outside the canteen) I knew that it would be my team leader. If you have followed my previous post, you would know that my team leader is one of the strictest instructor I encountered. I started to plan for retaking the lesson next week.

True enough it was him. But contrary to my expectation he was quite relaxed today. He told me that he would not want to make me retake at this very last stage as he thinks that it won't help much. He told me to just go for the test - which means my skills were still not up to his expectation and probably no hope of improving. After the lesson I was both happy and sad. Happy because I finally can go for my practical test. Sad because I am not sure if I can pass.

I managed to book a practical test in 3 weeks time. I also decided to go for a revision lesson 2 days before the test as I think that my driving would become rusty after 3 weeks of waiting. For now, I think 1 revision lesson would suffice. Depending on how it goes, I might add another one later. By the way, for first time practical test, you do not have to book revision lesson before the test. It is up to you whether to take up revision lesson or not. However, if you fail the first time and need to retake subsequently, you are required to book at least 2 revision lessons - which adds up to about extra $400 each time you fail.


Things to take note:

• If obstacle appears even in opposite lane, you need to steer vehicle more to the left so that if another vehicle on the opposite lane wants to overtake, it will have enough space.
• My driving speed not fast enough as I tend not to look far enough
• Need to signal when merging lane  - eg the one after traffic light cross junction towards Bukit Batok Road and Bukit Batok West Ave 7
• Directional change and vertical parking - When reversing vehicle always check rear windscreen
• When vehicle is about to swing our (after full lock steering)  check front windscreen then check left mirror (or right for vertical parking) then check rear windscreen
• For side mirror position on road, need to make sure horizon line (can be a kerb 100m away) is at the middle of the mirror and the side of the car occupies ⅕ of the mirror. This is useful for directional change as there is no adjusting the mirror.

Expenditure

Practical                 $77.04
Total cost so far:     $2559.84