Just looking for help tbh.
I’m currently doing cat c with enterprise in Manchester, have now failed cat c test 4 times!!
Every time I’ve asked my instructor if they think I need more training or if I’m not cut out for this , they have all told me I’m at test standard and it must just be nerves on the actual test letting me down.
I know Manchester test centers have some of the worst past rates in the country (bredbury is 45% or so) is it worth trying to get a test with another provider and a test site with a better % or book more training or trust the instructors and keep going and just try to contain the nerves?
Any help appreciated.
This is one of the trickiest situations that anyone can face. My advice is to stay put, but there can be exceptions. It seems you’re happy with your trainer and their explanation that the problems are down to nerves. That being the case, what is there to gain by changing trainer? You would have to familiarise yourself with a different vehicle, possibly in a different area. It’s a fact that Bredbury has had a low pass rate for some time. But there’s many factors that contribute to folks failing and it’s not normally the test centre.
I would put forward two suggestions. Ask your current trainer for more training - maybe 4 hours - with the same vehicle as before but with a different trainer. This doesn’t imply that the first trainer was incompetent - but it’s a fact that sometimes another instructor might word something slightly differently and a penny might drop. I would be interested to know if the fails are consistently on the same matters or scattered. Clearly, if there is a consistency, they need looking at in depth.
The second suggestion is to book an assessment elsewhere. This would give you the benefit of having another person with you and giving you an experience you can use for comparison. But I would be wary about moving area. The costs will increase considerably as there has to be an allowance in time for you to be familiar with the “trip up” points that all centres have.
Many thanks for the reply, I haven’t actually had the same instructor twice. 1st day 4 hrs then 2 6 hr days , followed by 4 hrs with test and a 4th different instructor.
Each 4 hr slot with test was always a different instructor so had 7 instructor in total lol.
All said same thing about no more training needed , but I’m starting to think a new provider within an area with a good % is my best chance.
As regards fails.
Too deep into junction clipped kerb at front.
Gave myself lots more room but apparently too much as was impeding traffic flow.
Total ■■■■ show I just fluffed it .
Nerves I stupidly indicated wrong way on roundabout.
From what you have decided, book at least 2 trial drives with different trainers. These are sometimes free and, if not free, often refundable if you subsequently book training with them.
The trainers at Enterprise are all pretty good, I did all my training there once upon a time and was offered a job as a driver trainer there earlier this year. I’m familiar with the test routes from Bredbury and some of them can be very challenging, especially for a learner, but that just means if you can pass there you will be well set up for the real world as you will already have experienced difficult situations.
I would suspect the issue is probably more to do with nerves than any training issues, in which case there are several things you can do to try and ease that.
Firstly, don’t put any additional pressure on yourself to pass. That might sound daft, but if you can think ‘I’m going to pass this eventually, no matter how many times it takes’ as opposed to ‘I’ve got to pass this time’, then it creates less pressure and allows you to relax more.
Secondly, book another test, with some additional training if you feel you need it, but DON’T TELL ANYONE! If no one knows, they can’t keep asking you about it and building pressure or expectations. Thirdly, buy some chewing gum, it’s been proven that chewing gum during stressful situations can cause you to relax, allowing you to concentrate but feel less nervous and therefore less likely to make mistakes.
Finally, if this is something you really want to do, perseverance is key. It will all be worth it in the end, once you’ve passed and how your new licence in hand. I know this from experience, it took me 6 times to pass my class 2! And I’ve managed to do ok for myself since then!
Thank you both for taking the time to reply, I have rang around a couple of places and most seem to have no spots til March/April time , enterprise can get me a test for end of January so I guess best option is maybe take that for now.
I’m stil open to doing some training and a test elsewhere if anyone knows somewhere that can get me in beforehand. Either way I won’t be giving up , I want the licence as i have a 2 Yr old and want to do skip, builders merchant, type jobs as it would give me a much better work life balance than I currently have.
Reassuring to know that someone else out there took multiple attempts to pass so many thanks for that.
Do you have a copy of your marking sheets? Look at everything you can fail on and think each category through. Sleep on it and go through it again and again for a week. The final 4 hour drive should be polishing, but I wonder if you are doing 4 hours then test on the same day (don’t know if you are or not) and if this is a bit much. Can you get a slot where you just go in and get 1/2 hour before? I reckon about an hour and a half is all anyone can really take of being in test mode with the heightened senses it entails. When I have done tests I have certainly felt tired afterwards.
Sure a couple of things happened to me on my tests that I coped with. One guy essentially stopped on a roundabout and flashed me out. I went but made sure to mention to the examiner that I was being put in a position where the easiest resolution was just to go.
Further to this, when approaching the test centre, I spied a van that deliberately waited turning right in order to go if I missed a give way when I turned left. The idea of course was to time turning right to try to engineer a fail for me. The examiner and I were both wise to it and could see it a country mile off. The examiner was shaking his head at the van driver as he passed. Most examiners are on your side and want you to pass, but their hands are tied if you don’t react correctly to these kind of situations.
You will crack it eventually, took till my 4th time to not let the nerves and overthinking get to me, good luck with whoever you go with, it helped more with me not thinking so much about what i’m getting out of it afterwards, thinking to much about what I am doing while driving and just go for the drive kept the hands from getting so sweaty and heart rate down, keep the window down a bit, talk to yourself as you are going along, what are you doing…that gimp is going to try and floor it past me…and when you are at a junction while watching mirrors etc ready to go again deep breaths in through the nose type thing.
Ok I stopped my first driving job (back to my old office job) and went back to my old one, since anxiety and nerves in a small number of situations where really making me stress and worry to much I didn’t feel right, I didn’t want to hate the job, I loved most of it, but I need to get sorted better with those issues and how to deal with them properly before i’m back on the road fulltime, doing the odd bit now, I am not saying don’t go for it just if you do have nerves/anxiety issues then it might be worth focusing on them as well, in many ways getting in to lorry and into the situations and places that triggered those feelings helped me a lot the things that I though caused it where different, the stress and issues I did have in my old job I have gone back to don’t bother me, and once I get sorted with being able to speak to the docs properly in the New Year to get the more professional help to stop them from stopping me doing the things I want you can be sure that back to the driving is a sure thing
Doesn’t work for everyone, but some trainees find it calms them to do a quiet running commentary, a bit like the astronauts do during pre-launch and take off, Examiner’s don’t object to it (apparently) and it lets them know what you’re thinking.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that a couple of bog-standard paracetamol can take the edge off any pre-test anxiety.
