wills:
Anyways I asked what I need be aware of, and he told i’ve “Got to sort out coasting” and as I said earlier " Handbrake " on emergency Stop.But I am not naive enough to expect that just to be it just yet.
I’ve also started taking my class 2 lessons, I’m doing a 2 hour lesson every week.
Coasting was my major bad habit when I started, think I’ve managed to shake that off now 
Just need to get my head around the reverse now! 
2nd Lesson…
well i’m generally quite hard on myself, but today I’ll be nice " I was [zb] Rubbish " 
I cuaght a kerb on entrance to small roundabout
Was far to close to one parked car
Then came the low gears 1 + 2 not to bad starting off… but when then coming down from 3 I found 2nd even tho I didnt put enough revs on for 2nd clutch press, did exactly the same for 1st gear and didnt get it - which obviously led to a mini panick got 3rd regained my composure and then found the right gears - then i was told POLITLEY you can come of the Kerb now 
Did the exercise again Kept off the kerbs, but this time I did get the revs right for shifting down but when it went into 1st I TOOK IT BACK OUT 
not trusting myself to have found the right gear .
Looks like I’ll be in the truck stop for half hour tomorrow just doing 1st and 2nd gear.
On a Positive - I know myself what prob’s I need to sort
I’ve nearly stopped altogether putting gear into neutrul before handbrake
Stopped Coasting
Road Positioning I think is - Good
Awareness - Good
Now I have had time to reflect on how this morning went, my Negativness has been subdued, and I hope I can sort out tomorrow what went wrong today.
Other trainee after yesterdays few probs - Had a Super drive
Roll on tomorrow
if it needs stars to get past the auto censor you know it’s not allowed 
…Denis F
see wills,everyone has one bad day mate,yours was today, with the gear change exersize,think to yourself, if someone asked me to go from 1st to 5th then back down to 1st in my car,could i do it, of course you can,its second nature changing gear, its exactly the same in the wagon, just change up as normal,then when its coming down time,just relax and take your time and think about what your doin and how it needs to to be done, clutch down pull out of gear clutch up rev abit clutch down and smoothly in to gear as the revs are still up, practice on your way tomorrow in the car and you will soon pick it up mate, oh and whatever you do DONT LOOK AT THE GEARSTICK AS YOU DO THE EXERSIZE, it will only confuse you more as you end up trying to put it in gear with special power laser eyes and it doesnt work 
Thats a bad day out the way Wills,keep persevering .Never know tomorrow you could just do it ,remember how bad you said your partner was on mon?and now he’s had a good day.your turn tomorrow
Lesson 3…extra 1/2 hr each 2day
Much Much Better
Started off 1st this morning, as I said yesterday I knew where my problems were, I’ve listened to advice and drove with a lot more belief in myself with 100% concentration on every corner, every sign etc. That 1st hour flew by with no probs
Then we came to the Gear exercise… Nailed it…much more relaxed I concentrated on the road ahead, was not worried by pressure of traffic behind, doubled the clutch Hit the revs and the gears went in OK .
Did this 3 times, did not flap once or Look Down @ Gearstick ( thanks Gav )
Then off to the Truck stop for more practice of the reverse and stopping exercise… again no probs to report although Twice I stopped in position but @ a slight angle
Last hour again driving with no probs 5mins from home ( Instructor cracking jokes all day, no excuse tho ) mini round about did slightly touch kerb instructor didnt mention it BUT! Lesson Learned again just cannot allow your concentration to slip @ ALL.
Back to Base Instructor very pleased with both of us, tomorrow he said just need to polish things up.
And he then told me my test is @ 2.30 Saturday Morning WOOPS that’s 14.30 SATURDAY DOH!!!
The other trainee… again not bad, was told to cut speeding into roundabouts, & he caught kerb slightly coming off motorway @ J11
But overall was Good.
I have asked him to take me through Wolverhamptons ring rd tomorrow as I keep missing this as the other trainee is in the seat when we drive through, and Fri evening I going to drive round what they call the “Silly iles” Cannock 3 large roundabouts close together which the examiners expect you to take a certain way!!!
Till 2moro’s instalment
Drive safe
Wills
Glad to hear things are comin together for you Wills.
Look forward to tomorrows installment.
my test is @ 2.30 Saturday Morning
didnt know they done tests in the middle of the night wills 
glad youve got that gear change sorted mate, now just keep it up,you sound like your the kind of person that really deserves to pass,fingers crossed for saturday
LESSON 4…
my test is @ 2.30 Saturday Morning
it’s the pressure pre lesson 11.45 Test 14.30 Saturday AFTERNOON Doh!!!
Well could’nt ask anymore from myself, had a really good drive & didnt get put off by the Kamikaze Pigeons 
Started 2nd this morning ( other trainee had his bad day 2day ) when I eventually got in the seat, I had the Gear exercise to do - no problem completed it… instructor said that was a pass ( but I knew I was doing something not quite right ) So instructor said I was leaving clutch pedal down when revving the engine so I wasnt really double clutching…
Got it back in my head did it twice again no probs
On to Hill start… No probs
Downhill & Angle start… No probs
Negotiated Wolverhampton ring rd tricky but do-able
And the Islands @ cannock … in control
Last hour of lesson again went smoothly trying again not to be distracted, instructor asked was there anything I wanted to do?
So I asked for some Tight Turns■■?
Bleeding Hell he gave 3 right F****ers… but the last 1 got me 
he said that was a real difficult 1…but I’m glad I tried them
Other trainee, well he had his Mare today and was very quiet with it, still too fast into the Round-abouts & a few crunches on the gears but still Nothing he cant put right on his test. On the gear exercise he doesnt double clutch @ all but does get the gears, apart from twice today.
Well thats it… time too go over vehicle checks etc and try and relax for tomorrow… I am happy with the level I have got too in a small time, and now just hope I don’t let the nerves get the better of me tomorrow.
Thanks to all of you for your advice, and I know you’ll all wish me the best of luck… its very much appreciated
Till Tomorrow night
Drive Safe
Wills
Sounds like you’re up to test standard, that should give you confidence and help with your nerves. Good luck with the test
all the best for Saturday wills, you know you can do it
PASSED MY TEST ON 19/4/06 WENT FOR INTERVIEW 20/4/06 START WORK 2/5/06 SO HANG IN THERE AND YOU WILL BE FINE
GOOD LUCK
Fingers crossed for ya Wills
Congrats Dave101, Was it your Class2 you passed on the 19th?
TEST No 1…
As you can probably guess from the title…
oh well where do I start, got out the test center no probs till we got to the area where I knew we were to do the Gear exercise.
No problems 1st 2nd 3rd stayed there till it was safe to come back down, and did so beautifully… Examiner " why did you not get into 4th gear? and I didnt tell you to comeback down the gears 
"
No excuses didnt listen clearly to what I was told to do… on reflection I’ve listened to part of what was told and interpreted the rest ie the 4th gear!! didnt here this at all and have never been instucted to get into 4th gear , which I think confused me. He said @ the debreif he told me “not to worry” I dont recall this and I think my mind had gone from that.
Continued to drive with no apparent problems on a familiar route ( on 1 roundabout was about to carry on when acar appeared from my right with no indication so I stopped… she turned left - i believe this was marked down as observation/hestitation fault■■? )…
…
towards the infamous " Silly ilse " Cannock, where we were supposed to turn right !!! getting ready for instruction … it never came so obviously continued straight on into Canock Town centre on the A460, Never driven there in my life
Examiner " i want you to follow the signs for Stafford " so i’m looking for signs to stafford ( didnt here Rd number ) the North bound dual carriageway i’m on is splitting in front of me 1 left the other right, when I see Stafford sign RIGHT ( missed earlier sign and painted rd number looked over my shoulder and started to get into the correct lane… when I realised I didnt indicate ( FAIL )
Well I continued to follow Instuctions through completly alien roads, but safely and to the best of my ability.
Going up a hill Examiner " when its safe to do so pull up on your left " ok I’m looking parked cars on pavement all the way up this hill, with a continuous dropped kerb■■? Instructor " I’ve asked you to pull up on the left side " I explained my perdicament… to which I was told " it’ll be fine to pull over " so I did completed hill start fine. Left turn on to a very narrow rd parked cars on both sides … thought I was handling it quite well.
Was then asked to pull up behind parked car… completed the exercise No probs.
Continued back in towards Cannock town centre…southbound on the A460 In front of me I see the “silly isle” not 3 but 4 Roundabouts…
Now my Instructor had gone over the 3roundabouts from " The ONLY 2 directions the Examiners will bring you in on"
Examiner follow the signs for Wolverhampton… lost it in my head I knew direction was to the right, which is where I went wrong evrything was going @ supersonic speed just couldnt get diretions position rd markings into my head quick enough.
Keep looking at them on the map and still cant see how I drove it like I did.
Its obviously straight on @ both roundabouts…looks simple on the map and now
Well gets on to the a460 running along the toll rd, head now completly shot…
Back to the test centre for the reverse exercise…No problem @ all
15 minors 2 s = Devastated
I’be beaten myself up all night about it, spoken to family all with words of encouragement, it’s taken along time for me to accept that I must continue which I will do…but whats frightening me was to how bad the Report actually looks.
I know I can drive the truck and drive it safely ( well I thought I could )… I will put straight back in for a retest and 1hr lesson £200 
, and will practice those roundabouts and Cannock town centre knowing full well they’ll probably take me somewhere completly different again
The other lad, he failed too
Drive safe all
and beware the “silly ilse of Cannock”
Wills
Sorry to hear that .
My commiserations, wills.
Don’t give in it took me three Tests to Pass, I was gutted when I failed the first 2.
I thought that I had failed yesterday when I missed the exit on a roundabout that the examiner told me to take, I just went round again and got it the second time, he said in the debief that if I had’nt done everything correctly he would have given me a serious for it but as I followed the correct procedure he was impressed with my calmness (I was shaking like a leaf at this point).
Good luck for next time.
unkucky wills mate, really thought you would get it, it sounds to me like your nerves got to you, anyway all the best drivers pass 2nd time round anyway.
the very best of luck for the next test and hopefully the last before your class 1 test
Thanx Zaxster, Mrpj,
Gav - I think your right with the nerves not really experienced that nervousness for years, and from feeling really confident on completing the Gear exercise, bieng told I’d not listened & got it wrong Set up the rest of the drive.
I have got myself back together now, and have left a message with my training company to rebook me back in for another shot.
And as I just said to Zaxster, I’m going to be putting in a lot of time myself goin around those “4” Cannock roundabouts… must have spent 2 hours last night just looking at them on Google Earth
Hopefully I will learn from the expierience of having the Examiner there paying attention to his commands not the ones in my head of my instructor
Till Test 2
Drive safe
Wills
Came online to read about your pass, so very sorry to hear things didn’t go to plan wills. I’m sure it will be better next time now that you know how it feels to drive with the examiner on board.
In Gloucester the first manouver is the reverse, i take it from what you wrote that it’s the opposite where you are, sounds much better as many drivers fail before leaving the test centre here. How did your reverse go. You have plenty of positives to draw from your 1st test. Good luck with the 2nd and final one!!!
Sorry to hear that - unfortunately it is a test of nerves as much as ability, and much easier to fail than pass !!!
G
DONT GIVIN I TOOK ME 5 TO PASS MY CLASS 2 BUT DID IT