Hi everyone,

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Long-time lurker here, but first-time poster. Figured I would share a bit about my "learning to drive" experience in the hope that it can benefit others curious about the process as well.

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About me: Early 30s American living in London. I have had my USA driver's license since I was about 15, but was still very nervous driving in the UK given how much narrower the roads are around here compared to the USA. One day, as a New Year's resolution, I decided I would get my UK driving license. Given that I "knew how to drive" already, I figured I would try and learn something new in the process and opted to train for the manual car test since I only drove automatic in the USA.

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I used the official DVSA Theory Test app to study for the Theory Test and passed on my first try on 18 June 2021 (46/50 on the multiple choice, 62/75 on the hazard perception). The test was not too hard, and again, helpful for me as an American, as I didn't really understand what all the road signs and markings meant here, and the theory test forced me to know them.

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After passing my theory, I signed up for a practical driving test. I did not want to make things harder than I needed to, so I used the DVSA car driving test data by test centre data (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/car-driving-test-data-by-test-centre) to choose wisely. I sorted the data by pass rate and difficulty for me to travel there for lessons (as I wanted to do lessons vicinity of the test centre versus where I lived). Given that criteria, I opted for a manual test in Hornchurch.

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I then googled around to find an instructor. I am all about convenience, and so while I called a few local driving schools in Hornchurch, none were really taking on any new students, so I just used the AA to find an instructor that offered lessons at the time I was available (Sundays 14:00-16:00).

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My first Hornchurch driving instructor was terrible-- overly critical and stressed me out so much. That I could overlook, given that I was so eager to learn, but what made me mad was how he was often late to my scheduled appointments. It is very frustrating as a student to consistently wait 15 minutes or so after your scheduled start time when I had to travel so far to get there. Overall, he just did not make me feel good about driving, which was terrible because I really wanted to learn.

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About a week before my first scheduled driving test in November 2021, DVSA decided to cancel my test and rescheduled me for another test in December 2021. Unfortunately, I could not make the date DVSA rescheduled me, so I had to manually find another test date.

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At the time, I did not know about the driving test cancellation apps, so I just kept clicking around on the DVSA website to try and find another Hornchurch test date. After a while, I gave up and just went for my #2 choice, which was Uxbridge. I booked a test for May 2022.

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Given that my new test was in a new area, I had to find a new instructor, which was good given all the problems I had with my first instructor. I used AA again and found an instructor that again could meet on Sundays between 14:00-16:00. My second instructor was nicer! Very professional, never raised his voice, and we would debrief often during our lessons where he would show me aerial views from Google Maps of areas we were about to drive through to talk a strategy for handling a situation (e.g., roundabouts). He also had a dash cam where we would often review afterwards as well. Overall, just super professional (if you need a rec for a driving instructor that operates in Uxbridge, DM me).

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I did these Sunday lessons weekly as a hobby right up until my test date in May.

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On my first test, of course like many people, I was nervous, but I thought I did all right. Probably like a lot of you, I thought I had passed only to find out later that I had failed. I think I was so stunned that I failed that I did not properly listen to why I failed. Good thing DVSA emails you your results immediately after! During this test, I had one major (junctions- turning right) and one minor (control, steering). I later recalled that the cause of the major was me trying to turn right on a major roundabout and not spiralling out safely/effectively (like what this student did in this video between 26:40-27:05; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woVflyNlrKk&t=26m40s)

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While I was bummed at failing, there was not much I could do, so I thanked my instructor and immediately went home to try and book a new test.

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I eventually did, started scouring this subreddit for tips/advice, and then signed up for a test cancellation app to try and move my test date up. I eventually found another test date in Uxbridge on 03 October 2022.

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While my instructor reached out to me in late August recommending more lessons, I declined mainly because I felt I was good enough and also because lessons aren't cheap! I wanted to do a few lessons before my test though, so I booked 6 more hours (2x 2-hour Sunday lessons, and then 2 hours for the actual test).

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My first 2-hour Sunday lesson since failing back in May was Sunday 25 September 2022 and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I remembered given that I had not driven since failing in May! My clutch control was choppy at first, but it felt like riding a bike and after a while, it all came back. During this lesson, we just drove around test routes and practiced manoeuvres as time allowed. The exact same thing happened yesterday 2 October 2022 with my lesson-- just driving around.

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Today 3 October 2022 at 10:14 was my test, but I had about an hour before then to drive around with my instructor again. Nothing too eventful and we practiced all the manoeuvres. One thing to note though is we practiced reverse bay parking to a spot on the right given the layout of the Uxbridge Test Centre-- the technique you use is just a mirror opposite of what you do to reverse bay park to the left, but when nerves are involved, you might forget.

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FINALLY, it was test time. I was super nervous because I didn't want to fail again, but I ate a banana this time around and I just laughed it off because it's such a meme in this subreddit, but consider me as another person that subscribes to the voodism that is "eat a banana before your test or else you won't pass" club. During the test, I stalled once/rolled back slightly on a hill start, but I did not panic and just kept going. That shook me up as I had thought I had failed by that point, so I had to actively tell myself to keep calm and carry on. I stalled a bit again on a roundabout as I was still in second gear while stopped, but quickly realized it and kept going again.

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On the way back from the test centre, I felt in my heart that I had failed again, but was pleasantly surprised to hear I had passed with four minors! My minors were:

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1. Move off - control

2. Use of mirrors - signalling

3. Positioning - normal driving

4. Reverse park (road) - observation, 1

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The examiner explained that the control, signalling faults were due to those stalls I recovered quickly on and the reverse parking observation was because while I was looking around a lot, I did not look around my right shoulder enough while reverse parallel parking.

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And that is it! That is my UK manual driving lesson journey. I am glad I was able to do my New Year's resolution, even if a year or so late, and was able to learn a new skill. I still don't plan on getting a car any time soon (given I live in central London-- no real need for a car), but it's good to know that if I plan a trip out to the country side in the future, I can choose to rent a car instead of relying on public transport/taxis.

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Finally, here are some YouTube videos/channels that helped me during my journey:

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DGN Driving School, this video in particular: https://youtu.be/0e9JbFSxHKk. My hearing is terrible, and I do not understand all UK accents, so I did not always understand what my instructor was telling me in the car. Watching this video and seeing the actions in a relaxed environment helped me remember things like looking at mirrors at the appropriate time.

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Conquer Driving, this video regarding roundabouts: https://youtu.be/koK_a4KYs-E . I knew I had to know this down pat given my first failure, so I watched this video a few times to get it. I did not really understand spiralling out of a roundabout until watching this video.

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Clearview Driving (https://www.youtube.com/c/ClearviewDriving) I did not take any lessons from this instructor, nor was my test in the area she drove around, but I just liked watching her mock test videos because she seemed so calm in her instruction. Videos were clear too, with camera views of the road from a dash cam, and 2 Go Pros (one within the cock pit, and another at the feet), so you saw everything that was going on during the drive.

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World Driving, this video about the driving manoeuvres: https://youtu.be/Pe2usPTACoU. I had not done the manoeuvres in a while (no driving between May and October), so I liked how this video not only showed you the manoeuvres and how to do them, but also showed you the reference points to use.

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TLDR: Decided to learn how to drive manual, took lessons, failed once, watched YouTube, passed on second attempt.