Failed Driving Test Due to Nerves, new test in 2 weeks

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Hi all,

Have a new test almost exactly two weeks after my first fail (got very lucky!)

I failed my first driving test due to nerves, with faults on issues I had NEVER made a mistake with before the test. Literally executed both on the same route I had driven well in the pre-test warm up lesson!

My instructor was absolutely gobsmacked that those were my errors as they had just not been issues in our 40 hrs of lessons - he said he had expected I would pass.

So definitely a case of nerves and confidence!

Have cleared my schedule as much as possible and booked all the available lessons my instructor had free (10 hrs, and more if there are cancellations) to try and regain my confidence and to calm the nerves, since this issue wasn’t with technical abilities. I don’t want to lose momentum and worry if I leave too long a gap, I will only make myself more nervous.

Hoping for some encouragement and any positive stories you have about passing after a failed an earlier test due to nerves.

I failed first time too due to nerves. Passed two weeks later! Good luck OP you got this!

I shook so hard in my first test many years ago that my mother considered shipping me off to the the GP for valium before my second! (Thankfully I passed)

I failed my first test due to nerves. Second too....

In fact I was more nervous the second time, it had been several months and I had gained experience and skills by then and was actually ready to pass but it seemed like more pressure second time. I did the third a couple of weeks later with more of a "whatever, I'll get there in the end" kind of attitude and passed. Doing it quickly is definitely the best way. See this as annoying hoop jumping as you need to do in many areas of life. Sometimes you'll breeze through and other times you are frustrated in your first efforts, but you'll get there in the end.

Enjoy your future driving life op! x

My daughter failed the first time, the second time her attitude was different as she knew what the test involved, where they were likely to take her. She passed the second time. Good luck.

I failed five tests in my twenties, all down to nerves, ended up giving up. Tried again in my late 30s and failed again, and again it was nerves, second guessing myself, etc. Then on my next attempt I decided from the outset that I’d probably fail, so no point worrying about it, and no point telling anyone it was happening. Sailed through it with a near perfect score.

Just drive, don’t start worrying if you’ve done this or that wrong, just drive round and if you fail, you can always try again. I bet you’ll sail through it.

I failed so many times due to nerves I can’t even remember how many (4 or 5 fails before I passed!).

Honestly I wish someone had told me to see the doctor and get something to help, as I was a good driver but my limbs just wouldn’t do what I wanted them to in a test situation!

I failed my first test with two major faults (approaching a junction too quickly and pulling out when I thought there was plenty of space but the examiner evidently didn't think so; forgetting the 20 zone just before returning to the test centre - oops!). On the second one I just kind of... chilled out a bit and passed with no faults at all. You know that you know how to drive, so you just have to relax and take your time to do everything. It was made weirder by the fact that the examiner was new and was being observed by his examiner, so I had one next to me and one in the back seat, then we got stuck in traffic and had to make awkward small talk while I demonstrated my excellent clutch control.

I failed a bunch of driving tests due to nerves. I found Rescue Remedy helped (though may have been pure placebo effect). I also stopped having a pre-test warm up lesson immediately beforehand, as for me that made it worse than just driving straight to the test centre.

My DD failed due to nerves - I didn’t think she was ready at the time. Her second is booked for August but she’s off on an internship to Columbia for six weeks so has very little time to practice and hasn’t driven since she failed it back in January (she’s been away at uni and couldn’t find an instructor with availability there). She’ll cancel this one. Unfortunately she’ll have to retake the theory now. It’s so hard (and expensive) to find available lessons and tests!
Good luck to you!

Thanks everyone, it’s good to know that there is success after failure and that this is fairly common.

And @mondaytosunday it’s so expensive, have only just gotten around to it much (much much) later than 18 And trying to find a test slot is basically a full time job, even with the new changes.

Now just need to focus on staying calm and focused on the road regardless of circumstances!

Exactly the same for me. I got in my head about how much passing would change my life, and my family's. When I resat, I actively didn't think about it, and passed. Passing is a big deal, but the test need not be. As far as you can, put the impact of passing out your mind. You know what to expect now, you'll smash it :)

Everyone is nervous when taking their test.

Try to put it out of your mind for the time being.

Be honest, tell them “I am very nervous”. I find speaking the truth about anxiety is half the battle and can bring some relief.

Anxiety is about “what if”, staying with “what is” grounds you in the now, versus the past or future.

Two of my kids failed first time, passed the second. They are good, careful drivers but were both nervous. (I was worse!) My oldest one hasn't a nerve in her body, it seems, and passed first time. This was sobering because there were certain sets of traffic lights she never seemed to see during practice and once did an emergency stop at a crossing because she hadn't noticed the elderly man using it. The first time she went out solo, she reversed the car into a wall and smashed all the rear lights. Good luck with your second test! Deep breaths!

I failed the first and second time due to nerves and making errors I'd never done before! I passed the third time 3 or 4 weeks after my second fail, I was much more relaxed for that test because I knew I should have passed the previous time! Good luck 🤞

Dd passed recently on attempt number 4. She is a lovely driver, but gets anxious doing tests (any tests).

She passed on her 4th attempt after changing test centre (just 8 miles away) - on her instructors advice. He told her that sometimes learners start to take their home ground for granted and make silly mistakes. If you don't know the area as well, it can help.

I was deathly worried about making a mistake like this post-test, so I guess what they say is true- that learning to drive carries on well past one’s test!

Also so brilliant to know that there are really careful and good drivers out there who also had a tough time with the test process. Hope I am one of those ones!!!!

Changing to a different test centre is a good idea for someone who fails multiple times. My son-in-law, a very confident and proficient driver failed four tests from the same city centre test centre with which he was very familiar. Maybe it made him over confident. He changed to another, more rural centre he didn't know and passed.

I passed on my fourth attempt, our youngest son passed on his third, we both made really stupid uncharacteristic mistakes due to nerves. Our oldest son passed first time.
I feel much, much safer when in the car with my youngest than with his brother.

The only differences I can think of that I did before my fourth test was to ramp up how much practice I had, I was going out driving every night in the month leading up to the test, and during the test I chewed gum. I was convinced I’d failed a fourth time but rather than go to pieces after the point where I thought I’d failed I just thought sod it and carried on as if nothing had happened (and nothing had happened, I hadn’t made a mistake).

I only passed last Summer, I hadn’t really needed to drive before but post Covid the once reliable and regular public transport had been dramatically cut.
I think what makes it even more stressful is the fact that you know that if you fail you’ve got to find another test date. Even though my youngest son passed in 2018, there was still an almost four month wait for tests locally and I know that the wait played on his mind too.

Oh, and learning to drive REALLY starts once you’ve passed and you haven’t got your instructor with their dual controls sitting next to you.

Yes, the booking system really makes a fail a bigger deal than just needing more practice by turning finding a new date into one of the 12 Tasks of Hercules!!!!

It’s next to impossible to plan lessons - and basically unaffordable to just keep taking them without any sort of plan, especially if your practice options are limited to lessons alone.

I know they are tidying up the system, but the difficulty getting a test really forces you to plan to do things in ways you might not have chosen to!