I have just finished running a week long intensive driving course in NW3 for a learner driver who had some time off work and wanted to making some progress as the weekly driving lessons had not been bearing any good results and it has been exhausting both for me as a driving instructor and the pupil.

Having to do a 3hr intensive session in the morning, take a short break, do some normal driving lessons for my regular learner drivers and then go back for another 2 or 3 hours of tuition is really hard work especially when you are introducing new topics, have to give full talk through after lesson briefings is really hard, and with the warm weather, one has to make sure that the body does not get dehydrated, so a lot of water drinking also. A driving instructor’s life is not always easy money!

Not everyone will use a crash driving course to prepare for a test, as was the case of this learner driver, but they can now resume their weekly lesson schedule building up the necessary experience and practice required to pass the driving test.

If you are considering taking a 5 day, 1 week intensive driving course residential or otherwise, be prepared for some hard work, and do set your expectations right, as not everyone will be able to cope with the large amount of information being thrown at them in such a short period and don’t be fooled by those guaranteed driving test pass promises made by some organisations, as you do pay a lot of money for lessons you may or may not need.

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Driving School Kingsbury NW9

Are you looking for a North West London driving instructor to give you cheap lessons in the Kingsbury area? Have you had a driving test in the nearby Mill Hill DSA centre failed and need some remedial quality tuition from an approved driving instructor (ADI) that covers NW9, London?

I’m an Ex AA driving school fully qualified ADI that can offer you affordable cheap driving lessons in Kingsbury NW9, London. All my driving lessons are conducted on a one to one basis following the full structure DSA drivers step by step guide, and you get a full one hour of driving tuition in a well maintained and fully insured Kingsbury driving school car.

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My car has the option of video recording your tuition so you can watch your lesson in the comfort of your home, reviewing mistakes, noting the remedial action to correct as well as re-inforcing any positive driving skills.
If you would like affordable driving lessons and live in Kingsbury London, then give our driving instructor a call on 07956233032.
Note: I only offer manual driving lessons and don’t have an automatic car

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My cheap driving lessons offer (limited availability).

10 Driving Test Tips to help you pass the DSA practical car assessment

1. Arrive at the DSA driving test centre on time. Know your centre location, how to get there, and if possible visit a day earlier to know if there are any road works or local restrictions in place. Arriving for your appointment early will allow you to be more at ease. If you don’t follow this tip and arrive more than 5 mins late for your driving test appointment, the DSA examiner will not take you out, you will lose your booking fee and not be able to get another appointment for at least the next 10 days.

2. Visit the driving examination centre and area before the day of your test (important if you are not using an approved driving instructor ADI).

3. Get a good night’s rest before the day of your driving assessment a tip easily overlooked.

4. A test tip to help anxious candidates is that Rescue remedy or Kalms might help with your driving test nerves (seek professional advice before using medication if you are driving), and remember being a little nervous is okay as it gets your adrenalin flowing, which helps you to perform in high pressure situations.

5. Use the toilet before you depart to the driving test centre (not all have facilties for learner drivers), as you don’t want to be caught short just before meeting the dsa examiner. A driving test tip I regulary give to my learner drivers.

6. During the 40 minute drive, deal with the present, don’t try and predict the dsa examiner route, what set exercises you are going to get, which direction you are going to be told to go. You will pass the driving test if you successfully and safely carry out each step at a time.

7. Another driving tip is to make progress if it is safe to do so, but obey all road signs and markings, slow doesn’t always mean you are being safe, and you could fail the test for driving too slow!

8. Make sure you understand any instructions you are given, if in doubt, ask for the driving examiner to repeat it.

9. Don’t panic if you make a mistake, correct it and move on, dwelling on a driving error could cause a snow ball of errors, and the first one might not have failed you!

10. Make sure you are prepared before presenting yourself for the DSA driving test, you have a better chance of passing if you’ve taken professional training and had enough practice during your driving lessons. I’ve left this driving test tip till last, but it is the most important advice that you will get.

Additional driving test tips

The DSA driving test moving off and Stopping
How many driving lessons do I need before I book the driving test?
Taking the driving test in a private car.
DSA use of car horn on the test.
Top ten dsa driving test errors.
Nerves during practical car test

Defensive driving refers to a specific style of driving that can best be summarized as “better safe than sorry”. When it comes to driving, there’s something inherently dangerous about the practice that most people are willing to overlook just because of the odds involved. After all, most of the time, when we set out to drive somewhere, we get where we’re going without incident. However, as a precaution against those times when we might find ourselves in a jam, it’s important to learn the principles of defensive driving from a qualified driving instructor, and then practice them consistently.

Watch What You’re Doing

The number one rule of defensive driving is to pay attention to what’s going on around you. Think back to all the descriptions of automobile accidents that you’ve ever heard. Chances are good that most of them contain the phrase “I never saw him coming!” at some point or another. The reason for this is that this is by far the most commonly used explanation for why an accident occurred. What it really means, however, is that at least one of the drivers involved wasn’t paying attention. If they had been, they would have seen the other driver coming, and they could have avoided the accident.

Never Trust the Other Guy

It might seem somewhat cynical, but one of the first things that you’ll learn in defensive driving lessons is that you should never trust the other guy to do the right thing. If you’re approaching an intersection the same time as another car, and you have the right of way, and it seems like the other car might not stop… don’t chance it. It’s much better to assume that the other car is going to make a mistake and be wrong, than to assume that they’ll do the right thing and be wrong. There’s an old saying that goes hand in hand with this principle: “no one ever yielded their way into a car crash”. What this means is that it’s very hard to be TOO cautious when driving. Again, better safe than sorry.

Keeping Your Distance

When we take our driving tests, most of learn the car-length rule for space, wherein we’re taught to trail behind the car in front of us one car length for every ten miles per hour we’re going. The problem with this rule, however, is that it’s hard to get a handle on just how long a “car length” really is, especially when you’re traveling at high speeds. What you want to do instead is to try and make sure you have at least two full seconds of distance between you and the car in front of you. To determine this, observe the car passing a landmark, and then count how many seconds until you pass that landmark yourself. It should take at least two full seconds or else you’re trailing too close.

Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. There are times, such as when it’s dark or raining, that you want to trail even more, up to 3 or 4 full seconds.

By consistently applying the principles of safe, defensive driving, you can stack the odds in your favor that you’ll arrive safely at your destination every time you get behind the wheel. That’s a feeling that’s worth the few extra seconds it takes to play it safe.

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Practice Driving Examination

A practice driving test is a good way of finding out if you are ready for your driving examination and that you have fully prepared yourself and mastered the DSA car control skills and attained the required standard.

If possible, you should arrange to have your practice driving test with someone other than your normal driving instructor, not only will this ensure your practice driving assessment is fairly unbiased, but it also gets you in the mood of driving with someone unfamiliar next to you as will happen on the day of your real driving test.

In some cases, it is not always possible to have the driving test practice with a different driving school, but even then your normal instructor can still go into a different character and thus simulate the driving test situation, you will also find out that with your instructor only giving driving directions it will soon become apparent if you are truly an independent driver, or you rely too much on your supervising driver!

If you are preparing for the UK practice driving test, you might be interested in Focus Media’s Driving Test simulator for the PC.

The Practice Driving Test route

You don’t necessarily have to use the actual test routes for your practice driving examination, but your tutor should make sure that whatever roads you go on, that they are as varied as possible, with both low and heavy traffic conditions, wide and narrow roads, roundabouts and high speed carriageways to give you as much exposure as possible to what you might get on the proper driving permit/licence examination.
It is no use trying to avoid traffic during your practice driving test if you might get the same conditions during your dsa test, nor should you skip any of the set parking exercises just because it is not a favorite o yours.

Finally don’t get upset or discouraged if you don’t ‘pass’ your practice driving test, it is not the real deal after all, but more importantly, it should open you eyes up to areas that you need to work on to further improve your chances of getting that driving licence on your first or next attempt. A practice driving test is good for you.

As a learner driver preparing for the the UK driving test, you’ve probably heard somewhere that the DSA driving examiners are not interested in passing you, that instead they would even go as far a tricking you into failing by getting you into various situations that would cause you to make a serious driving error.
First of all, let me say that as a driving instructor, most test candidates do not give the practical car assessment the due credit it deserves. The DSA test is a very high quality and demanding examination, and you should expect the examiners to follow the rules to the letter (while we know that the driving test is never 100% consistent), and the only way of having a guarantee of passing the driving test is if you aim to be an A plus student.

So do DSA driving examiners cause you to fail practical car test delibrately? The answer is no, and contrary to common belief, they do actually want you to pass, and will do their best to get you relaxed during the 40 minutes you are in the car with them. The problem is sometime the test candidates either don’t know fully how the test works, or are too nervous to have noticed an instruction, or the lack of one.
Before you drive out of the test centre, the DSA driving examiner will give you a lot of information about the test, what is going to be covered in the assessment, and finally those famous words “I’d like you to follow the road ahead unless road signs indicate otherwise, if I want to turn, I’d let you know in goodtime”. Those words are important, because they have just laid down a rule for you while driving, basically continue to follow the road ahead, but you must pay attention to road markings or signs, because there could be times when the examiner will not give you instructions (at a complusary right turn for example), yet you will still be expected to use MSM, with the signals being timed properly and the approach handled at the right speed! You can’t complain that you didn’t know which way to, and therefore didn’t signal or had little time to slow the car down enough to deal with the junction safely.
Another example could be at a multi-lane roundabout which has 4 lanes on approach, you are told turn right it is the 3rd exit, if there are signs which tell you which lane to use, then the examiner is not going to advice you that both the 3rd and 4th lanes are for turning right, and that you need o be in the 3rd lane, they would expect you to follow the signs! On the other hand if there was traffic on approach to the roundabout, and all road markings where covered by cars, then the examiners will prompt you with some advice, as they don’t expect you to be familiar with the area. Some large roundabouts especially on dual carriageways have traffic lights, and while the examiner will give normal instructions at the roundabout turn right 3rd exit, you need to notice the red light and not try to go because nothing is approaching from the right. If the lights are not working then you need to know that normal roundabout rules apply.

You are not a learner driver

Anyone presenting themselves to a practical car driving test at a DSA centre is not expected to be a learner driver! You might not be very experienced, but you are expected to be trained to the test standard, have had enough practical driving experience (private practice or with your driving instructor) to be able to independently deal with any situation that would arise during the test, and this is what the DSA examiner is looking for. They expect you to be able to plan your driving to deal with what is happening on the road ahead, be able to perform any of the set exercises competently and safely, and most importantly want you to have the right attitude towards driving and other road users. 40 minutes is a long enough time for you to show what your normal driving habits are, and those that have been relying on the little prompts from Instructors or supervising drivers, will now be struggling to be at ease and drive safely, and the DSA examiners are trained and experienced enough to know and pick up on this.

It is the job of the DSA examiner to make sure that the driving test is valid by covering a variety of road conditons, traffic and they are not supervising you during the 40 minutes of the assessment, and while they might throw you a life line by repeating an instruction, or advising that the current road is a National Speed Limit restriction, you should not be relying on that or indeed expect them to be linient towards you.
You don’t have to make small talk with the driving examiner, if that puts you off your ability to concentrate, just let them know you prefer not to talk, and they will allow you to focus on the driving test.
Finally remember you are in charge and control of the car, if something starts to go wrong, immediately correct it, remember the faster the car approaches a junction, the faster you have to think, and the less likely you are to make a safe decision.
The driving test is your opportunity to prove to the DSA examiner that you can be trusted to be incharge of a vehicle unspervised, if you are totally prepared for it, and you go into the examination with the aim of making no mistakes because you haven’t cut any corners and are dreading any situation, then you are move than likely to comeout as one of the 40% who pass!

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