Follow the examiner's instructions

The license examiner will be looking for you to demonstrate basic driving skills and knowledge of traffic laws.  He or she is not there to trick you into making mistakes or committing traffic violations.  During your test, the examiner will point out mistakes you make and will give you information that will help you correct them.  Relax, and listen to what the examiner tells you.  He or she may have you repeat a maneuver to see if you can correct a mistake you made earlier.  I remember as if it was yesterday, when I was in high school, my last semester in 12th grade, it was a requirement to take driver’s education.  There was a classroom theory or instructional lessons and then a moving screen and stationery cars that we sat in and made believe we were there on the actual road driving through regular traffic, but at the time I crashed most of the times, but no one knew except me.  Because I was unable to connect the theory to the practical, I had a hard time whenever the driving instructor took a few of the students on the road for driving lessons.  I had a hard time following the driving instructor’s instructions.  I was so confused about a lot of things.  Obviously, I needed one-to-one instructions, with just me in the car and the instructor.

When the driving instructor is telling another student what they needed to do, I would get confused with what he told me to do.  For example, instead of looking at the traffic light that hanged high in the intercessions or crosswalks  (you know, the regular traffic lights that are designated for drivers to follow) I used to look on the side street traffic lights (the one pedestrians used to cross the street) to determine when I should go or stop.  As you can imagine, my high school driver’s instructor and I did not get along very well.  I was totally confused and he did not pick that up.

At the end of that last semester, the entire class was scheduled to take the road test.  When my turn came, the examiner asked me to stop the car for some reason unbeknown to me.  Instead of me following his instructions, I said to him, Why? The light says Go!  Then he said, you should stop because I say so!! Then I said, but who is driving the car anyway?  As you can see clearly, I was out of order and had set myself up to fail (all I had to do was shut my big mouth and follow the examiner’s instructions).  I should not have talked back to the examiner.  Furthermore, I had the nerve to challenge the examiner’s authority!  Well, less than 5 minutes into the road test, the examiner asked me to pull over and he said to me, all I needed to pass the road test was a 65 grade, but because I did not follow his instructions, he wrote 63 grade on my paper.

Ouch!   The pain I felt and the embarrassment.  This means I was on my own.  That experience impacted me so much.  Seventeen years later, when I had to redo it all over, and I passed , it occurred to me, regardless of the situation or the temperament of the examiner, please be advised, follow the examiner’s instructions!  You passing the road test might very well depend upon following instructions.  Are you saying to yourself, “been there, done that”?  We can help examine your personal case.  Visit www.PaulinaAParker.com for more information.