Driving Test
Well, I passed. And I found the test a lot easier than the lessons. Why? Because my examiner wasn't instructing me. He was letting me drive. So instead of making a mistake but then being distracted by my instructor pointing out my mistake, I concentrated on driving.
I hadn't managed to do a reverse around the corner under instruction. But I managed it twice in the test. I didn't do it perfectly...but I know that if I was out on the road and had to do that manoevre, I could.
But I will admit I'm highly nervous of going onto the road alone for the first time. Because although I know how to do things like check the oil and brake fluid levels in my instructor's car, I actually don't know how to put petrol in my own car.
Learning to drive was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It was a strange mix of manual, cognitive and confidence skills. But I've passed my test. As my mother said, now it's time to learn to drive :)
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Unfortunately the nature of an instructor's job demands that they point out any mistakes made during the lesson. A good instructor will ignore minor mistakes as the test gets near and concentrate on serious or dangerous ones.
An instructor should of course point out mistakes, and cannot ignore serious or dangerous mistakes ever. But I found that while under instruction I was simply overloaded with instruction - there wasn't enough time for me to drive.
My strongest memory of that horrible 'reverse around the corner' manoevre was that I was never allowed to actually try it and get it wrong so I could learn from what I was doing wrong. I had to keep stopping what I was doing before I'd figured out what I was doing was wrong, so I never got the 'feel' for it.
Making mistakes is such an important part of learning. Making mistakes while learning to drive can be lethal. It's not easy being the learner or the instructor...I'm glad I'm now neither :)