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Automotive Graduated Licensing Program 'N' Road Exam

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by jrysmile, Jul 18, 2011.

  1. jrysmile

    jrysmile Junior Member

    I booked my road test a week ago and the earliest spot they had available for my local licensing ICBC (Port Coquitlam) was October 5th when the earliest I can take it is July 28th (forgot their warning about booking 100days early). So I've been checking frantically online and by phone and luckily found a spot on the 29th in Maple Ridge :up:. So my question is.. any important tips? things to look out for? what are the examiners picky about or look most for? I want to pass this on my first try so I can finally buy my car and drive without the 'guilt and pressure' if you know what I mean. :jump:
     
  2. 6u-huo.l.uV

    6u-huo.l.uV Moderator Staff Member

    maple ridge? i had my class 4 exam out there.. and i'm pretty sure i should've failed twice, but i passed.. they seem pretty lax since it's relatively far from the metro vancouver area. then again, this is just a single case...

    anyway, tips:
    1. although it's the hardest thing to do and you'll probably be nervous, don't be. you've gotta hear it.
    2. be very careful of school zones
    3. watch out for "no turn on red light" signs
    4. if an instructor tells you to make a right turn and you turn into a right-turn lane, you stay in that lane unless the examiner tells you to. and if you make it all the way to the end without further instruction, follow the "rules of the road" and make that right turn at the end of the lane.
    5. the examiner will probably say stuff like "i won't try and trick you. just drive normally and follow the rules of the road". this means that there will be instructions even though they don't explicitly say (like in tip #4)
    6. always, always, always, shoulder check and make it obvious that you're doing a shoulder check. don't just glance, move that head at least 90 degrees left or right. also keep scanning. they like to see that your eyes are moving (some of them have this little mirror thingy to watch your eyes while you drive)

    other than that, good luck! hopefully you'll do better than i did for my class 7 and class 5..
     
  3. ema

    ema Full Member

    My friend has a theory that female examiners are harder than males lol.

    agreed with 6u-huo.l.uV's points
    Know at least 5 hazards because the examiner I had made me parallel park on a hill going down and point them out.
     
  4. 6u-huo.l.uV

    6u-huo.l.uV Moderator Staff Member

    ah. yes. hazards. things you can always point out (or at least i think so)

    1. presence/possibility of oncoming traffic/yellow line dividing traffic
    2. parked cars
    3. weather
    4. road conditions
    5. people/animals
     
  5. ema

    ema Full Member

    What else, know which way to turn your wheels downhill parking or uphill parking lol. you'll do fine, hopefully you drive around maple ridge, try to find an icbc that's near a school lol. they tend to make you drive through school zones from what I've heard.
    i passed on my first try but i did it in north van.
     
  6. jrysmile

    jrysmile Junior Member

    Thanks for the tips guys and ema did your examiner make you actually parallel park on a downhill slope or did he just make you pull over and check that you park with the wheels steered to the right on a downhill slope? and 6u-huo.l.uV what are the roads there like? Is it busy? Highways? I also heard Maple Ridge has some asian-biased examiners :S
     
  7. 6u-huo.l.uV

    6u-huo.l.uV Moderator Staff Member

    my examiner didn't make me parallel park on a downhill slope when i did my class 7... I think it was parallel parking on a level surface and another time, the examiner asked me to pull over and put the car in park? don't remember. it was a while ago and i took mine in burnaby so flat surfaces were kinda rare.

    umm... maple ridge.. when i took my exam there, traffic was normal. i went in the morning. i think around 10? man, the highway driving for my class 4 was hlrs. examiner asks me "are you okay with going on the highway?" and i said "yes" so he tells me to merge on and literally 3 seconds on the main highway and i'm merging off. and it didn't really seem like a busy highway too.
    in any case, my preference would be to have my exam either during rush hour or when there are minimal cars around. the two extremes work well. regular traffic isn't so great, i don't think... people are mean
     
  8. ema

    ema Full Member

    woops lol, parallel park on normal flat surface and downhill/uphill for pullovers.

    rofl i have to take my class 5 sometime this year.
     
  9. Henry

    Henry Junior Member

    I wouldn't want to go to an ICBC near a school cause when I have a feeling that rookie drivers will be pretty nervous :l
     
  10. Vandi

    Vandi Guest

    Is North Van easier than Richmond or Burnaby? I'm gonna have my Road Test on Sep 9th. I'm a bit worried 'coz I heard in North Van people always fail.
     
  11. ema

    ema Full Member

    I did north van only so I don't know but my instructor did let me test burnaby's track and boy did I hate it. my friends who lived in north van did it there too and passed on their first try. hopefully you get John as your examiner, he's super easy!
     
  12. Night Of GuardianS

    Night Of GuardianS Active Member

    My first and only road test for the class 7 Novice license was in Burnaby. I thought it was really easy. The examiner even said I did an excellent job on speed control. Took about 10 hours of lessons in 2007. Never went for the road test nor driven a car until spring of 2010. I took 6 hours of lessons last year and then went and passed the road test. I don't see how anyone would fail as long as you follow all the rules. A lot of people who failed go to Richmond for their second time. Richmond is suppose to be easy. Now I drive almost everyday, with my Mercedes.
     
  13. 6u-huo.l.uV

    6u-huo.l.uV Moderator Staff Member

    i dunno, man... i think it's pretty easy to fail. school zones and whatnot
     
  14. jrysmile

    jrysmile Junior Member

    already been a while but for the update: i passed on first try, had one mistake of not 360 checking when I was parking in reverse :)
     
  15. West_Coast

    West_Coast Junior Member

    I know you already passed and this was in relation to the physical driving test, but for those that read this thread, there is a great website that lets you practice free knowledge tests online, so you can study for the written driver's exam. www.drivingtests101.com

    It helped a friend's kid out when they were studying, so I thought I would share it.
     
  16. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    All you need is Martin Wang. Driving License! License!
    [​IMG]
     
  17. Night Of GuardianS

    Night Of GuardianS Active Member

    Last year I found a guy on craigslist who charged $35/hr. He was good. His car only had one steering wheel, but two breaks. Tooks 3 lessons with him and passed the first road test.
     
  18. albertwilliam

    albertwilliam New Member

    Can someone recommend a driving instructor?
     

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