I just failed for the third time. It really sucks. I have no clue why I screw up so much on the test. Anyone out there that has failed more than me?
I failed the road test six times.
I failed it twice before passing, but I blame it on an apparently racist test instructor. (The instructor was a black woman, who from what I saw waiting in line, was friendly & polite to the black people at the DMV, but turned on bitch mode whenever she was talking with a white person.) I switched test locations on the third try, and passed with flying colors.
I kind of cheated at mine.
Here’s my story. I hate parallel parking. HATE it. I can do it, but I really don’t think it’s worth the headache. I am so paranoid about hitting another car that I’ll go back and forth for 3 years, at least.
So, when I took my test, I was ace-ing it up until the parallel parking part. I knew that if I hit the cone, I would instantly fail. I asked the guy if I parked bad, really bad, but didn’t hit the cones, would I pass the over all test. He said yes. So…I put the car in park, right there and said I am done! I failed that part, but passed the test.
I think it took him by surprise and he suggested that I practice more because I might need it one day. Well, in 16 years of driving, I have never parallel parked. Ever.
What really sucked is that when I was taking the written part, it was on a tv screen. They would show a segment and ask you a question. I kept getting it wrong. I had no idea why. I knew that my answers were correct. It wasn’t until I nearly bombed the test that I realized that “I” wasn’t the car illustrated, but rather “I” was a driver and that car illustrated was part of the traffic in front of me. EEEP! They never told me that!
So, there you go. I hope the next time is a charm for you.
I failed it three times, and passed on the fourth.
Test number one was flawless, until the final turn into DMV parking lot. I was making a right on a red light, and inched forward has someone was making a left. The tester made a remark to draw my attention (I would have noticed on my own), which counted has “intervention,” which was an automatic fail. My confidence was shook.
Test number two was a legitimate near crash.
Test number three the instructor didn’t think I was looking in my mirrors enough.
Test number four I finally got it!
Failed it the first time because I didn’t know what a “turnabout” was. Evidently that’s what the driving instructors call a three point turn. Why a three point turn is useful to know I don’t know. It is only useful to turn around on a dead end street.
A three point turn is useful to know because it is required to pass the driving test. Just like parallel parking. Whether you use it in regular driving is beside the point.
I knew a young lady who failed 3 or 4 times. One time, she was about to try to parallel park when the driver of another car swooped in and stole her parking space. She cursed him out. The instructer told her to return to the testing place immediately. I think one time she had a minor accident, leaving the parking garage. One time, who knows, maybe she was just an unlucky teen.
I never failed the test, but it took me years to get up the nerve to take the test. (As in I was “the usual age” when I started driving, but over 21 before I got my liscence. ) My brother failed twice, once because he was too cautious, and once because his tester thought it would improve his character to fail(the opinion of my mother).
I failed the road test once, and the written tests more times than I can count. THAT was what was really embarassing. The Instructor I had for the road test was an extremely mean woman, she was quite notorious in our high school. I failed the first time because I didn’t see a three foot Stop sign behind leaves. That was an automatic fail. She also counted me off for not signaling into a parking space.
Me. I don’t remember exactly why – this was 24 years ago – other than that I was nervous as hell. I passed the written test no problem but just had a bitch of a time with the road test. I failed it three times and then they made me retake the written test and repay the fees. Passed the written test – again, no problem – and finally passed the road test.
I failed exactly 3 times.
The first time, someone had parked badly next to me, and there really was no way to get the car out without touching theirs (said my dad, the owner of the other car, and the driving tester). But, you’re not allowed to do that while taking the test - flunked on my way out of the parking lot.
The other two were “dangerous actions” Apparently, I turned a little too close for the driving instructor’s liking. (Really, I have no idea, what that means - I obeyed all rules, I wasn’t near anything, I was nowhere close to an accident, but according to them, I was ‘dangerous’)
Remember the show Twin Peaks? And the small, small town it was set in? My fourth attempt, I took the test there, about a year after they stopped filming (it’s busier now)… there were no other cars around, my parallel parking test was in between two cars so far apart that it was ridiculous (easily, 3 cars could have fit between them, with space). I passed. Yay!
I’ve also never yet gotten a moving violation (parking tickets, yes. But nothing while the car was in motion).
You’ll do fine next time, even if you have to go to the middle of nowhere to take the test.
I failed the written test once, and the driving test twice. I felt like the biggest moron on the planet. It was also kind of frustrating to see my brother and best friend pass the driving test the first time around easily.
Part of the problem for me, and the reason I didn’t get my license until I was 20 was that I was in a position where it was extremely difficult for me to get experience. I needed to make the most out of my learner’s permit by driving here and there, and getting a lot of hours under my belt before the test so I would have confidence and be at ease. But my mom was too chicken to take me out, I didn’t have any other friends who could drive, and ultimately it was up to my mom’s boyfriend to help me. He was very willing to take me out and give me pointers, and I definitely attribute learning to drive to him. But he was a busy guy, and so my opportunities were few and far between. I also took student driving courses, but every time I took them I had an instructor with a very strong Vietnamese accent which made it extremely difficult to understand what was being said. 
Keep trying- I know when I was in your shoes I felt like I would never get that damn license but I did it eventually, and you will too if you try hard enough. 
Don’t sweat it - I failed FOUR TIMES and passed on the fifth. I was and am a very good driver, too.
I’m not generally a nervous person, but I guess I was for that particular experience (and of course I was also fifteen). It didn’t help that some of my attempts were at the middle-of-nowhere DMV where we went to avoid lines, and I still think the examiner saw me coming with my big nice parents’ car from the city and just didn’t like me. Here’s how it broke down:
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Committed “dangerous act” by going over the line while backing up the 500 feet at backwoods DMV. Was over there last year and said “Hey, let’s go take a look at that road where they flunked my ass ten years ago”. The damned road was CROOKED. I promise! Grr.
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City DMV - messed up in oddly marked turning lane outside DMV. Nearly everybody I knew in high school had to take the road test more than once because of this particular turning lane, so that’s not so bad.
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Back to the country, same Dangerous Act. Lying little weasel.
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City DMV - tester with remarkable resemblance to Jesus tells me I did okay but lost points here and there, particularly in parallel parking, and I should come back next week.
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Victory! Jesus-guy says congratulations. Spent that last week in the evenings down at the DMV practicing that parallel parking.
So, don’t worry too much - since then I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket and the only wreck I’ve been in wasn’t my fault and didn’t even dent either car. So your driving test performance dosen’t really necessarily relate to your life as a driver!
I know somebody who recently passed on his fourth or fifth try.
I passed on my third, but I actually passed twice, because several years after I started driving I got hand controls and had to be retested. When I learned to drive I was in Los Angeles, in 1994. They didn’t test me on parallel parking, or I’m not sure I’d have ever passed. When I was retested in Georgia, sure enough, I had to parallel park. He talked me through it, and said that aside from that it was the easiest test he’d ever done.
The first two times, in CA, I got a tester we still refer to as “Mr. Fishface.” He was just…awful. I nearly turned left in front of oncoming traffic the first time, so that was a justifiable fail. But the next time I have no idea why he failed me except that he was a jerk. I went to a different DMV and passed.
My driving goes all to hell when I’m nervous. This makes being tested…difficult. Even when I was retested in Georgia I was petrified. Otherwise I did fine.
I’ve been driving for ten years and can’t parallel park. Most of the time if I’m in a situation that would call for it there’s no time to anyway; if I went to back into a spot somebody would probably steal it from behind me.
I (barely) passed the first time, but I have a little amusing story about mine, which probably convinced the road tester that I was a complete idiot:
While the person taking the test drove, the tester would ask you things or tell you to do things (such as turn on the radio and turn it off, without taking your eyes off the road). Now, it’s hard enough to take the test, but when you’re that nervous, driving and holding a conversation that equates to the written test is nerve-wracking!
So we were driving on a 4 lane road. The tester said to me, “Now, if a car from the opposite direction suddenly veers into these lanes, which direction would you move your car?” To which I replied, “right”. Okay, doing good here. Then he asked the question that I still can’t figure out what he wanted me to answer with: “If you had to do that, and you had to hit something, what would you hit?”
My panicked brain blanked out, but I knew that I had to answer with something, and quick. I thought of an answer, and blurted, “a Saturn!”
Silence.
“A Saturn?” he repeated. So now, really embarrassed, I tried to explain. “Yeah, they have plastic doors, y’know? And, well, I’d rather hit a plastic door instead of a metal door, y’know?”
Apparently he didn’t know, because he gave me a really weird look and didn’t ask anything for quite awhile after that!
Sponge Bob?
Actually I passed on the first try, but I attribute that to good test taking skills, not real good driving skills at that point, and possibly divine intervention. One thing that I think was very helpful was taking the test on a driving course, not on real streets. If this is available in your area, I highly recommend it. Also, I knew when to cut my losses on parallel parking. Know exactly how you will be scored on that part, and don’t go for the glory.
Oh, BTW, I mentioned it in my post but nobody probably read that far - at least here at our DMVs, the parallel parking place is accessible after hours if you’d like to go practice. Practicing on the actual thing I’d be tested in helped tremendously. Well, the fifth time, that is.
Well, I barely passed my first time. I had gone up there with a friend who was also there to take his test. He passes. He leaves. I go. I almost hit a car when I was backing out because I just turned my wheel instead of going straight a bit then turning. So my tester was really quiet most of the way, and he just took me on a four-rights course. And I passed. And I rejoiced.
Oh man. Are you allowed to take it again after that with the same permit? I’m going back for my second try on August 4th–we have to make appointments in PA and it’s such a pain.
I hope you get it the next time!!
Hahaha! My boyfriend likes to call my Sponge Bob because of my aversion to driving. I’m almost 22 and my mother forced me to take driving lessons this summer. Driving Lady has been nicknamed Miss Puff. 